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 sociology02Sociological Theories and Paradigms
Durkheim, Marx and Weber; functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism and rational choice; feminist theory, intersectionality and Du Bois03Asking and Answering Sociological Questions
The research process, hypotheses and variables, operationalisation and sampling, correlation versus causation, qualitative and quantitative methods, and research ethics04Culture and Society
Norms and values, material and symbolic culture, the Nacirema, cultural toolkits, scripts and capital, ethnocentrism, relativism and multiculturalism05Social 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 budget06Global 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 theory07The Power of Sex and Knowledge
Pathologising versus affirmative sex education, contraception history and the Comstock Laws, and court rulings from Griswold and Roe to Dobbs08Gender 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 bias09Race, Ethnicity and Racism
Race and ethnicity as social constructions, prejudice, discrimination and forms of racism, colour-blind racism, redlining and the racial wealth gap10Health, 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 biology11Deviance and Crime
Norms, deviance and crime, social control and stigma, functionalist, conflict, control, broken windows and labelling theories, and U.S. incarcerationIt 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.
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.
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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