Courses
Social Sciences
Sociology (SOC)
- SOC-R 220 The Family (3 cr.) The family as a major social institution and how it relates to the wider society. Formation of families through courtship, marriage, and sexual behavior; maintenance of families through childbearing and family interaction; and dissolution of families by divorce or death. Social change and the emergence of new familial patterns. Recommended for nonmajors.
- SOC-R 318 The Self and Social Interaction (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. The course will examine the reciprocal link between the individual and society; more specifically, how individuals are affected by group behavior, and how the group is affected by the individual. Topics include: Socialization, the development of the self, social interaction, group dynamics, collective behavior and social movements.
- SOC-R 319 Sport & Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Explores the institution of sport from a sociological point of view, including sports as an agent of socialization, sports in everyday life, race, class, and gender and sports, and sports as an institution.
- SOC-R 320 Sexuality and Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Provides a basic conceptual scheme for dealing with human sexuality in a sociological manner.
- SOC-R 322 Art & Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Explores the creation of art from a sociological point of view, including how artists and artworks are shaped by their societies, the art world as a social institution, and other key cultural institutions that shape artistic creation and reception.
- SOC-R 326 Masculinity & Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Analysis of the meanings of masculinity. The major focus of the course is to examine how male gender roles impact the lives of men including: influences on men's behavior, identities and interactions with other men and women. Variations by social class, race/ethnicity, age and sexual orientation will be examined.
- SOC-R 327 Sociology of Death & Dying (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. An analysis of historical, social and psychological forces influencing human mortality. Topics include: changing images of death and dying, technology's dehumanization of dying, hospices, funerals, grief, widowhood, children's death, suicide, genocide, and the social structure's influence on the death and dying process.
- SOC-R 463 Inequality and Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Presentation of conservative, liberal, and radical theories of class formation, class consciousness, social mobility, and consequences of class membership. Emphasis on the American class system, with some attention given to class systems in other societies.
- SOC-S 163 Social Problems (3 cr.) 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.
- SOC-S 199 Careers in Sociology (1 cr.) This course provides information on what students can do with a sociology undergraduate major. The course will help students see their undergraduate coursework as part of their path to graduate school, professional school, and careers of interest (with or without additional schooling). We will address professional and practical issues in career choice, course selection, internship and research experiences, and will help students plan a course of study, internships and activities to reach their goals.
- SOC-S 203 Sociological Concepts and Perspectives (3 cr.) This course is designed to be a survey of important sociological concepts. Topics covered will include: the development of sociology and major theoretical perspectives; the scientific methods and sociological research; cultural, society and the social structure; the process of socialization and everyday interaction; groups dynamics and formal organizations; deviance and social control; an overview of several selected social institutions; collective behavior, social movements and the process of social change.
- SOC-S 216 American Ethnic Diversity (3 cr.) Themes discussed include Old World origins, current conditions, family, work, power, gender, and art. The approach is interdisciplinary. Readings are largely original accounts and include autobiographies, novels, and essays.
- SOC-S 260 Intermediate Sociological Writing (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163. C: SOC-S 381. Class restricted to sociology majors. Introduction to the analysis of social issues. Emphasis on the development of writing skills appropriate to the discipline. Approved by Arts and Sciences for use in fulfilling the writing requirement.
- SOC-S 301 Topics in Gender (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Specific topics announced each semester; examples include gender in the media, religion and gender, gender and work, gender and health, gender and politics. May be repeated three times for credit with a different topic, up to 9 credits.
- SOC-S 304 Global Issues in Gender (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. This course will provide a general introduction to social issues from around the world with a focus on gender.
- SOC-S 305 Population and Human Ecology (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Population composition, fertility, mortality, natural increase, migration; history, growth, and change of populations; population theories and policies; techniques of manipulation and use of population data; the spatial organization of populations.
- SOC-S 308 Global Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Multinational corporations, new information technologies, and international trade have made the world increasingly interdependent. This course considers how business, technology, disease, war, and other phenorena must be seen in global context as affecting national sovereignty, economic development and inequality in resources and power between countries.
- SOC-S 309 The Community (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Sociological definitions of community; theories of community and community organization; social, political, and economic factors that contribute to community organization and disorganization; alternative models of community development and planning.
- SOC-S 312 Education and Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology or consent of instructor. The role of educational institutions in modern industrialized societies, with emphasis on the functions of such institutions for the selection, socialization, and certification of individuals for adult social roles. Also covers recent educational reform movements and the implications of current social policies on education.
- SOC-S 313 Religion and Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Considers the functions and dysfunctions of religion generally, its economic and cultural patterns, religious group evolutions (cults, churches, sects, denominations), leadership deviance, and conversion/faith maintenance.
- SOC-S 314 Social Aspects of Health and Medicine (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Group characteristics in the causation, amelioration, and prevention of mental and physical illness, and the social influences in medical education, medical practice, and hospital administration.
- SOC-S 315 Work and Occupations (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Sociological perspective on 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; and how work has changed over time.
- SOC-S 319 Science and Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology or consent of instructor. Issues such as development and structure of the scientific community; normative structure of science; cooperation, competition, and communication among scientists; scientists' productivity, careers, and rewards; development of scientific specialties; and relationship between science and society.
- SOC-S 331 Sociology of Aging (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Social aspects of aging and older adulthood. Topics include myths about aging, the process of aging; sexual behavior, social behavior, social relationships, family relationships, religious activities, and leisure of the elderly.
- SOC-S 335 Race and Ethnic Relations (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Relations between racial and ethnic minority and majority groups; psychological, cultural, and structural theories of prejudice and discrimination; comparative analysis of diverse systems of intergroup relations.
- SOC-S 338 Sociology of Gender Roles (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Sociological perspectives on gender in contemporary societies. Examination of norms regarding gender and how these norms influence and are influenced by individual behavior, group interaction, and social institutions. Topics to be discussed may include family, education, work, media, and other social institutions.
- SOC-S 344 Sociology of Childhood (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Defining Sociology of Childhood; Sociological Approaches to the Study of Children & Childhood; Ethical & Practical Concerns Regarding Research with Children; Historical Overview of Childhood in U.S.; Meaning(s) and Dimensions of Children's Consumption; Changing Demographics of Childhood; Children and Immigration & Globalization; Social Policy Implications for Children & Childhood.
- SOC-S 345 Food & Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. This course introduces students to recent literature, thoughts, and research on the role of food in human societies. We use historical and critical analyses to examine selected issues about food and society.
- SOC-S 361 Cities and Suburbs (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Introduction to theory and research on the changing scale and complexity of social organization (urbanization), the quality of life in urban areas, demographic and ecological city growth patterns, and public policy concerns in contemporary urban society.
- SOC-S 360 Topics in Social Policy (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Specific topics to be announced, e.g. environmental affairs, urban problems, poverty, population problems. May be repeated three times for credit with a different topic.
- SOC-S 380 Introduction to Methods and Social Research I (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 and MATH-M 118 or MATH-A 118. This course introduces students to the various methods of research used in Sociology. Includes the logic of scientific inference, ethics, theory construction, and research design.
- SOC-S 381 Introduction to Methods and Social Research II (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 and MATH-M 118 or MATH-A 118. This course integrates methods of research and statistical analysis.
- SOC-S 403 Industry, Labor, and Community (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Organizations studied from a sociological perspective. Theories and typologies of organizations as well as research that tests them. Attention to social structures (formal and informal) of organizations, the participants (management, labor, and clients), organizational goals, effects of technology and the environment.
- SOC-S 405 Selected Social Institutions (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. An examination of one or more institutional areas, e.g., religion, education, the military. Repeatable for credit up to 9 units with permission of instructor.
- SOC-S 413 Gender and Society (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Explores several theories of sex inequality in order to understand the bases of female-male inequality in American society; examines the extent of sex inequality in several institutional sectors; and considers personal and institutional barriers women face, including those resulting from socialization, discrimination, and other structural arrangements.
- SOC-S 416 The Family (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. The family as a social institution, changing family folkways, the family in relation to development of personality of its members, disorganization of the family, and predicting success and failure in marriage.
- SOC-S 419 Social Movements and Collective Action (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. 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.
- SOC-S 431 Topics in Social Psychology (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology and SOC-S 203. Specific topics announced each semester, e.g., socialization, personality development, small group structures and processes, interpersonal relations, language and human behavior, attitude formation and change, violence and aggression. May be repeated three times for credit.
- SOC-S 432 Small Group Processes (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 or 3 credit hours of introductory sociology. Behavioral, cultural, and emotional processes which take place as small groups form, develop, change, and dissolve. Introduction to the literature on the small group, including studies derived from group dynamics, psycho-analysis, and interactionism.
- SOC-S 441 Topics in Social Theory (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163 and SOC-S 203. Specific topics to be announced, e.g. structuralism, evolutionary theory, symbolic interaction theory, functionalism, social action theory, exchange theory, history and development of social theory, sociology of knowledge.
- SOC-S 470 Senior Seminar (3 cr.) P: SOC-S 163, SOC-S 250, SOC-S 251. Class restricted to sociology majors with senior class standing. Capstone seminar in sociology; integrates knowledge on theory and practice from previous sociology course, with emphasis on historical, contemporary, and future issues in sociology.
- SOC-S 495 Individual Readings/Research in Sociology (1-6 cr.) P: 6 credit hours in sociology and written consent of instructor. Individualized approach to selected topics through the use of guided readings, research and critical evaluation. Prior arrangement required; conducted under the supervision of a member of the sociology faculty. May be repeated when topics vary for up to a maximum of 6 total hours.
- SOC-S 498 Honors Thesis Seminar I (1-3 cr.) P: Consent of the instructor for SOC-S 470 required. C: SOC-S 470. To be taken in conjunction with SOC-S 470 to meet the requirements of the Sociology Honors Program. Repeatable for credit up to 12 units.
- SOC-W 100 Gender Studies (3 cr.) Interdisciplinary approach to core discipline areas and to methodological and biographical tools required for research in women.
- SOC-S 101 Social Problems and Policies (3 cr.) Introduces sociology through in-depth study of a major social problem; and explores alternative policies. Problems treated vary by section. Examples include the environment; women, men, and work; medicine in America; the sociology of sport; alcohol and drug use.
- SOC-S 161 Principles of Sociology (3 cr.) Nature of interpersonal relationships, societies, groups, communities, and institutional areas such as the family, politics, education, the economy, and religion. Includes social process operating within these areas; significance for problems of social organization, social change, and social stratification.
- SOC-S 215 Social Change (3 cr.) 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.
- SOC-S 230 Society and the Individual (3 cr.) Personality and its development; relationship to culture and communication and to social settings; deviant types.
- SOC-S 258 Elementary Social Research Techniques (3 cr.) An introduction to major field and laboratory research methods. This includes techniques applicable to applied fields of sociology including social work, advertising, criminology, city planning, and police, military and industrial intelligence.
- SOC-S 320 Deviant Behavior and Social Control (3 cr.) Analysis of deviance in relation to formal and informal social processes. Emphasis on deviance and conformity as functions of social reactions, rules, and power and conflict.
- SOC-S 325 Criminology (3 cr.) A study of the patterns of crime, strategies for control, and theories of crime causation.
- SOC-S 328 Juvenile Delinquency (3 cr.) A study of the patterns of juvenile delinquency, strategies for control, and theories of juvenile delinquency causation.
- SOC-S 398 Internship in Sociology (1-6 cr.) Students are placed in an organization or agency to receive experience in an applied sociology setting. Work is supervised by a sociology faculty member and the organization/agency. Research and written reports are required. Evaluations by the organization/agency and sociology faculty member. Repeatable up to 12 units.
- SOC-S 420 Advanced Topics in Deviance (3 cr.) An advanced course in deviance, allowing for a more thorough coverage of selected topics, e.g. crime, juvenile delinquency, law enforcement, corrections, mental illness, sexual deviance, drug use, and violence.
- SOC-S 435 Social Psychology of the Self (3 cr.) The nature of the self and its development and consequences from various perspectives. Topics include identity dissolution, shame, guilt, anxiety and alienation. Techniques of measurement and analysis of the self-concept are also covered.