Sociology is a one semester half credit Social Studies course. You will examine various elements of society their similarities and differences across cultures and around the world.
The course is broken down into 6 units.
- Culture. Here you will learn all of the basic elements that make up a culture like beliefs, values, and rules for behavior.
- Society and the Individual - This unit explores how individuals are affected by the society in which they are raised. In this unit you will learn how technology has affected the latest generation as it is one of our culture's most defining elements.
- Deviance and Crime - Deviance is breaking a social rule and crime is breaking a law. Here we examine how these are defined and have changed over time. You will also examine the United States Criminal Justice system and its effectiveness.
- Social Inequality - Though each culture shares beliefs and values and basic rules there are also many inequalities that exist in societies around the world. Here you learn about social stratification and how from throughout history to the present people have been ranked based on wealth, prestige, and power.
- Social Institutions - Family, religion, government, and the media are all considered social institutions. How do they affect our every day lives? What would society do without them? How have they changed over time? How are they different from country to country? All of these questions are examined in Unit 5.
- Social Change - How difficult is it to change an element of society? You will learn about social movements such as the Civil Rights Movement, and the Women's Right's movement to see what characterizes a movement and how they fail or succeed .