Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
Course Description
This course delves into the basic principles of group living. Different cultures and their class systems are discussed, and these are compared with the U.S. society. Sociology also deals with such important situations as marriage and family, divorce, juvenile delinquency, crime, minority groups, racism, and world religion.
Credit: ½
Semester Course
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Scientific Ways of Knowing
· Students realize that the current body of scientific knowledge must be based on evidence, be predictive, logical, subject to modification, and limited to the natural world. This includes demonstrating an understanding that scientific knowledge grows and advances as new evidence is discovered to support or modify existing theories, as well as to encourage the development of new theories. Students are able to reflect on ethical scientific practices and demonstrate an understanding of how the current body of scientific knowledge reflects the historical and cultural contributions of women and men to provide us with a more reliable and comprehensive understanding of the natural world.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Describe the ethical practices and guidelines in which science operates.
CONCEPTS /VOCABULARY
§ History and scope of the field of sociology.§ Methods used by sociologists to study people.
§ The importance of ethics in research. / § Conflict Perspective
§ Functionalist Perspective
§ Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
§ Hypothesis
§ Ethics
§ Experiments
§ Interview
§ Observation
§ Survey
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Analyze a social situation or institution using one of the three main sociological perspectives.
§ Examine the methods for gathering and using data in the field of sociology.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Civil and Human Rights
· There are challenges to civil rights and human rights throughout the world. Politics, economics, and culture can all influence perceptions of civil and human rights.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Beliefs about civil and human rights vary among social and governmental systems.
· Nations and international organizations pursue their own interests on issues related to civil and human rights, resulting in both conflict and cooperation particularly as it relates to injustices against minority groups.
· Modern instances of genocide and ethnic cleansing present individual, organizational and national issues related to the responsibilities of participants and non-participants.
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ Culture and types of culture.
§ The connection between culture and language.
§ Differences among world cultures.
§ Cultural change.
§ Theory of deviance
§ Social construction of discrimination
§ Gender-role socialization
§ Institutional racism / § Culture
§ Subculture
§ Counterculture
§ Ethnocentrism
§ Norms
§ Values
§ Beliefs
§ Non-Material Culture
§ Material Culture
§ Civil Disobedience
§ Immigrant
§ Social Stratification
§ Social Class
§ Social Category
§ Power
§ Authority
§ Control Theory
§ Labeling Theory
§ Affirmative Action
§ 19th Amendment
§ 13th Amendment
§ 15th Amendment
§ 24th Amendment
§ De Facto Segregation
§ De Jure Segregation
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY (cont’d)§ Racism
§ Sexism
§ Pink-Collar Jobs
§ Glass Ceiling
§ Ageism
§ Assimilation
§ Pluralism
§ Subjugation
§ Genocide
§ Civil Rights Act
§ Hate Groups
§ Jim Crow Laws
§ Literacy Tests
§ Poll Tax
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Determine the impact governmental policy has on majority/minority relations.
§ Analyze the effectiveness of grass-roots movements on U.S. policy-making.
§ Create examples to explain how deviance is relative to time and space.
§ Give examples of how deviance is functional and dysfunctional.
§ Interpret differences in crime and arrest rates by social categories of people (ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, age, etc.).
§ Assess the effects of various laws and policies relating to social control.
§ Identify the social construction of race, including historical variations in conceptualization of the nations of “race.”
§ Describe the most common patterns of minority group treatment by majority groups (assimilation, pluralism, subjugation, genocide).
§ Compare the status of minorities in the U.S. today with the social status of minorities in early 19th century U.S. society.
§ Define gender-role socialization and illustrate the ways in which family, media, and schools contribute to it.
§ Explain how institutional racism works in American society.
§ Compare the level of discrimination in our society today compared to our society 200 years ago.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Region
· A region is an area on the earth’s surface that is defined by certain unifying characteristics which give it a measure of homogeneity and distinguish it from surrounding areas. The unifying characteristics may be physical or cultural. Regions change over time.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Criteria are used to organize regions and as the criteria change, the identified regions change (e.g., types of economic activities, ethnic groups, natural vegetation).
· The characteristics of regions change over time and there are consequences related to those changes (e.g., industrial belt to rust belt, pristine locations to tourist attractions, colony to independent state).
· There are interconnections within and among physical and human regions (e.g., river systems, transportation linkages, common currency).
· Regions are used as a basis to analyze global geographic issues (e.g., desertification, political disputes, economic unions).
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ Cultural similarities and differences. / § Community
§ Cultural Universals
§ Cultural Particulars
§ Social Institution
§ Social Networks
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Compare and contrast cultural similarities and differences.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Culture
· The study of culture examines the socially transmitted beliefs, values, institutions, behaviors, traditions and way of life of a group of people; it also encompasses other cultural attributes and products, such as language, literature, music, arts and artifacts, and foods. Students come to understand that human cultures exhibit both similarities and differences, and they learn to see themselves both as individuals and as members of a particular culture that shares similarities with other cultural groups, but is also distinctive. In a multicultural, democratic society and globally connected world, students need to understand the multiple perspectives that derive from different cultural vantage points.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Human beings create, learn, share, and adapt to culture.
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ Types of social status.
§ The structure of social groups.
§ Types of social interaction.
§ Role of cultural groups in society.
§ Reasons for conformity.
§ Reasons for rebellion. / § Ascribed Status
§ Achieved Status
§ Roles
§ Role Conflict
§ Role Strain
§ Collectivists
§ Primary Group
§ Primary Relationships
§ Secondary Relationships
§ Cultural Diffusion
§ Assimilation
§ Multiculturalism
§ Cultural Pluralism
§ Ethnic Movements
§ Melting Pot
§ Tossed Salad
§ Culture
§ Subculture
§ Counterculture
§ Social Exchange
§ Religion
§ Judaism
§ Hinduism
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY (cont’d)§ Buddhism
§ Islam
§ Christianity
§ Subculture
§ Counterculture
§ Cooperation
§ Conflict
§ Social Exchange
§ Coercion
§ Conformity
§ Groupthink
§ Civil Disobedience
§ Grass-Roots Movement
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Analyze how status and role affect interactions in a group.
§ Explain the common forms of social interaction.
§ Compare the views of society as a melting pot or a tossed salad.
§ Identify cultural groups that have influenced policy-making in the 20th century.
§ Compare and contrast the political/economic experiences of two or more ethnic groups in American society.
§ Evaluate the effectiveness of the counterculture movement.
§ Identify the preconditions that guide the outcome of collective behavior.
§ Compare and contrast cyclical and evolutionary theories of social change.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Technology
· Technological advances present issues related to costs, distribution of benefits, ethical considerations, and deliberate and unintended consequences.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· The development and use of technology influences economic, political, ethical considerations, and deliberate and unintended consequences.
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ The role of technology in society. / § Technology
§ Discovery
§ Invention
§ Diffusion
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Analyze the change technology brings to society.
§ Evaluate the pros/cons of technological change on society.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Global Connections
· The 21st century is characterized by changing circumstances as new economies emerge and new technologies change the way people interact. Issues related to health, economics, security and the environment are universal.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Advances in communications technology have profound effects on the ability of governments, interest groups, individuals and the media to share information across national and cultural borders.
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ The role of technology in how governments and interest groups disseminate information / § Government
§ Interest Group
§ Lobbying
§ Mass media
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Analyze the effects of advances in communications technology on the ability of governments, interest groups, individuals and the media to share information.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
· Schools, religious institutions, families, government agencies, and the courts all play an integral role in our lives. They are organizational embodiments of the core social values of those who comprise them, and play a variety of important roles in socializing individuals and meeting their needs, as well as in the promotion of societal continuity, the mediation of conflict, and the consideration of public issues.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Institutions are the formal and informal political, economic, and social organizations that help us carry out, organize, and manage our daily affairs.
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ Social institutions.
§ Similarities and differences of world religions. / § Government
§ Economics
§ Schools
§ Sports
§ Science
§ Religion
§ Judaism
§ Hinduism
§ Buddhism
§ Islam
§ Christianity
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Determine the role social institutions play in the lives of people.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Financial Responsibility and Money Management
· Responsibility personal finance decisions are based upon reliable information and used to reach personal goals
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Financial decision-making involves considering alternatives by examining costs and benefits.
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ Types and dimensions of social stratification.
§ Effects of social stratification.
§ Government response to stratification. / § Poverty
§ Wealth
§ Power
§ Prestige
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Consider the effects of cultural relativism.
§ Explain the effects of ethnocentrism.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Role of the People
· The government of the United States protects the freedoms of its people and provided opportunities for citizens to participate in the political process.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· In the United States, people have rights which protect them from undue governmental interference. Rights carry responsibilities which help define how people use their rights and which require respect for the rights of others.
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ Nature of deviance.
§ United States criminal justice system.
§ Types of crime. / § Deviance
§ Crime
§ Blue Collar Crime
§ White Collar Crime
§ Rehabilitation
§ Punishment
§ Conformity
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Explain how levels of deviance can positively affect society.
§ Judge the merits of the death penalty.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Human Settlement
· People live in settlements which vary in size, composition, location, arrangement, and function. These settlements are the focus of most aspects of human life including economic activities, transportation systems, governance, communications and culture. Human settlements differ between regions, places and over time.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Patterns of settlement change over time in terms of functions, sizes, and spatial patterns (e.g., a canal town becomes an industrial city, a rural area becomes a transportation hub, cities merge into megalopolis).
· Urbanization provides opportunities and challenges for physical and human systems in cities and their surrounding regions (e.g., development of suburbs, loss of habitat, central markets, squatter settlements on city outskirts, regional specialization services or products, creation of ethnic enclaves).
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ Emigration and Immigration
§ Social and religious differences / § Urbanization
§ Suburbanization
§ Central-City Planning
§ Ghetto
§ Barrio
§ Subculture
§ Migration
§ Population Pyramids
§ Assimilation
§ Cultural Pluralism
§ Subjugation
§ Institutionalized Discrimination
§ Population Transfer
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Analyze the impact of immigration on social institutions in the United States.
§ Interpret the sources of prejudice and discrimination, especially the resource-conflict theory.
§ Delineate the push-pull factors that affect emigration and immigration.
§ Discuss the major reasons for the decline of the cit and the impact of this decline.
Sociology Grades 11, 12
2011-2012
Social Studies Course of Study
TOPIC: Civic Participation and Skills
· Individuals and groups have the capacity to engage with others to impact global issues.
CONTENT STATEMENT
· Individuals can evaluate media messages that are constructed using particular tools, characteristics and conventions for unique purposes. Different communication methods affect how people define and act on issues.
· Individuals can assess how effective communicators address diverse audiences.
· Individuals can identify, assess and evaluate world events, engage in deliberative civil debate and influence public processes to address global issues.
· Effective civic participation involves identifying problems or dilemmas, proposing appropriate solutions, formulating action plans, and assessing the positive and negative results of actions taken.
· Individuals can participate through non-governmental and non-profit organizations to help address humanitarian needs.
CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY§ Collective behavior / § Group Think
§ Public Opinion
§ Mass Hysteria
§ Fads
PERFORMANCE SKILLS:
§ Analyze the effects of crowds on individual behavior.