Introduction to Sociology
This course provides a broad overview of sociology and how it applies to everyday life. Major theoretical perspectives and concepts are presented, including sociological imagination, culture, deviance, inequality, social change, and social structure. Students also explore the influence of social class and social institutions, such as churches, education, healthcare, government, economy, and environment. The family as a social structure is also examined.
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Course Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- View people’s behavior from a sociological perspective, discover your own sociological imagination, and apply it to a variety of social problems and situations.
- Discuss the development of sociology as a science and differentiate it from the other social sciences.
- List at least five sociologists and their major contributions to the field.
- Describe the three major sociological perspectives—Functionalist, Conflict, and Interactionist—and analyze human behavior applying these perspectives appropriately.
- Explain the elements of a culture and how culture is different from society.
- Explain the seven steps of the scientific research process and recognize appropriate research procedures in an experiment or an article describing research.
- Explain the relationships between social structure, social stratification, and the consequences of social status.
- List at least four universal social institutions and describe the characteristics of each.
- Describe how inequality and other social factors contribute to social change.
- Summarize the relationship between socialization and the family.
Topic | Lesson Topic | Subtopics | Objectives |
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1 | The Sociological Perspective |
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2 | Development of Sociology |
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3 | The Research Process |
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4 | Culture and Societ |
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5 | Social Structure |
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6 | Socialization |
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7 | Deviance |
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8 | Social Stratification |
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9 | Social Inequality |
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10 | Social Institutions: The Family |
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11 | Social Institutions: Government, Economy, and the Environment |
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12 | Social Institutions: Religion, Education, and Health Care |
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13 | Social Change |
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14 | Course Review |
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There are no prerequisites to take Introduction to Sociology.
The required eTextbook for this course is included with your course purchase at no additional cost. More information on StraighterLine eTextbooks
Prefer the hard copy? Simply purchase from your favorite textbook retailer; you will still get the eTextbook for free.

Sociology in Modules offers approachable content in a well-organized, flexible teaching format. The comprehensive program allows instructors to choose the content they’d like to present and introduce it in a layout that students can manage. Connect, the proven online experience, adapts to student’s learning needs, enhancing the understanding of topics and developing their sociological imagination.
StraighterLine provides a percentage score and letter grade for each course. A passing percentage is 70% or higher.
If you have chosen a
to award credit for this course, your final grade will be based upon that college's grading scale. Only passing scores will be considered by Partner Colleges for an award of credit.There are a total of 1000 points in the course.
Topic |
Assessment |
Points Available |
3 |
Graded Exam 1 |
125 |
6 |
Graded Exam 2 |
125 |
6 |
Midterm Exam |
200 |
10 |
Graded Exam 3 |
125 |
14 |
Graded Exam 4 |
125 |
15 |
Final Exam |
300 |
Total |
1000 |
Final Proctored Exam
The final exam is developed to assess the knowledge you learned taking this course. All students are required to take an online proctored final exam in order complete the course and be eligible for transfer credit.
This course provides a broad overview of sociology and how it applies to everyday life. Major theoretical perspectives and concepts are presented, including sociological imagination, culture, deviance, inequality, social change, and social structure. Students also explore the influence of social class and social institutions, such as churches, education, healthcare, government, economy, and environment. The family as a social structure is also examined.