Teaching Empathy in Sociology: Comparing In-Person and Online-Asynchronous Courses

Empathy is an implicit goal of sociology curricula, central to linking structure and agency and fostering a sociological imagination. It is also a valued “soft skill” in fields like social work, health care, and counseling. This study extends Rockwell et al.’s finding that introductory sociology can foster empathy by examining whether such outcomes differ across in-person and online-asynchronous courses. Our sample consisted of 190 students enrolled in introductory sociology courses, including 158 in in-person and 32 inonline-asynchronous courses. In contrast to Rockwell et al., we found no statistically significant overall change in empathy scores for our sample from pretest to posttest regardless of modality. These findings highlight both the limits and the promise of teaching empathy across modalities in sociological education.