Sociology 100 (Introduction to Sociology)
John Lie
This course will challenge your views on a wide range of issues that affect us all. It will also
excite your interest in a unique sociological way of understanding your world. We will
analyze the impact of new technologies on work, the globalization of culture, emerging
patterns of class and gender inequality in the United States and internationally, the
redefinition of sexuality, changes in the organization of the family, the social dimension of
environmental problems, criminal and deviant behaviour, and so forth. You will learn to
understand these and other pressing social issues by analyzing the way the social world is
organized. We may like to think of ourselves as perfectly free, but powerful social forces
open up some opportunities and close off others, thus constraining our freedom and helping
to make us what we are. By examining the operation of these social forces, sociology can
help us know ourselves and see what we can become.
Texts
Robert J. Brym and John Lie. 2007. Sociology: Your Compass for a New World, 2nd brief edition
(Belmont, CA: Wadsworth).
Barbara Ehrenreich. 2001. Nickle and Dimed (New York: Henry Holt).
Walter LaFeber. 1999. Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism (New York: W.W. Norton).
Eric Schlosser. 2001. Fast Food Nation (New York: HarperCollins).
Evaluation
Attendance and participation (10%)
Two (2) mid-term examinations (20% each; 40%)
Paper (20%) (The topic and the length to be negotiated with your GSI)
Final examination (30%)
Schedule
Date
`
Topic
Assignment
3 September
Introduction
5 September
Sociology & its Methods
Brym & Lie, chap.1
10 September
Culture
Brym & Lie, chap.2
12 September
Socialization
Brym & Lie, chaps.3
17 September
Interaction & Organization
Brym & Lie, chaps.4 & 5
19 September
Deviance & Crime, i
Brym & Lie, chap.6
24 September
Deviance & Crime, ii
Begin Schlosser
26 September
Health, Medicine & Disability
Brym & Lie, chap.14
Continue Schlosser
1 October
Population, Urbanization
& the Environment
Brym & Lie, chap.18
Continue Schlosser
3 October
Fast Food Nation?
Finish Schlosser
8 October
Review
10 October
First Mid-Term Examination
15 October
FALL STUDY BREAK
17 October
Stratification
Brym & Lie, chap.7
22 October
Globalization, Inequality,
& Development
Brym & Lie, chap. 8
24 October
Race & Ethnicity
Brym & Lie, chap.9
29 October
Sexuality & Gender
Brym & Lie, chap.10
Begin Ehrenreich
31 October
Families
Brym & Lie, chap.11
Continue Ehrenreich
5 November
Politics, Work & the Economy
Brym and Lie, chap.13
Continue Ehrenreich
7 November
Nickle & Dimed
Finish Ehrenreich
12 November
Religion & Education
Brym & Lie, chap.12
14 November
The Mass Media
Brym & Lie, chap.14
19 November
Review
21 November
Second Mid-Term Examination
26 November
None
28 November
THANKSGIVING BREAK
3 December
Social Movements
Brym & Lie, chap. 15
Continue LaFeber
5 December
The New Global Capitalism?
Continue LaFeber
10 December
Conclusion
Finish LaFeber
Begin LaFeber