This course provides a comprehensive overview of key sociological topics and encourages students to think critically about the social world. Students develop the sociological imagination and examine society through each of the main sociological paradigms and through multiple social institutions. Key topics include research, culture, socialization, society, deviance, crime, stratification, inequality, race, ethnicity, gender and sex, family, religion, education, health, aging, politics, work, economics, the environment, population, urbanization, and social change. Faculty members may readily adapt the course’s OER content to include new developments and research to equip students with what they need to have success in their sociological journey.

This course, based on the OpenStax Sociology 2e text, was developed by Lumen Learning and includes additional noteworthy contributions by the Lumen Learning team and Scott Barr, Sarah Hoiland (Hostos Community College), Shailaja Menon (Houston Community College), Cathy Matresse (Columbia Basin College), Florencia Silveira, and Rebecca Vonderhaar (Tidewater Community College).

Lumen OER courses apply learning science to engage students and better support the learning process. Lumen materials aim to deliver an active learning experience. They include text, images, videos, assessments, directed feedback, practice questions, simulations, and other interactives that invite students to apply their knowledge, improve their understanding, and perform better. Term over term, Lumen’s Waymaker courseware makes it possible to use learning data to identify where content improvements are needed. We work collaboratively with faculty and subject matter experts to develop and test iterative, continuous improvements aimed at increasing efficacy and learning.