Thinking Sociologically

3 credits · Undergraduate

Sociologists are interested in understanding the social world. They do not rely on preconceived ideas alone to enrich this understanding, but see the need to conduct studies, carry out investigations, make observations, analyze findings, formulate ideas, and construct theories and interpretations about what they find. This course looks at the ways sociologists go about their work. What are some of the dominant ways of thinking current in sociology today? What are the relationships between such ways of thinking and what are seen as questions to investigate? How do sociologists do their research? What are social surveys, interviews, theories, sociological ideas? What is distinctive about a sociological way of looking at a problem? CALENDAR NOTES: SOSA 2007 and SOSA 2008 must be taken in the same academic year. PREREQUISITES: One SOSA course at the 1000 level or FYP EXCLUSIONS: SOSA 2002.06 FORMATS: Lecture