A Workbook for an Introductory Course in Sociology

Book excerpt: A workbook for an introductory course in Sociology--a broad discipline in terms of both methodology and subject matter. Topics include social stratification (i.e. class relations), religion, secularization, modernity, culture and deviance, and approaches include both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. This is because, as much of what humans do fits under the category of social structure and agency, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to further subjects, such as medical, military and penal organizations, the internet, and even the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge. The range of social scientific methods has also been broadly expanded. The linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-20th century led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and "postmodern" approaches to the study of society. Conversely, the workbook applies new mathematically rigorous approaches, such as social network analysis.