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The sociological imagination links self and society
A central skill in the course is connecting private troubles to public issues, so personal experiences are read against larger economic, political, and cultural structures.
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01:920:101 · Sociology · School 01 — New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences
Introduction to Sociology is a broad entry point into the systematic study of society and social behavior. Rutgers describes it as a course that moves beyond individual experience to examine how culture, power, institutions, and social structure shape opportunities, identities, attitudes, and everyday life.
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Rutgers Schedule of Classes
How hard?
Students rate teaching
SIRS · 7,388 responses · 2014–2025
Spring 2027
13 open in snapshot · 8 instructors
When it meets
Livingston, C/D, Online
Checked-in sections · current seat counts are unavailable.
TF 10:35 AM · Livingston · 9 sections · 9 open
TF 10:35 AM · Livingston · 3 sections · 3 open
TF 10:35 AM · Livingston · 3 sections · 3 open
TF 10:35 AM · Livingston · 3 sections · 3 open
TTh 5:40 PM · C/D · 1 section · 1 open
Online · 1 section · 1 open
Online · 1 section · 1 open
AI-generated overview
Higher means more demanding · AI summary
5 units · topic sequence may vary by instructor
The course usually opens by teaching students how sociology reframes personal experience as part of a larger social pattern. Rutgers sample material emphasizes the sociological imagination and the major interpretive lenses students use throughout the semester, including functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and feminism.
Once the core lenses are in place, the course usually turns to how people become social beings. This part of the class links culture, norms, values, and interaction to identity formation and shows how institutions teach people what counts as normal, deviant, or expected behavior.
Mid-semester work often shifts from micro-level interaction to patterned inequality. Rutgers sample topics point toward class stratification, race and ethnicity, colonialism, and the ways power operates through institutions rather than only through individual prejudice.
A common next step is to examine institutions and identities that feel personal but are deeply social. Family, intimate relationships, gender, health, illness, and sexuality are treated as social arrangements shaped by norms, policy, history, and inequality.
The course typically ends by asking students to use sociological concepts as analytical tools rather than just vocabulary. The goal is to explain present-day social problems by linking personal experiences to institutions, historical forces, and unequal distributions of power and opportunity.
Public Rutgers discussion usually treats Intro to Sociology as approachable for non-majors and core seekers, but those same threads suggest the lived experience can still depend on lecture pacing, section format, and how carefully you keep up with readings and assignments.
A central skill in the course is connecting private troubles to public issues, so personal experiences are read against larger economic, political, and cultural structures.
Norms, identities, and expectations often seem obvious only because socialization makes them familiar from an early age.
Families, schools, states, labor markets, and media do not merely reflect society; they actively shape what people can do and how they understand themselves.
Sociology pushes students to explain recurring differences in wealth, risk, power, and recognition through structure and history rather than individual merit alone.
Common pitfall
Instead
Bring claims back to concepts, theories, and observable patterns instead of stopping at personal reaction.
Common pitfall
Instead
Remember that institutions and peer settings continue shaping identity and behavior well beyond early life.
Common pitfall
Instead
Ask how policies, institutions, and long-run power relations reproduce unequal outcomes even when no single actor explains everything.
13 open · Livingston, C/D, Online
| Section | Status | Instructor | Meeting | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0416691 | Open | Paul Mclean, Olivia Berding | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Wednesday 8:45 AM-9:40 AM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 0516692 | Open | Paul Mclean, Olivia Berding | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Thursday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 0616693 | Open | Paul Mclean, Olivia Berding | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Thursday 12:25 PM-1:20 PM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 0716694 | Open | Ethan Yoo, Paul Mclean | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 2:15 PM-3:10 PM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 0816695 | Open | Paul Mclean, Ethan Yoo | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 5:55 PM-6:50 PM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 0916696 | Open | Ethan Yoo, Paul Mclean | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 12:25 PM-1:20 PM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 1016697 | Open | Paul Mclean, Fairose Lamisa | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Tuesday 12:25 PM-1:20 PM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 1116698 | Open | Paul Mclean, Fairose Lamisa | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Tuesday 8:45 AM-9:40 AM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 1216699 | Open | Fairose Lamisa, Paul Mclean | Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at BE 100; Wednesday 12:25 PM-1:20 PM at TIL 204BE 100TIL 204 | Livingston |
| 1316700 | Open | Celinska | Tuesday 7:30 PM-8:50 PM at TIL 264; Thursday 7:30 PM-8:50 PM at TIL 264TIL 264 | Livingston |
| 3016701 | Open | Brent Hoagland | Tuesday 5:40 PM-7:00 PM at LOR 020; Thursday 5:40 PM-7:00 PM at LOR 020LOR 020 | C/D |
| 9016702 | Open | Sirine Mechbal | ONLINE INSTRUCTION(INTERNET) | Online |
| 9116703 | Open | Seungyun Lee | ONLINE INSTRUCTION(INTERNET) | Online |
Historical student surveys
Teaching
4.22
Course quality
4.15
Response rate
47.9%
Coverage
83 offerings · 2014–2025
| Instructor | Offerings | Teaching | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kristen Springer | 10 | 4.56 | 4.45 |
| Steven Brechin | 7 | 4.54 | 4.39 |
| Jeffrey Dowd | 7 | 4.44 | 4.29 |
| Paul Mclean | 6 | 4.38 | 4.25 |
| Springer Kristen | 5 | 4.54 | 4.42 |
| Dowd Jeffrey | 5 | 4.42 | 4.30 |
Catalog and planning context
Credits
3
Current campuses
Livingston, C/D, Online
Current availability
13 open of 13
Catalog terms
Fall, Spring, Summer
Core codes
SCL, SOEHS
Loaded terms
5
No prerequisite note appears in the checked-in Rutgers catalog snapshots.
No direct degree-list membership appears in the checked-in requirement index.