Introduction to Sociology: Diversity & Health

An introduction to the discipline of sociology, with a particular emphasis on health disparities and health care in the United States. This site is for Chris Prener’s sections only.

Course Description

Sociology is the empirical study of group and social life. Like all introductory courses, SOC 1120 provides an overview of the basic topics that sociologists regularly engage with under this broad definition. These include the theories used to hypothesize about the social world, the methods used to explore it, and the most common social phenomena we study. For each topic we discuss, specific examples from the sociology of medicine, the sociology of health and illness, and social epidemiology are used.

The course fits into both the legacy core curriculum as well as the new core curriculum:

Course Objectives

By the end of the semester, you should be able to:

  1. Describe the major theoretical traditions within sociology and the way that we use social theory, and apply these theories to current events.
  2. Identify sociological contributions to a number of substantive areas, including urban sociology, crime and deviance, race, class, and gender.
  3. Apply core sociological concepts by analyzing data and your own experiences to understand how they reflect fundamental social issues.
  4. Integrate core sociological concepts into analyses of population health and health disparities using both fundamental cause theory and the social determinants of health perspective as well as other sociological concepts and data.

Resources

Canvas

slides, notes, assignment submission

Syllabus, Section 02

policies, schedule for Sections 02 and H02

Office Hours Sign-up

slots available Wednesdays, 9am to 10:30am

A Sociology Experiment

main course textbook

Sample Materials

If you want a taste of what the class is like, I’ve made older versions of the initial lecture’s slides and notes publicly available.

Contact