Guest lecturers, including American Indian leaders, provide additional perspectives. 101 Introduction to Sociology Fall, Spring, and Summer. This course provides an introduction to theory and research in sociology. It demonstrates how the insights, theories, and methods of sociological analysis can be brought to bear on major issues of social life. A primary goal is to convey a sense of the manner in which sociologists formulate theories and how the collection and analysis of data are used to evaluate those theories.
Students undertake guided research exercises that involve using computers to analyze actual data.
Classical theorists from Karl Marx and Max Weber to Karl Polanyi focuses their writings on emergent capitalist economies and societies. Contemporary social theorists likewise have sought to understand the interaction between capitalism and the social forces reacting against and emerging from modern economic development. From exchange and rational choice theories to network analysis and institutional theory, a central theme in contemporary social thought has been the relationship between the economy and society, economic action and social structure, rationality and fundamental social processes. This course provides an introduction to social though and research seeking to understand and explain the relationship between economy and society in the modern era. Heckathorn This course examines contemporary social problems, with a focus on their sources in the organization of society.