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"Sociology in Action is an introductory text that prompts students to DO sociology through real-world activities that emphasizes hands-on work, application, and learning by example. Each chapter explains sociology's key concepts and theories, and pairs that foundational coverage with a series of carefully-developed learning activities and thought-provoking questions. Instructors choose the activities that will best engage their students, fit the format of their course, and meet their course goals"--

This paper is based on a workshop of the same name presented at the 2007 American Sociological Association meetings. The purpose of the workshop and this article is to focus attention on teaching methods that require students to actively investigate sociological phenomena. During the workshop, participants practiced constructing inquiry-guided learning activities suitable for a range of different courses taught throughout the curriculum. These activities are described here. Inquiry-guided learning (IGL) includes a variety of teaching methods that assist students in their investigation of questions and problems. Fundamental to IGL in sociology is the notion that students should think and act like sociologists. IGL activities provide a means whereby the instructor models and the student practices the same disciplinary activities. Students "do" sociology rather than just learning about the results of others.

This research addresses a key process in power‐control theory, namely, the gender stratification of social control. Using a multidimensional measure of familial control, the authors find evidence that the types of familial control employed are stratified by gender: male children are more typically aligned with paternal support and appearance rules, and female children are more often the objects of maternal support and curfew rules. All four dimensions have significant negative effects on delinquency. Brief attention is given as well to the effects of these variables on contact with formal social control agencies.

Despite the prominence of teaching in academia, we know little about how graduate students learn to teach. We propose the concept of a teaching community network (TCN), an informal social network that facilitates the exchange of teaching-specific resources. We explore the role of TCNs through a case study of a sociology doctoral program at a large state university. Results reveal that students rely heavily on informal ties within the graduate student community and existing formal programs to share teaching-related resources (e.g., information and social support) and develop their identities as instructors. We suggest that graduate programs facilitate TCNs through formal teacher-training programs and structural conditions that encourage informal, one-on-one interactions (e.g., shared offices). By cultivating TCNs, graduate programs can assist students in developing their teaching skills and identities as instructors, thus training students to balance the demands of research and teaching within an academic culture.

"As part of SAGE's "Sociology in Action" series, Sociology In Action: Social Problems will engage students in active learning in class, on their own, and in their local communities, as they explore a range of social problems and consider sociological solutions to issues facing society today. The text is ideal for instructors who want to rely less on lecturing and more on discussion, collaboration, self-directed investigation, observation, analysis, and reflection"--

Teaching Sociology's emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning has moved the field well beyond simple description of teaching methods. There is no doubt that the journal is more scholarly than in the past. Still, we do not take advantage of our rich theoretical disciplinary work. There is much to learn sociologically about the classroom and other sites of interaction between teachers and students. Our classrooms are social sites and our analysis of them can be of help to scholars both inside and outside the discipline. In this article, we propose a sensitizing concept, the sociology of the college classroom—the application of sociological theory and/or concepts to understand social phenomena that take place at the level of the classroom and other sites of faculty-student interaction. We situate the sociology of the college classroom as a subset of the scholarship of teaching and learning and the sociology of higher education. Sociology of the college classroom can be a place not only where research meets teaching, but it can also be a site where sociological theory meets pedagogical praxis.

Sociologists can make meaningful contributions to quantitative literacy by teaching sociological research skills in sociology classes, including introductory courses. We report on the effectiveness of requiring a research module in a large introductory class. The module is designed to teach both basic research skills and to increase awareness of race and gender inequality. We find that a majority of students are able to interpret basic percentage tables with a minimum of instruction. Under the condition that students are willing to acknowledge inequality in our occupational system, completing the research assignment increases their awareness of race and gender inequality. We argue that one of sociology's most powerful contributions to quantitative literacy is that our core content provides a challenging and relevant context in which to learn quantitative skills.