Rethinking the Introductory Course

Abstract

harm because of its superficial, encyclopedic nature. It has been a mistake to design this course as the foundation for work in subsequent courses when so many who enroll in it never take another course in sociology. At the same time, it is impossible to provide a comprehensive introduction to the entire field in a single term. The present course should be replaced by: (1) Human Societies, an introduction to macrosociology; (2) American Society, an introduction to mesosociology; and (3) Society and the Individual, an introduction to microsociology. This would permit instructors to achieve greater depth in their treatment of a more limited set of issues while freeing them from the burden of teaching materials outside the range of their primary interests. These courses should all be more historical, more comparative, and more theoretical than the current introductory course.