This class isn't a ride in the park. You HAVE to keep up with the readings to do well. I re-read many readings to make sure that I got good pop quiz grades and I still did poorly on two, but one out of five quizzes is dropped. It can be hard to keep up with the readings especially because not only are you reading the material from the course reader, you have to read online articles and two books she forces you to buy. I never opened Brave New World and still got an A, so you don't really need to read that. Something you do need to read is her personal book This Is Not Required because they are many quiz questions about it. Also, one thing that really irked me is that on one of the quizzes, she decided to make 7/10 questions about a boring movie we had to watch and I got a literal F on it even though I watched the majority of the movie. The journals are easy points, and the essays are easy as long as you figure out exactly what your TA wants you to write. Go to their office hours. I liked this class--I felt like a learned a lot of things that I didn't know before. Getting an A is most definitely possible, it's just more work than expected. I am selling the course reader (it has writing in it), the This Book is Not Required (brand new with no writing) and Brave New World which I bought used that is written in. Email me at *************.

I have mixed feelings about Anderson. She is the best lecturer I've had so far, but the worst grader. Her pop quizzes are HARD even if you do the reading (I always did). Her papers were not too bad, but make sure you add some originality if you want to get an A. Also you may never ever hand in the weekly journal even a few minutes late in the beginning of class or else she will give you a 0. One time I had a cardiology appointment that was longer than expected so I came to class 5 minutes late and asked if she will excuse it and she still gave me a 0%.
Her grading ruined how much I loved sociology. I would never take her as a professor again, even though her lectures were very interesting

Soc 1 is an interesting class. You really have the chance to look at the inner workings of the society on the individual in a way you probably never would in regular life, and you gain a great perspective on some things. Be warned: Anderson can be very political towards the second half of the class, usually in a liberal direction. Fall 2016 quarter was during a very politicized election, so the class was probably more biased than normal, but keep her views in mind if they would bother you. Also, there's a decent amount of reading, and if you don't pay close attention to the readings you will have difficulty with the quizzes. Her lectures are decent overall, and the essays for the class aren't too bad. Soc 1 is well worth it if you can keep an open mind. And whether or not you agree with Anderson's viewpoints, she is an unique person and definitely passionate about what she teaches.

This class had me on a rollercoaster of emotions all quarter. I love sociology and thought the class would be easier than it was, but I spent double the time on this class than my other two classes just because of the huge amount of readings we had to have done by each class. The journals and essays that you have to write (one essay for midterm and one for finals) are interesting topics but your grade is VERY dependent on your TA: my friends often had better essays than me but their TA graded them more harshly. Also, even if you do the readings in-depth for each class, the quizzes are basically impossible and I was sure that it was going to destroy my grade. Anderson is a nice professor and I found her lectures interesting, but she is also very liberal and often requires (or wants) you to write essays/journals based on a liberal standpoint which can be difficult for a lot of people. Overall, not a bad class, but I would hesitate taking it unless you love sociology/don't mind a hard GE/don't mind the intense liberal aspect of the class.

Also, selling course reader, textbook and this book is not required: **********

I entered UCLA as a Sociology major, and Prof. Anderson's Soc 1 class had be seriously considering changing my major. Her class wasn't the hardest class I took, although some of the things that contributed a lot to the final grade was irrelevant to what she taught. For example, I spent approx. 100 dollars to buy two books she wrote that she wrote, one of them she barely (like never) talked about but appeared constantly in her quizzes (20% of final grade).
However inappropriate the above actions may be, I assume that other professors may be the same and got used to it in a while. She had me question if I was fit to study Sociology with her strong liberal beliefs and how she exerted her beliefs onto us in her lectures and her assignments. I understand that she held her beliefs, but it strongly influenced the assignments which we spent a lot of time on. It was mandatory for us to integrate sources like "White women voted for Trump in 2016 because they still believe white men are their saviors" in our papers. Even though I think that I don't have a strong political opinion, her class had me question the Sociology's inclusiveness of diverse opinions. I wouldn't recommend or not recommend this class to others, for some people liked her class a lot exactly for the reasons I listed. But for others, you should consider beforehand how her style will affect you.

You would do well in this class if you jot down all the notes and reading materials and regurgitate the content on papers and quizzes. That said, in my opinion this is by no means an intellectually stimulating class. The professor is biased, so are the course material. Some lectures are more interesting than others, which are flat out boring and unhelpful, and sometimes logically erroneous. She does not leave enough room for discourse, which to me seems important in the study of social sciences. I took this class as an incoming freshman and did not particularly enjoy this class as much as my other classes at UCLA. Think twice before enrolling in this class.

Took this class as a GE, would definitely take again. Although the readings are extremely dense, the material covered is very interesting. The pop quizzes honestly sucked, but I liked how they encouraged me to attend every lecture. She requires weekly journals which are pretty enjoyable to write, just make sure to incorporate the readings well. Doing well in this class requires to do the readings, so if you take this class, make sure to try to at least skim the readings before lecture/discussion or else you will be lost. Many people don't enjoy her style of lecturing (no power points or laptops allowed), but I enjoyed it, I think I retained more information that way.. An A in this class is not easy, you will have to work for it, but this class is worth it.

Worst GE CLASS EVER!!! Do yourself a favor and DO NOT TAKE this class especially if you're an engineering major. Most of the readings were bullshit and went off on irrelevant tangents. The pop quizzes were suppeeeer detail oriented even if you do the readings (it'll be hard to keep up with them trust me i stopped after week 7ish when the work load just got too much and i was like screw it). In terms of learning, ehhh. People complain she's too socialist or too liberal but that is beside the point; she is just really boring and thinks her class is the most important class. Sum it up, if you're looking for an easy or intersting ge, this class is not it. Take geo 5 or astro. Hell to the no no no...the only thing i learned in this class was how to avoid bullshit classes like this in the future. Thank god for bruin walk i learned the hard way.

An absurd amount of readings were assigned for each class period, and it was extremely hard to recall information for the pop quizzes even though I did each reading in depth and took notes on them (certain quiz questions appeared weeks after the reading was assigned). I actually enjoyed writing the essays and journals. Her views are extremely liberal which was fine, but it often sounded like she was trying to change our political views rather than actually teach us anything about sociology.

I would recommend finding another professor for this class. I feel like I would have enjoyed this material a lot more if it wasn't coming from the way she presented it.

I liked this class, but the readings were a bit frustrating. We were required to purchase This Book Is Not Required, which seemed unrelated to the course. It was written by Dr. Anderson and we never talked about it, although very specific questions showed up on the quizzes. That was a bit frustrating but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed this class and learned a lot.