Our purpose in this course is to pr

Our purpose in this course is to provide you with the tools of the sociological imagination. We (Rodney Stark, Jay MacLeod and I) will introduce you to the process by which sociological theories are developed and tested and show you how those theories may usefully be applied to major social problems. By the end of this course, you should be able:

1. To understand the basic concepts, language, and theories of sociology.
2. To become familiar with the strategies sociologists use to study human society.
3. To describe and explain major features of your own society, beginning with
the institutions that are closest to your own experience.
4. To understand the social dimensions of inequality and difference.
5. To decide whether you have an interest in further coursework in sociology and if so, to provide you a solid basis for further study.