1. You’ve learned that sociology is the study of human society and social behavior. That’s a broad discipline! What is some aspect of human society or social behavior that you think might be interesting to study?
2. What are you majoring in?  Now, look through the table of contents in the book and decide which chapter you think might be most relevant to your major or specialization. Why do you think it will relate?
3. What are the two ‘draws’ to sociology that Collins describes? Which of these seems more appealing to you? Why?  What are the potential conflicts between these two different paths within sociology?
4. There are many sociological theorists mentioned in Chapter 1. Looking at the information about these individuals, whose ideas do you find the most interesting? Why? Whose ideas do you find most uninteresting, or perhaps disagreeable? Why?
5. List two of your relationships that are Gemeinschaft and two that are Gesellschaft. Which of these relationships are more important to you? Why?

Remember to draw on course material to answer the questions AND to cite and reference the course materials that you use in APA style (see the Course Resources Module for help with APA style).

NOTE:

Remember, there will be ten discussion opportunities during the quarter. You must participate in at least FIVE. You decide which five. I will drop your five lowest scores. Each post is worth 20 points. Extra posts do not equal extra credit. Strong posts will demonstrate understanding and connection to course materials and include citations/references (see grading rubric for details).

You also must respond to two peers’ responses to the prompt for the discussions in which you choose to participate. Responses are due by midnight on Wednesday. Responses should be at least 150 words each (put the word count in all responses). Replies should take the conversation further by adding questions or your own ideas in your replies. In addition, you can point out both strengths and areas of improvement on your peers’ submission. Strong posts will demonstrate understanding and connection to course materials. Each reply is worth 5 points, for a total of 10.

You have the opportunity to earn extra credit points by responding to your peers’ replies to your own thread (100 minimum word count, worth up to 2 points each).  These are due on the same day as your other replies to peers. In order to ‘entice’ others to respond to you, and thus be able to take advantage of this extra credit opportunity, you will have to craft a strong original post that is engaging enough to others that they are interested in replying to it. Posting early in the discussion also helps ;-)