SOC 131: Introduction to Sociology
3 Credits
This course surveys the major issues sociologists study, including gender and sex roles, socialization, politics, race and ethnicity, crime and drugs, poverty and homelessness, and social class and inequality. Students will consider whether sociological methods, insights, and theories are useful for understanding their lives and communities.
Offered: Fall/Spring (A)
SOC 132: Social Stratification and Inequality
3 Credits
A critical examination of how people are ranked into various strata, based on their class, status, and/or positions of power; this course focuses on the relationships between social inequality and race, gender, age, and ethnicity.
Prerequisite: SOC 131
Offered: Fall (A)
SOC 136: Social Problems & Change
3 Credits
A critical examination of the major social problems in American society, including the concentration of economic and political power; poverty; prejudice, discrimination, and their multiple manifestations; unequal education; mal-distribution of health care; environmental abuse; militarism and war; and family related problems.
Prerequisite: SOC 131
Offered: Spring (O)
SOC 231: Social Deviance and Control
3 Credits
A study of deviance and social control; this course emphasizes the various types, prevalence, and causes of deviant behavior. Special attention is paid to how deviance is constructed, perceived, and/or explained by moral entrepreneurs and others, and to the relativity of deviance.
Prerequisite: SOC 131
Offered: Fall (A)
SOC 232: Social Psychology
3 Credits
An examination of people’s perceptions, attitudes, intentions, behaviors, and how they are formed and shaped by continuous interaction between self and society. Special attention is paid to personality formation; culture and social structure; socialization and learning; social interaction and social influence; small-group dynamics; morality in thought and action; positive social action; aggression, power, leadership and control; and the social psychologies of race, gender, and the internet.
Prerequisite: SOC 131
Offered: Fall (A)
SOC 234: Introduction to Anthropology
3 Credits
With a focus on both social and physical anthropology, this course pays special attention both material and non-material culture; social structure, forms of communication, and relationships with the physical environment.
Prerequisite: SOC 131
SOC 248: Social Organizations
3 Credits
A comprehensive study of organizations, including their forms, structures, characteristics, dynamics or processes, leadership, environments, theories, and inter-organizational relationships, this course examines organizations as rational systems, natural systems, and/or open systems.
Prerequisite: SOC 131
Offered: Fall (A)
SOC 330: Special Topics in Sociology*
3 Credits
This course is an intensive interdisciplinary study of selected current sociological/anthropological issues. A professional written project or paper is required.
Prerequisites: SOC 131, Junior/Senior status or consent of instructor.
SOC 331: Feminist Theories and Women’s Studies
3 Credits
This class explores the theoretical assumptions under girding the oppression and subordination of women by men, and the patriarchal system that men control.
Prerequisite: SOC 131
SOC 338: Race and Ethnicity
3 Credits
An examination of the problems arising from the asymmetric relationships between various races and ethnic groups of the world. Special attention is paid to the problems of racial inequality, prejudice and discrimination, and the social and economic conditions of African Americans and other minority groups in the United States.
Prerequisite: SOC 131 or consent of instructor
SOC 344: The Family
3 Credits
This course focuses on the study of the family and family life cross-culturally and historically. It explores theoretical perspectives on the family, including systems theory, feminism, resource theory, and Marxism. Topics include kinship, gender, courtship, parenting, family violence, and divorce.
Prerequisites: SOC 131 Junior/Senior status or consent of instructor
Offered: Spring (A)
SOC 345: Introduction to Demography and Ecology
3 Credits
A study of population structures and processes (birth, death, migration), and the ecological relationships between populations and their environments, this course pays special attention to basic demographic methods and theories.
Prerequisite: SOC 131
SOC 353: Sociology of the Global System
3 Credits
An analysis of the dynamics of the global corporate world (IMF, World Bank, multinational corporations, etc.) political and economic exchanges, and international relations.
Prerequisites: SOC 131 or Junior/Senior status or instructor consent
SOC 430: Social Research Methods
3 Credits This course surveys quantitative and qualitative research methods, as well as basic and applied approaches, and their individual strengths and weaknesses. Survey design, conceptualization and operationalization are emphasized.
Prerequisites: SOC 131 and MAT 233 or its equivalent
Offered: Fall (A)
SOC 432: Social Theory
3 Credits
This course explores contemporary theoretical approaches (functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interaction, exchange and rational-choice theory, ethno-methodology, phenomenology, modernism and other postmodernist works) within the context of the main ideas of sociology’s founding fathers.
Prerequisites: SOC 131 and SOC 132
Offered:Spring (A)
SOC 436: Social Movements, Conflicts and Change
3 Credits
Interdisciplinary and comparative analyses of the major theories, models, sources, processes, patterns, and consequences of social change, including the major political, economic and social development changes (including industrialization, deindustrialization, and globalization) taking place in the U.S. and abroad.
Prerequisites: SOC 131