University of Canterbury Information: Course Description: SOCI111 introduces you to the discipline of Sociology. Sociology explores people and society. It examines our social institutions; our families, the state, and social relationships like gender and ethnicity, to help make sense of how we both experience and interpret our rapidly changing world. In Exploring Society the topics covered include: health, gender, sexuality, sport, death, the city, crime and religion. Sociologists use a variety of methods to gather information and analyse anything from major world events to seemingly mundane everyday practices. As you attend lectures and tutorials in SOCI111 you will hopefully begin to grasp some of the excitement of this process of analysis. You will be involved as both participants and contributors in analysing some of the major trends and events of our time. You will be asked to make use of and extend the basic sociological method – asking questions – about takenfor-granted social worlds, activities and events. In the process, you will be introduced to critical ways of thinking, and we will encourage you to develop sociological imaginations. Such imaginations will allow you to make connections between personal experiences, and the social and historical contexts within which such experiences are produced. They will hopefully provoke you to raise questions that enable you to critically reflect on both the connections, and how you make sense of them. Whether you intend continuing in sociology or not, we hope you will find the course to be rewarding. Link to website: http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/courseinfo/GetCourseDetails.aspx?course=SOCI111&occurrence=17S1(C) &year=2017 Learning Outcomes: As a result of doing this course we hope that you will gain a greater appreciation of sociology as a discipline; that you will develop a good understanding of the scope and potential of the sociological endeavour; and that you will begin to lay a foundation of research, reading, reflection and writing skills that will stand you in good stead for involvement in further courses whether within the School of Social and Political Science or not. By the end of this course, you will: • be able to appreciate Sociology as a discipline • have a good understanding of the scope and potential of the sociological endeavour • have developed reading, writing and reflection skills that will stand you in good stead for involvement in further courses • be able to think about issues that concern you from a sociological perspective • demonstrate a familiarity with main topics in the discipline ( e.g. gender, crime, class etc)