What Should Students Understand After Taking Introduction to Sociology?

Abstract

Sociologists have long reflected on what should be taught in sociology. In recent years, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has produced several important publications on key principles and learning goals for the introductory course. However, little current work has systematically examined what peer-recognized leaders in the field deem important for introductory sociology. This paper is an effort to fill this research gap. Our research questions include: What do leaders think students should understand after an introduction to sociology course? Do the goals of Teaching Award winners differ from those of other leaders? How do the leaders' goals compare with those expressed in leading SoTL publications? To address these questions, we interviewed a sample of 44 leaders in 2005-2006. Using qualitative content analysis, we systematically coded, analyzed, and compared their goals.

The Sociological Imagination and Social Responsibility

“…(P. 8) Fifty years later, Mills's promise appears in nearly all introductory texts. Indeed, learning to use the sociological imagination to understand the role of social structures in shaping human behaviors and experiences would seem to be a primary learning goal in most introductory sociology courses today (Grauerholz and Gibson 2006;McKinney et al 2004;Persell, Pfeiffer and Syed 2007;Wagenaar 2004).…”

North Central Sociological Association 2014 Teaching Address: The John F. Schnabel Lecture—Sociology’s Special Pedagogical Challenge

“…While, as noted above, Wagenaar (2004) along with Keith and Ender (2004) found little consensus regarding core content in sociology, Persell (2010) and Persell, Pfeiffer, and Syed (2007) in their study of sociological leaders' views of what are the most important learning goals in sociology ranked "show the relevance and reality of structural factors in social life" (Persell 2010:334) as the most important goal. In addition, these sociological leaders ranked "understand the intersection of biography and history" (Persell 2010:334) as the thirteenth most important of the 30 goals.…”

Rigor Revisited: Scaffolding College Student Learning by Incorporating Their Lived Experiences

“…An individual with sociological imagination has the capacity to see the relationship between the social problems of the world and the personal problems of everyday social life (Mills, ). Sociologists aim for students to develop sociological imagination through introductory courses in the undergraduate sociology curriculum (Persell, Pfeiffer, & Syed, ; Wagenaar, ). Other research points to students developing differential sociological imagination based on their own lived experiences.…”