Sociology Courses

This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts, theories, and methods in sociology. It explores the interactions between self and society by examining social structure, social consciousness, and social change. It takes the perspective that individuals both affect and are affected by values, norms, groups, and institutions.

This course examines the organization and function of social institutions in our society and how they relate to producing particular patterns of juvenile delinquency. Delinquency theories and analysis of the three primary components of the juvenile justice system; police, courts, and corrections, are included in the course.

(Also WMS 213) This course examines the effects of gender, race and class on women’s employment opportunities and labor force participation rates. Topics may include: access to education and training, women in the military, professional women, women and poverty, prostitution and sex work, occupational health and safety, sexual harassment on the job, maternity leave, factory work, immigrant women, unemployment, unionization, and the changing structure of work and occupations throughout the world.

This course provides an introduction to statistics for sociologists. It uses lectures and exercises to familiarize students with descriptive and in ferential statistics. It explores the basic techniques used to describe social science data, examines probability theory and samplingtheory, and introduces students to statistical inference techniques.. A grade of C or better is required in order to advance in all subsequent core courses in Sociology. These include: SOC 320, SOC 325, SOC 450 and SOC 490 or SOC 491. Consistent with college-wide policy regarding repeating courses, students who receive below a C may retake SOC 215 once.

(Also PSY 230) Human behavior as the interaction of individual and social processes. Recent research on topics such as interpersonal attraction, perception, and small group behavior; analysis of events and environments of current interest.

(Also WMS 234) This course examines inequalities in power, privilege, and opportunities, which characterize the structure of most societies. It explores the role of ideology in legitimizing and sustaining unequal treatment due to differences in class, race, ethnicity, and gender. Topics include legal systems and the relation between educational attainment and social mobility.

This course studies cities as physical settings which shape and are shaped by social life, and also the social experiences that such settings produce. The course focuses on cities in history, theories of urbanization, the impact of race, ethnicity, class, and gender on cities, and worldwide urbanization.

This course emphasizes the social reactions perspective, analyzes how people are differentially labeled, the experience of stigma, attempts at neutralization, and explores different social control strategies across time and place.

(Also AFS/LAC/WMS 241) This course examines race, ethnicity, racism, prejudice, discrimination, majority-minority relations, and other intergroup relations from a sociological perspective, paying close attention to the experiences of the major racial/ethnic groups in the United States –American Indians, European Americans, African/Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans.

This course examines the classical and modern theories of crime, analysis of different crimes and criminals and the various responses to them by victims, their families, the media, and society as a whole.

(Also WMS 249) From the perspective of the family as the most basic social institution in human society and as a focus of social change, this course discusses the major trends in the past forty years that have called attention to the diversity of American family life. Themes include the family life cycle, couple interaction, subcultural variations, and work-family interaction.

(Also WMS 251) Globalization may be conceptualized as the constellation of transformations and crises with local and global consequences. Global crises are social, economic and political. Driven by networks of power, capital and technology, global processes are changing the structure and meaning of the nation-state, institutions, communities, family, culture and the self worldwide.

(Also LAC 305) Latinos, or Hispanic Americans, constitute the largest minority in the United States today. Yet, in a society that continues to focus on the Black-White racial divide, Latinos are often ignored. This course explores the experiences of Latinos from a sociological perspective. Topics include immigration trends, the meaning of race in the construction of Hispanic ethnicity, the socioeconomic characteristics of the major Latino groups and issues of citizenship, politics, gender, and religion.

(Also GIS/PSY 308) This course considers several different cross disciplinary theoretical frameworks that are relevant to understanding social problems (e.g., HIV/AIDS, poverty and homelessness, teenage motherhood, hunger, domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, aging, child welfare issues, etc.). The course investigates the ways in which these social problems and people’s needs are addressed by our social welfare and human service institutions, both public and private. Ethical issues surrounding the provision of care and services in the human services are emphasized. Principles of group dynamics, needs assessment, participant observation and evaluative research methods are also studied.

“Global Crime” examines the growth of transnational crime and criminal behavior carried out by cartels, mafias, corporations, institutions and governments.We will analyze the integration of the global criminal economy into the formal economies of nations throughout the world. Emphasizing critical thinking skills and introducing students to a diversity of perspectives and frameworks, this course is intended to expand our definitions and categories of criminal activities. In addition to international crimes such as money laundering, the trafficking of drugs and weapons, and terrorism, we will include crimes against humanity –genocide, “ethnic cleansing,” war, slavery, human trafficking (for labor, prostitution, organs and adoptions) –and against the environment –ecocide, oil spills, the dumping of toxic wastes, nuclear disasters and the trafficking of endangered species –which threaten the very existence of the planet. Readings, discussions, films and research projects will help us to make sense of the word in which we live and come to understand that global social justice is possible through both individual and collective action.

The course addresses issues relating to the death penalty, including its history as well as its level of effectiveness, costs, and discriminatory application. In addition, the course will analyze data on miscarriages of justice and public opinion and the effect of Supreme Court decisions.

(Also WMS 314) Using historical documents, social statistics, works of literature, anthropology, and social and psychoanalytic theory, this course examines the process of marginalization, compares conceptions of sanity and insanity among different cultures and sub-cultures, and analyzes the consequences of institutionalization, stigmatization, and marginalization.

This course provides a basic survey of classical sociological theory. It explores the methodological and substantive concerns in the writings of classical theorists, including Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. It examines those theorists’ views on science, social structure and social change.

本课程介绍研究methods used by sociologists. It reviews the guidelines, principles, and techniques for collecting social science data, including measurement, sampling, survey instrumentation, and field research.

(Also WMS 336) This course will analyze the social, cultural and political construction of sex, sexuality and gender by examining “western” and “nonwestern” conceptions of masculinity, femininity, male and female, heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, transvestitism, transsexuality and transgenderism.

This is an interdisciplinary course that provides students with a social sciences framework relevant to the study of social problems, the programs designed to remedy them, and the actions of individuals and groups to address gaps between problems and policy.

The history of the police will be examined as well as types of organization, recruitment and training of personnel and patrol tactics and innovations. The course will also explore new laws and technology which affect law enforcement as well as viewing federal law enforcement agencies and foreign police forces from a comparative perspective.

The historical and philosophical foundations of contemporary corrections are the focus of this course. Topics will include institutional and community-based corrections and cross-cultural comparisons.

本课程提供了一个深入检查nature and scope of victimization; current research and policy trends; the victim’s role within the criminal justice system and the criminal justice system’s response to victimization.

This course concerns statutory and case law pertaining to crime. Both substantive and procedural law will be considered.