A) Develop an Understanding of Seven Basic Ideas: A Sociological Imagination

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION: The world you inhabit is socially constructed.  As a humanly constructed phenomenon, the world you inhabit is a product of history and adaptation and, thus, is a world of continual change.  To a large degree, we are all products of that world, we were created by and within it even as we contribute to shaping it and ourselves.  Although the world is constructed, we can systematically study the construction process and its products.

FREEDOM, INDIVIDUALITY, AND AGENCY:  We are all unique humans, but our individualism is constrained by the options and order our world presents.  We share much in common with others subjected to similar conditions, and we follow identifiable patterns.  Because we are a product of the social world we inhabit, we are not as free in our opportunities, decisions, and opportunities as we may think we are.  We maintain a degree of agency concerning our behaviors and the unfolding shape of the world, but agency, at least in the ability to shape the world, is not distributed equally in a stratified society such as ours.  The more we develop our understanding of social processes, the more freedom and responsibility we develop—the more we can act as agents.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES AND CURIOSITY:  "Common sense" is one mode of understanding our socially constructed world, but things are not always as they seem.  Sociological perspectives expand, and often contradict, "common sense."  A curious student of society can expand her/his understanding of social life in many ways, one of those being the process of asking questions and searching for answers through the study of sociology.  Sociological perspectives and information can be incorporated into your understanding of yourself and your society and, therefore, expand your mind and inform your agency.

PURPOSE: The world you inhabit is purposeful, if at times seemingly haphazard, inconsistent, and disjointed, in the sense that it is constructed to meet certain ends.

ORDER: One of those ends is to impose order on social life and facilitate its functioning.

CONFLICT: The ends to which your world is constructed, its attempts for order, sometimes involve conflict and contradictions.  In other words, people and groups often have different desired means and ends, they attempt to shape the world and its means to meet those ends, and those ends are often in conflict.  Some people/groups have more power or ability to shape society--world construction is not an equitable process.  This power inequality which gives some people and groups a greater ability to shape the social world does not at all times resolve or eliminate the conflict of interests and often incorporates contradictions.

GLOBALIZATION, HISTORY, and CHANGE: Your world is founded upon historical consequence and is increasingly global.  It is constantly changing and change is often directional with the impetus coming from a variety of directions.  Sometimes change seems impossible and it often involves conflict, but people have given their lives, sometimes in vein, to create the world you now enjoy.  Some change is slow, and some fast, but, as people and citizens, we should all contribute as consciously and critically as we can to social change.

B) Develop the ability to make clear connections between classroom material and daily life.  Students should be understand and be able to explain the relevance of course material and how it assists them in understanding their daily lives and the events and processes in their world.  Students should be impressed with their new abilities and the degree of relevance of sociology and apply a sociological imagination frequently outside of the classroom.

C) Familiarize students with core concepts and a social scientific approach used by sociologists to understand and explain people in society.

D) Explore and help students understand diversity and stratification in their world.

E) Help students understand their society and their lives in historical and global perspective.