DR. CYNTHIA L. VIERA
Behavioral Sciences Dept.
Dalby Bldg, Room 318
Office Hours:
Office: 602 285-7241
Home: 480 968-4640
E-mail: Cynthia.Viera@phoenixcollege.edu
M-F: 9:00-10:00 a.m online or at 480 968-4640.
In person: By appointment
Call instructor directly to set up appointment.
SOCIOLOGY: Introduction to Sociology
Required Textbook:
Sociology Matters, (any edition is acceptable)
Author: Richard T. Schaefer
Pub: McGraw-Hill Higher Education
You can use any edition of the textbook even if it is an older edition. Sometimes, you can get
older editions much cheaper by looking at used textbook websites.
MODIFICATIONS TO THIS SYLLABUS MAY BE MADE THROUGHOUT THE
SEMESTER. Such modifications will be posted on the Announcement section of
Blackboard. It is your responsibility to keep apprised of any such modifications and class
announcements. Please refer to the College Catalog and/or the Student Handbook for a
description of students’ rights and responsibilities.
Course Format.
This course is a self-paced, completely online course. The only deadline is the final deadline at
the end of the semester when all materials are due. This deadline is posted on Canvas. There
are no incompletes or extensions of times granted in this course.
Course Description
This course examines societies and the social behavior of groups of people. Included in this
topic are questions regarding how societies transmit their culture, develop norms and laws, and
how the size of a society or group affects the members of the group. Human groups include
crowds, families, gangs, cults, formal organizations as well as the larger society. All of these
different groups influence the behavior of its members and of other groups with which they come
into contact. Also included in the study of sociology is the study of inequalities that we find in
the society, i.e. inequalities due to wealth, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and the different means of
changing the social order to eliminate such inequalities. The last major section of the textbook
relates to social institutions which provide the framework of our society and how they impact
and constrain our individual lives. From the text we will cover Chapters 1-11
1
Withdrawal Deadlines
You must log into the class by the last day of the first week of the semester at noon in order to
avoid being withdrawn as a ‘no-show’. At any time prior to the week of finals, you may contact
me if you wish to withdraw from the class.
Assignments, Quizzes and Tests
Modules. My online classes are organized in modules which correspond to each chapter in the
book. The four major Exams are also found in a separate module following the chapters that are
covered in the exam. You should begin each module by reading the corresponding chapter in the
textbook.
Study Lists. Each module contains a study list of terms that corresponds to the textbook chapter
and the power points. Please find the definitions for the concepts as you are reading the chapter
and viewing the power point presentations. You will not be required to turn in the study list.
Rather, it is a guide for you to use to help you identify the important concepts and to use when
you are taking the quizzes and exams..
Definitions can also be found in the companion website provided by the textbook publisher. The
URL is listed below. This website contains a glossary of all terms in the text as well as chapter
outlines or summaries.
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073404314/student_view0/index.html
Power Point Presentations. Each module contains a power point presentation that corresponds
to the chapter and contains information from the text as well as information from the instructor
that may not be in the text. This would be equivalent to the information you would receive from
in-person lecture sessions. You may view the power point presentations as many times as you
wish.
Assignments. Each chapter module will contain a 10-point assignment that relates to livestream video or a you-tube clip embedded in the assignment page. Most of these clips are short
(less than 15 minutes). Only a few chapters (e.g. Chapter 1) have a link to a full-length video.
Each assignment usually requires a few sentences of discussion or short answers to questions
relating to the videos. You can easily get all 10 points if you can show me that you have read
and reflected on the video. In addition, you can resubmit any assignment as many times as you
wish in order to get the full 10 points. Specific instructions are provided in each assignment.
The 10 chapter assignments will be added together as one Exam grade based on 100 possible
points. So if you complete them all, you can easily get 90-100 points for the overall assignment
score. The intent of the chapter assignments is to provide some “real life” examples of what the
chapters are talking about and to give you a chance to improve your overall grade.
Quizzes. There is a 20-question quiz in each chapter module which you are required to
complete. The quiz will have 20 questions that are true/false and multiple-choice. You will have
2
40 minutes to complete the quiz. Each question will be worth 5 points. If you are not satisfied
with your score, you may retake any quiz as many times as you want. Only the highest scores
of all attempts are retained for your grade.
At the end of the semester the 10 quiz scores are averaged together and are included in your final
grade as one exam score based on 100 possible percentage points. .
Exams. After Chapters 2, 5, 8 and 11 there is a major exam worth 100 points each. You will
have 90 consecutive minutes to complete each exam. You will have only two opportunities to
take the major exams. I will retain the highest exam score of the two attempts.
Each exam will consist of 50 multiple-choice and true/false questions from the textbook and
from my power points. The chapters covered in each exam are as follows:
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Exam 4
Chapters 1 and 2
Chapters 3, 4 and 5
Chapters 6, 7 and 8
Chapters 9, 10 and 11
There is no comprehensive final.
Grade Breakdown
There is no opportunity for extra credit. Final grades are based on the following breakdown of
points:
Assignments
Quizzes
4 Major Exams
100 points
100 points
400 points
Total Points:
600 points
A's
B's
C's
D's
540-600 points
480-539 points
420-479 points
360-419 points
=
=
=
=
90%-100%
80%-89%
70-79%
60-69%
Contacting the Instructor
Please contact me if you have any questions. You may call me at my home (480 968-4640) if it
is before 10:00 p.m. My office number is listed on the first page of this syllabus. You may also
send me an email. My email address is listed below.
My online office hours are from 9:00-10:00 a.m. every day online or through my home phone. I
am on campus in the afternoons but I may be in meetings. Therefore, if you would like to meet
3
with me in person, please call me and we can arrange a convenient time for you to visit me in my
office.
It is a pleasure to have you in my online class!!
Dr. Cynthia Viera
Cynthia.viera@phoenixcollege.edu
Course Objectives:
1.
Define sociology and explain how it differs from other social sciences.
2.
Explain the sociological imagination and how it operates in everyday life.
3.
Describe the basic theoretical perspectives sociologists use to analyze social phenomena.
4.
Name and briefly describe the importance of selected major theorists to the field
of sociology.
5.
List and explain the stages in a basic research design.
6.
Describe and differentiate between qualitative and quantitative research methods.
7.
Define the basic sociological concepts: culture, society, socialization, social structure, groups,
and institutions.
8.
Describe values and norms, including mores, folkways, and laws.
9.
Describe societal and structural factors that can influence individual behavior.
10.
Describe sociological/psychological theories as they relate to the development of the self.
11.
Describe the influence of selected institutions on society and the individual.
12.
Describe the effect of race/ethnicity, sex/gender, and age on social inequality.
13.
Explain major sociological perspectives on social class.
14.
Explain how conflict, functionalist, and symbolic interactionist theoretical perspective
view deviance and conformity.
15.
Describe and explain social change, including the influence of collective
behavior, social movements, and demographic factors.
4