INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
SOC 134
Spring 2008
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Request to take the make-up exam
How many times have you asked yourself?
What's wrong with a guy trying on women's underwear?
Why shouldn't I name my first born child "Cluck"?
Why don't we eat insects?
Whatever happened to Schlitz beer?
To answer these and more serious questions like "What's happening to the jobs in the United States today?" or "Why is violent crime declining?" requires you to think sociologically. In this course you will be introduced to the sociological way of thinking. At the core of the sociological perspective is the view that social reality is more than, and quasi independent from, the individual who make it up. Thus, you have probably never personally researched the food value of insects and decided they were unworthy food items. Yet, I'm sure you don't eat them regularly. Why don't you? How did you learn what is proper to eat and what isn't? And why do we all have such a strong reation to the mere thought of eating insects? We cannot understand our "personal choice" not to eat insects without first considering American culture and our socialization into it. In the same way, we cannot understand patterns in criminal behavior, changes in the family, or economic restructuring by focusing on individuals in isolation. In combination with scientific research, the sociological perspective is key to understanding historical trends and current social reality, and to finding solutions for social problems.