Social Change and Institutions

Course Number:

SOC 205Z

Transcript Title:

Social Change and Institutions

Created:

Aug 16, 2022

Updated:

May 31, 2025

Total Credits:

4

Lecture Hours:

40

Lecture / Lab Hours:

0

Lab Hours:

0

Satisfies Cultural Literacy requirement:

Yes

Satisfies General Education requirement:

Yes

Grading Options

A-F, P/NP, Audit

Default Grading Options

A-F

Repeats available for credit:

0

Alignment with Institutional Learning Outcomes

Major

1. Communicate effectively using appropriate reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. (Communication)

Major

2. Creatively solve problems by using relevant methods of research, personal reflection, reasoning, and evaluation of information. (Critical thinking and Problem-Solving)

Not Addressed

3. Extract, interpret, evaluate, communicate, and apply quantitative information and methods to solve problems, evaluate claims, and support decisions in their academic, professional and private lives. (Quantitative Literacy)

Major

4. Use an understanding of cultural differences to constructively address issues that arise in the workplace and community. (Cultural Awareness)

Major

5. Recognize the consequences of human activity upon our social and natural world. (Community and Environmental Responsibility)

To establish an intentional learning environment, Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) require a clear definition of instructional strategies, evidence of recurrent instruction, and employment of several assessment modes.

Major Designation

1. The outcome is addressed recurrently in the curriculum, regularly enough to establish a thorough understanding.
2. Students can demonstrate and are assessed on a thorough understanding of the outcome.
   • The course includes at least one assignment that can be assessed by applying the appropriate CLO rubric.

Minor Designation

1. The outcome is addressed adequately in the curriculum, establishing fundamental understanding.
2. Students can demonstrate and are assessed on a fundamental understanding of the outcome.
   • The course includes at least one assignment that can be assessed by applying the appropriate CLO rubric.

Suggested Outcome Assessment Strategies

The determination of assessment strategies is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: writings (journals, self-reflections, pre writing exercises, essays), quizzes, tests, midterm and final exams, group projects, presentations (in person, videos, etc), self-assessments, experimentations, lab reports, peer critiques, responses (to texts, podcasts, videos, films, etc), student generated questions, Escape Room, interviews, and/or portfolios.

Department suggestions:

1. Short analytical or application papers on specific concepts, themes, and issues.
2. Term or research papers, using a variety of research strategies.
3. Oral presentations.
4. Group research, analysis, and presentation projects.
5. Class participation in full-class discussions and small groups or teams.
6. Response papers or journals reflecting on life experiences, events, and social phenomena.
7. Service-learning tasks, involving service to community, reflection, and application of sociological perspective.
8. Student-instructor conferences.
9. Portfolios.
10. Video projects.
11. Oral histories and interviews.

Course Activities and Design

The determination of teaching strategies used in the delivery of outcomes is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: lecture, small group/forum discussion, flipped classroom, dyads, oral presentation, role play, simulation scenarios, group projects, service learning projects, hands-on lab, peer review/workshops, cooperative learning (jigsaw, fishbowl), inquiry based instruction, differentiated instruction (learning centers), graphic organizers, etc.

Course Content

Outcome #1: Discuss the history of key social institutions.

• The history of sociology

• Transformation of societies and their impact on social institutions

• Social structure and the major social institutions

Outcome #2: Analyze major social institutions and change using sociological concepts, theory, and research.

• Major sociological theories and their view of social changes and institutional order

• Research methods

• Societal transformation historically and technologies impact on its transformation

• Theoretical explanation comparisons for each social institution

• Functionalists view of the major social institutions and the benefits each has for society

• Conflict theorists’ views of how major institutions reinforce power structures and the polarization of society

• Symbolic Interactionists views on how the social construction of reality and how institutional power plays into how we view reality

Outcome #3: Describe how the structure of institutions shapes patterns of social inequality.

• Social structure and social inequality

• The major economic systems historical and contemporary

• Globalization and its impact on the economy and workers

• Theoretical explanations of poverty

• Power and authority in America

• Forms of government and how each impacts inequality

• Theoretical perspectives on government and power

• Education’s role in socializing children into their social class

• The inequities in the health care system in the United States

Outcome #4: Discuss diversity of experiences that individuals have with institutions based on group membership, such as race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and social class.

• Variations in family life and how race, gender, sexuality, and social class impact one’s family

• Demographics and the changing power dynamics in the United States

• Social hierarchy and government power

• Religious vs. secular forms of government

• Disparities of health based on gender, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity

Outcome #5: Describe how and why societies change over time.

• The interconnection of technology, social institutions, populations and the environment and how they bring about social change

• The importance of modernization in relation to social change

• The importance of collective behavior and social movements in bringing about social change

• Religions impact on social change

• Urbanization of the United States

Suggested Texts and Materials

OpenStax College, Introduction to Sociology, 3e. Rice University, Houston, TX 2015.