Sociology

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Sociology for "Scientific" Eyes
Introduction: Teaching Ideas

A. Methods of Sociological Research/Sociology as Science

• What is a science?
• Is sociology a science?
• Is there a difference between social sciences and other sciences?
  • Black hole “precision” (Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle)?
  • How the “hard”and “natural” sciences are social (or how social science informs our understanding of them)
• What is “objectivity”? “Value-free”science?

B. Theoretical Perspectives

• Illustrate functionalist, conflict & symbolic interactionist perspectives on tv or the internet or cellphones