Courses
150. Freshman Seminar.
Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff.
This seminar is an introduction to the concepts and methods of sociology through the exploration of a specific topic. Details of each course offering and the topic of concentration are provided in the in the schedule.
151W. Freshman Seminar: Gender in non-Western Cultures.
(GER 4B) Fall (4) Ozyegin. [Cross-listed as WMST 151]
This seminar examines the practices and conceptualizations of gender and their social and cultural consequences in selected non-Western societies. Normally open to first-year students only. (Cross listed with WMST 151W)
203. American Society.
(GER 3) Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff.
This course explores a variety of issues about American Society and its changing nature. Attention is given to selected demographic, historical, cultural, organizational and institutional features of American society and their consequences for lifestyles, social trends and public policy.
204. Contemporary Social Problems in the US.
(GER 3) Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff.
This course explores problems in society and their social construction. Explores how sociologists approach issues such as inequality by race, class and gender. Other topics covered may include violence, environmental degradation and social deviance.
205. Global Social Problems.
(GER 3) Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff.
This course introduces students to the sociological analysis of social problems with an emphasis on the impacts of globalization. Specific topics covered may include economic development and wealth inequality, global warming, global health, and gender inequalities.
240. Special Topics in Sociology.
(GER 3) Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff.
Selected topics in Sociology. The topics to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester. Instructors may require prior approval for registration. This course may be repeated for credit if topic varies.
250. Principles of Sociology.
(GER 3) Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff.
This course is an introduction to sociology. It examines historical traditions, classical writers and their theories and basic sociological concepts. Sociological research is used to illustrate how sociologists help us understand the relationships between the social world and the individual.
301. Society and the Individual.
(GER 3) Fall or Spring (3,3) Staff.
This course examines major features of modern societies and typical individual adaptions to them. It explores issues such as the potential for individual autonomy and freedom generated by modern societies as well as the constraints placed on individuals by societies.
302. Criminology.
Fall or Spring (3) Aday, Ousey Required previous course: any 200-level sociology course.
This course examines justice and civility in law and law enforcement. Two interrelated parts are explored: (1) the creation and administration of criminal law; and (2) the development of patterns of behavior that violate criminal laws.
304. Gender in Society.
Fall or Spring (3) Bickham Mendez
This course explores different theoretical approaches to gender and its intersections with other sources of inequality such as race, class and age. Possible topics include: gender and sexuality, masculinities, gender and the body, and inequalities in the workplace and home. (Cross listed with WMST 304)
306. Urban Sociology.
Fall or Spring (3) Hanley, Saporito.
This course examines the emergence of cities, particularly urbanization in the U.S. Explores urban structure from ecological and social perspectives, selected problems associated with urban growth including housing, segregation, education, crime and politics.
307. Sociology of Education.
Fall or Spring (3) Saporito.
This course examines education as an institution that perpetuates inequality but also serves as a pathway for social mobility. It explores current educational issues such as equality of educational opportunity by race, class and gender, school segregation, and school accountability.
308. Environmental Sociology.
Fall or Spring (3) Kaup.
This course examines why some environmental risks gain attention while others are ignored, how communities and individuals respond to environmental hazards, how environmental concern is measured, characteristics of the environmental movement and whether our society can become sustainable.
309. Media and Society.
Fall or Spring (3) Gosin
This course examines the media as an institution that influences and is influenced by other institutions. Possible topics include: media industries as complex organizations, media influence on politics, audience reception of media content, and the implications of new media technologies.
310. Wealth, Power, and Inequality.
Fall or Spring (3) Hanley, Ozyegin.
This course explores inequality and how it is created and maintained. It takes a comparative, in-depth look at class and stratification in society, examining inequality in income, wealth, prestige, and power, and the cultural and economic systems that maintain it.
311. Birth, Sex, Death: Population and Society.
Fall or Spring (3) Sohoni.
This course examines debates about the effects of population growth on the environment, food supplies, distribution of resources, and standards of living. It explores the causes and consequences of population growth, composition, and distribution in economically developed and underdeveloped areas.
312. Comparative Sociology.
(GER 4B) Fall and Spring (3,3) Ozyegin. [Cross-listed as WMST 312]
This course explores non-Western societies, including critical examination of the ways in which non-Western cultures have been interpreted in the West. Topics include gender, class, and race-based stratification; family systems; industrialization; urbanization; international migration; globalization; national cultures as "imagined communities."
313. Globalization and International Development.
(GER 4B) Fall (3) Bickham Mendez, Quark.
This course examines the impact of globalization on the social, cultural and economic development of "non-Western" societies. Case studies will emphasize interconnections between global processes and local people. Possible topics: global economy, transnational migration, human rights, gender, and racial/ethnic diasporas.
332. Families and Kinship.
Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff.
This course grapples with the complex issues of contemporary family life by analyzing historical and current variations in family forms and practices. We pay particular attendtion to how family experiences are shaped by gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and socio-economic status.
337. Immigration, Assimilation and Ethnicity.
(GER 3) Fall or Spring (3,3) Bickham Mendez, Sohoni.
This course explores three questions: the forces that influence people to leave their own countries for the U.S.; how immigrants and their children adapt to their new surroundings; the role of historical and contemporary immigration on race/ethnic relations.
340. Special Topics in Sociology.
Fall or Spring (1-3 Credits) Staff.
Selected topics in Sociology. The topics to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester. Instructors may require prior approval for registration. This course may be repeated for credit if topic varies.
351. Sociological Theory.
Fall (3) Staff. Required Previous Course: SOC 250.
This course explores classical and modern sociological theories and theorists. Examined also is the development of the discipline of sociology during the 19th and 20th centuries.
352. Methods of Social Research.
Fall (3) Staff. Recommended Previous Course: SOC 250.
This course introduces students to the methods used by social scientists. Specifically, students learn skills necessary to evaluate the strengths/weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative approaches, interpret the main arguments of different methods, and assess whether research findings support stated conclusions.
353. Social Statistics.
(GER 1) Spring (3,3) Staff. Recommended Previous Course: SOC 352.
This course concentrates on inference and the use of multivariate techniques for uncovering explanatory relationships among variables. Students learn how to interpret statistical results, as well as convey results verbally and through tables and graphs. Laboratory activities use statistical software.
360. Sociology of Sport.
Spring (3) Staff.
This course examines the structure, processes and problems of sport as an institutionalized social system. Topics include:youth sport programs, intercollegiate athletics, sport and deviant behavior. Examines the relationships between sport, race, gender, education, politics, religion, the economy.
361. Social Movements and Social Change.
(GER 3) Fall or Spring (3) Bickham Mendez.
This course examines different approaches to social change, social movements and collective action. Case studies will be used to explore such topics as; movement formation, strategies and effectiveness, collective identities, counter-cultures, the media and social control.
362. Medical Sociology.
Fall or Spring (3,3) Staff.
This course explores the sociology of health and illness, focusing in particular on how power and inequality shape the practice of medicine and the availability of health care in the United States. Special topics include cancer, genetics, and alternative medicine.
363. Sociology of Religion.
Fall or Spring (3) Jenkins
This course explores systems of belief, rituals, organizations and movements. The course examines factors that influence religiosity, as well as the ways religion affects (and is affected by) other social institutions, such as the economy, politics and the educational system. (Cross list with RLST 363)
364. Sociology of Work.
Fall or Spring (3) Slevin.
This course examines the role of work in contemporary society. Social, institutional and cultural influences are explored. Topics examined include: global work issues, paid and unpaid work, gendered segregation of work,discrimination in the workplace, and workplace cultures.
365. Economy and Society.
Fall or Spring (3) Hanley.
This course examines economic action through a sociological lens. It includes examinations of early to recent features of capitalist development, the relationship of states and economic actors and institutions, labor and labor movements, and globalizaiton. An introduction to the growing field of economic sociology, students will explore the embeddedness of markets, the importance of networks, and how race, class, and gender impact economic action.
366. Asian American Studies.
Fall or Spring (3) Sohoni.
This course examines the history of Asian immigration to the U.S., the development of Asian-American communities, and the social incorporation of these groups within American society. Emphasis is on the prominent theories, major issues, and current controversies in Asian-American Studies.
404. Modern Organizations.
Fall or Spring (3) Aday
This seminar examines large bureaucratic organizations and inter-organizational systems that profoundly shape the character of our society and our lives. Theories are used to improve our ability to analyze, work within and respond to organizations.
405. Sociology of Aging.
Fall or Spring (3) Staff.
This seminar explores the social, cultural and social-psychological aspects of human aging. Examines the social construction of old age; race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation and aging; age and social inequalities; care work, family and aging.
408. Migration in a Global Context.
Fall or Spring (3) Sohoni, Bickham Mendez.
This seminar examines shifting patterns, experiences, and theoretical perspectives of migration in a context of globalization. Emphasis is on the causes and consequences of migration. Topics may include: race, gender, family, work, immigrants' rights, changing notions of citizenship and democracy.
409. Immigration,Citizenship, and Border Studies.
Spring (3) Bickman Mendez, Sohoni. Prerequisite: SOCL 351 or SOCL 352
In the upper-level seminar, students will use the interdisciplinary lense of border studies to explore the cultural, political, and economic dynamics of immigration and their implications for the larger issues of democratic participation, community, and social membership.
425. Blacks in American Society.
Fall (3) Gosin. [Cross listed with AFST425]
This seminar examines changing economic, political, educational and residential conditions of Blacks in the United States in terms of their historic and contemporary consequences. Explores the diverse experiences of Americans of African descent and intra-group tensions (class and gender related).
426. Sociology of Mental Illness.
Fall or Spring (3) Staff.
This seminar explores sociological aspects of mental illness and mental health. It examines the social and cultural sources of mental disorders, definitions, types, distribution within society, and sociological factors in the treatment of mental illness.
427. Energy, Environment and Development.
Fall or Spring (3,3) Kaup.
This seminar examines the role of extractive and agricultural industries in processes of globalization and socioeconomic change. Topics include: the comodification of nature; resource scarcity, and global expansionism; unequal ecological exchange; resource wars; and the end of nature.
428. Technology, Science, and Power.
Fall or Spring (3) Staff.
This seminar provides an in-depth exploration of the literature in the sociology of science and technology. Particular attention is given to how race, gender and economic interests shape the use of technology and the production of scientific knowledge.
429. Deviance and Social Control.
Fall (3) Aday, Ousey. Prerequisite: any 200-level sociology course
This seminar examines behavior that violates social norms, yet is not necessarily illegal. The course focuses on social control and the emergence of deviant lifestyles.
430. Comparative Studies in Gender and Work.
(GER 4B) Fall or Spring (3) Ozyegin, Bickham Mendez. [Cross-listed as WMST 430] Recommended for juniors and seniors.
This seminar is a multidisciplinary examination of work and gender in the global economy. Topics include: constructing gender at work; occupational segregation by gender, race, and ethnicity; national and transnational labor migration; immigrants' work in the U.S. and movements toward gender equality.
431. Comparative Race Relations.
Fall or Spring (3) Gosin, Sohoni.
This seminar examines the role of race/ethnicity as factors of social differentiation in various societies using a comparative approach. Topics include: effects of de-colonialism, consequences of nationalization projects, distribution of societal resources and the assimilation/pluralism paradigms.
432. Sociology of Sexualities.
Fall or Spring (3) Staff.
This seminar examines how sociologists study sexuality. Topics include: sociological approaches to studying sexuality, the growing prominence of sexual minorities, sexuality throughout life, sexual subcultures, the politics of sexuality, and how sexual norms differ among various social groups.
433. Crime and Justice in America.
Fall or Spring (1-3) Aday, Ousey. Prerequisite: any 200 level sociology course or permission of instructor
This interdisciplinary seminar examines the history, culture, social structure, and social processes of justice in the United States. Drawing from literature, history, ethnography, policy analysis, and criminology, the course examines meanings and experiences of crime and justice as American phenomena.
440. Special Topics in Sociology.
Fall or Spring (1-3) Staff.
Selected topics in sociology. The topics to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester. Instructors may require prior approval for registration. This course may be repeated for credit.
†480-81. Readings in Sociology.
Fall or Spring (3) Staff. Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
Independent readings directed toward conceptual topics and substantive areas in sociology. Students will read materials in their own area of interest in consultation with an appropriate faculty member. Readings will not duplicate areas covered in courses offered in the curriculum.
†490. Independent Research.
Fall and Spring (1-4) Staff. Prerequisite: SOC 352.
This course is designed to permit the sociology concentrator to engage in independent research after completing Sociology 352 (Social Research). Working closely with a department faculty member as an advisor, each student will prepare a substantial research paper.
†495-496. Honors.
Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff. Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
Sociology Honors candidates enroll for both semesters of their senior year. Requirements: oral defense of an honors proposal at the end of the first semester; preparation and presentation of a completed Honors project, satisfactory performance in a comprehensive oral examination focusing on the Honors thesis.
†498-499. Internship.
Fall and Spring (3,3) Staff. Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
This course is designed to allow students to gain knowledge through experience in sociologically relevant settings. Students will be supervised by department /faculty members. The internship includes readings in related areas of theory and research as assigned by supervising faculty.