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Academic Programs: Planning Your Program

Learning Goals for the Sociology Major

The sociology major should study, review, and reflect on:

1. the discipline of sociology and its role in contributing to our understanding of social reality, such that the student will be able to:
   1. describe how sociology differs from and is similar to other social sciences, and give examples of these differences;
   2. describe how sociology contributes to a liberal arts understanding of social reality; and
   3. apply the sociological imagination, sociological principles and concepts to her/his own life.
2. the role of theory in sociology, such that the student will be able to:
   1. define theory and describe its role in building sociological knowledge;
   2. compare and contrast basic theoretical orientations;
   3. show how theories reflect the historical context of times and cultures in which they were developed;
   4. describe and apply some basic theories or theoretical orientations in at least one area of social reality.
3. the role of evidence and qualitative and quantitative methods in sociology, such that the student will be able to:
   1. identify basic methodological approaches and describe the general role of methods in building sociological knowledge;
   2. compare and contrast the basic methodological approaches for gathering data;
   3. design a research study in an area of choice and explain why various decisions were made; and
   4. critically assess a published research report and explain how the study could have been improved.
4. basic concepts in sociology and their fundamental interrelations, such that the student will be able to define, give examples, and demonstrate the relevance of the following: culture; social change; socialization; stratification; social structure; institutions; and differentiations by race/ethnicity, gender, age, and class.
5. how culture and social structure operate, such that the student will be able to:
   1. show how institutions interlink in their effects on each other and on individuals;
   2. demonstrate how social change factors such as population or urbanization affect social structures and individuals;
   3. demonstrate how culture and social structure vary across time and place, and the effect of such variations; and
   4. identify examples of specific policy implications using reasoning about social structural effects.
6. reciprocal relationships between individuals and society, such that the student will be able to:
   1. explain how the self develops sociologically;
   2. demonstrate how societal and structural factors influence individual behavior and the selfâs development;
   3. demonstrate how social interaction and the self influences society and social structure; and
   4. distinguish sociological approaches to analyzing the self from psychological, economic, and other approaches.
7. the macro/micro distinction, such that the student will be able to:
   1. compare and contrast theories at one level with those at another;
   2. summarize some research documenting connections between the two; and
   3. develop a list of research or analytical issues that should be pursued to more fully understand the connections between the two.
8. at least one area within sociology, such that the student will be able to:
   1. summarize basic questions and issues in the area;
   2. compare and contrast basic theoretical orientations and middle range theories in the area;
   3. show how sociology helps understand the area;
   4. summarize current research in the area; and
   5. develop specific policy implications of research and theories in the area.
9. the internal diversity of American society and its place in the international context, such that the student will be able to:
   1. describe the significance of variations by race, class, gender, and age; and
   2. know how to appropriately generalize or resist generalizations across groups.

Two more generic goals that should be pursued in sociology are:

10. to think critically, such that the student will be able to:
    1. move easily from recall to analysis and application to synthesis and evaluation;
    2. identify underlying assumptions in particular theoretical orientations or arguments;
    3. identify underlying assumptions in particular methodological approaches to an issue;
    4. show how patterns of thought and knowledge are directly influenced by political-economic social structures; and
    5. present opposing viewpoints and alternative hypotheses on various issues.
11. to develop values, such that the student will see:
    1. the utility of the sociological perspective as one of several perspectives on social reality; and (b) the importance of reducing the negative effects of social inequality.

Source: Sociology Task Force. Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major. 1991. American Sociological Association.