Learning Objectives

  • Identify major social changes since the 1880s studied by sociologists.
  • Explain why sociologists today focus on globalization, consumption, and the digital world.
  • Describe how sociologists understand continuity and change, particularly in the context of the sociological imagination and the social construction of reality.
  • Differentiate between sociology’s two possible purposes, science and social reform.
  • Evaluate how sociology relates to other social sciences and how sociological knowledge differs from common sense.