Introduction to Sociology

This course will give students an introduction into the academic study of society. We will study the interplay between personal traits and characteristics and large-scale factors that are outside of ourselves such as the rules that govern society. People who are comfortable thinking about the interplay between self and society have a sociological imagination. By employing the sociological imagination, individuals are able to observe events and social structures that influence behavior, attitudes, and culture. This way of thinking can inform contemporary controversies within American society around inequality, social change, gender, race and power.