College of Arts and Sciences
Departments
Sociology and Anthropology
Sociology Courses
- SOC-S 161 Principles of Sociology (3 cr.) Nature of interpersonal relationships, societies, groups, communities, and institutional areas such as the family, industry, and religion; social process operating within those areas; significance for problems of personality, human nature, social disorganization, and social change. (Fall, Spring, Summer I, Summer II)
- SOC-S 163 Social Problems (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161. Major social problems in areas such as the family; religion; economic order; crime; mental disorders; civil rights; racial, ethnic, and international tensions. Relation to structure and values of larger society (Fall, Spring, Summer I, Summer II)
- SOC-S 164 Marital Relations and Sexuality (3 cr.) Analysis of courtship, marriage, and its alternatives and the basic issues of human sexuality, with an emphasis on contemporary American society (Fall, Spring, Summer I, Summer II)
- SOC-S 215 Social Change (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Introduction to theoretical and empirical studies of social change. Explores issues such as modernization; rationalization; demographic, economic, and religious causes of change; reform and revolution. (Fall, Summer)
- SOC-S 230 Society and the Individual (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Introduction to the concepts, perspectives, and theories of social psychology from the level of the individual to collective behavior. (Fall, Spring, Summer I)
- SOC-S 254 Qualitative Field Research (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161, SOC-S 261, and two courses in anthropology including ANTH-A 104. Covers the most salient aspects of field research, including taking field notes and coding, engaging in participant-observation, taking on a variety of research roles, creating topical guides and conducting in-depth interviews, and writing a publishable- quality research paper. Students must find a suitable setting in which to conduct their semester-long research project. (Fall)
- SOC-S 261 Research Methods in Sociology (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. The logic of scientific work in sociology; theory construction; major research designs, including experiments, sample surveys, and ethnographic field studies; methods of sampling; measurement of variables. (Fall)
- SOC-S 262 Statistics for Sociology (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 and MATH-M 100. This is a general introduction to the logic of statistics, both descriptive and inferential. Students learn how to use sample date to reach conclusions about a population of interest by calculating confidence intervals and significance tests. SPSS software is used to produce the appropriate calculations. (Spring)
- SOC-S 309 The Community (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Introduction to the sociology of community life, stressing the processes of order and change in community organization. Major topics include the community and society, the nonterritorial community, analysis of major community institutions, racial-ethnic differences in community behavior, community conflict, and community problems. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 310 The Sociology of Women in America (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. A brief survey of the history of women's changing role in America with particular emphasis on women's legal status in this century, persistence of occupational segregation, the organization and growth of the women's movement since 1960, the impact of those changes on the nuclear family, and the female self- image. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 311 Political Sociology (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Interrelations of politics and society, with emphasis on formation of political power, its structure, and its change in different types of social systems and cultural-historical settings. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 313 Sociology of Religion (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. The nature, consequences, and theoretical origins of religion, as evident in social constructions and functional perspectives; the social origins and problems of religious organizations; and the relationships between religion and morality, science, magic, social class, minority status, economic development, and politics. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 314 Social Aspects of Health and Medicine (3 cr.) P: 6 credit hours of sociology. The effects of group characteristics in the causation, amelioration, and prevention of mental and physical illness, and social influences in medical education, medical practice, and hospital administration. (Occasionally; two-year rotation)
- SOC-S 315 Sociology of Work (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Treats work roles within such organizations as factory, office, school, government, and welfare agencies; career and occupational mobility in work life; formal and informal organizations within work organizations; labor and management conflict and cooperation; problems of modern industrial workers. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 316 Sociology of the Family (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Structure and process of the conjugal family in modern and emerging societies. Focus is on relationships of the family to other subsystems of the larger society and on interaction within the family in connection with those interrelationships. Stress on development of systematic theory. (Fall, Spring, Summer I, Summer II)
- SOC-S 317 Social Stratification (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Nature, functioning, and maintenance of systems of social stratification in local communities and societies. Correlates and consequences of social class position and vertical mobility. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 320 Deviant Behavior and Social Control (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Analysis of deviance in relation to formal and informal social processes. Emphasis on deviance and respectability as functions of social relations, characteristics of rules, and power and conflict. (Occasionally; once per year)
- SOC-S 325 Criminology (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Factors in genesis of crime and organization of criminal behavior from points of view of the person and the group. (Occasionally—Once per year)
- SOC-S 328 Juvenile Delinquency (3 cr.) P: 6 credit hours of sociology, or SOC-S 161 and junior standing. Nature and extent of juvenile delinquency; juvenile delinquency and the law; methods of research in juvenile delinquency; delinquency causation; theories and practices of delinquency control. (Occasionally; once per year)
- SOC-S 331 Sociology of Aging (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. A survey of the demographic, work, retirement, social status, family, and institutional factors associated with life in the later years in modern industrial societies. (Occasionally; two-year rotation)
- SOC-S 335 Race and Ethnic Relations (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 or consent of instructor. Racial and cultural contacts, especially in America; factors that determine rate and manner of assimilation; cultural pluralism; theories and conceptual analysis of prejudice; comparative analysis of diverse race relations in different parts of the world. (Occasionally - 2 year rotation)
- SOC-S 337 Women and Crime (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161, at least sophomore standing or consent of instructor. Analysis of traditional and feminist theories of crime. Substantive areas include women's victimization, women's criminality and incarceration, and women working within the criminal justice system. (Occasionally-once per year)
- SOC-S 340 Social Theory (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 161 and either SOC-S 210 or SOC-S 215 or consent of instructor. Sociological theory, with focus on content, form, and historical development. Relationships between theories, data, and sociological explanation. (Spring)
- SOC-S 398 Internship in the Behavioral Sciences (3 cr.) P: departmental permission required. Open to sophomore, junior, and senior students who, upon approval of the internship coordinator, are placed in cooperating social, welfare, and behavior modification agencies to receive experience as learning paraprofessionals. The department and agency supervise the work. Research and written reports are required. Evaluations by the agency and department will be made. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 credit hours. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 410 Topics in Sociology (3 cr.) P: 6 credit hours of sociology or consent of instructor. Specific topics announced each semester; e.g., social stratification, formal organizations, urban social organization, education, religion, sport and leisure, medicine, politics, demography, social power, social conflict, social change, comparative social systems. May be repeated three times for credit. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 416 The Family (3 cr.) P: 6 credit hours of sociology. The family as a social institution, changing family folkways, the family in relation to the development of personality of its members, disorganization of the family, and predicting success and failure in marriage. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 418 The Sociology of Political and Religious Movements (3 cr.) P: 6 credit hours of sociology or consent of instructor. Religious and political movements across the political spectrum will be explored to examine the interrelationships between religious and political social institutions. Transformation of those relationships throughout history will be explored to note the effects of the changing sociopolitical climate in the U.S. on social movement formation and convergence. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 419 Social Movements and Collective Action (3 cr.) P: SOC S215 or consent of department. Change- oriented social and political collective action and consequences for groups and societies. Resource mobilization, historical and comparative analysis of contemporary movements and collective action. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 420 Topics in Deviance (3 cr.) P: 6 credit hours of sociology or consent of instructor. Specific topics announced each semester; e.g., crime, juvenile delinquency, law enforcement, corrections, mental illness, sexual deviance, drug use, violence, and physical disability. May be repeated three times for credit. (Occasionally)
- SOC-S 450 Topics in Methods and Measurement (3 cr.) P: SOC S261, SOC S262; or consent of instructor. Specific topics announced each semester; e.g., logic of inquiry, model construction and formalization, research design, data collection, sampling, measurement, statistical analysis. May be repeated three times for credit with a different topic. (Occasionally)