Florida Department of Education COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - GRADES 9-12
Course Number: 2108300 Course Title: Sociology Credit: 0.5
A. Major concepts/content. Through the study of sociology, students acquire an
understanding of group interaction and its impact on individuals in order that they
may have a greater awareness of the beliefs, values and behavior patterns of
others. In an increasingly interdependent world, students need to recognize how
group behavior affects both the individual and society.
The content should include, but not be limited to, the following: methods of study
employed by sociologists -social institutions and norms -social classes relationships between the sexes -racial and ethnic groups -societal determinants group behavior -socialization process, including the transmission of group
behavior -social deviation -social conflict -social stratification -social
participation -role of social organizations and institutions, including their
interrelationships and interdependence
B. Course Requirements. After successfully completing this course, the student will:
1. Recognize that the study of sociology provides a way of understanding human
behavior and that scientific procedures are used to improve our understanding of
human relationships and the problems of society.
2. Understand the characteristics of social groups, their interrelationships,
interdependence and differences.
3. Define social structure and explain its significance.
4. Recognize how social needs may be met in social institutions.
5. Understand the interrelationship between values, norms and institutions, and their
effects on society.
6. Identify ways people acquire beliefs, values and behavior patterns.
7. Recognize the existence of situations or conditions that are social problems and
propose ways to address them.
8. Apply research, study, critical-thinking and decision-making skills and
demonstrate the use of new and emerging technology in problem solving.
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SOCIOLOGY CURRICULUM
I. Chapter 1: An Invitation to Sociology
1. Students will understand the importance of the sociological imagination and will
describe uses of the sociological perspective.
2. Students will understand the contributions of the major pioneers of sociology.
3. Students will understand the theoretical perspective of the historic interpretations of
human social development and will present projects and activities summarizing
objective/s learned in the chapter.
Chapter 1 Self- Test Questions:

Why do we study sociology scientifically?

What is gained by using sociological imagination?

What are the major ideas expressed by each pioneer of sociology? Provide
examples.

What are the similarities and differences of the three theoretical perspectives.
II. Chapter 2: Sociologists Doing Research
1. Students will understand the importance of sociological research and will describe the
major quantitative and qualitative research methods used by sociologists.
2. Students will use geographic and other tools to collect, analyze, and interpret
sociological data and will discuss basic research concepts, including variables and
correlations and the standards for proving a cause-and-effect relationship.
3. Students will discuss ethics in sociological research and will present projects and
activities summarizing objective/s learned in the chapter.
Chapter 2 Self-Test Questions:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of opened survey research?

What are the steps to doing research in the order of how they would occur?
III. Chapter 3: Culture
1. Students will understand that their personality is a product of heredity and of culture.
2. Students will understand the importance of language to cultural expression.
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3. Students will understand the importance of cultural norms and values.
4. Students will understand what factors cause cultures to change.
5. Students will be able to identify similarities in cultures around the world.
Chapter 3 Self-Test Questions:

How do people develop their specific personality?

What does the Sapir- Whorf Hypothesis state and why is it important to the study
of sociology?

What are the factors that cause cultures to change?
IV. Chapter 4: Socialization
1. Students will understand that socialization is the process of learning to participate in
group life.
2. Students will understand the process of symbolic interactionism.
3. Students will be able to identify and define actions of all major agents of socialization
(family, school, peer groups, the mass media).
4. Students will be able to identify the processes involved in socialization
(desocialization, resocialization, anticipatory socialization and reference groups).
Chapter 4 Self -Test Questions:

How do people learn to participate in group life, and why is it important that they
do so?

What are the agents of socialization and how do they shape someone’s life?

What is the process of socialization in total institutions?
V. Chapter 5: Social Structure
1. Students will understand the sociological term social structure. They will understand
the difference between ascribed status and achieved status.
2. Students will understand that people behave according to prescribed roles and how
these roles can cause strain.
3. Students will understand that the ways in which a society provides for basic needs
affects its culture and social structure.
4. Students will understand what sets industrial and postindustrial societies apart from all
other types of societies.
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Chapter 5 Self-Test Questions:

What do sociologists mean when they describe a “social structure”?

What is the difference between an ascribed status and an achieved status?

What type of society do we live in currently in the United States? How is this
society different from other types of societies?
VI. Chapter 6: Groups and Formal Organizations
1. Students will understand the functions of and differences between primary groups and
secondary groups.
2. Students will understand the function of reference groups and their role in forming an
individual’s identity.
3. Students will understand the five types of social interaction: cooperation, conflict,
social exchange, coercion and conformity.
4. Students will understand the advantages and disadvantages of a bureaucracy.
Chapter 6 Self- Test Questions:

What are the functions of primary groups and secondary groups in everyday life?

How do reference groups impact the formation of identity?

What are examples of the five types of social interaction?

Why do sociologists view bureaucracy as a positive force?
VII. Chapter 7: Deviance and Social Control
1. Students will understand that deviance is a violation of social norms, and thus is hard
to define.
2. Students will understand functionalist theories on deviance (strain theory and control
theory).
3. Students will understand the symbolic interactionist theories on deviance.
4. Students will understand the conflict perspective, particularly how it relates to
minorities and crime.
5. Students will know the approaches to crime control (deterrence, retribution,
incarceration, rehabilitation).
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Chapter 7 Self -Test Questions:

What is the strain theory?

What is the labeling theory?

What are examples of the four approaches to crime control?
VIII. Chapter 8: Social Stratification
1. Students will how the economic dimension of social stratification affects human
motivation and will analyze the relationships among social class and other culture
group membership and political power.
2. Students will differences between the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic
interactionist approaches to social stratification.
3. Students will compare cultural values associated with socioeconomic stratification of
the upper, middle, working, and under-classes.
4. Students will discuss the measurement and extent of poverty in the United States and
will evaluate commitment to poverty programs in the United States.
5. Students will analyze the influence of motivation on socioeconomic consequences
and will present projects and activities summarizing objective/s learned in the
chapter.
Chapter 8 Self-Test Questions:

What are the various theories of social stratification?

What is social mobility in America?
IX. Chapter 9: Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity
1. Students will compare various U.S. subculture groups such as ethnic and national
origin and will describe what sociologists mean by minority, race, and ethnicity.
2. Students will discuss patterns of racial and ethnic relations.
3. Students will discuss the difference between prejudice and discrimination and will
compare and contrast the perspectives of the three theories.
4. Students will compare cultural socialization, norms, values, motivation, and
communication between subculture groups.
5. Students will present projects and activities summarizing objective/s learned in the
chapter and to review for evaluation of the concepts learned in this chapter.
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Chapter 9 Self-Test Questions:

What are the difference between how biologists and sociologists view race?

What is assimilation?

What are the four patterns of racial relations that occur in the United States when
minority groups are accepted by the majority?
X. Chapter 10 Inequalities of Gender and Age:
1. Students will compare various U.S. subculture groups such as gender and age,
distinguish the concepts of sex, gender, and gender identity, and discuss the research
findings regarding gender and behavior.
2. Students will outline the perspectives on gender taken by the three theories.
3. Students will describe the occupational, economic, legal, and political status of
women in the United States.
4. Students will distinguish between age stratification and ageism and will describe the
economic status of the elderly in the United States.
5. Students will describe the legal and political status of the elderly in the United States
and will present projects and activities summarizing objective/s learned in the
chapter.
Chapter 10 Self-Test Questions:

What is the perspective on gender taken by functionalists, conflict theorists, and
symbolic integrationists?

How do the functionalists, conflict theorists and symbolic integrationists approach
ageism?
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