The Concept of Stress: An Organizing Theme in the Introductory Course

0 ver the past three years, I have experimented with using the concept of stress as a central organizing theme in my introductory sociology courses. Since I have not really changed anything else in my course, I can only conclude that the stress theme is responsible for the increased interest and enthusiasm on the part of my students-an effect that has been reflected in higher student evaluations of the course. What follows is a brief description of how I have incorporated the concept of stress into my introductory courses.