Creating References

For your first assignment, you will need to turn in 4 references, or sources where you get information about a subject.

Power points: Race and Ethnicity.

Race: A Social Construct- Videos and Articles

Here are a few extra resources highlighting how race is a social construct:

A Class Divided: School Teacher, Jane Elliot, creates "races" within her classroom

Understanding Race: A really great website that shows race and ethnicity around the world, and how we socially construct race.

A Complete Guide to Hipster Racism: Modern day racism and how it is more subtle but still prevalent

Power Points: Social Stratification.

Children of the Mountains

Click on the link to view the entire show "Hidden America: Children of the Mountains"

Discussion questions: Do you think that these people are stuck, or do you think everyone has a chance to get out? What are their life chances? Does their caste and class system make them privileged or penalized?  

Communist Manifes"toon"

Here is a short video explaining the "Communist Manifesto," one of Karl Marx's most important works.

Power Points: Deviance

Crime: What is More Harmful to Society- Street or Corporate?

Street Crime consists of petty crime: theft, violent crime, damage to property, etc.

Corporate crime is  committed either by a corporation or by individuals acting on behalf of a corporation or other business entity. It can consist of:

§  white-collar crime

§  organized crime

§  state-corporate crime

Which type of crime do you think is more harmful to society? Why? 

Now, after thinking about the two types of crime, take a look at this article:

Twenty Things You Should Know About Corporate Crime

Discussion Questions: After reading this article, has your opinion changed? Do you agree with the article? Why or why not?

Thug Life in DC

Below is the first video that we watched in class. You can watch the rest of the documentary on Youtube

Week 2: Culture

This week you will learn about culture and what culture is, and who is in a culture.

Socialization - Powerpoints

Socialization is the lifelong process by which people learn the ways of the society in which they love.

Culture Powerpoints

Social Structure- Powerpoints

Social structure: Invisible large system that coordinates human activities in broadly predictable ways

4 components: Status and role, groups, and institutions

Social Construction- A Short Video

This video is a great, quick way to grasp the concepts of social construction of reality

Discussion questions: 
What are some symbols, actions, or things that were not presented in the video that are socially constructed?
How do they differ from different societies?
What would symbolic interactionists say about social construction of reality?

Nike and Alienation (Swoosh!)

Once you read about the workplace, rationalization, and alienation, check out this video on Nike.

"Consuming Kids"- Socialization

This video (trailer) examines how children learn and absorb their culture from media.

Discussion questions: do you think that children learn more from media or from parents? Do you try to keep your kids away from media? Do you discuss television/radio/movies with your kids? How influential do you think media is?

Welcome to Intro to Sociology!

This is my supplemental website that I will be using to share my powerpoints with you and extra content that you can use to further your "sociological imagination."


This class is 8 weeks long, and in those 8 weeks, we will be discussing many different aspects of sociology.


Sociology is the study of society and/or groups and their behavior. So who/what exactly do we study?
-Small groups, large groups
-Racial/ethnic groups
-Gender groups
-Sexual orientation/sexuality groups
-Rich/poor/in-between groups
-Deviant groups

Click on this great introduction video to an Introduction to Sociology. Please watch and take any notes and questions down you may have:


Here is another short video to give you some visual ideas of what groups and situations to expect to learn about while taking this course:



 (please note: turning up the volume and rocking out will help with the learning process for this video :))

Discussion Question: What groups do you want to learn about in this class?

Chapter 1 Powerpoints

This is a companion powerpoint that will go along with the in class discussions.

Folkways, Mores, and Social Norms

This post is a dare. Yes, an actual dare, like "truth or dare." If you think you can handle it, click read more and take the sociologyst challenge:

3 Sociological Perspectives and Theorists

Without theorists, there would be no theory. And without theory there would be no sociology. Below are the 3 very important theories and 3 very important theorists:

Extra Class Readings

Here are a few extra class readings to supplement your knowledge of sociology: