OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 10.2This section does a great job critiquing the biological conceptualization of race and discusses why race is socially constructed. Ethnicity is also defined and ethnic identity is briefly discussed. Examples such as former president Barack Obama and Tiger Woods are used to illustrate the challenge of placing people into racial categories. These examples are currently relevant, but may need updated in several years. Race and ethnicity are defined and the terms compared. This section provides a fine overview of these concepts.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 10.4This section provides an overview of individual and institutional racism. There is not enough discussion of colorblind or aversive racism. This chapter should be supplemented with sources that further illustrate types of racism. Section 5 also includes a discussion of white privilege which may align with this learning outcome as well as an outcome on the impacts of race.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World Chapter, Sections: 10.4-6Section 4 discusses the impact of discrimination within various institutions. Section 5 discussedinequality and white privilege. Section 6 discusses issues specific to 21 st century racial and ethnic relations,specifically affirmative action and immigration.

OER Text Material Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 10.2This section does a great job critiquing the biological conceptualization of race and discusses why race is socially constructed. Ethnicity is also defined and ethnic identity is briefly discussed. Examples such as former president Barack Obama and Tiger Woods are used to illustrate the challenge of placing people into racial categories. These examples are currently relevant, but may need updated in several years.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Section: 17.317.3 – Sociological Perspectives on Religion:Summarize the major functions of religion.Explain the views of religion held by the conflict perspective.Explain the views of religion held by the symbolic interactionist perspective.Sociological perspectives on religion aim to understand the functions religion serves, the inequality andother problems it can reinforce and perpetuate, and the role it plays in our daily lives (Emerson,Monahan, & Mirola, 2011). Table 17.1 “Theory Snapshot” summarizes what these perspectives say.Limited content on Weber’s work on Religion.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Chapter 17Religion in the United States - Section 17.5Describe the extent and correlates of religious affiliation.Explain the different dimensions of religiosity.Describe the correlates and consequences of religiosity.The United States is generally regarded as a fairly religious nation. In a 2009 survey administered by theGallup Organization to 114 nations, 65% of Americans answered yes when asked, “Is religion animportant part of your daily life?” (Crabtree, 2010). In a 2007 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Lifesurvey, about 83% of Americans expressed a religious preference, 61% were official members of a localhouse of worship, and 39% attended religious services at least weekly (Pew Forum on Religion & PublicLife, 2008). These figures show that religion plays a significant role in the lives of many Americans.Types of Religious Organizations – content in OER – Section 17.4​ - provides additional information forthis learning objective.

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Sections: 17.1-2 

OER Text MaterialSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Chapter 17Section 17.2​ Key World Religions Today (​provides some content through the exploration of Cross Cultural Perspectives of Religion - page 656)Today the world’s largest religion is Christianity, to which more than 2 billion people, or about one-thirdthe world’s population, subscribe. Christianity began 2,000 years ago in Palestine under the charismaticinfluence of Jesus of Nazareth and today is a Western religion, as most Christians live in the Americasand in Europe. Beginning as a cult, Christianity spread through the Mediterranean and later throughEurope before becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire. Today, dozens of Christiandenominations exist in the United States and other nations. Their views differ in many respects, butgenerally they all regard Jesus as the son of God, and many believe that salvation awaits them if theyfollow his example (Young, 2010).

OER Text Material Stages of the Sociological Research Process“Eye on Society: Doing Sociological Research” (Chapter Two) Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social WorldList the major stages of the sociological research processDescribe the different types of units of analysis in sociologyExplain the differene between an independent variable and a dependent variableResearch Design in SociologyThis section lists the major advantages and disadvantages of surveys, experiments and observational studies Good general content – section 2.2 and 2.3 - Missing content covering “defining the problem” within the steps of the social science research process

OER Text MaterialEye on Society: Doing Sociological ResearchEthical Issues in Social Science This section describes two kinds of ethical issues and/or guidelines that characterize sociological research.Sociological Research in the Service of Society Should the primary aim of sociological research be to help improve society, or should its primary aim be to discover social knowledge for its own sake? There is no right or wrong answer to this question. However, following in the spirit of the early American sociologists, this book hopes to show the relevance of sociological knowledge and insights, as derived from sound, objective research, for addressing many of the social issues facing American society and various nations around the world.

OER Text Material“Eye on Society: Doing Sociological Research” (Chapter Two) Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social WorldSoicology as a Social Science. This section will cover the following:Explain what is meant by saying that sociology is a social science.Describe the difference between a generalization and a law in scientific research.List the sources of knowledge on which people rely for their understanding of social reality and explain why the knowledge gained from these sources may sometimes be faulty.List the basic steps of the scientific method.General good content for the introduction to the social science research process

OER Text MaterialEconomic Inequality and Poverty in the United StatesSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World: Chapter 8 Section 4. This source explains how poverty is measured. Individual and structural level explanations of poverty are provided. Also included is a discussion of the effects of poverty.  Instructors could supplement with this resource:Lumen Learning - PovertyThis OER textbook provides an overview of poverty and a brief discussion of government assistance programs. The section on feminization of poverty is great.

OER Text materialExplaining StratificationSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World Section 8.1 discusses differences in how Karl Marx and Max Weber viewed class societies. Section 8.2 provides a great discussion of theoretical perspectives on class. The section on functionalism includes an overview of Davis and Moore’s work. The conflict theory section includes a nice discussion of Marx and of false-consciousness. Instructors may want to supplement material on Weber.  The section on symbolic interactionism includes a discussion of conspicuous consumption. Chapter 8 does not discuss Bourdieu, cultural capital, or social capital. Instructors interested in the social reproduction of class should consider supplemental sources.Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification - OpenStaxYou could supplement with Open Stax section 9.4 as it provides a summary of how each major sociological paradigm (functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism) understands stratification. This includes a brief discussion of the Davis and Moore thesis. The conflict theory section only discusses Marx and not Weber. This section will be need to be supplemented with other sources.

OER Text MaterialEconomic Inequality and Poverty in the United StatesSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World: Chapter 8 Section 4. This source explains how poverty is measured. Individual and structural level explanations of poverty are provided. Also included is a discussion of the effects of poverty. There is a short section at the end of the chapter that outlines what sociologists suggest for reducing poverty.  Like many introduction to sociology textbooks, there is not a lot on specific interventions. Instructors interested in interventions should supplement this chapter with other material such as that listed below.

OER Text materialSocial Class in the United StatesSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World- Chapter 8 Section 3This section begins by explaining the difference between measuring class objectively or subjectively.  A pie chart with 2008 GSS data is used to illustrate subjective measurement of social class. The section continues with a discussion of the American class structure and an overview of the major class divisions. Finally social mobility is discussed.  The objectives at the start of the section state that a functionalist and conflict theorist view of the American class structure is presented, however, there is only a slight mention of these perspectives in this chapter. This is not the section to use for a theoretical discussion of class. The concepts of status, status inconsistency and status symbol are not discussed in this textbook. Conspicuous consumption is addressed briefly in section 8.2, but many key terms related to social class are missing.What is Social Stratificiation? Open Stax does provide a definition of status consistency, inconsistency and meritocracy.

OER Text materialSocial StratificationSociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World Chapter 8 Sections 1 and 3. Section 8.1 discusses different systems of stratification and the difference between closed and open systems. Section 8.3 discusses vertical mobility and inter/intra generational mobility, but not horizontal mobility. Instructors might consider supplementing this chapter with material from Open Stax and several of the supplemental material listed for this objective.Social Stratification and Mobility in the United StatesOpen Stax section 9.2- provides a fine summary social mobility and defines key terms.