The Sociological Imagination: Introduction to Sociology is an introductory-level college telecourse designed to give students an in-depth look at groups, communities, institutions, and social situations that illustrate major sociological concepts. Each of the program lessons is structured as a documentary, featuring interviews with people in their family settings, at work, school, worship, and play. These documentaries are thought provoking, emotionally strong illustrations of issues such as socialization, social control, sex and gender, aging, education, collective behavior, and social change. Expert commentary from leading sociologists provides a strong academic context to the issues examined in each documentary program.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

1) From Social Interaction to Social Structure
Shows that the origin of social life is found in a single human interaction, and moves to a review of social relationships and various levels of social structure from groups to societies, demonstrating that sociology is uniquely suited to study these realities.

2) Social Interaction, Conflict and Change
Examines social change and social conflict, how these affect each other and how they influence our lives.

3) Sociological Thinking and Research
Describes how sociologists view the world, going beyond common sense, employing the sociological imagination. Shows the scientific method and presents it being applied to human social life, following sociologists on one research project.

4) Culture
Explains that various cultural practices and beliefs occur within historical and environmental contexts. Portrays cultural diversity within the United States, showing that different subcultures and cultural expressions address human needs in different ways.

5) Socialization
Shows how the agents of socialization influence the self throughout the life cycle.

6) Groups and Group Dynamics
Shows the importance of groups in society and how our lives are influenced by our group membership/affiliation. Examines the interplay of conformity and individualism.

7) Formal Organizations
Shows how we are engulfed by bureaucracies throughout our lives, examining the value and functions of formal organizations as well as their dysfunctions. Also shows alternative forms of formal organizations.

8) Societies
Shows how small, moderate and large/complex societies satisfy basic human needs over space and time, and how societies become more complex as they get larger. Explores the effects of population pressures and changes.

9) Cities and Population
Presents two contrasting views of the city, one portraying the city as gloomy place of psychic stress, social disorganization and conflict. The other view sees the city as a vital human environment--a mosaic of social worlds and diverse communities-that dominates cultures and societies throughout the world.

10) Community
Examines the nature of community and the different forms of community--including small and large territorial communities and non-territorial communities.

11) Social Control
Examines social control in a general sense and explores the limitations and dysfunctions of prisons as institutions of social control and socialization, presenting alternatives to prisons.

12) Deviance
Shows that behavior which comes to be known as deviance occurs in social, historical and cultural contexts. The deviance presented is on a continuum from minor cultural variations to behavior which is destructive to individuals and society including elite deviance.

13) Social Stratification
Explains the stratified nature of social structure and examines different types of stratification systems throughout the world and how they developed.

14) Social Class
Explores social class in the United States by focusing on two teenage girls from different classes. Shows how social class is reflected in their lifestyles, how they look at the world, and in their life chances, asking the question if social stratification in the United States is inherently discriminatory.

15) Race and Ethnicity
Shows the difference between prejudice, discrimination and racism using historical and current examples. Explores the effects of prejudice and discrimination through the eyes of Asian, Hispanic and African American families.

16) Sex and Gender
Examines the lives of three women over several generations in terms of gender. Shows how members of society treat each other differently (unequally) based on gender and sexual differentiation and how that treatment has numerous personal and social results.

17) Aging
Paints a realistic picture of the aged in the United States and how society treats them, depicting the lives of three older persons. Examines likely social changes related to aging.

18) Education
Explores the relationship between education and society as a whole, including: the role of schools in the socialization of the young, and the relationship between schools and political and economic institutions.

19) Family
Examines the family as a resilient institutions adapting its structure and functions to social change. Shows a variety of family forms including a nuclear family, a single parent family, a homosexual family and a family dealing with dysfunction. Examines how they deal with stresses and difficulties.

20) Economic Systems
Shows the relationship between economy and culture and between economy and family. Examines the socio-economic relationships between family and community and how macroeconomic forces affect the community and families in both positive and negative ways.

21) Religion
Explores the various functions of religion using several major religions. Shows how religion reflects society, and how it is involved with social change and social conflict.

22) Mass Media
Demonstrates the influence of mass media on us as individuals, on society, and on culture. Shows how mass media makes the world smaller through instantaneous communication and how it helps set the national agenda.

23) Political Systems
Examines various forms of governments--including autocracy, totalitarianism and democracy-showing how government power is abused and used by the powerful. Illustrates how people can gain power and change governments.

24) Science and Technology
Examines the institution of science, how it exists in a social context, how it is influenced by government and forces within the community. Illustrates using research on AIDS and shows the affects of research and treatment on individuals.

25) Collective Behavior and Social Movement
Shows that significant social change is capable of occurring and has taken place through collective behavior and social movements. Different types of social movements are shown-including revolution, reforms movement, and conservative movement.

26) Social Change
Shows the inevitability of social change and presents social change as a historical process as well as an on-going process affecting our lives now and in the future, examining social changes occurring on different levels of social organization.