Sociology Section 2
Revised Program Summary Narrative
2A. The teaching major and minor in Sociology provides
students with the opportunity to master the analytical, methodological, and
problem solving skills necessary to understand the social forces shaping individual
lives, communities, and the larger global context. Their study includes
an examination of the major institutions and organizations that influence
social life. It provides students with an understanding of the roles that
ethnicity, gender, socio-economic class, education, age, health, and religion
play in influencing social processes. Classes at all levels provide
substantive information concerning the way in which these roles and social
positions influence and structure behavior, attitudes, emotions, and
opportunities.
Sociology
includes the study of groups that influence daily life and the socialization of
the individual via agents of socialization, such as the family, school, peers,
media, and religion. It examines the ways in which people and groups
learn to conform to social rules and analyzes the factors leading to various
forms of deviance and societal response to deviance. Sociology is
concerned with all forms of social change and the factors that influence it and
shape the results. It examines social processes and attendant social
problems at both the micro (small group) and macro (organizational or societal)
levels.
Sociology
provides students with the major theoretical perspectives and the
methodological skills necessary to organize and use this knowledge in their
professional careers and as part of their continuing personal development as
members of society. The emphasis is on critical thinking; recognition of
the importance of diversity and its contributions; the necessity for the development
of policy based on empirical evidence; and the analysis of both the short-term
and long-term, the intended and the unintended, consequences of policy and
action.
The
undergraduate sociology teaching major and minor at
1. Foundational Concepts and
Skills: sociological terms and theories; critical thinking skills; problem
solving; research methods, data collection, and data analysis; major
characteristics of, and issues in contemporary American and global societies.
2. Understanding
Individuals, Groups, and Social Interaction: socialization processes; the
importance of human diversity, the influence of diverse cultures, and the role
of ethnicity, gender, religion, education, age, health, and social class in
human groups; the relationship between culture and personality; the formation
of values, beliefs, emotions, and attitudes; theories and consequences of
deviance; theories and methods of social control; types and functions of groups
and group processes; types and functions of communication.
3. Social Organization:
determinants and implications of social status; the formation of social roles;
kinship, marriage, and family forms; types and functions of political,
economic, and religious systems.
4. Social
Stratification and Change: contemporary American and global socioeconomic,
gender, age, health, education, and racial/ethnic stratification systems;
inter- and intra-generational social mobility; theories of cultural continuity
and change; urbanization processes and consequences; social movements theory.
5. American and Global
Social Problems: race and ethnic relations; gender relations; poverty and
social welfare programs; social justice issues; crime and criminal justice;
environmental issues; and social problems related to aging, health care,
education, family life, and problems by place (urban, suburban, rural).
2B.
Both depth and breadth in the Sociology Teaching major and minor are ensured by
a minimum requirement of 30 hours of Sociology classes for the major and 21
hours for the minor. These hours are distributed to cover a broad
introduction to the field, the development of skills in research methods and
statistics, the basis for analytic understanding and critical thinking, and solid
grounding in the five content areas within sociology as defined by the Michigan
Test for Teacher Certification: 1) Foundational Concepts and Skills; 2)
Understanding Individuals, Groups, and Social Interaction; 3) Social
Organization; 4) Social Stratification and Change; and 5) American and Global
Social Problems.
Foundational
Concepts and Skills: Required courses: SOCL 105 Introductory Sociology; SOCL
202 Social Problems; SOCL 250 Social Statistics; and SOCL 304 Methods of Social
Research. Within SOCL 105 Introductory Sociology, basic sociological
concepts are used to analyze aspects of American and global societies, with a
focus on the institutions of family, education, religion, government, medicine,
politics, and economics. SOCL 202 Social Problems provides an analysis of
problems arising in contemporary American and global societies, such as
problems within the major social institutions, as well as gender and ethnic
relations, crime and delinquency, and deviant behavior. Together, these two courses
lay the foundation of basic knowledge for most of the higher-level substantive
sociology courses. Two courses provide the analytic tools necessary to
carry out and interpret sociological research. SOCL 250 Social Statistics
(required for the major but not the minor) introduces the student to the
evaluation of quantitative data and the organization of bivariate and
univariate data using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques.
SOCL 304 Methods in Sociological Research introduces students to the logic of
both qualitative and quantitative sociological research, sampling, data
collection, and data analysis.
Understanding
Individuals, Groups, and Social Interaction: The following required courses
address this content area, in addition to the required courses listed above
under the Foundational Concepts & Skills content area: SOCL 308 Social
Psychology; SOCL 310 Contemporary American Class Structure; SOCL 403 Modern
Sociological Theory. SOCL 308 Social Psychology provides the study of the
micro-level processes of human interaction, the development of beliefs, values,
and attitudes, the construction of social norms, and the socialization
process. SOCL 310 Contemporary American Class Structure instructs
students in the study of the determinants and consequences of social class
structure in
Social
Organization: Each of the required courses described in the previous section
inform this content area. Additionally students may take SOCL 462 Complex
Organizations as a restricted elective.
Social
Stratification and Change: Each of the required courses described in the three
previous sections inform this content area, with SOCL 310 Contemporary American
Class Structure being the most important course.
American
and Global Social Problems: The study of social problems is addressed to some
extent in each of the previously described required courses, but certainly SOCL
202 Social Problems is the keystone course.
Students
of the major are then required to choose at least one additional 300-400 level
course from the following menu of restricted electives: SOCL 306 The Urban
Community, the study the ecological and social organization of urban life; SOCL
307 Industrial Sociology, the study of the social structure of the workplace,
the work experience of the participants, and the relation of both to the
community and to society; SOCL 311 Social Gerontology, the study of aging; SOCL
312 Medical Sociology, the study of health behaviors and social organization
and their roles in the distribution of disease and disability; SOCL 450 The
Family, the study of courtship, mate selection, and problems of marital and
family adjustment from sociological and social-psychological perspectives ;
SOCL 462 Complex Organizations, the study of organizational growth,
recruitment, control, and relations between organizations and between
organizations and individuals; SOCL/ANTH 309 Culture & Personality, the
study of the manner in which group and cultural factors influence the development
of the personality ; and SOCL/ANTH 336 Social & Cultural Change, the
theories and problems of change in developing and developed societies.
Students of the major may then choose one 300-400 level elective from the menu
of free electives listed on page 3 of Form XX.
Students
of the minor must take the same required courses, as listed on the first page
of Form XX, except they are not required to take SOCL 250 Social Statistics or
SOCL 405 Senior Seminar in Sociology. Students of the minor are further
required to choose one additional 300-400 level sociology course. The
restricted elective menu listed above for the major is recommended, but any
300-400 level free elective sociology course is
allowed.
Examples
of free elective courses include: SOCL 303 Sociology of Childhood and Youth,
the study of the relationship between social structure and the emergent
personality of the individual; SOCL 320 Sociology of Religion, the sociological
analysis of religious organizations and the institution of religion, including
the interaction between religious organizations and other institutions; SOCL
321 Cooperation and Conflict in Society, the study of the principles of
cooperation, cooperation in our competitive-individualistic society,
cooperative skills, and forms of mutual aid; SOCL 334 Population, the study of
population size and composition and its impact on society, and the determinants
and consequences of natality, mortality, and migration; SOCL 344 Sociology of
Gender, the study of the past, present, and future gender roles, and the
consequences of these changes on other social institutions; SOCL 352 Sociology
of Education, the study of the interplay between education, its social history,
gender, race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, social control, and ideology; SOCL
375 Political Sociology, the study of the structure of political systems; SOCL
448 Collective Behavior, the study of transitory and volatile collective
behavior, including crowd behavior, mass behavior, and the study of social
movements; and SOCL 451 Sociology of Work and Occupations, the study of the
social aspects of work, including recruitment, career patterns,
professionalization, and the labor force.
Additionally,
senior level courses in SOCL 403 Modern Sociological Theory (required for both
the major and minor) and SOCL 405 Senior Seminar in Sociology (required for
majors) are considered “capstone” courses, in that they provide for the
integration of prior learning, and serve as an intensive review of all previous
material.
The
Sociology Teaching major also requires a 20-hour minor in Economics, Geography,
Political Science, Psychology, or History. The most common minors have
been Political Science and Geography.
EMU also
requires extensive exposure to a wide variety of disciplines through its basic
studies (General Education) requirements, totaling sixteen courses spread
through four areas: I. Symbolics and Communication (5 courses);
II. Science and Technology (3 courses); III.
Social Science (4 courses); and IV. Arts and Humanities (4 courses). An additional
requirement is for at least one cross-cultural or international course chosen
from a specified course list from Areas I-IV. Some courses may be “double
counted” for courses that are in Basic Studies and the major and minor.
The total credit hour accumulation for the major is 135 hours.
Professional
training is ensured by a minimum of 39 hours in Professional Studies, begun in
the junior year following admission to the EMU initial teacher preparation
program. Students have course length exposure to both general teaching
methods and social studies methods, the social foundations of education in a
multicultural society, measurement and evaluation, human development and
learning, reading in the content areas, teaching exceptional children, media
and instructional materials development and the applications of computers in
education. Structured pre-student teaching experiences accompany the
professional training sequence. The program culminates in a 15-week
student teaching assignment.
2D.
There are no differences.
2E. Gender, ethnicity, culture, social class, and globalization
are major variables in sociology and each of these issues is addressed in
virtually every course, particularly in SOCL 105 Introductory Sociology and
SOCL 202 Social Problems. In addition, many courses deal directly with
gender equity issues and multicultural diversity, such as SOCL 344 Sociology of
Gender and SOCL/ANTH 336 Social & Cultural Change. SOCL 202 Social
Problems specifically covers such topics as racial myths, doctrines, and
movements; conflict and accommodation of majority and minority peoples; and
proposed solutions of racial/ethnic problems.
2F. Students of the sociology teaching major and minor
receive this training within their required teaching preparation courses
through the
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