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Sociology
Sociology, the study of modern society and its institutions, deals with questions about economic relations, the distribution of power, and interrelations of religious systems and the structure of society. The discipline combines rigorous methods with a humanist’s perspective to develop comprehensive views of society. The Department of Sociology offers a wide variety of courses in social stratification, crime and delinquency, urbanization, and race relations. The department offers major and minor programs in sociology.
The Sociology Major
The Sociology Minor
Course Descriptions
The Sociology Major
(40 semester hours)
Required:
PSYC 101 (3) Introductory Psychology
PSYC 219 (4) Statistics for Behavioral Sciences
SOCI 100 (3) Introduction to Sociology: The Sociological Perspective
SOCI 110 (3) Introduction to Sociology: Social Research
SOCI 320 (3) Social Organization: Work, Family, and Education
SOCI 330 (3) Social Stratification
SOCI 450 (3) Sociological Theory
SOCI 451 (3) Research Methods
Senior Exercise:
SOCI 452 (3) Senior Seminar
Choose 4 three-credit courses in sociology excluding internships. No more than one directed, special, or independent study may be counted toward the major.
Note: For the major in sociology, the P/CR/NC grading option may not be exercised for any course which could count toward the major. Additional information about the P/CR/NC grading option is available under the Academic Regulations heading in this catalog.
The Sociology Minor
(18 semester hours)
Required:
SOCI 100 (3) Introduction to Sociology: The Sociological Perspective
SOCI 110 (3) Introduction to Sociology: Social Research
SOCI 320 (3) Social Organization: Work, Family, and Education
SOCI 330 (3) Social Stratification
Choose 2 three-credit courses in sociology excluding internships. No more than one directed, special, or independent study may be counted toward the minor.
Note: For the minor in sociology, the P/CR/NC grading option may not be exercised for any course which could count toward the minor. Additional information about the P/CR/NC grading option is available under the Academic Regulations heading in this catalog.
SOCI 100
Introduction to Sociology: The Sociological Perspective
CR:
3.0 The course serves as an introduction to the analysis of human interaction and social groups. Focus is on the sociological perspective, methods of social science, socialization processes, and class, gender, and race inequalities, with an over-arching emphasis on the social construction of reality. May be counted as an auxiliary course toward the minor in gender studies. V.5
SOCI 110
Introduction to Sociology: Social Research
CR:
3.0 An introduction to the analysis of human group behavior within the context of social interaction and social institutions. Primary emphasis is on methods and results of social research. III.Q
SOCI 200
Medical Sociology
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 110. Social and behavioral risk factors for health and well-being, illness, accidents and death. Interrelationships of these non-medical factors with health care and socially-patterned inequalities. V.5
SOCI 210
Culture, Society, and The Automobile
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. Changing effects of the automobile on culture and social organization will be considered. Topics include: the relation of cars to industrialization and the organization of work, cars as popular cultural artifacts, cars and social policy. Some attention will be paid to probable future trends in automotive design and production. Emphasis is on the United States, but recent developments in the rest of the world (especially Japan) will be analyzed as well. Offered every third year. V.5
SOCI 220
Community
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. This course analyzes the role of community in human social life, with attention to questions about community formation, maintenance, and change. In it we will also examine the phenomenon of intentional com- munity and its place vis-a-vis mainstream society, with an emphasis on environmentally sustainable communities. Offered alternate years.
SOCI 223
The Sociology of Food
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. Food is a principal ingredient in sociocultural systems and conveys much about a society. This course explores the social significance of food, specifically: the determinants of what and how people in a society eat, religious and ideological meanings associated with certain foods, how food norms reflect and perpetuate certain forms of social stratification, the rationalization of food-related processes, and the consequences of food conventions for the health of people and the environment. V.5
SOCI 250
Social Work
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. The basic principles of social service; types of social-work settings; standards of social work; and an introduction to methods of case work, group work, and community work. This course may not be used to meet the minimum number of courses required for either the major or minor in sociology.
SOCI 260
Sociology of Religion
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. This course examines religion in human cultures from a sociological perspective, focusing on its origins in and consequences for society. Study includes the review of classic and contemporary arguments about the role of religion and ideas about morality in the development of modern society. The course also explores ways in which religion and other aspects of society influence each other. V.5
SOCI 261
Directed Study
CR:
3.0 Prerequisites: SOCI 100 or SOCI 110, and permission of the instructor. The study of introductory level material by an individual student or by a small group of students under the immediate supervision of a faculty member. This course is graded P/CR/NC only.
SOCI 300
Social Psychiatry
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 110. An analysis of cultural values and socioeconomic factors related to definitions of mental health; societal responses to mental illness; the prevalence and distribution of psychiatric disorder in population groups; the influence of non-medical factors in diagnosis and treatment; the relation to social structure of mental health policy and organization of treatment systems.
SOCI 310
Criminology
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 110. Critical analysis of contemporary theoretical and empirical research of the sociology of crime and delinquency. III.Q
SOCI 320
Social Organization:Work, Family, and Education
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. An analysis of how the economy affects the organization of the work- place which in turn affects home and school socialization processes. implications of workplace organization and socialization processes for social mobility are explored.
SOCI 330
Social Stratification
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. An examination of the sociological understanding of structured social inequality. Beginning with the origins of social stratification and theoretical explanations of inequality, the course will survey the principal forms of stratification found in human society, concentrating on an extended analysis of the class structure of American society that addresses these fundamental questions: How are rewards (power, property, prestige) distributed in American society? How unequal is the distribution? Are classes real groups or categories? Can individuals change their rank in the structure? How has the structure of inequality changed? V.5, V.7
SOCI 350
Urban Sociology
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. The emergence of the modern city raised many questions about the effects of urban life on society. Today, however, more than half the world’s population is urban. This course will examine the range of sociological theories about the city. Themes include: the history of urbanization and sprawl, the cultures of cities, environmental issues, and the “new urban sociology.”
SOCI 360
Minorities and Race Relations
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100. An analysis of the significance of minority-group status for the individual and society, with emphasis on the relationship between personality and prejudice, the functions of prejudice in society, and the effects of prejudice on minority-group members. The application of this analysis to the United States and selected societies. III.W
SOCI 361
Special Study
CR:
3.0 SOCI 370
Environmental Sociology
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: SOCI 100 or ENVR 101. An analysis of the reciprocal interactions between the physical environment (ranging from a micro level to the biosphere) and social organization. Specific topics include energy consumption, quality of life, sustainable development, environmental inequality, and global environmental change. The course will emphasize the ways in which social structures and the individual behaviors that reflect them both transform and are transformed by the environment. Offered alternate years. V.7
SOCI 377
Internship
CR:
3.0 Prerequisites: Three credits in SOCI and permission of instructor, department chair, and dean. This course is graded P/CR/NC only.
SOCI 450
Sociological Theory
CR:
3.0 Prerequisites: SOCI 100 and one additional SOCI course. Sociological theory was a response to the traumatic birth of modern society. industrialization, capitalism, and individualism all raised difficult questions. What is the nature of modern society? What are its problems and challenges? How will it change? We shall approach these questions via a critical reading of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and others, followed by selections representative of the major movements of thought in contemporary sociological theory. III.W, V.1
SOCI 451
Research Methods
CR:
3.0 Prerequisites: SOCI 110, and MATH 106 or MATH 205. An analysis of strategies for discovery in social research, with emphasis on questionnaires, interviews, and observation. Students will have an opportunity to apply these methods. III.Q
SOCI 452
Senior Seminar
CR:
3.0 Prerequisite: Open by permission to seniors who are doing major work in the division or in related interdepartmental majors. The application of the sociological perspective to an issue or problem in contemporary society, with emphasis on the formulation of a sociological question and the construction of a sociological analysis. Students in the seminar will determine the issue or problem to be considered. students may elect to do independent work on topics related to the theme of the seminar. III.O
SOCI 461
Independent Study
CR:
3.0 Prerequisites: SOCI 100 or SOCI 110, one 200-level SOCI course, and permission of the instructor. Pursuit of an upper level research project determined in advance by the student in consultation with a faculty member who will act as the sponsor. This course is graded P/CR/NC only.
