SO101: Introduction to Sociology

Tuesday/Thursday 11:00 am-12:15 pm

T Berry 400

Course Description

(From the catalog) A study of social interaction and its products; culture, personality, social groups, institutions and social change.

(From me) That description is super boring. You know what isn’t boring? Sociology. In this class, we will critically analyze important social issues, including poverty, social and economic class, race, gender, sexuality, religion, and education. Often, it takes purposeful work to think about these issues sociologically. Doing so forces us to ask different questions and seek different solutions to the issues facing our local communities, the nation, and the world. This class will critically examine the taken-for-granted categories that inform our worldviews, our policy decisions, and our political discussions. Hannah Arendt once said, “there are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is a dangerous activity.” Let’s live dangerously for 16 weeks.  

Doug Valentine

Email: dvalenti@centralmethodist.edu

Due to COVID-19 concerns, I will not have standard office hours and I encourage you to contact me through email. However, I am happy to set up a time to physically meet if necessary. 

**Weekly course readings will be available as PDFs on our myCMU course page. 

Please Note: You only need to obtain ONE of these books for a book analysis in the latter half of the semester:

1. Margaret Hagerman. 2018. White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America. NYU Press. 978-1479803682
2. Victor Rios. 2014. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. NYU Press. 978-0814776384
3. Lisa Wade. 2018. American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus. W.W. Norton. 978-0393355536