Sociology

School of Liberal Arts
Indianapolis

Chairperson
Associate Professor Robert Aponte

Departmental E-mail
sociolog@iupui.edu

Departmental URL
www.iupui.edu/~slasoc/

Graduate Faculty
Master of Arts with an Applied Emphasis
Graduate Courses

Graduate Faculty

(An asterisk [*] denotes associate membership in University Graduate School faculty.)

Professors
David Ford, Carol Gardner, Linda Haas, John T. Liell (Emeritus), Suzanne Steinmetz, Robert White, Colin Williams

Associate Professors
Robert Aponte, William Gronfein, Ain Haas, Jay Howard, David Moller, Peter Seybold, Patricia Wittberg, Eric Wright

Assistant Professors
Wan-Ning Bao*, Carrie Foote-Ardah*

Adjunct Professor
J. Herman Blake

Adjunct Associate Professsors
Wolfgang Bielefeld (School of Public and Environmental Affairs), Betsy Fife (School of Nursing), Timothy J. Owens (Purdue University), Gail Whitchurch (Communication Studies)

Lecturers
James Hunter, David Strong

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Master of Arts Degree

Admission Requirements
Fifteen (15) credit hours in undergraduate sociology (or approved equivalents, with no more than two of the latter) with a total grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a scale of 4.0); GRE scores at the fiftieth percentile or higher; two samples of writing (a 500-word essay required by the Indiana University Graduate School and a sole-authored report or term paper required by the sociology department); three letters of reference. Foreign applicants are required to take the TOEFL.

Students not meeting the above requirements may be admitted on probation, or they may be required to enroll in courses as a graduate non-degree student to complete the prerequisites.

Course Requirements
A total of 36 credit hours, distributed as follows: 12 credits of basic sociology courses (theory [R556 or R557]; methods [R551 and either R593 or R659], statistics [R559]; 12 sociology credits in one area of concentration (medical sociology; family and gender studies; work and organizations; or other approved topic); 9 credits of electives (any graduate courses approved by the University Graduate School); and 3 credit hours of thesis. An undergraduate statistics course [R359 or the equivalent] is a prerequisite for R551 and R559.

Thesis
A thesis is required.

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Graduate Courses

S500 Proseminar in Sociology (1 cr.) P: graduate standing and/or consent of the instructor. Introduction to current sociological research interests and concerns through the work of departmental members.

R515 Sociology of Health and Illness (3 cr.) Surveys important areas of medical sociology, focusing on social factors influencing the distribution of disease, help-seeking, and health care. Topics covered include social epidemiology, the health-care professions, socialization of providers, and issues of cost and cost containment.

R525 Gender and Work (3 cr.) P: graduate standing and 6 credit hours of sociology, or consent of the instructor. This course explores the historical and contemporary trends in women's paid and unpaid work, and the causes and consequences of sex segregation in the labor force and in the home. An emphasis will be placed on understanding and critically analyzing contemporary theory and research on the subject.

S526 The Sociology of Human Sexuality (3 cr.) P: graduate standing and consent of the instructor. This is a one-semester graduate-level course in the sociology of human sexuality. This course will provide (a) a detailed examination of the development of sex research, (b) a sociological perspective on and critique of this corpus, and (c) an opportunity for students to develop research of their own.

R530 Families and Social Policy (3 cr.) P: R100, R220, graduate standing. This seminar will explore how the government and labor market affect family structure and the quality of family life. Students will study the implications of family research for social policy and learn to develop theoretical frameworks for evaluating social policies affecting families.

S530 Introduction to Social Psychology (3 cr.) P: graduate standing or consent of the instructor. Examines the broad range of work in social psychology. Emphasis is placed on the relation between the classic and contemporary literature in the field.

R537 Gender and Society (3 cr.) This course examines some central emphases on gender of social interactionist theory and feminist theory/methods. In addition, we will relate these approaches to the study of contemporary gender approaches in selected social spheres, which may vary according to instructor's specialization.

R551 Sociological Research Methods (3 cr.) P: graduate standing or consent of the instructor. This course surveys the major techniques for investigating current sociological problems. It emphasizes the relationship between theory and practice in understanding and conducting research. Although methods intended for rigorous hypothesis-testing through quantitative analysis will be of major concern, the course will also examine issues in field research essential to a full understanding of a research problem.

R556 Advanced Sociological Theory I: The Classical Tradition (3 cr.) P: graduate standing or consent of the instructor. This is the first part of a two-semester graduate course in contemporary sociological theory and theory construction. The first semester will involve the student in detailed study and analysis of sociologists belonging to the positivist tradition in sociology. Students will be expected to comprehend contemporary sociology in terms of its historical roots and to demonstrate their understanding of theory construction.

R557 Advanced Sociological Theory II: The Modern Tradition (3 cr.) P: graduate standing or consent of the instructor. Reading and exercises will involve the student in close analysis and criticism of sociologists belonging to the idealist tradition of sociology. In this second part of a two-semester course in theory and theory construction in sociology, students will be required to demonstrate their mastery of the theorists studied, as well as to demonstrate their own abilities in theory design and construction.

R559 Intermediate Sociological Statistics (3 cr.) P: R359 or equivalent. Basic techniques for summarizing distributions, measuring interrelationships, controlling extraneous influences, and testing hypotheses are reviewed, as students become familiar with the computer system. Complex analytical techniques commonly applied in professional literature are examined in detail, including analysis of variance, path diagrams, factor analysis, and log-linear models.

S560 Graduate Topics(3 cr.) Exploration of a topic in sociology not covered by the regular curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester. Topics to be announced.

S569 M.A. Thesis (3 cr.)

R585 Social Aspects of Mental Health and Mental Illness (3 cr.) This is a graduate-level course which focuses on the sociology of mental illness and mental health. Provides a thorough grounding in the research issues and traditions that have characterized scholarly inquiry into mental illness in the past. Students will become familiar with public policy as it has had an impact on the treatment of mental illness and on the mentally ill themselves.

R593 Applied Fieldwork for Sociologists (3 cr.) This course will provide students with both a theoretical and methodological background in the different types of qualitative analysis used in sociological fieldwork. Students will have the opportunity to study and to evaluate representative examples of qualitative studies and to complete by themselves a project done with qualitative methods.

R610 Sociology of Health and Illness Behavior (3 cr.) This seminar explores sociological and social scientific research on health and illness behavior. Special emphasis is placed on examining how social factors and conditions shape people's responses to disease, illness, and disability.

S610 Urban Sociology (3 cr.) P: graduate standing or consent of the instructor. Historical and contemporary causes, trends, and patterns of urbanization throughout the world. Various approaches to studying the process of urbanization, including ecological, social organizational, and political perspectives. Current developments and problems in urban planning.

S612 Political Sociology (3 cr.) P: graduate standing or consent of the instructor. An analysis of the nature and operation of power in a political system. Topics may include classical theories of power, political behavior and campaigns, the role of mass media in sustaining power, the state as a social institution, and political movements.

S613 Complex Organizations (3 cr.) Theory and research in formal organizations: industry, school, church, hospital, government, military, and university. Problems of bureaucracy and decision-making in large-scale organizations. For students in the social sciences and professional schools interested in the comparative approach to problems of organization and their management.

S616 Sociology of Family Systems (3 cr.) P: graduate standing or consent of the instructor. Focus on the nature, structure, functions, and changes of family systems in modern and emerging societies, in comparative and historical perspective. Attention is given to relationships with other societal subsystems, and to interaction between role occupants within and between subsystems.

S632 Socialization (3 cr.) The processes of development of the individual as a social being and societal member, focusing on childhood or socialization into adult roles.

S659 Qualitative Methods in Sociology (3 cr.) Methods of obtaining, evaluating, and analyzing qualitative data in social research. Methods covered include field research procedures, participant observation, interviewing, and audio-video recording of social behavior in natural settings.

R697 Individual Readings in Sociology (3 cr.) Investigation of a topic not covered in the regular curriculum that is of special interest to the student and that the student wishes to pursue in greater detail. Available only to sociology graduate students through arrangement with a faculty member.

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