Foundations of Sociological Theory

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Sociology 30900 is a course that is meant to introduce the undergraduate students who enroll, most of whom are majors in sociology, to the origins, development, and uses of sociological theory. In that pursuit, the course seeks to explain how theoretical ideas emerge, how perspectives are framed, and how vantage points for viewing society and its operations shift over time. To achieve these ends, special attention is devoted to prominent thinkers, both "classical" and contemporary, in the history of social thought, from the early critics of modern industrialism like Karl Marx to ironic commentators on present-day social practices such as Erving Goffman. "Foundations of Sociological Theory" is also a "writing-intensive" course in the liberal-arts curriculum. This means that students in the class, at the same time that they are reading and studying theory, will work on improving their skills as writers of clear, objective, and persuasive prose.