SOCI 123 - Introduction to Sociology: Unveiling Socially-Constructed Reality

FC SSCI CD

4 credits
This course introduces students to the field of sociology through core concepts and frameworks. While this course will provide students with an overview of key classical and contemporary theoretical frameworks, the main conceptual focus will be the idea of “social constructs.” The overarching purpose is to examine and understand the sources of structural, group-level social inequality. We will analyze taken-for-granted concepts such as norms and deviance, racialized and gendered social categorizations, and social class as “social constructs.” Students will learn what a social construct is, how social construction derives from–and reinforces–power and resource inequalities, and how social constructs are concretized and perpetuated through the structures, ideologies, and policies of key social institutions. This course will also examine related concepts: the nature and impacts of intersectionality (overlapping and interacting privileges and oppressions), white privilege, and the potential for and limitations of individual agency within the socially constructed world.

This course is appropriate for new students.