SOC 2071 - Mind, Self, and Society

Credits: 3
Hours/Week: Lecture None Lab None
Course Description: Why do individuals and groups behave as they do?  This course examines from a sociological perspective such topics as building and breaching reality, symbol use, language, the self, socialization, reference groups, naming, social identities, stigma, self-presentation, emotional labor, inequality, and culture. This course meets the requirements for Elective A: Organizations and Institutions for the MN State Sociology Transfer Pathway AA.
 
MnTC Goals
5 History/Social/Behavioral Science, 7 Human Diversity

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1020   with a grade of C or higher OR ENGL 1021  with a grade of C or higher.
Corequisite(s): None
Recommendation: None

Major Content

1. Collective behavior
2. Deviant behavior
3. Group structure and cohesion
4. Personality
5. Research methods
6. Self and Identity
7. Self-presentation
8. Social psychological perspectives
9. Socialization
10. Stigma
11. Symbolic communication and language
12. Theories of sociological social psychology

1. Identify research methods used by social psychologists and considerations in their use
2. Describe central concepts and social processes and explain how these affect the Self and social behavior
3. Interpret ones own observations of social life in social psychological terms
4. Apply sociological theories of social psychology to explain human social behavior
5. Sociological Perspective:
   1. articulate the processes by which social forces affect individuals through organizations or institutions, and vice versa.
   2. apply founding theoretical traditions and concepts in sociology to specific organizations or institutions.
6. Social Structure:
   1. explain how social structure affects human action and social life at the micro, meso, and macro levels.
   2. articulate the processes through which groups, formal organizations, and social networks influence human thought and action.
   3. explain how hierarchy, power and authority operate across specific organizations or institutions.
7. Socialization:
   1. explain the relationship between the self and society.
   2. articulate how the self is socially constructed, maintained and transformed at multiple levels through specific organizations or institutions.

05. 03. Use and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories.

05. 04. Develop and communicate alternative explanations or solutions for contemporary social issues.
Competency 2 (7-10)
07. 01. Understand the development of and the changing meanings of group identities in the United States’ history and culture.

07. 03. Analyze their own attitudes, behaviors, concepts and beliefs regarding diversity, racism, and bigotry.

07. 05. Demonstrate communication skills necessary for living and working effectively in a society with great population diversity.

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