How Sociological Leaders Rank Learning Goals for Introductory Sociology

In 2001, the American Sociological Association launched a task force to articulate learning goals for an introduction to sociology course and design an advanced high school sociology curriculum that could also be a model for introductory sociology courses in colleges and universities. This research note describes one of several efforts to validate the learning goals developed by that ASA task force, by asking a sample of peer-designated sociological leaders to complete an electronic survey ranking the importance of the 30 learning goals identified. The top 5 goals were to show the reality of structural factors in social life, place an issue in a larger context, identify and offer explanations for social inequality, recognize the difference between empirical and normative statements, and compare and contrast one’s own context with those of people in other parts of the United States and the world.