Course Information
Course Description:
The course provides students with an understanding of human behavior and how people act, react, and interact in groups and how these actions affect society. Instruction includes the following topics: human relationships and collective behavior, crime and social control, drugs, alcohol, prejudice, social and economic stratification, and how attitudes and beliefs shape behavior. Students are expected to be able to integrate current events in their discussions and to complete individual and collaborative assignments/projects.
Course Goals:
After completing the course, students should be able to:
Textbook:
Henslin, James M. Sociology : A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Links to Course Website:
The course website is located at www.pndsociology.weebly.com. It is suggested that students bookmark the course website for easy access.
Explanation for Major and Minor Assignments:
Points will be earned through a variety of assessments and assignments, including short-response questions, essays, debates, I-Movie and Power Point presentations, group projects, and individual projects.
Homework Policy:
Assignments for the current unit can be found on the class wiki page at www.pndsociology.wikispaces.com. In accordance with school policy, assignments will be listed two weeks in advance.
All written assignments are to be completed in ink, on loose-leaf paper (no fringe), and have a complete heading (name, date, class period, and assignment). Guidelines and directions for completing electronic assignments are posted on the wiki page.
Late assignments will be accepted for a minimum of 50% credit, in accordance with school policy.
Your work is something to be proud of! Do not share it with other students. Any student caught giving or copying homework will receive an automatic zero and be subject to further disciplinary action. Remember that there is a difference between "working together" and "copying".
Extra Credit Guidelines:
Occasionally, there will be opportunities for extra credit. All extra credit will be tied to course learning objectives. Extra credit will not be offered on an individual basis, but rather extended to the entire class. In accordance with school policy, extra credit will comprise no more than 3% of a student’s total grade.
Contact Information:
Expectations for Student Behavior:
Tardy Policy:
Any student who is not seated in their assigned seat when the bell rings will be considered tardy, unless the student has a valid pass from their prior hour teacher or an administrator.
Students will be allowed two “grace” tardies per trimester. A student’s third tardy to class will result in a detention.
Technology Policy:
A student’s laptop may be used for educational purposes, including taking notes, visiting the class wiki, conducting research, or working on assignments. Use of the computer for purposes irrelevant to Sociology will not be permitted
Misuse of computer privileges will result in a loss of computer privileges during this class.
Students are responsible for making sure their computer is charged and ready for use in class.
Absence Policy:
Whenever you are absent, check the class wiki page and consult with a classmate to see what you may have missed in class.
Any student with an excused absence, as verified by the main office, will have one day to make up assignments for each day they have been absent. Extended absences will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Students with unexcused absences will not be given credit for missed assignments, quizzes, or tests.
If a student knows in advance that they will be absent (for example, a doctor's appointment or an athletic event), the student is requested to submit assignments and take quizzes and tests in advance. Students should check the class wiki page for assignments missed in class and have them prepared to turn in upon their return to class.
Missing class one day before a scheduled test or quiz will not excuse a student from taking the scheduled test on time, with the class.
Responsibility for making up missed assignments, quizzes, and tests belongs to the student. Make-up work should be scheduled before or after class. Missed quizzes and tests will be taken before or after school, not during class.
The course provides students with an understanding of human behavior and how people act, react, and interact in groups and how these actions affect society. Instruction includes the following topics: human relationships and collective behavior, crime and social control, drugs, alcohol, prejudice, social and economic stratification, and how attitudes and beliefs shape behavior. Students are expected to be able to integrate current events in their discussions and to complete individual and collaborative assignments/projects.
Course Goals:
After completing the course, students should be able to:
- Understand what is meant by the broader social contexts that underlie human behavior, and how and why sociologists study these broader social contexts.
- Explain the sociological perspective: what it is, what it offers, and why C. Wright Mills referred to it as “the intersection of biography (the individual) and history (the social factors that influence the individual).”
- Understand how sociology views and studies human behavior, and how its particular areas of focus are similar to and different from each of the other social sciences.
- Define culture, discuss its effects, and differentiate between material and nonmaterial culture.
- Know what is meant by “culture shock” and provide examples of situations that may cause it.
- Define “ethnocentrism” and “cultural relativism,” offer examples of both concepts, and list the positive and negative consequences of each.
- Define and differentiate between gestures and language.
- Explain why language is the basis of culture, including why it is critical to human life and essential for cultural development.
- Understand the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and provide examples of how language reflects and expresses thinking, perceptions, and experiences.
- Define “values,” “norms,” “sanctions,” “folkways,” “mores,” and “taboos”; provide examples of each and discuss their sociological significance.
- Compare and contrast dominant culture, subculture, and counterculture, providing examples of each.
- Discuss the ongoing debate over what most determines human behavior: “nature” (heredity) or “nurture” (social environment), and cite the evidence that best supports each position.
- Discuss how studies of feral, isolated, and institutionalized children prove that social contact and interaction is essential for healthy human development.
- Know what is meant by gender socialization and how the family, media, and other agents of socialization teach children to act masculine or feminine based on their sex.
- Describe some of the “gender messages” in the family and mass media, and discuss how these messages may contribute to social inequality between men and women.
- List the major agents of socialization in American society, and talk about how each of these teaches and influences people’s attitudes, behaviors, and other orientations toward life.
- Define the term “resocialization” and provide examples of situations that may necessitate it.
- Understand why socialization is a lifelong process and summarize the needs, expectations, and responsibilities that typically accompany different stages of life.
- Define social structure, list its major components, and discuss how it guides people’s behaviors.
- Understand the concepts of culture, social class, social status, roles, groups, and social institutions.
- Discuss how a person’s location in the social structure underlies his or her perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and actions.
- Define stereotypes and explain their significance.
- Discuss the various ways different cultures perceive and use personal space and touching.
- Know the key components of dramaturgy and discuss how people try to control other people’s impressions of them through sign-vehicles, teamwork, and face-saving behavior.
- Differentiate between role conflict and role strain, providing examples of each.
- Know the essential feature of a group and why groups are said to be the essence of life in society.
- Identify the five types of societies that have developed in the course of human history, understand how they evolved, and cite their distinct forms of social division, social labor, and social inequality.
- Define “deviance,” and understand why deviance is relative from a sociological perspective.
- Know why human groups need norms to exist and, consequently, develop a system of social control for enforcing norms.
- Describe some of the sanctions human groups use to enforce norms, including shaming and degradation ceremonies.
- Differentiate between biological, psychological, and sociological explanations of why people violate norms.
- Address the ramifications of the growing prison population in the United States; examine how the way society addresses crime is related to the conflict perspective.
- Talk about the gender, social class, and racial-ethnic biases with regard to the death penalty.
- Explain why crime statistics may be misleading and should be interpreted with caution.
- Define social class, describe its various components, and discuss the debate between different theorists over those components.
- Differentiate between wealth, power, and prestige, and talk about how each is distributed in the United States.
- Know the consequences of social class on physical health, mental health, family life, education, religion, politics, and crime.
- Know how the federal government defines poverty, as well as the implications of that definition.
- Discuss recent changes in welfare policy in the United States and the controversies associated with those changes.
- Explain how the concept of race is both a reality and a myth.
- Distinguish between race and ethnicity and the concept of what it means to be a member of an ethnic group.
- Understand the concept of multicultural identity and its importance to many Americans.
- Describe the characteristics of minority groups and dominant groups.
- Know what is meant by ethnic identity and the four factors that heighten or reduce it.
- Differentiate between prejudice and discrimination.
- Distinguish between individual discrimination and institutional discrimination.
- Understand how prejudice is learned and how dominant group norms are internalized by members of a group.
- Understand the psychological and sociological theories of prejudice, as well as how they are similar and different.
- Provide examples of both individual and institutional group discrimination.
- List the six patterns of intergroup relations that develop between minority and dominant groups, providing examples for each.
- Compare and contrast the experiences of white Europeans, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans in the United States.
Textbook:
Henslin, James M. Sociology : A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Links to Course Website:
The course website is located at www.pndsociology.weebly.com. It is suggested that students bookmark the course website for easy access.
Explanation for Major and Minor Assignments:
Points will be earned through a variety of assessments and assignments, including short-response questions, essays, debates, I-Movie and Power Point presentations, group projects, and individual projects.
Homework Policy:
Assignments for the current unit can be found on the class wiki page at www.pndsociology.wikispaces.com. In accordance with school policy, assignments will be listed two weeks in advance.
All written assignments are to be completed in ink, on loose-leaf paper (no fringe), and have a complete heading (name, date, class period, and assignment). Guidelines and directions for completing electronic assignments are posted on the wiki page.
Late assignments will be accepted for a minimum of 50% credit, in accordance with school policy.
Your work is something to be proud of! Do not share it with other students. Any student caught giving or copying homework will receive an automatic zero and be subject to further disciplinary action. Remember that there is a difference between "working together" and "copying".
Extra Credit Guidelines:
Occasionally, there will be opportunities for extra credit. All extra credit will be tied to course learning objectives. Extra credit will not be offered on an individual basis, but rather extended to the entire class. In accordance with school policy, extra credit will comprise no more than 3% of a student’s total grade.
Contact Information:
- E-Mail:
- [email protected]
- E-mails will receive a response within 24 hours.
- In-Person:
- Before school (8:00 a.m.-8:25 a.m.) M-W in W-13
- During advisory periods A and B in E-23
- After school (3:30-3:45) in W-13
- Parents and guardians are kindly requested to schedule an appointment via email prior to coming in for a meeting
Expectations for Student Behavior:
- Students will exhibit respect for the teacher, their peers, and themselves at all times.
- Students will respect classroom property, others’ property, and their own property at all times.
- Students will follow directions the first time they are given.
- Students will be a responsible steward of the technology that they have been given and use it appropriately.
- Students will leave cell phones, MP3 players, and any other unapproved technology off during class.
- Students will be in their seats when the bell rings.
- Students will be in dress code when you enter the classroom.
- Students will bring all necessary materials (a charged laptop, a pen, a folder, and loose-leaf paper) with you to class.
- Students will not work on material other than Sociology during class time.
- Students will be active participants in their education. No sleeping in class!
Tardy Policy:
Any student who is not seated in their assigned seat when the bell rings will be considered tardy, unless the student has a valid pass from their prior hour teacher or an administrator.
Students will be allowed two “grace” tardies per trimester. A student’s third tardy to class will result in a detention.
Technology Policy:
A student’s laptop may be used for educational purposes, including taking notes, visiting the class wiki, conducting research, or working on assignments. Use of the computer for purposes irrelevant to Sociology will not be permitted
Misuse of computer privileges will result in a loss of computer privileges during this class.
Students are responsible for making sure their computer is charged and ready for use in class.
Absence Policy:
Whenever you are absent, check the class wiki page and consult with a classmate to see what you may have missed in class.
Any student with an excused absence, as verified by the main office, will have one day to make up assignments for each day they have been absent. Extended absences will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Students with unexcused absences will not be given credit for missed assignments, quizzes, or tests.
If a student knows in advance that they will be absent (for example, a doctor's appointment or an athletic event), the student is requested to submit assignments and take quizzes and tests in advance. Students should check the class wiki page for assignments missed in class and have them prepared to turn in upon their return to class.
Missing class one day before a scheduled test or quiz will not excuse a student from taking the scheduled test on time, with the class.
Responsibility for making up missed assignments, quizzes, and tests belongs to the student. Make-up work should be scheduled before or after class. Missed quizzes and tests will be taken before or after school, not during class.