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Are there studies of undergraduate sociology programs that would identify which courses are considered to be the core of the field, i.e. fundamental knowledge and fields that any B.A. graduate should have mastered? I’m interested in the structure of sociology curricula, e.g. do most programs require only a few courses (such as theory and methods) and let students choose whatever electives they wish? Or are there more programs that require certain courses as content and distribution requirements for majors, such as balancing macro and micro perspectives, or emphasizing a shared knowledge base instead of individuated student “smorgasbord” study plans?
My impression is that more sociology departments have removed the discipline from the Discipline by allowing students to compose their own set of major courses, perhaps as a way to avoid faculty in-fighting about relative importance of sociological fields and approaches.
Any good studies on this topic?
to Steve Gordon: Greetings, I just found this blog and saw your comment. I am not too familiar w/ navigating around this blog scene. Did you receive no other replies? I thought you had a good question.
My PhD work was done at a large univ., w/ much infighting among the professors. I now teach in a different cultural climate, at a small liberal arts college in the south, private and Lutheran-based. At my liberal arts college, there are 2 sociologists, yet we offer a sociology major & minor, social work minor and crim. justice minor. What I find more limiting here is the core curriculum requirement, which sends all students, of whatever major, thru the same hodge podge of courses, which they have to complete to graduate. Besides the “core” there are the courses of their major. Some disciplines require so many courses within their own major, there is no room for electives.
The focus of our sociology courses tends to be stratification. We have a basic strat course + a poverty course. My colleague & I teach a broad array of other courses including race & ethnicity, population, aging, gender, political soc., theory & methods, criminology, criminal justice, & an internship. The entire set is taught over 2 yrs’ time.
We are currently working on revamping our “core curriculum” at the college so I would be interested in some of your thoughts. Feel free to contact me at: carol.black@newberry.edu
Thank you,
Carol Black
I am looking for recent research on Social Capital and Associations. It seems that interest in Social Capital as a research topic which peaked after the publication of Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone has died out over the past few years. However, the rise of virtual association via online communities is rising. I am collecting pertinent research in the library at community.associcom.com . Please add to the collection and the conversation.