Spring 2027

Survey of Sociology

Survey of Sociology introduces the field of American sociology, covering its subfields, theoretical traditions, and research methods.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Nicholas Pedriana

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Chad Goldberg

As a Comm B class, the course required significant writing, with the amount of work varying depending on the quality of the teaching assistant assigned.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Define sociology as a discipline and explain how it is different from and related to other fields.

  • Apply sociological concepts to personal, social and institutional issues.

  • Explain how social structures, groups and institutions enable and constrain individual agency and life chances.

  • Apply existing sociological research findings to critically evaluate arguments about the social world in academic and non-academic contexts.

  • Identify, access and make skillful use of reliable, high-quality sociological research sources.

  • Craft written arguments incorporating sociological research as evidence after engaging in the writing process (brainstorming, outlining, drafting, incorporating feedback and revising).

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Satisfied Communications A. Not open to students with credit forSOC 181 or C&E SOC/​SOC 211.

C&ESOC/SOC 210 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.54 GPA, 77.0% A/AB (n=87 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.41 GPA, 72.1% A/AB (n=86 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.61 GPA, 78.6% A/AB (n=84 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ALICE GOFFMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CHAD GOLDBERG is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

GAY SEIDMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Fall 2010. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JASON NOLEN is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NICHOLAS PEDRIANA is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 840
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 900
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 150

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Alice Goffman

Students described the course as an incredible and open-ended experience that was relevant and fun, making it a strong choice for a Comm B credit.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.54 GPA, 77.0% A/AB (n=87 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.41 GPA, 72.1% A/AB (n=86 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.61 GPA, 78.6% A/AB (n=84 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Chad Goldberg

As a Comm B class, the course required significant writing, with the amount of work varying depending on the quality of the teaching assistant assigned.

Past student reviews · Alice Goffman

Lectures were interesting and discussion-heavy, with the professor sitting at a table to talk without slides and frequently asking for student opinions.

Topics

  • Subfields and specialized areas of research in American sociology.
  • Theoretical traditions in sociology.
  • Sociological research methods.
  • Social structures, groups, institutions, and individual agency.

Skills

  • Applying sociological concepts to social issues and using sociological research sources.
  • Critically evaluating arguments about the social world using sociological research findings.
  • Crafting written arguments that incorporate sociological research as evidence through a structured writing process.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.15 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
C&ESOC/SOC 210 · Spring 2027

Survey of Sociology

Recorded 2026-10-14
C&ESOC/SOC 210 · Spring 2027

Survey of Sociology

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:864:017541",
    "course_id": "C&ESOC/SOC 210",
    "course_uid": "course_cebc93b8748658e94ab376c4",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017541",
    "source_subject_id": "864",
    "title": "Survey of Sociology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:900:017541",
    "course_id": "C&ESOC/SOC 210",
    "course_uid": "course_cebc93b8748658e94ab376c4",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017541",
    "source_subject_id": "900",
    "title": "Survey of Sociology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "8ec432014ce5817f222ae13a68c19757062af5ac79bdf91cf023cdbfb5ff643f",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}