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Course Objectives:

This course serves as one of the electives within the Department of Sociology. As such, the course serves a more general or liberal audience. The objectives are more broadly defined than are those of required or core courses. The objectives of this course are, using the concept of civil society as a major guide, to

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introduce major sociological themes, ensure that the student is exposed to importance of reliable and valid methodologies used in understanding society, provide a setting in which the major theories associated with human society can be analyzed, provide an arena in which linkages can be made about both theory and research pertaining to society, examine the relationship among theory, knowledge of society, social response, and public policy relating to social issues, and provide students with alternative models that might be used by students to better understand public concerns and responses to sociological questions and issues.

These goals will be addressed through lecture, discussion, and the application provided through required student projects. The Department of Sociology has voted to support the following list of goals serve as "benchmarks" for students who complete degrees in Sociology at Drake University.

Departmental Goals:

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develop critical reasoning and verbal and written communication skills, and an ability to integrate these; gain an understanding of basic research methods used in the discipline; learn to think theoretically; gain familiarity with the major 19th and 20th century social theorists who typically are perceived as articulating the questions that define the scope of the discipline; understand the historical context for contemporary social events and sociological questions; develop a critical self-awareness and an understanding of the relationship among social thought, ideology, and common sense.

Each instructor in the Department of Sociology is to note the benchmark(s) that his or her course is designed to meet. This course, Sociology 016, has three primary goals. First, it is designed to assist the student in better understanding the historical context for contemporary social events and sociological questions that guide our understanding of society using the concept of civil society as a guideline. This course has a second major goal of providing the student with the opportunity to develop critical reasoning skills relative to the theory application of knowledge about society. A third goal is to develop a critical self-awareness and understanding of the relationship among social thought, ideology, and common sense pertaining to sociological questions and issues. Secondary goals are associated with providing students with an understanding of the reality of social issues as they enter a real world that is driven by social/political/ideological reaction rather than knowledge.

Spring Semester 2000

The Quest for a Civil Society