01:920:101 Introduction to Sociology
The Complete Exam Bible · Spring 202601:920:101 Overview
- 3 credits
- Rutgers University
- Spring 2026
- Sociology
- SAS Core: Social Analysis
- No prerequisites
01:920:101 Introduction to Sociology is Rutgers University's three-credit first course in how societies work and how social life shapes behaviour.
- Two exams decide most of it Exam 1 and Exam 2 carry 30% each and use multiple-choice and true/false questions.
- Weekly work adds up Textbook quizzes, lecture attendance and recitation together make up the other 40%.
- Theory runs through everything Durkheim, Marx, Weber and the main paradigms reappear in every later topic.
- Open book still needs preparation About 50 questions in 60 minutes leaves little time to look things up.
How 01:920:101 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Textbook quizzes (InQuizitive) | 15% | Chapter quizzes due Thursdays at 11:59pm; late work loses 10% a day, capped at 50% |
| Lecture attendance | 5% | Random attendance checks during lecture |
| Recitation attendance and participation | 5% | One unexcused absence allowed |
| Recitation in-class work | 15% | Group memo submitted at the end of each recitation |
| Exam 1 | 30% | About 50 multiple-choice and true/false questions, 60 minutes, open book, in class |
| Exam 2 (final exam) | 30% | Same format, non-cumulative, at the scheduled Rutgers final exam time |
Weights follow the Spring 2026 course syllabus, which sets recitation at 20% of the grade; the recitation syllabus splits that into 5% attendance and participation and 15% in-class work. The six rows total 100%. Final letter grades use the standard scale, with an A from 90 points.
Assessment structure
Segment widths reproduce the published percentage weights, in table order, and total 100%.
Current 01:920:101 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 13 March 2026 | Exam 1 | Spring 2026 offering: held in class during the regular class time. |
| 13 May 2026 | Exam 2 (final exam) | Spring 2026 offering: Wednesday at 9am, the scheduled final exam time. |
Dates are as published in the Spring 2026 syllabus and exam review sheets. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What 01:920:101 covers
Eleven chapters follow the Spring 2026 teaching order: six build the toolkit tested on Exam 1, and five apply it to the topics tested on Exam 2.
The Sociological Imagination
Personal troubles and public issues, social structure, context, interaction and norms, and why industrialisation produced sociologyThe course begins with a definition that frames everything that follows: sociology studies social life scientifically, and individual behaviour always happens inside social and historical contexts.
- Sociology as a science of social life
- Personal troubles and public issues
- Social structure, context, interaction and norms
- Industrialisation, urbanisation and the birth of sociology
- Writing the three-part recitation memo
Sociological Theories and Paradigms
Durkheim, Marx and Weber; functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism and rational choice; feminist theory, intersectionality and Du BoisTheory is the part of the course the review sheet tells you never to put away.
- Durkheim: social facts, anomie and suicide
- Marx: capitalism and class conflict
- Weber: rationalisation
- Functionalism, conflict theory, interactionism and rational choice
- Feminist theory, intersectionality and double consciousness
- Applying two theories to one scenario
Asking and Answering Sociological Questions
The research process, hypotheses and variables, operationalisation and sampling, correlation versus causation, qualitative and quantitative methods, and research ethicsThis chapter covers how sociologists turn a question into evidence.
- The seven-step research process
- Hypotheses, independent and dependent variables
- Operationalisation and sampling
- Correlation, causation and spurious relationships
- Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods
- Value-free sociology and research ethics
Culture and Society
Norms and values, material and symbolic culture, the Nacirema, cultural toolkits, scripts and capital, ethnocentrism, relativism and multiculturalismCulture is the way of life of a group: its values, norms, language, symbols and the objects it makes. Society is the organised group of people who share a territory and institutions.
- Culture, society, norms and values
- Material and symbolic culture
- The Nacirema and seeing the familiar as strange
- Cultural toolkits, scripts and cultural capital
- Ethnocentrism, relativism, assimilation and multiculturalism
Social Stratification and Class Inequality
Slavery, caste and class, ascribed and achieved status, income, wealth and occupation, Marx, Weber and Bourdieu, poverty measures and the Week 7 family budgetStratification is the ranking of groups so that some receive more of a society's rewards than others. The review sheet pairs it with structured inequalities to stress that the ranking is built into institutions and persists across generations.
- Systems of stratification: slavery, caste and class
- Ascribed and achieved status, life chances and mobility
- Income, wealth and occupation
- Marx, Weber and Bourdieu on class
- Poverty lines, self-sufficiency and the Child Tax Credit
- Budgeting a family profile
Global Inequality and International Migration
GNI, life expectancy and theories of global inequality; net migration, push and pull, refugees and non-refoulement, U.S. immigration history and group-threat theoryThis chapter joins two review-sheet blocks: global inequality and migration. Global inequality is the systematic difference in wealth, power and life chances between countries, and migration is one of the main ways people respond to it.
- GNI, life expectancy and infant mortality
- Four families of explanation for global inequality
- Immigration, emigration and net migration
- Push and pull, economic, family and refugee migration
- U.S. immigration history and global trends
- Integration models and group-threat theory
The Power of Sex and Knowledge
Pathologising versus affirmative sex education, contraception history and the Comstock Laws, and court rulings from Griswold and Roe to DobbsThis topic came as a guest lecture in the Spring 2026 schedule, and it opens the review sheet for Exam 2. Its sociological point is that sexuality and reproduction are shaped by law, medicine, religion and education, and that what people may know and decide about their bodies has changed many times.
- Pathologising and affirmative messages about sex
- Condoms, the pill and the Comstock Laws
- Griswold, Eisenstadt and Roe
- Lawrence, emergency contraception and Hobby Lobby
- Dobbs and its implications
- Denial of care and current threats
Gender Inequality and the Wage Gap
Sex, gender, identity and expression, doing gender and the glass ceiling, the 2025 earnings ratio by occupation, segregation, human capital, caregiving and biasGender has the longest list on the Exam 2 review sheet, and the terms are easy to blur.
- Sex, gender, identity and expression
- Doing gender, socialisation and patriarchy
- The 2025 earnings ratio by occupation
- Occupational segregation and human capital theory
- Caregiving, stereotypes and institutional solutions
Race, Ethnicity and Racism
Race and ethnicity as social constructions, prejudice, discrimination and forms of racism, colour-blind racism, redlining and the racial wealth gapThe race block of the review sheet moves from definitions to structure. It starts with sociological definitions of race and ethnicity and with biology: genetic differences, and claims about genetics, race and intelligence.
- Race, ethnicity and the biology question
- Race as a social construction
- Prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination
- Forms of racism from overt to environmental
- Redlining, housing and the racial wealth gap
- Why colour-blindness leaves structure intact
Health, Illness and the Social Gradient
Medical sociology and social epidemiology, U.S. health spending and life expectancy, the social gradient, social determinants of health and stress biologyThe health block starts from a contrast the lecture draws between doctors and sociologists. A doctor focuses on why this patient became ill now and treats symptoms.
- Doctors and sociologists on illness
- Medical sociology and social epidemiology
- U.S. spending, coverage and life expectancy
- The social gradient in health
- Social determinants, upstream and downstream
- Stress, cortisol and the body
Deviance and Crime
Norms, deviance and crime, social control and stigma, functionalist, conflict, control, broken windows and labelling theories, and U.S. incarcerationThe final topic of the semester returns to norms, the shared expectations introduced with culture. Deviance is behaviour that violates a norm and draws a reaction, and crime is the narrower set of acts that break a law.
- Norms, deviance and crime
- Social and statistical deviance
- Social control, sanctions and stigma
- Functionalist, conflict and control theories
- Broken windows and labelling
- Incarceration trends and sentencing
It looks past individual choices to the power and culture that set people's opportunities and outlooks, and it previews subjects that later sociology courses study in depth, among them race, gender, class, migration, health, sexuality and crime.
This guide follows the Spring 2026 offering, sections 07 to 12. The course is taught through reading, lectures, weekly textbook quizzes and recitation sections, and the syllabus describes its rhythm as read, attend lecture, assess and apply. Recitation runs a week behind lecture so that groups can apply what they have already read and heard.
Textbook, lecture and recitation deliberately cover different aspects of each topic, so relying on one of them leaves gaps. The first half of the semester builds the toolkit: the sociological imagination, the classical theorists and paradigms, research methods, culture, stratification and class, and global inequality and migration. Exam 1 covers that material.
The second half applies the toolkit to sexual and reproductive rights, gender inequality and the wage gap, race and racism, health and the social gradient, and deviance and crime, which Exam 2 covers. Both exams are non-cumulative, open book and taken in the classroom, but the course's themes run across them, so the theories from the first weeks are tested again in the second half.
Each chapter of this guide opens with the terms the review sheets list, organises them with a figure or table, works a model answer and ends with practice items in the exam format.
Worked example · free
Explaining a campus pattern with the sociological imagination
- 2Show the pattern: many students, not one.
- 2Name a structural factor, such as large lectures or commuting.
- 2Name a historical change and link it to the pattern.
Key terms
- Sociological imagination
- C. Wright Mills's term for connecting an individual's biography to the history and social structure of their society.
- Social facts
- Durkheim's term for ways of acting and thinking that exist outside any one person and constrain behaviour.
- Rational choice theory
- A perspective that explains action as individuals weighing the costs and benefits of their options.
- Independent variable
- The suspected cause in a study, which must come before the outcome it is expected to change.
- Ethnocentrism
- Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own, often treating difference as inferiority.
- Achieved status
- A social position earned through a person's own actions, such as a degree or an occupation.
- Net migration rate
- The difference between immigrants and emigrants expressed per 1,000 people in the population.
- Gender binary
- The belief that there are only two opposite genders, which treats sex, identity and expression as one either-or category.
- Microaggression
- An everyday comment or slight that signals a group is lesser or does not belong.
- Broken windows theory
- The theory that visible disorder left unchecked encourages more serious crime.
01:920:101 FAQ
How is Introduction to Sociology graded at Rutgers?
In the Spring 2026 syllabus the grade is textbook quizzes 15%, lecture attendance 5%, recitation 20% and two exams at 30% each. Recitation divides into 5% attendance and participation and 15% in-class work, for a total of 100%.
What are the exams like?
Each exam has roughly 50 multiple-choice and true/false questions and lasts 60 minutes. They are open book, open notes and open slides, but internet searching, AI tools, Quizlet and phones are not allowed, and they must be taken in the classroom.
Is the final exam cumulative?
The syllabus calls both exams non-cumulative: Exam 2 covers the second half of the course. Certain themes recur across the whole semester, however, so the classical theorists and paradigms from the first weeks still appear in second-half questions.
What happens if a textbook quiz is late?
Late textbook quizzes lose 10% per day up to a maximum deduction of 50%, so work more than five days late can still earn half credit until the end of the semester. Quizzes must be taken through the course Canvas site to count.
How many recitations can I miss?
The recitation syllabus allows one unexcused absence. Beyond that you receive no credit for the in-class work on the missed days, even if your group submits a memo, and arriving more than 15 minutes late counts as an absence.
Which textbook does the course use?
It uses the online thirteenth edition of Introduction to Sociology by Giddens, Duneier, Appelbaum and Carr, published by W. W. Norton, together with the InQuizitive quiz system that links to it.
What should I study for each exam?
The review sheets state that you will be tested only on the concepts they list, drawn mainly from the lectures. Work through every listed term, note the ones flagged as needing specific numbers, and practise applying theories to examples.
Questions students ask in each 01:920:101 chapter
- What is the difference between a personal trouble and a public issue?
- A trouble arises within one person's immediate relationships and can be addressed there, like one student struggling with a single class. An issue appears when many people face the same difficulty because of institutional arrangements, like widespread unaffordable textbooks, so remedies must change pricing, aid or policy. Chapter 01 · The Sociological Imagination
- How can I tell functionalism and conflict theory apart in an exam option?
- Look for the verb. If the option explains an arrangement by the need it serves or the stability it provides, it is functionalist. If it explains the arrangement by who benefits, who controls resources or who is disadvantaged, it is conflict theory. Chapter 02 · Sociological Theories and Paradigms
- Why is the Tearoom Trade study taught as an ethics case?
- Humphreys observed private encounters, recorded licence plates and later contacted the men without telling them about the original observation. Participants never consented and their confidentiality was at risk, which is exactly what review boards now exist to prevent. Chapter 03 · Asking and Answering Sociological Questions
- What is the point of the Nacirema reading?
- It describes ordinary American grooming and medical habits as if they were the rituals of an exotic tribe. Readers learn two things at once: other groups' practices are not bizarre, and our own practices are not simply natural. Chapter 04 · Culture and Society
- How is wealth different from income?
- Income is money received over a period, such as wages. Wealth is what a household owns minus what it owes, such as a home or savings. Wealth is more unequal, earns returns and passes to children, so wealth gaps outlast income gaps. Chapter 05 · Social Stratification and Class Inequality
- Why does global migration always net to zero?
- Every person who leaves one country arrives in another, so each emigrant is also counted as an immigrant somewhere. Adding net migration across all countries therefore cancels out, even though individual countries can gain or lose many people. Chapter 06 · Global Inequality and International Migration
- What did Roe v. Wade and Dobbs v. Jackson rule?
- Roe v. Wade in 1973 recognised a constitutional right to abortion. Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022 overturned Roe, removing that right and making it easier for individual states to ban abortion. Chapter 07 · The Power of Sex and Knowledge
- What was the gender earnings ratio in 2025?
- For full-time workers in 2025, the assigned fact sheet puts women's pay at 82.1 cents per dollar paid to men. That was down from 82.7 cents in 2024, the second year of decline in a row. Chapter 08 · Gender Inequality and the Wage Gap
- Why is race called a social construction if it has real effects?
- Because the categories were created by societies and have changed across places and time, while human genetic variation does not divide neatly into races. Treating the categories as real still shapes housing, schooling and wealth, so their effects are real. Chapter 09 · Race, Ethnicity and Racism
- Why does the United States have lower life expectancy despite high spending?
- Spending mostly pays for treatment after illness appears. Health is produced earlier, by income, housing, education and access to coverage, and the United States leaves more people exposed to those risks while being the one high-income country without guaranteed coverage. Chapter 10 · Health, Illness and the Social Gradient
- What is the difference between deviance and crime?
- Deviance is any violation of a social norm that draws a reaction, from rudeness to violence. Crime is the subset of acts that break a formal law. Some deviant acts are legal, and some illegal acts are widely tolerated. Chapter 11 · Deviance and Crime
How to study for the exam
Revise in the same order the course teaches: read the chapter, redraw its figure from memory, then answer the practice items without notes. Keep a single notes document organised by review-sheet heading, because a word-processing file is the kind of notes the exams allow. In the last week before each exam, work through the review sheet line by line and mark every term you cannot define in one sentence with an example.
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