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1.1 Identify major social changes studied by sociologists since the 1880s.

Video Link: How Social Networks Changed The World 
Description: The video lists the impact of social networks on social interactions, education, and the workplace.

Audio Link: Should Internships be Paid, Unpaid or Illegal? 
Description: The podcast discusses the growth and legality of unpaid and low-paid interns. The growth of unpaid labor has virtually become a requirement for getting into the white-collar workforce.

Web Resource: The Origins and Effects of the Industrial Revolution 
Description: The website lists major social events and innovations as society has evolved from an agricultural society to a postindustrial society. It also organizes events and innovations according to education, society, family, production, communication, and technology, all of which have impacted social changes.

1.2 Explain why sociologists today focus on trends in globalization and consumption.

Video Link: Blogging to Enhance Student Engagement in Social Problems 
Description: The video explains how blogging helps to introduce a topic, leads to discussions and helps facilitate solutions.

Video Link: How does Globalization Affect you? 
Description: The video explains what globalization is and its effects on society on both a micro and a macro level.

Audio Link: How Globalization Impacts the Third World 
Description: The podcast introduces the idea of globalization and the notion that the influence of existing world powers is sidelined because of the influence of social media. It suggests that communication barriers are breaking down because of online, free translation services such as Google Translate and Global.

Web Resource: The Ultimate Media Consumption Device 
Description: The article discusses that as the smartphones’ technological capabilities increase, so does the increase in media consumption.

1.3 Describe what we mean by the McDonaldization of society.

Video Link: Understanding the McDonaldization Theory 
Description: The video explains George Ritzer’s McDonaldization theory.

Audio Link: Saying Sayonara To ‘Super-Size Me’ 
Description: The audio discusses the reasons why major food companies are cutting calories in their food products.

Web Resource: The Effects of Fast-Tracking Higher Education 
Description: As colleges feel under pressure to graduate more students for less money, they are cutting the number of credits students need to graduate and are removing some liberal arts courses from the curriculum.

1.4 Explain sociology’s approach to studying social life, including using the sociological imagination and examining the relationship between private troubles and public issues.

Video Link: The Sociological Imagination Explained 
Description: The video explores why theories are important to our understanding of society and explains Mill’s concept of sociological imagination.

Audio Link: Motivation Behind the Boston Marathon Bombing 
Description: A look into the life experiences that led the Tsarnaev brothers to carry out the Boston marathon bombing.

Web Resource: The International Center for Research on Women 
Description: The website classifies women’s contributions to society as well as the road blocks that prevent them from becoming economically independent and able to fully participate in the society of some countries.

1.5 Differentiate between sociology’s two possible purposes, science and social reform.

Video Link:  The Data Science for Social Good Summer Fellowship 
Description: This video highlights students who developed applications that help reduce crowding on busses, identify students at risk of missing college opportunities, predict cardiac arrests in hospital patients, and other prototypes that will help their project partners do more with their data in the future.

Audio Link: Defining the New 'Social Animal' 
Description: David Brooks, a New York Times political commentator, discusses the reason some social policies fail. If you only profile and track using databases policies, without taking into consideration that human nature is based on social connections, your research might yield inadequate results.

Web Resource: Using Social Media Outlets to Study Society 
Description: The article discusses that even though social networks (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) afford a new way for social scientists to observe interactions between enormous amounts of people and a way to study society, social scientists have a problem with this kind of data. While a vast amount of computational data is collected, these companies aggregate the data for commercial purposes.

1.6 Evaluate the ways in which sociological knowledge differs from common sense.

Video Link: Unravel the Myth of Common Sense 
Description: By methodically testing beliefs based on common sense against facts, sociologists can sort out which common beliefs hold true and which do not. To achieve this, sociologists use diverse social science research designs and methods. 

Audio Link: Does Political Correctness Stifle Creativity 
Description: The study tests the validity of common beliefs such as whether the use of “politically correct” language in the workplace stifles creativity and whether educating people about stereotypes would in turn reduce stereotypes. However, instead of relying on perception, the researchers decided to test the validity of common beliefs using empirical research.

Web Resource: Sociology versus the Obvious 
Description: This website explains the differences between common sense and science and the reasons sociologists systematically test beliefs based on common sense against facts using scientific methods.