Area 4 Guidelines (GE 2026)
Area 4: Social Sciences
Introduction
Area 4 provides students with an understanding of how social, political, and economic institutions and behaviors are historically and inextricably interwoven. Students learn, via social scientific inquiry, how the human experience is shaped by broad societal and cultural traditions and structures as well as by individual factors. Courses in this area also emphasize writing as an integral part of the process of learning and discovery. Courses that emphasize skills development and professional preparation are excluded from Area 4. Lower-division courses provide a broad foundation for in depth experiences in upper-division courses.
Note also that, across all Area 4 classes, students must take classes in a minimum of two different course prefixes.
Template Requirements
The current list of courses approved for Area 4 can be found in the Cal Poly catalog.
|
SUBAREA |
STANDARD¹ |
High-Unit |
Curriculum Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
|
4A: American Institutions Title 5, Section 40404 Requirement |
3 | 3 | |
|
4B: Social and Behavioral Sciences Lower-Division |
3 | x |
Area 4 Curriculum Guidelines
As you review the sections that follow, please note that "Educational Objectives" refer to what students will learn by completing that subarea while "Criteria" refer to how the course is designed to support that learning. Together, these objectives and criteria are referred to as our "(curriculum) guidelines". Additional information about GE curriculum guidelines can be found here.
Lower-Division 4: Social Science — Educational Objectives
Upon completion of a qualifying lower-division 4 course, students should be able to meet five or more of the following eight educational objectives:
- EO1 Describe how communities have historically grouped together;
- EO2 Describe how groups and individuals develop social, economic, political, and legal institutions and relationships that are important for themselves as individuals and the welfare of their communities;
- EO3 Provide examples of the origins and meaning of the public order, commerce, and social institutions;
- EO4 Interpret the histories of western and non-western societies in a cross-cultural, global perspective and recognize the growing interdependence of the global community;
- EO5 Analyze the ways that social, political, and economic institutions and human behavior are interconnected;
- EO6 Examine the human experience in comparative terms through an understanding of the diversity of experience from both individual and group perspectives with special attention to the issues of diversity such as gender, ethnicity, and race;
- EO7 Examine the structural relationships between diversity, inequality, and social, economic, and/or political power;
- EO8 Examine the contributions of the extant literature and research methodologies related to the study of social, economic, political, and/or legal issues in a global society.
4A: American Institutions — Criteria
Criteria for courses that meet the American Institutions and 40404 requirement
In addition to meeting five or more of the eight educational objectives for lower-division Area 4, the course proposal and expanded course outline for courses in American Institutions and 40404 must clearly indicate how the course meets all of the following criteria:
- CR1 Address significant events covering a minimum time span of approximately one hundred years and occurring in the entire area now included in the United States of America, including the relationships of regions within that area and with external regions and powers as appropriate to the understanding of those events within the United States during the period under study;
- CR2 Incorporate the role of major ethnic and social groups in such events and the contexts in which the events have occurred;
- CR3 Cover the events presented within a framework that illustrates the continuity of the American experience and its derivation from other cultures, including consideration of three or more of the following: politics, economics, social movements, and geography;
- CR4 Incorporate the political philosophies of the framers of the Constitution and the nature and operation of United States political institutions and processes under that Constitution as amended and interpreted;
- CR5 Highlight the rights and obligations of citizens in the political system established under the Constitution;
- CR6 Include the Constitution of the state of California within the framework of evolution of federal-state relations and the nature and processes of state and local government under that Constitution;
- CR7 Explore the contemporary relationships of state and local government with the federal government, the resolution of conflicts and the establishment of cooperative processes under the constitutions of both the state and nation, and the political processes involved;
- CR8 Require disciplinary appropriate writing assignments that comprise at least 10% of overall course grade.
4B: Lower-Division — Criteria
EXCLUDES AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS AND 40404 REQUIREMENT
The course proposal and expanded outline for Area 4B courses must clearly indicate how they meet all of these criteria:
- CR1 Address the origins, structures, functions, patterns of change, and integration of basic human social institutions (for example, family, government, economy, education, and/or religion);
- CR2 Include relevant research methodologies;
- CR3 Explore social phenomena from non-western, cross-cultural, comparative, and/or global perspectives;
- CR4 Examine cultural and/or social diversity, including the drivers of ethnic, gender, and class-based inequality;
- CR5 Apply theory to practical current issues;
- CR6 Require disciplinary appropriate writing assignments that comprise at least 10% of overall course grade.
Sources:
- AS-986-25 "Resolution on Template for General Education 2026"(pdf). 25 February 2025
- AS-913-21 "Resolution to Establish Area F in the General Education 2020 Template" (pdf). 2 March 2021.
- AS-889-20 "Resolution on Subject Area Guidelines (II) for General Education 2020" (pdf). 3 March 2020
-
AS-873-19 "Resolution on Template for General Education 2020" (pdf). 16 April 2019.