Sociology

The sociology major at UPJ is designed to stress the value of the sociological perspective in depth. Therefore, the major is designed:

TO EMPHASIZE: (1) the pre-eminence of social structures and social processes at both the macro and the micro level of analysis; (2) the importance of logical scientific reason and method (theoretical and empirical analysis); and (3) the significance of the linkage between an individual's biographical experience and larger social processes

TO INTRODUCE SOCIOLOGY as a discipline which crosses, and links, the scientific and humanistic perspectives

TO OFFER ALTERNATIVES to the comfortable familiarity of our own time, place, and circumstances

TO OFFER MULTIPLE EXPERIENCES for students to study the relationship between society and the individual from a large scale to a small scale level of analysis and

TO AID STUDENTS in identifying uses for the sociological perspective in their future lives.

In general, the sociology curriculum should:

• facilitate logical thinking,
• advance literacy (especially regarding the logic and methodology of inference),
• encourage the development of personal skills in numeracy,
• and raise consciousness about scientific inquiry, human values, civic responsibility, and other cultures and subcultures within our own culture as well as globally.

The sociology curriculum is intentionally designed to challenge the ordinary taken-for-granted notions about the world, and to contribute to the intellectual development of the student.

We believe that our curriculum reflects the strong historical role that sociology has played in the liberal arts as well as the mandate of sociology to encourage historical sensitivity and a deep interest in cultural diversity.