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Sociology (SOC) Courses

Academic Unit: Sociology

SOC 1001 - Introduction to Sociology [SOCS DSJ]
(4 cr; Prereq-Soc Majors/Minors must register A-F; Student Option; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer)
Equivalent courses: SOC 1011V (inactive, was SOC 1011 until 05-SEP-00), SOC 1012W (inactive)
This course is designed to introduce you to the study of society and what sociologists call the "sociological imagination:" a way of viewing the events, relationships and social phenomena that shape our individual lives and much of our collective experience. Through the course we will examine some of the central concepts and problems that have preoccupied both classical and contemporary sociologists and gain a sense of how the sociological imagination can illuminate the social forces that have a concrete impact on our everyday lives. Throughout the course you will be asked to consider the ways in which society affects your life, and how you, in turn, affect society.
SOC 1101 - Law, Crime, & Punishment
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer)
Introductory course designed to provide students with a general understanding of the main theoretical perspectives and empirical findings that dominate socio-legal studies and contemporary criminology. We examine the connections and relationships between law, crime, and punishment using an interdisciplinary social science approach.
SOC 3003 - Social Problems
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
In this course, we will engage in a sociological examination of major social problems facing the contemporary US and abroad. We explore the origins and causes of different social problems, seek to understand how they impact individuals, groups, and the society as a whole, and evaluate solutions. We ask how an issue becomes defined as a "social problem," discuss the social construction of reality and deviance, and consider the primary frameworks under which societies have organized their responses to different social problems.
SOC 3005 - Social Science Fiction
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
This course applies theories, concepts, and principles from social science disciplines such as sociology, political science, and anthropology, to social science fiction novels, stories, and films, to understand how soc-sci-fi contributes to knowledge about current societal conditions. Soc majors/minors must register A-F.
SOC 3090 - Topics in Sociology (Topics course)
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors must register A-F; cr will not be granted if cr has been received for the same topics title; Student Option; offered Periodic Spring; may be repeated for 6 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
Topics specified in Class Schedule.
SOC 3093 - Directed Study
(1 cr [max 4]; Student Option; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 4 credits)
Guided individual reading or study at sophomore level. Prereq 1001, instr consent, dept consent, college consent; soc majors/minors must register A-F.
SOC 3094 - Directed Research
(1 cr [max 4]; Prereq-1001, instr consent; soc majors/minors must register A-F; Student Option; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 4 credits)
Guided research experience at sophomore level.
SOC 3101 - Sociological Perspectives on the Criminal Justice System [CIV]
(3 cr; Prereq-[SOC 1001] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer)
Equivalent courses: SOC 3101H
This course introduces students to a sociological account of the U.S. criminal justice system. We will critically examine the components, dynamics, and effects of policing, criminal courts, community supervision, jails, and prisons. Throughout the course, we focus on sociological understandings of these processes, with particular attention to ethnic, racial, class, and gender inequalities as well as long-term problems associated with the high rate of criminal justice supervision in the U.S.
SOC 3101H - Honors: Sociological Perspectives on the Criminal Justice System [CIV]
(3 cr; Prereq-[SOC 1001] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F, honors; A-F only; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer)
Equivalent courses: SOC 3101 (starting 20-JAN-15)
This course introduces students to a sociological account of the U.S. criminal justice system. We will critically examine the components, dynamics, and effects of policing, criminal courts, community supervision, jails, and prisons. Throughout the course, we focus on sociological understandings of these processes, with particular attention to ethnic, racial, class, and gender inequalities as well as long-term problems associated with the high rate of criminal justice supervision in the U.S. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Honor students will be expected to interview a current Sociology graduate student working on a LCD topic. Following this, each student will individually be expected to do an in-class power-point presentation explaining how the interviewees? research relates with themes presented in the course. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2 page maximum reflective paper.
SOC 3102 - Criminal Behavior and Social Control
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc majors/minors must register A-F; Student Option; offered Every Fall & Spring)
This course will address the social and legal origins of crime and crime control with a focus on general theories of deviance/crime and present an overview of forms of social control. We will critically examine criminological, sociological and legal theories that explain the causes of crime and other misdeeds.
SOC 3201 - Inequality: Introduction to Stratification
(3 cr; Prereq-soc majors/minors must register A-F; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall)
Why does inequality exist? How does it work? These are the essential questions examined in this class. Topics range from welfare and poverty to the role of race and gender in getting ahead. We will pay particular attention to social inequities ? why some people live longer and happier lives while others are burdened by worry, poverty, and ill health.
SOC 3207 - Global Islamophobia
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 3407 (starting 03-SEP-19)
Throughout the world, anti-Muslim activists and politicians have been increasingly attacking Muslims and Islam. And, international organizations have reported human rights violations against Muslims worldwide. Recently, in the United States, there have been calls to ban Muslims, as well as register American Muslims. In France, Muslim women are prohibited to wear a headscarf in high school. And in Myanmar, a genocide against Muslim minorities is currently underway. While anti-Islamic discourses have a long history in many societies worldwide (including Muslim-majority countries), the course seeks to explore the global rise of these discourses since September 11, 2001. The course examines the cultural, political, and historical origins of Islamophobic discourses that cast Muslims as "violent," "hateful," and "uncivilized." Class sessions will include some lecture but will be largely discussion based. Assignments will ask students to think and write critically about course concepts, debate and participate in simulation exercises, and reflect on personal thoughts and feelings about course content.
SOC 3211W - Race and Racism in the US [WI DSJ]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 3211 until 05-SEP-00, AAS 3211W
We live in a society steeped in racial understandings that are often invisible?some that are hard to see, and others that we work hard not to see. This course will focus on race relations in today's society with a historical overview of the experiences of various racial and ethnic groups in order to help explain their present-day social status. This course is designed to help students begin to develop their own informed perspectives on American racial ?problems? by introducing them to the ways that sociologists deal with race, ethnicity, race relations and racism. We will expand our understanding of racial and ethnic dynamics by exploring the experiences of specific groups in the U.S. and how race/ethnicity intersects with sources of stratification such as class, nationality, and gender. The course will conclude by re-considering ideas about assimilation, pluralism, and multiculturalism. Throughout, our goal will be to consider race both as a source of identity and social differentiation as well as a system of privilege, power, and inequality affecting everyone in the society albeit in different ways.
SOC 3215 - Supercapitalism: Labor, Consumption & the Environment in the New Global Economy
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Every Fall)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 3215
From the jeans you buy online to the place mats you purchase at Target, most of the items we consume are made somewhere else. Global production networks link consumers of fresh green beans in Britain with growers, pickers, and packers in Zambia. And it isn't only products that move around the globe; so do people. Thanks to immense economic inequalities, wealthy families in the global North enjoy the cheap labor of Eastern European, Filipino, and Honduran nannies, house cleaners, and gardeners. How did this global economy come to be, how has it impacted workers, consumers, and ecosystems, and what are its ethical and political implications? This course focuses on the changes that have occurred over the last 70 years in the realms of labor, consumption, and the environment. We'll examine the movement away from regulated national economies to an integrated global economy; changing patterns and organization of production, distribution, consumption, and waste disposal; and new forms of capital-labor-state relations. Some of the topics we explore include the global trade in body parts; the rise of shareholder capitalism; the new "platform" economy; the growing insecurity of work; and the environmental changes global capitalism has wrought. We end by considering alternatives to the "business-as-usual" (BAU) economy.
SOC 3221 - Sociology of Gender
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: was GWSS 3201 until 07-SEP-10, was GWSS 3201 until 20-JAN-09, was GWSS 3201 until 02-SEP-08, was GWSS 3201 until 04-SEP-07, was WOST 3201 until 06-SEP-05, GWSS 3201 (inactive, ending 20-JAN-15, was WOST 3201 until 05-SEP-06), SOC 5221
Gender is something so fundamental to our lives, to our identities, and how we interact with others that we often take it for granted. However, understandings of gender vary across time and place, and even within cultures, making it clear that our understandings of gender are not universal or timeless. In this class, we will examine how gender intersects with race and sexuality, as well as how it impacts areas of our lives such as child socialization, family structure, the media, intimate relationships, and the workplace
SOC 3225 - The Power of the 1%: Global Philanthropy and the Making of a New World
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 3225 (starting 07-SEP-21)
Philanthropy has come to play an increasingly important role in the economy and society, on both a national and global level. Americans gave away $450 billion in 2019, or a little over 2 percent of our country's GDP (Giving USA 2020). A few mega-philanthropists, such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, and others donated mind-boggling sums of money. These individuals and their foundations are having a significant impact around the world, changing the way public education is carried out in many countries, how global health priorities are defined, how public policies are made, and how African agricultural systems are organized. Forbes magazine reports that there are 1,645 billionaires in the world today, 80% more than a decade ago. While some observers look positively on this philanthropic outpouring, others suggest it may be eroding democracy. In this course, we study philanthropy from a variety of perspectives, exploring who gives away money and why, how this "gift" impacts givers, receivers, and taxpayers, and what the relationship is between global philanthropy and power. Specific topics include the history of foundations; religion and charity; philanthropy and politics; consumption-based giving (or "brand aid"), and philanthropy and social policy. We'll examine case studies such as the Gates Foundation's role in African agriculture. Students will do "participant observation" in a local charity, and a research project on the philanthropic foundation or giving practice of their choice. Pre-req: Soc Majors must register A-F.
SOC 3241 - Sociology of Women's Health: Experiences from Around the World
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Health care is a fundamental right, but access to it is not shared evenly by all. This course considers women's and men's health needs, and how health systems assign priority to those needs. The course also covers how differences in health policy, national medical systems, levels of wealth, and cultural contexts around the world affect women's health and treatment and their experiences of wellness and illness. Women are taking an active role in shaping healthy societies. The final portion of this course looks at the goals and successes of women's movements in the health sphere. Throughout the course, there will be an emphasis on how sociological approaches to health differ from medical or epidemiological approaches, the advantages of the sociological approaches, and the respective advantages and disadvantages of qualitative versus quantitative approaches to studying women's health. Pre-req: Soc majors and minors must register A-F; Soc 1001 recommended.
SOC 3243W - On Drugs: Pleasures, Panics & Punishments [WI]
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
In this course we are going to study and reflect on the immense popularity of mood-enhancing drugs, legal and illegal, around the world today. Why do we want to modify our moods, and how do we set about it? Why do some people throw themselves into drug use while others fearfully avoid it? And why do many more of us feel worried about "addiction" to shopping, sex, or gambling? Together we will build a comparative analysis of drug cultures and practices ? understanding the place of ?journey? and ?possession? inebriation across time, and how the temporal and ritual boundaries delimiting substance use get broken down by the mass commoditization of alcohol and other drugs by 19th century capitalism. From there we trace the amazingly confused development of addiction and changing forms of intervention, from alarmist educational campaigns and the militarized maneuvers of the drug war to the drug court movement , and from the twelve-step cure to alternative harm reduction approaches. This class will offer you a mixture of accessible and detailed material, together with some theoretical work which will help you grasp the subject on a deeper level. As a writing intensive class you will develop a three-stage paper with feedback at each stage, producing a strong writing sample. Pre-req: Soc 1001 recommended; Soc majors/minors must register A-F.
SOC 3246 - Diseases, Disasters, & Other Killers [ENV HIS]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall)
Equivalent courses: SOC 5246 (inactive)
This course studies the social pattern of mortality, beginning with demographic transition theory. Students will study specific causes of death or theories of etiology, including theories about suicide, fundamental cause theory, and the role of early life conditions in mortality. Students learn tools for studying mortality, including cause of death classifications and life tables. Soc majors/minors must register A-F.
SOC 3251W - Sociological Perspectives on Race, Class, and Gender [SOCS WI DSJ]
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer)
Equivalent courses: AAS 3251W (starting 18-JAN-11), AFRO 3251W (starting 04-SEP-01, was SOC 3251W until 04-SEP-01, was SOC 3251W until 21-MAY-01, was SOC 3251W until 16-JAN-01, was SOC 3251W until 05-SEP-00, was AFRO 3251 until 05-SEP-00, was SOC 3251 until 07-SEP-99)
In the midst of social unrest, it is important for us to understand social inequality. In this course we will analyze the impact of three major forms of inequality in the United States: race, class, and gender. Through taking an intersectional approach at these topics, we will examine the ways these social forces work institutionally, conceptually, and in terms of our everyday realities. We will focus on these inequalities as intertwined and deeply embedded in the history of the country. Along with race, class, and gender we will focus on other axes of inequality including sexuality, citizenship, and dis/ability. We will analyze the meanings and values attached to these social categories, and the ways in which these social constructions help rationalize, justify, and reproduce social inequality.
SOC 3301W - Politics and Society [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 3301 until 05-SEP-00
Political sociology is concerned with the social bases of power and the social consequences of the organization of power, especially how power operates in relationship to various forms of inequality and different institutions. We will explore political socialization, electoral politics and voting, social movements, the media and framing, and politics of inequality, poverty, and welfare.
SOC 3309 - Atheists as ?Other?: Religious & Nonreligious Outsiders in the US [DSJ]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: RELS 3624, SURG 7500 (inactive, ending 08-AUG-16, starting 06-MAY-13)
What does it mean to be an atheist in the United States today? Atheists comprise a small percentage of the American population, but one with an increasingly visible presence in popular culture, political discourse, & everyday life. How do atheists organize into groups oriented toward identity-formation, social connection, and political action?
SOC 3322W - Social Movements, Protests, and Change [WI CIV]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 3322 until 06-SEP-05, GLOS 3322W (inactive)
Focusing on the origins, dynamics, and consequences of social movements, this course explores debates about the dilemmas and challenges facing movement organizations, the relationship between social movements and various institutions, and the role of social movements and protest in bringing about change. The course is organized around general theoretical issues concerning why people join movements, why they leave or remain in movements, how movements are organized, the strategies and tactics they use, and their long-term and short-run impact.
SOC 3411W - Organizations and Society [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 3411 until 05-SEP-00
This course introduces undergraduates to contemporary theories and debates about formal organizations in an international context, including such forms as large corporations, small businesses, public bureaucracies, nonprofits, voluntary associations, social movement organizations, terrorist networks and counterterror organizations.
SOC 3412 - Social Networking: Theories and Methods [TS]
(3 cr; Prereq-[SOC 1001] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F only; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 3412H
Network analysis spans a diverse range of phenomena from ego-centric ties, to small work-team sociograms, to organizational relations, to trade and military alliances among nation states. This course introduces undergraduate students to theories and methods for studying social networks, the ties connecting people, groups, and organizations. Topics include friendship, communication, small group, health, sexual and romantic, corporate, social movement, public policy, innovation diffusion, criminal and terrorist, and Internet networks.'
SOC 3412H - Honors: Social Networking: Theories and Methods [TS]
(3 cr; Prereq-[SOC 1001] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F, honors; A-F only; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 3412
Network analysis spans a diverse range of phenomena from ego-centric ties, to small work-team sociograms, to organizational relations, to trade and military alliances among nation states. This course introduces undergraduate students to theories and methods for studying social networks, the ties connecting people, groups, and organizations. Topics include friendship, communication, small group, health, sexual and romantic, corporate, social movement, public policy, innovation diffusion, criminal and terrorist, and Internet networks. Honors students are expected to demonstrate greater depth of discussion, depth and to a degree length of writing assignments, presentations, and leadership of the students. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2 page maximum reflective paper. ? Interview a current Sociology graduate student and present briefly in class or write a reflective piece, not more than 2 pages in length, to be submitted to the Professor.
SOC 3417W - Global Institutions of Power: World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization [WI GP]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 3415W (starting 20-JAN-15, was GLOS 3415 until 20-JAN-15)
This course will introduce students to some of the world's most powerful global institutions -- such as the World Bank (IBRD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United Nations, and affiliated agencies such as UNHCR (for refugee support). We will follow their efforts to promote a style of global development practices -- large-scale capital lending and global expertise building -- that has crystallized into a common understanding of how global north-south dynamics should progress. Cases pursued in class may include their lending and debt policies, dam building and energy projects, climate resilience and water loans, and the ways they mediate free trade agreements among competing countries. We will also hear from the multitude of voices, theories, and practices that offer alternative visions as to how people strive to produce a more just, socially equitable, and climate-safe world. We will use books, articles, films, in-class debates, case study exploration, small-group projects, and guest speakers to create a lively discussion-based classroom environment.
SOC 3421W - Sociology of Work: Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, No Jobs? [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended, Soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Work is central to individuals, economy, and society. This course introduces students to sociological perspectives and analyses of work. We will look at what makes a good job good, a bad job bad, and impacts of joblessness on society.
SOC 3446 - Comparing Healthcare Systems [GP]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 5446
Examination of national health systems from an international comparative perspective, emphasizing social, organizational, political, economic, cultural, and ethical dimensions of healthcare policies and programs to deliver services and their impacts on the health of population groups. The comparative approach will enable students to acquire a better understanding of the problems and potential for reforming and improving US healthcare delivery. Pre-req: Soc majors/minors must register A-F
SOC 3451W - Cities & Social Change [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended, Soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Spring Odd Year)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 3451 until 05-SEP-00, SOC 3451V (inactive)
The core themes of this class will provide an essential toolkit for approaching broad questions about social justice, culture, work, housing and service provision on multiple levels and across the globe. This course will have units on economic development, inequality, the interaction between design and human action, inclusive and exclusive cultural formations, crime and cultures of fear, social control and surveillance.
SOC 3452 - Education and Society
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc majors/minors must register A-F.; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Everyone thinks they know what "education" is. We've all been in schools, and we think we know how they work. We all have opinions about why some people go farther in school than others and why some people learn more than others. We all think we know what role education plays in shaping who gets good jobs, who has a good life, and who has more knowledge. This course is designed to challenge and expand what we think we know about all of these things. Students (and instructor) will critically engage scientific research in sociology, education, economics, public policy, and elsewhere. The goal will be to educate everyone about the current state of knowledge about how "education" works: what shapes educational achievement; where sex and racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in educational achievements come from; what role education plays in economic development; how and why educational accomplishments result in better social and economic outcomes; and how educational institutions might be improved.
SOC 3501 - Sociology of Families [SOCS DSJ]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; Student Option; offered Fall Odd, Spring Even Year)
Family has long been a significant experience in human societies; much of what we understand ourselves to be, arises in family life. But family also varies widely in composition across time and place. We will learn how sociologists study and understand families theoretically, as social institutions, as well as sites and sources of social problems.
SOC 3503 - Asian American Identities, Families & Communities [DSJ SOCS]
(3 cr; Prereq-SOC 1001 recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A/F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 3503H, AAS 3503
This course provides a sociological overview of Asian American identities, families and communities. To place these experiences within a broader historical, structural, and cultural context the course will begin with a brief introduction to the history of Asians and Asian Americans in the United States and sociological theories about incorporation and racial stratification. We will then examine the diversity of Asian American communities and families, highlighting ethnic, gender, and class variations. Other topics of focus include racialization and discrimination, education, ethnic enclaves, family and intergenerational relationships, identity, media, culture, and politics and social action. Throughout the course we will consider the ways in which society affects individuals, and how in turn, individuals affect society. Students will have an option to do community-engaged learning or another course project.
SOC 3503H - Honors: Asian American Identities, Families & Communities [DSJ SOCS]
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: AAS 3503, SOC 3503 (starting 03-SEP-13)
This course provides a sociological overview of Asian American identities, families, and communities. To place these experiences within a broader historical, structural, and cultural context the course will begin with a brief introduction to the history of Asians and Asian Americans in the United States and sociological theories about incorporation and racial stratification. We will then examine the diversity of Asian American communities and families, highlighting ethnic, gender, and class variations. Other topics of focus include racialization and discrimination, education, ethnic enclaves, family and intergenerational relationships, identity, media, culture, and politics and social action. Throughout the course, we will consider the ways in which society affects individuals, and how in turn, individuals affect society. Students will have an option to do community-engaged learning or another course project. Honors students are expected to demonstrate a greater depth of discussion, depth and to a degree length of writing assignments, presentations, and leadership of the students. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. Examples of additional requirements may include: - Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. - Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). - Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading - Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2-page maximum reflective paper. - Interview a current Sociology graduate student and present briefly in class or write a reflective piece, not more than 2 pages in length, to be submitted
SOC 3505 - Migrations: People in Motion [GP]
(3 cr; Prereq-Soph, jr, or sr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 3705
Students in this course will tackle debates related to migration from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and will compare and connect diverse migration trends around the world (Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America). Students will critically engage with various paradigms on the geopolitical, racial, and gender power dynamics that anchor migration processes and outcomes. Why would the movement of individuals from some parts of the world (often from the least developed regions to the highly developed Western nations) create such strong and highly charged debates? How are cross border social and economic relations of individuals and households maintained and perpetuated? What are particular governments doing to either encourage or hinder these movements? How are current migrations different from earlier eras? Is this gendered, and if so, how and why? The objective of this course is to explore the above questions through academic and policy published literature.
SOC 3511 - World Population Problems [GP]
(3 cr; Prereq-[SOC 1001] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Summer)
Equivalent courses: SOC 3511H
This class is an introduction to the contemporary issues that accompany such dramatic population change, including fertility change, disease experiences, migration as opportunity and challenge and human-environment conflict. Further, we will examine the roles of global organizations, national governments, and culture in shaping and reshaping populations.
SOC 3511H - Honors: World Population Problems [GP]
(3 cr; Prereq-[SOC 1001] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 3511 (starting 03-SEP-13)
This class is an introduction to the contemporary issues that accompany such dramatic population change, including fertility change, disease experiences, migration as opportunity and challenge and human-environment conflict. Further, we will examine the roles of global organizations, national governments, and culture in shaping and reshaping populations. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2-page maximum reflective paper. ? Interview a current Sociology graduate student and present briefly in class or write a reflective piece, not more than 2 pages in length, to be submitted to the Professor.
SOC 3613W - Stuffed and Starved: The Politics of Eating [SOCS WI GP]
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 3613W, GLOS 3613V (inactive), SOC 3613V (inactive)
This course takes a cross-cultural, historical, and transnational perspective to the study of the global food system. Themes explored include: different cultural and social meanings attached to food; social class and consumption; the global food economy; global food chains; work in the food sector; the alternative food movement; food justice; environmental consequences of food production.
SOC 3671 - Chinese Society: Culture, Networks, & Inequality
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended, soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall)
Introduces students to sociological perspectives and analyses of cultures, social networks, and socioeconomic inequalities in post-1980 China. In addition to lectures, the instructor will show video clips about various backgrounds of China and group discussions will be organized to exchange opinions about issues of common interest. Students will gain a basic understanding of how Chinese society operates today.
SOC 3681 - Gender and the Family in the Islamic World
(3 cr; Prereq-At least soph; 1001 recommended; A-F only; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: GWSS 3681, RELS 3716, GLOS 3681
This course explores the experiences of Muslim women and Muslim families from a historical and comparative perspective. Expanding the discussion on Muslim women's lives and experiences beyond the Middle East, by also centralizing on the experiences of Muslim women and families outside of this geographical area highlights the complex and diverse everyday experiences of Muslim women around the world. This wider lens exposes the limitations intrinsic in the stereotypical representation of Muslims in general and Muslim women in particular. We will explore the intricate web of gender and family power relations, and how these are contested and negotiated in these societies. Some of the themes the course explores include the debates on Muslim women and colonial representations, sexual politics, family, education and health, women and paid work, gender and human rights, and Islamic feminisms debates.
SOC 3701 - Social Theory
(4 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall & Spring)
This course provides an introductory overview of major social theories ranging from the foundational sociological theories of Marx, Weber and Durkheim to contemporary theories of postmodernism and globalization. We will examine a range of theories with particular attention to their treatments of core sociological questions and concerns.
SOC 3721 - Principles of Social Psychology
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Social psychology is at the intersection of macro and micro sociology, linking social structures, interpersonal relationships and interactions, attitudes, values and the self-concept. Principles of social psychology are drawn from multiple theoretical perspectives, including symbolic interactionism, expectation states theory, social structure and personality, and the life course. This course covers a broad range of topics as well as the diverse methods that social psychologists use to study them (for example, experiments, surveys, ethnographic observation).
SOC 3801 - Sociological Research Methods
(4 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 3801W until 02-SEP-08
This course provides an introduction to the materials and methods of social science research in a comprehensive and critical way. The course begins by introducing social science research, including philosophical and theoretical foundations. The course then covers the primary components of research design, including conceptualization, operationalization and measurement, primary and secondary data collection and sources, sampling, and the logic of comparison(s).
SOC 3811 - Social Statistics [MATH]
(4 cr; Prereq-Undergraduates with strong math background are encouraged to register for 5811 in lieu of 3811 (Soc 5811 offered Fall terms only). Soc Majors/Minors must register A-F.; Student Option; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer)
This course will introduce majors and non-majors to basic statistical measures and procedures that are used to describe and analyze quantitative data in sociological research. The topics include (1) frequency and percentage distributions, (2) central tendency and dispersion, (3) probability theory and statistical inference, (4) models of bivariate analysis, and (5) basics of multivariate analysis. Lectures on these topics will be given in class, and lab exercises are designed to help students learn statistical skills and software needed to analyze quantitative data provided in the class.
SOC 3811H - Honors: Basic Social Statistics
(4 cr; Student Option)
Equivalent courses: was COMM 3811H until 03-SEP-02, was SPCH 3811H until 03-SEP-02, was SPCH 3811H until 18-JAN-00
Descriptive statistics, including measures of central tendency, deviation, association. Inferential statistics, focusing on probability, hypothesis testing. T-tests, Chi-square tests, variance analysis, bivariate regression. Statistical software used to analyze sociological data.
SOC 4090 - Topics in Sociology (Topics course)
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; cr will not be granted if cr has been received for the same topics title; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 6 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
Topics specified in Class Schedule.
SOC 4093 - Directed Study
(1 cr [max 4]; Student Option; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 3 times)
Guided individual reading or study at junior or senior level. Prereq instr consent, dept consent, college consent; soc majors/minors must register A-F.
SOC 4094W - Capstone Experience: Directed Research (4 cr.) [WI]
(4 cr; Prereq-1001, 3701, 3801, 3811, at least 12 cr upper div sociology electives, dept & instructor consent.; A-F only; offered Every Fall & Summer)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 4094 until 27-MAY-03, SOC 4994W (starting 26-MAY-15, was SOC 4967W until 04-SEP-18, was SOC 4967 until 05-SEP-00), SOC 4966W (starting 06-SEP-16, was SOC 4966 until 05-SEP-00)
Faculty guided and self directed research experience at junior/senior level. This is designed to: a) provide students with an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned as a sociology major; b) use that knowledge to write a sociological analyses; and c) think about how the knowledge, skills, and insights of the sociological enterprise can be used and applied outside of the University. Through this one:one capstone experience majors will emphasize the relationship between a sociological perspective and critical thinking, effective communication, and meaningful civil engagement. This Capstone Experience: Directed Research is to include but not limited to: bi-weekly meetings, literature review, multiple drafts and revisions, etc.
SOC 4101V - Honors: Sociology of Law [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-honors student, [[SOC 1001] and [SOC 1101 or 3101 or 3102]] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F only; offered Every Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 5101, SOC 4101W (starting 20-JAN-09, was SOC 4101 until 05-SEP-00)
This course will consider the relationship between law and society, analyzing law as an expression of cultural values, a reflection of social and political structure, and an instrument of social control and social change. Emphasizing a comparative perspective, we begin by discussing theories about law and legal institutions. We then turn our attention to the legal process and legal actors, focusing on the impact of law, courts, and lawyers on the rights of individuals. Although this course focuses on the US legal system, we will explore issues of the relationship between US law and global law and concepts of justice. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Examples of additional requirements may include: - Honors students will be expected to interview a current Sociology graduate student working on a LCD topic. Following this, each student will individually be expected to do an in-class power point presentation explaining how the interviewees? research relates with themes presented in the course. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. - Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. - Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). - Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading - Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2-page maximum reflective paper.
SOC 4101W - Sociology of Law [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-[[SOC 1001] and [SOC 1101 or 3101 or 3102]] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 4101 until 05-SEP-00, SOC 5101, SOC 4101V
This course will consider the relationship between law and society, analyzing law as an expression of cultural values, a reflection of social and political structure, and an instrument of social control and social change. Emphasizing a comparative perspective, we begin by discussing theories about law and legal institutions. We then turn our attention to the legal process and legal actors, focusing on the impact of law, courts, and lawyers on the rights of individuals. Although this course focuses on the US legal system, we will explore issues of the relationship between US law and global law and concepts of justice.
SOC 4102 - Criminology
(3 cr; Prereq-[SOC 3101 or SOC 3102 or instr consent], Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4103 (inactive, starting 21-JAN-03), SOC 4102H
This class seeks to develop an understanding of patterns of crime and punishment in the United States (including American particularities in international comparison), their social, political, economic, cultural, and institutional conditions, and how these patterns relate to broader sociological themes. We will examine a cross-section of most outstanding recent and some (by now) classical criminological and sociological books and a few articles that have attracted much attention among scholars and/or the broader public.
SOC 4102H - Honors: Criminology
(3 cr; Prereq-Honors student, [SOC 3101 or SOC 3102 or instr consent], Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4103 (inactive, starting 21-JAN-03), SOC 4102 (starting 21-JAN-03)
This class seeks to develop an understanding of patterns of crime and punishment in the United States (including American particularities in international comparison), their social, political, economic, cultural, and institutional conditions, and how these patterns relate to broader sociological themes. We will examine a cross-section of most outstanding recent and some (by now) classical criminological and sociological books and a few articles that have attracted much attention among scholars and/or the broader public. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Honors students will be expected to interview a current Sociology graduate student working on a LCD topic. Following this, each student will individually be expected to do an in-class power point presentation explaining how the interviewees? research relates with themes presented in the course. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2 page maximum reflective paper.
SOC 4104 - Crime and Human Rights
(3 cr; Prereq-SOC 1001, at least one 3xxx SOC course recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 5104 (inactive), GLOS 4104 (inactive), SOC 4104H, GLOS 4104H (inactive, ending 04-SEP-18), SOC 5104
This course addresses serious violations of humanitarian and human rights law, efforts to criminalize those violations (laws and institutions), and consequences of these efforts. Special attention will be paid to the impact interventions have on representations and memories of atrocities on responses and the future of cycles of violence. Case studies on Holocaust, Balkan wars, Darfur, My Lai massacre, etc. Criminal justice, truth commissions, vetting, compensation programs.
SOC 4104H - Honors: Crime and Human Rights
(3 cr; Prereq-SOC 1001, at least one 3xxx SOC course recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4104 (starting 06-SEP-11), GLOS 5104 (inactive), GLOS 4104 (inactive), GLOS 4104H (inactive, ending 04-SEP-18), SOC 5104
This course addresses serious violations of humanitarian and human rights law, efforts to criminalize those violations (laws and institutions), and consequences of these efforts. Special attention will be paid to the impact interventions have on representations and memories of atrocities on responses and the future of cycles of violence. Case studies on Holocaust, Balkan wars, Darfur, My Lai massacre, etc. Criminal justice, truth commissions, vetting, compensation programs. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Honors students will be expected to interview a current Sociology graduate student working on an LCD topic. Following this, each student will individually be expected to do an in-class PowerPoint presentation explaining how the interviewees? research relates to themes presented in the course. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2-page maximum reflective paper.
SOC 4105 - Sociology of Punishment
(3 cr; Prereq-3101 or 3102 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
The purpose of this class is to develop a working understanding of the sociology of punishment. To that end, the course focuses on three interrelated questions: How do various social factors (the economy, culture, crime, media, race relations, etc.) shape the development of criminal punishment? Why does punishment differ across time and place? How do penal laws, practices, and institutions affect individuals, groups, and communities? The course combines lectures and small and large group discussions.
SOC 4106 - Crime on TV
(3 cr; Prereq-recommended [1001 or 1011V, 1101 or 3101 or 3102]; Soph or above or instr consent; soc majors/minors must register A-F.; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
This course uses television shows to explore sociological perspectives on crime and punishment. We will critically examine how (and to what extent) four television series represent or distort prevailing knowledge about crime and punishment.
SOC 4108 - Current Issues in Crime Control
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc majors/minors must register A-F; Student Option; offered Periodic Spring & Summer)
Selected current criminal justice policies from perspective of courts, legislature, community, and interest groups. Impact of criminal justice policy changes on society and on social control agencies.
SOC 4111 - Sociology of Deviance
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc 3101 or 3102 recommended; Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall)
This course considers why and how certain attributes and behaviors are defined as deviant, the consequences of deviant labels, and how norms, values, and rules are made and enforced. We will discuss basic concepts that cut across deviance theories and research, including social control, subcultures and deviant careers. We will explore theories of and societal reaction to deviant behavior. We will also discuss methodology and how the ?social facts? of deviance are determined and disseminated. Finally, we will examine case studies addressing crime, organizational and occupational deviance, substance use, sexuality, body image, and more.
SOC 4113 - Sociology of Violence: Bedrooms, Backyards, and Bars
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
This course looks at violent behavior across a wide variety of social arenas, bedrooms, backyards, and bars, being some common places where violence occurs. Students will wrestle with definitions of violence and the circumstances in which behavior is or isn't categorized as violent. A major theme will be how violence operates as a property of institutional arrangements, organizational practices, and interpersonal situations. Subtopics intersecting violence include cohorts (race, class, & gender), sport, sex, emotion, the State, and the environment. Soc Majors and Minors must register A/F. Pre-req of Soc 1001, Soc 1101, 3101 or 3102 is recommended.
SOC 4125 - Policing America
(3 cr; Prereq-3101 or 3102 recommended or instr consent, soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
This course is an in-depth sociological analysis of the origins, composition, and effects of policing in contemporary U.S. society. Throughout the course, we focus on using a social science lens to understand policing dynamics and how policing shapes social life. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which race, class, and gender inequalities are reflected in and reshaped by policing practices. Throughout the course, we will draw on contemporary media stories, podcast, documentaries, and guest visitors to connect scholarship with the world around us.
SOC 4133 - Sociology of Gender, Sex, and Crime
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Crime and criminal justice is a gendered phenomena. In this seminar course, we will examine the contribution of feminist theoretical work to the field of criminology and to our understanding of how gender prescriptives are embedded in and influence criminal behaviors, the operation of the criminal justice system, and our conceptualizations of both. In so doing, we will critically assess the experiences of women, men and transgender persons in the criminal justice system as victims, offenders, and defendants. The readings are drawn from a broad range of interdisciplinary empirical works. Students should critically assess both the strengths and limitations of the research. Lecture will be accompanied by class discussion, film segments (as well as legal proceedings), and small group work.Soc 1001 or Soc 1101 recommended; Soc majors/minors must register A-F
SOC 4135 - Sociology of White-Collar Crime
(3 cr; Prereq-[SOC 3101 or SOC 3102 or instr consent]; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4135H
This course deals with diverse types of white-collar crime (high status, occupational, organizational crimes), their causation, the damage they cause, and their control. We will read some of the outstanding literature on these issues and explore well-known cases in depth. There will be lectures and discussion in the classroom. We will explore what white-collar crime teaches us about the nature and explanation of crime and about the nature of criminal justice and other government social control.
SOC 4135H - Honors: Sociology of White-Collar Crime
(3 cr; Prereq-Honors, [SOC 3101 or SOC 3102 or instr consent]; A-F only; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4135 (starting 20-JAN-15)
This course deals with diverse types of white-collar crime (high status, occupational, organizational crimes), their causation, the damage they cause, and their control. We will read some of the outstanding literature on these issues and explore well-known cases in depth. There will be lectures and discussion in the classroom. We will explore what white-collar crime teaches us about the nature and explanation of crime and about the nature of criminal justice and other government social control. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Honors students will be expected to interview a current Sociology graduate student working on a LCD topic. Following this, each student will individually be expected to do an in-class power point presentation explaining how the interviewees? research relates with themes presented in the course. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2 page maximum reflective paper.
SOC 4141 - Youth Crime & Punishment
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc 3101 or 3102 recommended; Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4141H
This course offers an overview of social theory and research on youth crime, punishment, and delinquency. We start by critically examining the social facts surrounding the measurement, extent, and distribution of delinquency. Next, we study the principal sociological explanations of delinquent behavior. These theories provide conceptual tools for analyzing delinquency and punishment among groups such as gang members. We then trace youth experiences in the juvenile justice system, from policing, to juvenile court, to probation, and institutionalization. Throughout, we analyze the success or failure of key programs implemented in attempts to prevent or reduce delinquency.
SOC 4141H - Honors: Youth Crime & Punishment
(3 cr; Prereq-honors student, Soc 3101 or 3102 recommended; Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4141 (starting 02-SEP-08)
This course offers an overview of social theory and research on youth crime, punishment, and delinquency. We start by critically examining the social facts surrounding the measurement, extent, and distribution of delinquency. Next, we study the principal sociological explanations of delinquent behavior. These theories provide conceptual tools for analyzing delinquency and punishment among groups such as gang members. We then trace youth experiences in the juvenile justice system, from policing, to juvenile court, to probation, and institutionalization. Throughout, we analyze the success or failure of key programs implemented in attempts to prevent or reduce delinquency. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Honors students will be expected to interview a current Sociology graduate student working on a LCD topic. Following this, each student will individually be expected to do an in-class power-point presentation explaining how the interviewees? research relates with themes presented in the course. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2-page maximum reflective paper.
SOC 4147 - Sociology of Mental Health & Illness
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc 1001 recommended, Soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
This course is designed to give you an overview of the ways a sociological perspective informs our understanding of mental health and illness. While sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and others all deal with issues of mental illness, they often approach the topic in very different ways. In general, a sociological perspective tends to focus on aspects of the social environment that we often ignore, neglect, or take for granted. It calls attention to how society or groups are organized, who benefits or is hurt by the way things are organized, and what beliefs shape our behaviors. In viewing mental illness, sociologists have primarily challenged dominant views of mental illness, examined how social relationships play a role in mental illness, questioned the goals and implications of mental health policy and researched how mental health services are organized and provided.
SOC 4161 - Criminal Law in American Society
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc 3101 or 3102 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall)
Purposes of criminal law and of principles of criminal liability, justification, and excuse. Applications to law of criminal homicide, sexual assault, drugs, and crimes against property, public order, and morals.
SOC 4162 - Criminal Procedure in American Society
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc 3101 or 3102 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Every Spring)
How constitutional democracy balances need to enforce criminal law and rights of individuals to be free of unnecessary government intrusion.
SOC 4171 - Sociology of International Law: Human Rights & Trafficking [GP]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 4170 until 03-SEP-19, GLOS 5171 (inactive, was GLOS 5170 until 03-SEP-19), GLOS 4406 (inactive), SOC 5171
This course takes a sociological approach to international law, considering how history, institutions, power, and interests shape the phenomenon. What is international law, where does it come from, and how does it work? What does international law tell us about globalization and nation-states? Does it make a difference in the world? Does it have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of individuals? When is it followed; when is it ignored? This course takes a broad sociological view of international law. We analyze the actors and processes that constitute international law and then focus on particular substantive areas, including human rights, economic development,environmental concerns, trafficking, and drug interdiction. prereqs: 1001 or 3101 or 3102 or instr consent; soc majors/minors must register A-F
SOC 4190 - Topics in Sociology With Law, Criminology, and Justice Emphasis (Topics course)
(3 cr; Prereq-[1001, [3101 or 3102]] recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; cr will not be granted if cr has been received for the same topics title; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 6 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
Topics specified in Class Schedule.
SOC 4243W - Brewing Society: Alcohol & Social Life [WI]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall)
What does our relationship with drink have to tell us about contemporary society and our own lives? The history of alcoholic drink is entwined with the history of human society itself. We use drinking as a window through which we can better understand roles, relationships, social boundaries, and cultural change. We bring sociological perspectives to bear on alcohol advertising, campus drinking, and more. There are reasons why alcoholic beverages have played a role in almost all human societies. Social barriers can be lowered, new friendships made, and old relationships reestablished when people get together over a drink. Cultural and political battles about alcohol can also be a way to see social divisions, power struggles, and hierarchies. And of course, drinking can be a route to all sorts of bad behavior and social problems too. We look at all of this, first in historical and cross-cultural perspective and then focusing on our own contemporary society. Pre-req: Soc 1001 recommended, Soc majors must register A-F
SOC 4246 - Sociology of Health and Illness
(3 cr; Prereq-One sociology course recommended; soph or above; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
This course is an introduction to the importance of health and illness in people?s lives, how social structures impact who gets sick, how they are treated, and how the delivery of health care is organized. By the end of the course you will be familiar with the major issues in the sociology of health and illness, and understand that health and illness are not just biological processes, but profoundly shaped by the organization of society.
SOC 4305 - Environment & Society: An Enduring Conflict [ENV]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended or a course on the environment, soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 4305 (inactive, ending 22-JAN-19)
Examines the interaction between human society and the natural environment, focusing on the contemporary and global situation. Takes the perspective of environmental sociology concerning the short-range profit-driven and ideological causes of ecological destruction. Investigates how society is reacting to that increasing destruction
SOC 4309 - Religion in American Public Life: Culture, Politics, & Communities [CIV]
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4309H, RELS 4309
How diversity/vitality of American religion shape public life. How religious groups engage in political action, foster understandings of democracy/styles of civic participation. Volunteering/service activities. Race, poverty, the family, sexuality.
SOC 4309H - Honors: Religion in American Public Life - Culture, Politics, & Communities [CIV]
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: RELS 4309, SOC 4309 (starting 07-SEP-10)
How diversity/vitality of American religion shape public life. How religious groups engage in political action, foster understandings of democracy/styles of civic participation. Volunteering/service activities. Race, poverty, family, sexuality. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2 page maximum reflective paper. ? Interview a current Sociology graduate student and present briefly in class or write a reflective piece, not more than 2 pages in length, to be submitted to the Professor.
SOC 4311 - Power, Justice & the Environment [DSJ]
(3 cr; Prereq-SOC 1001 recommended; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 4311
This course introduces students to the theoretical and historical foundations of environmental racism and environmental inequality more broadly. We will examine and interrogate both the social scientific evidence concerning these phenomena and the efforts by community residents, activists, workers, and governments to combat it. We will consider the social forces that create environmental inequalities so that we may understand their causes, consequences, and the possibilities for achieving environmental justice
SOC 4321 - Globalize This! Understanding Globalization through Sociology [GP]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 4221
From the city streets of Bangalore to the high plateaus of La Paz to the trading floors of New York City, people from around the world are becoming increasingly interdependent, creating new and revitalizing old forms of power and opportunity, exploitation and politics, social organizing and social justice. This course offers an overview of the processes that are forcing and encouraging people?s lives to intertwine economically, politically, and culturally.SOC majors/minors must register A-F.
SOC 4451 - Sport, Culture & Society
(3 cr; Prereq-SOC 1001 recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4451H (inactive)
This course is intended to stimulate critical, sociological thinking about sport? how it is socially organized, who participates in what and why, what role (or roles) sport plays in society, and what sporting practices tell us about contemporary social life more generally. It begins from and is grounded in the notion that sport is one of the most powerful and paradoxical institutions in the modern world. The course is intended for a wide range of undergraduates, though some familiarity with basic social scientific thinking and techniques will be helpful.
SOC 4461 - Sociology of Ethnic and Racial Conflict [DSJ]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall)
Equivalent courses: GLOS 4461
"I can't breathe." The last words of George Floyd. Words that traumatized a nation, and the world. While the death of George Floyd galvanized peoples worldwide to speak out against discrimination and inequality, well before his death studies suggested that ethnic and racial discrimination and conflict re-occur on an ongoing basis. From the events of the Holocaust - to the genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar - to the torture of Uighurs in China - to the Atlantic slave trade - we explore how identities are formed - and thereafter - how those same identities are deployed - to exclude and marginalize - with targeted precision. Across the world, we examine how racial bias and racial animus contribute to slavery, torture, mass displacement, economic destitution, and genocide.
SOC 4511 - Sociology of Children & Youth
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 recommended, soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
This course examines the lives of youth in today's society. It explores the influence of social contexts, institutions, social structures, and social location (e.g. social class, race, gender) on youth experiences and differential opportunities and outcomes. The course also considers how youth act as agents in their own lives and shape their social worlds and society. Additionally, the course looks at some of the problems or challenges that contemporary children, adolescents, and young adults encounter, and considers social policies and interventions aimed to address these and support young people.
SOC 4521 - Love, Sex, & Marriage
(3 cr; Prereq-[1001 or instr consent], soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4521H
This course will provide an overview of sociological approaches to intimate human relationships. What can sociology and related disciplines tell us about these seemingly intensely personal subjects? More than you might think! Specific topics we will cover include love and romance, dating and mate selection, sexuality, cohabitation, marriage, and divorce. The focus is on contemporary American society, but current U.S. practices are placed in historical and cross-cultural context.
SOC 4521H - Honors: Love, Sex, & Marriage
(3 cr; Prereq-Honors ; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4521 (starting 02-SEP-08)
This course will provide an overview of sociological approaches to intimate human relationships. What can sociology and related disciplines tell us about these seemingly intensely personal subjects? More than you might think! Specific topics we will cover include love and romance, dating and mate selection, sexuality, cohabitation, marriage, and divorce. The focus is on contemporary American society, but current U.S. practices are placed in historical and cross-cultural context. Honors students registering for Soc 4521H: Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. Examples of additional requirements may include: - Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. - Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). - Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news or a two-page critique of a class reading - Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2-page maximum reflective paper. - Interview a current sociology graduate student and present briefly in class or write a reflective piece, not more than 2 pages in length, to be submitted to the professor.
SOC 4551 - Sociology of Sexualities [SOCS DSJ]
(3 cr; Prereq-Sociology majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4551H
In this course we will examine social theories and sociological research on the topic of sexuality. We will explore the concept of sexuality as it intersects with race, gender, age, and class. This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of sociological implications of sexuality in the United States. This course is intended to help you develop your analytical and critical thinking skills. You will be asked to move beyond your own experience and perspectives to sociologically analyze and evaluate over-simplified explanations of past and contemporary issues as they appear in our course readings.
SOC 4551H - Honors: Sociology of Sexualities [SOCS DSJ]
(3 cr; Prereq-Honors; A-F only; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4551 (starting 22-JAN-13)
In this course we will examine social theories and sociological research on the topic of sexuality. We will explore the concept of sexuality as it intersects with race, gender, age, and class. This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of sociological implications of sexuality in the United States. This course is intended to help you develop your analytical and critical thinking skills. You will be asked to move beyond your own experience and perspectives to sociologically analyze and evaluate over-simplified explanations of past and contemporary issues as they appear in our course readings. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. Examples of additional requirements may include: ? Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. ? Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). ? Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading ? Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2 page maximum reflective paper. ? Interview a current Sociology graduate student and present briefly in class or write a reflective piece, not more than 2 pages in length, to be submitted to the Professor.
SOC 4662 - Comparative East Asian Development: A New Model for Growth and Prosperity? [IP]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit)
Equivalent courses: was EAS 4662 until 07-SEP-10
Social and cultural reasons for the rapid growth and relative equity of Japan, South Korea, Tawian, Hong Kong, Singapore, and more recently, China. Relation of these examples to more general theories of development.
SOC 4821 - Measuring the Social World: Concepts and Analysis
(3 cr; Prereq-SOC 3801 or equiv, and SOC 3811 or equivalent; A-F only; offered Periodic Spring)
In this course, you will develop practical social science data analysis skills for use in the non-profit or corporate workplace or in a graduate program of research. You will assess the measurement of important social concepts, like race, health, or education, in large social surveys, and the strengths and weaknesses of those different measurement techniques. You will conduct data analysis on large datasets (see, e.g., www.ipums.org) using a statistical software program, such as STATA. You will develop a substantive, empirical final project (poster and paper) based on your analysis.
SOC 4966W - Capstone Experience: Seminar [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001, 3701, 3801, 3811, 12 cr upper div sociology, dept consent; A-F only; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 4 credits)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 4966 until 05-SEP-00, SOC 4994W (starting 26-MAY-15, was SOC 4967W until 04-SEP-18, was SOC 4967 until 05-SEP-00), SOC 4094W (starting 20-JAN-15, was SOC 4094 until 27-MAY-03)
This course is designed to: a) provide students with an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned as a sociology major; b) use that knowledge to write a sociological analyses - often based on community service learning; and c) think about how the knowledge, skills, and insights of the sociological enterprise can be used and applied outside of the University. Through this course sociology majors will emphasize the relationship between a sociological perspective and critical thinking, effective communication, and meaningful civic engagement. This class is the final step in the sociology undergraduate major.
SOC 4977V - Senior Honors Proseminar I [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-3701, 3801, 3811, 9 additional upper div sociology cr, sr soc honors major, dept consent; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 4977 until 05-SEP-00
Exploring contemporary research for senior thesis. Guidance in defining a problem and reviewing prior theory/research. Presentation/discussion with faculty researchers.
SOC 4978V - Honors Capstone Experience: Proseminar II [WI]
(3 cr; Prereq-1001/1011V, 3701, 3801, 3811, 4977V, and at least 12 upper-division SOC credits; Sociology honors major & department consent; A-F only; offered Every Spring; may be repeated for 4 credits)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 4978 until 05-SEP-00
This is the second course in the two-course Honors Capstone Experience. In Soc 4978V, students will complete their data collection and analysis while the focus of the seminar turns to scholarly writing, and particularly to drafting and refining arguments. The Department of Sociology does not make any initial distinction between Honors students who are seeking cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude levels of Latin Honors. Instead, our focus is on helping students to develop ambitious and high-quality original research papers of which they can be justifiably proud and which can serve as testaments to their abilities. The Department of Sociologys approach is to support every Honors student as they plan and conduct summa-level work. The ultimate recommendation for level of latin honors is made by the committee at the time of the thesis defense. In addition to the Honors thesis requirements, the recommendation for summa-level honors is reserved for the papers that demonstrate the following criteria: - Tight integration between a clearly defined question or thesis and the research presented; - Ambitious original research design, with research completed on time and analyzed appropriately; - Integration of ongoing conversations in the research literature into the design and analysis of the data gathered; - Powerful and precise prose which weaves together evidence and argument and which is attentive to both the lessons and limits of the data. Students will do an Oral Defense and participate in a panel presentation at the spring Sociological Research Institute (SRI). The Sociology Department requires completion of Soc 4977V/4978V to graduate with Latin Honors.
SOC 4994W - Capstone Experience: Directed Research (1 cr.) [WI]
(1 cr; Prereq-1001/1011V, 3701, 3801, 3811, and at least 12 cr upper div sociology electives; dept & instructor consent. Students are only authorized to register for Soc 4994W in conjunction with a 6th Sociology Elective.; A-F only; offered Every Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 4967W until 04-SEP-18, was SOC 4967 until 05-SEP-00, SOC 4094W (starting 20-JAN-15, was SOC 4094 until 27-MAY-03), SOC 4966W (starting 06-SEP-16, was SOC 4966 until 05-SEP-00)
Guided individual research for the sociology major's Capstone requirement, conducted in conjunction with enrollment in an upper division sociology elective. This is designed to: a) provide students with an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned as a sociology major; b) use that knowledge to write a sociological analyses; and c) think about how the knowledge, skills, and insights of the sociological enterprise can be used and applied outside of the University. Through this one:one capstone experience, using the structure and foundation of the 6th Sociology elective, majors will emphasize the relationship between a sociological perspective and the emphasis of the course. The final paper created for 4994W is in addition to the other 6th Sociology elective course requirements.
SOC 5090 - Topics in Sociology (Topics course)
(1 cr [max 3]; Prereq-Undergrad soc majors/minors must register A-F; Student Option; offered Periodic Spring; may be repeated for 9 credits; may be repeated 3 times)
Topics specified in Class Schedule.
SOC 5101 - Sociology of Law
(3 cr; Prereq-graduate student; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 5101W until 17-JAN-17, SOC 4101W (starting 20-JAN-09, was SOC 4101 until 05-SEP-00), SOC 4101V
This course will consider the relationship between law and society, analyzing law as an expression of cultural values, a reflection of social and political structure, and an instrument of social control and social change. Emphasizing a comparative perspective, we begin by discussing theories about law and legal institutions. We then turn our attention to the legal process and legal actors, focusing on the impact of law, courts, and lawyers on the rights of individuals. Although this course focuses on the U.S. legal system, we will explore issues of the relationship between U.S. law and global law and concepts of justice.
SOC 5104 - Crime and Human Rights
(3 cr; Prereq-at least one 3xxx SOC course recommended; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4104 (starting 06-SEP-11), GLOS 5104 (inactive), GLOS 4104 (inactive), SOC 4104H, GLOS 4104H (inactive, ending 04-SEP-18)
This course addresses serious violations of humanitarian and human rights law, efforts to criminalize those violations (laws and institutions), and consequences of these efforts. Special attention will be paid to the impact interventions have on representations and memories of atrocities on responses and the future of cycles of violence. Case studies on Holocaust, Balkan wars, Darfur, My Lai massacre, etc. Criminal justice, truth commissions, vetting, compensation programs.
SOC 5171 - Sociology of International Law: Human Rights & Trafficking [GP]
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: was SOC 5170 until 03-SEP-19, GLOS 5171 (inactive, was GLOS 5170 until 03-SEP-19), SOC 4171 (starting 04-SEP-12, ending 08-SEP-09, starting 02-SEP-08, was SOC 4170 until 03-SEP-19), GLOS 4406 (inactive)
This course takes a sociological approach to international law, considering how history, institutions, power, and interests shape the phenomenon. What is international law, where does it come from, and how does it work? What does international law tell us about globalization and nation-states? Does it make a difference in the world? Does it have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of individuals? When is it followed; when is it ignored? This course takes a broad sociological view of international law. We analyze the actors and processes that constitute international law and then focus on particular substantive areas, including human rights, economic development,environmental concerns, trafficking, and drug interdiction. prereqs: Graduate student or instructor consent
SOC 5221 - Sociology of Gender
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Spring)
Equivalent courses: GWSS 3201 (inactive, ending 20-JAN-15, was WOST 3201 until 05-SEP-06), SOC 3221 (starting 05-SEP-06, ending 06-SEP-05, starting 07-SEP-99, was GWSS 3201 until 07-SEP-10, was GWSS 3201 until 20-JAN-09, was GWSS 3201 until 02-SEP-08, was GWSS 3201 until 04-SEP-07, was WOST 3201 until 06-SEP-05)
Gender is something so fundamental to our lives, to our identities, and how we interact with others that we often take it for granted. However, understandings of gender vary across time and place, and even within cultures, making it clear that our understandings of gender are not universal or timeless. In this class, we will examine how gender intersects with race and sexuality, as well as how it impacts areas of our lives such as child socialization, family structure, the media, intimate relationships, and the workplace.
SOC 5411 - Terrorist Networks & Counterterror Organizations
(3 cr; Prereq-Sociology Major/Minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 4411 (inactive, starting 08-SEP-09), SOC 4411H (inactive)
Theories/evidence about origins, development, and consequences of terrorist networks. Efforts to prevent, investigate, and punish terrorists by use of law enforcement, security, and military forces. Terror involves using violent actions to achieve political, religious, or social goals. This course examines theories and evidence about the origins, development, and consequences of terrorist networks. It analyzes efforts to prevent, investigate, and punish terrorists by counterterror organizations, including law enforcement, security, and military forces. Graduate and honors students are expected to demonstrate greater depth of discussion, depth and to a degree length of writing assignments, presentations, and leadership of the students.
SOC 5446 - Comparing Healthcare Systems [GP]
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc majors/minors must register A-F; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Equivalent courses: SOC 3446
Examination of national health systems from an international comparative perspective, emphasizing social, organizational, political, economic, cultural, and ethical dimensions of healthcare policies and programs to deliver services and their impacts on the health of population groups. The comparative approach will enable students to acquire a better understanding of the problems and potential for reforming and improving U.S. health care delivery. Students enrolled in Soc 5446 (graduate level) are expected to demonstrate greater depth of discussion, depth and to a degree length of writing assignments, presentations, and leadership of the students.
SOC 5455 - Sociology of Education
(3 cr; Prereq-1001 or equiv or instr consent; soc majors/minors must register A-F; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
Equivalent courses: OLPD 5041 (starting 16-JAN-01, was EDPA 5041 until 17-JAN-12, was SOC 5455 until 16-JAN-01, was EDPA 5041 until 16-JAN-01, was SOC 5455 until 18-JAN-00, was EDPA 5041 until 18-JAN-00, was SOC 5455 until 07-SEP-99)
Structures and processes within educational institutions. Links between educational organizations and their social contexts, particularly as these relate to educational change.
SOC 5811 - Social Statistics for Graduate Students
(4 cr; Prereq-Undergraduate students are expected to have familiarity with the materials taught in the equivalent of 3811. Students who are unsure of the course requirements should contact the instructor. Undergraduates with a strong math background are encouraged to register for 5811 in lieu of 3811. Soc majors must register A-F. 5811 is a good social statistics foundation course for MA students from other programs. 5811 will not count for credits towards the Soc PhD program requirements.; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
In this course, students will learn core statistical and computations principles that will allow them to perform quantitative analyses using social data. The course is designed for social science students at the beginning of their graduate school careers. However, advanced undergraduates can take the course, which will involve a few modifications to the assignment schedule. Sociology 5811 will review basic probability, and then move on to univariate inference, the linear regression model, and introductory lessons of causal inference. In doing so, students will explore statistical concepts and methods that provide the foundation sociologists use to most commonly collect and analyze numerical evidence. Sociology 5811 will also provide the foundation for data management and statistical inference using Stata, a statistical computing environment that is popular in the social sciences.
SOC 8001 - Sociology as a Profession
(1 cr; S-N or Audit; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 3 credits; may be repeated 3 times)
This 1 credit class fosters adaptation to the Graduate Program in Sociology and preparation for a sociological career. In the Fall, we explore professional careers in this field. We discuss the wide range of opportunities in sociology and help students further explore the next steps to becoming a scholar, educator, and member of various professional, intellectual, and social communities. We share practical information about being a student in sociology and about sociological careers, discuss presentations in department workshop seminars, and provide a safe place to discuss issues of student concerns. Students are encouraged to bring to the class their thoughts and reactions to experiences during their first semester in the PhD program. The Spring 8001 class is oriented to particular milestones in the Sociology Graduate Program and important student activities (for example, preparing reading lists for the preliminary exam and then writing the preliminary exam, preparing a dissertation prospectus, writing grant proposals, preparing an article for publication, etc.). Pre-req: Soc PhD students
SOC 8011 - Teaching Sociology: Theory & Practice
(3 cr; Prereq-Soc grad student or instr consent; Student Option; offered Every Spring)
Social/political context of teaching. Ethical issues, multiculturalism, academic freedom. Teaching skills (e.g., lecturing, leading discussions). Active learning. Evaluating effectiveness of teaching. Opportunity to develop syllabus or teaching plan.
SOC 8090 - Topics in Sociology (Topics course)
(1.5 cr [max 3]; Prereq-instr consent; Student Option; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 4 times)
Topics specified in Class Schedule.
SOC 8093 - Directed Study
(1 cr [max 4]; Prereq-Grad soc major or instr consent; Student Option; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 20 credits; may be repeated 5 times)
Directed study in sociology.
SOC 8094 - Directed Research
(1 cr [max 4]; Student Option; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 20 credits; may be repeated 5 times)
May be used to fulfill sociology graduate requirement for advanced methodological training.
SOC 8101 - Sociology of Law
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Sociological analysis of law and society. In-depth review of research on why people obey the law, of social forces involved in creation of law (both civil and criminal), procedures of enforcement, and impact of law on social change.
SOC 8111 - Criminology
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Overview of theoretical developments and empirical research. Underlying assumptions, empirical generalizations, and current controversies in criminological research.
SOC 8171 - Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives in Human Rights
(3 cr; Prereq-Grad student or instr consent; Student Option; offered Periodic Spring)
This seminar will approach human rights issues from a variety of "disciplinary" perspectives, including history, the arts, law, the social sciences, and praxis. Empirical work in the social sciences will receive somewhat greater emphasis. One key focus will be the unique advantages (and disadvantages) of the different perspectives and fruitful ways to combine them to strengthen action that improves human rights situations in countries around the world, including the United States.
SOC 8190 - Topics in Law, Crime, and Deviance (Topics course)
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall; may be repeated for 9 credits; may be repeated 3 times)
Advanced topics in law, crime, and deviance. Social underpinnings of legal/illegal behavior and of legal systems.
SOC 8211 - The Sociology of Race & Racialization
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Major theoretical debates. Classic and contemporary theoretical approaches to studying U.S. race relations; contemporary and historical experiences of specific racial and ethnic groups.
SOC 8221 - Sociology of Gender
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall)
Equivalent courses: was GWSS 8202 until 24-MAY-10, was GWSS 8202 until 02-SEP-08, was WOST 8202 until 06-SEP-05, WOST 8202 (inactive)
Organization, culture, and dynamics of gender relations and gendered social structures. Sample topics: gender, race, and class inequalities in the workplace; women.s movement; social welfare and politics of gender inequality; theoretical and methodological debates in gender studies; sexuality; science; sociology of emotions.
SOC 8290 - Topics in Race, Class, Gender and other forms of Durable Inequality (Topics course)
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 4 times)
Comparative perspectives on racial inequality; race, class, and gender; quantitative research on gender stratification; stratification in post-communist societies; institutional change and stratification systems; industrialization and stratification. Topics specified in Class Schedule.
SOC 8311 - Political Sociology
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
Social dimensions of political behavior and social origins of different forms of the state. How various theoretical traditions--Marxist, Weberian, and feminist--address key issues in political sociology, including citizenship, revolution, state formation, origins of democracy, welfare state, and fascism.
SOC 8333 - FTE: Master's
(1 cr; Prereq-Master's student, adviser and DGS consent; No Grade Associated; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; 6 academic progress units; 6 financial aid progress units)
(No description)
SOC 8390 - Topics in Political Sociology (Topics course)
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 4 times)
Topics with common focus on social underpinnings of political behavior/change. Topics specified in Class Schedule. Sample topics: democracy and development, international legal and political systems, power and protest in advanced capitalist states, xenophobia and international migration, and civil society and democracy.
SOC 8412 - Social Network Analysis: Theory and Methods
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall)
Introduction to theoretical/methodological foundations of social network analysis. Concepts/principles, measurements, computer techniques. Applications to friendships, communities, workteams, intra-/inter-organizational relations, international systems. Focuses on network visualizations.
SOC 8444 - FTE: Doctoral
(1 cr; Prereq-Doctoral student, adviser and DGS consent; No Grade Associated; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; 6 academic progress units; 6 financial aid progress units)
(No description)
SOC 8490 - Advanced Topics in Social Organization (Topics course)
(3 cr; Prereq-instr consent; Student Option; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 4 times)
Content varies with instructor. Sample topics: gender and organizations, interorganizational relations, comparative study of organizations, nonprofit organizations, consumer behavior, industry and technology, social networks, conflict, coercion, and social exchange. Topics specified in [Class Schedule].
SOC 8501 - Sociology of the Family
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
Theoretical and empirical works from contemporary family sociology. Content varies with instructor. Sample topics: definitions of the family, family roles, family interactions, marriage and divorce, childbearing, parenthood, and cultural variations in families.
SOC 8540 - Topics in Family Sociology (Topics course)
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 4 times)
Families and mental health; families, work, and the labor market; historical/comparative research on the family. Topics specified in [Class Schedule].
SOC 8551 - Life Course Inequality & Health
(3 cr; Prereq-grad student or instr consent; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall)
Seminar examines the changing life course in its social and historical context, including theoretical principles, methodologies, and policy implications. Focus on key societal institutions that offer unequal opportunities and constraints, depending on social class, race/ethnicity, and gender. Unequal access to age-graded social roles and resources shape the course of development, and in doing so, they have profound impacts on health. We will consider how inequality in the family, education, work, the military, and in the health care & criminal justice systems influence health behaviors and outcomes at different ages and life stages.
SOC 8590 - Topics in Life Course Sociology (Topics course)
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 4 times)
Sociology of aging, sociology of youth, and mental health and adjustment in early life course. Topics specified in [Class Schedule].
SOC 8607 - Migration & Migrants in Demographic Perspective
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Every Spring)
With fertility and mortality, migration is one of three core population processes. This course provides a graduate-level treatment of major theoretical and empirical debates in demographic/population research on migration and migrants. It examines topics like why and how people migrate, who migrates and who does not, and the effects of migration in migrant-receiving and migrant-sending areas. Along the way, it links to a number of related topics, including the impacts of migration on migrants themselves, the role of the state and policies governing migration and incorporation, and transnationalism. A common thread throughout is connecting these topics to issues of population size, composition, and change. While this course contains ?demographic? in the title and fulfills requirements for graduate trainees and the population studies minor in the Minnesota Population Center, it is necessarily interdisciplinary in scope and draws from research in economics, demography/population studies, human geography, history, political science, population health, public policy, and sociology. Credit will not be granted if the student has already completed a Soc 8090 topics course with the same title.
SOC 8666 - Doctoral Pre-Thesis Credits
(1 cr [max 6]; Prereq-Doctoral student who has not passed prelim oral; no required consent for 1st/2nd registrations, up to 12 combined cr; dept consent for 3rd/4th registrations, up to 24 combined cr; doctoral student admitted before summer 2007 may register up to four times, up to 60 combined cr; No Grade Associated; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
TBD
SOC 8701 - Sociological Theory
(4 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall)
Traditions of social theory basic to sociological knowledge, their reflection and expansion in contemporary theory, their applications in selected areas of empirical research. Sample topics: social inequality, social organization and politics, family organization and social reproduction, social order and change, sociology of knowledge and religion.
SOC 8721 - Social Psychology: Micro-Sociological Approaches to Inequalities and Identities
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Social psychology is basic to an understanding of contemporary social life. This subfield of sociology focuses on social phenomena at the micro-level. Small group dynamics, social interactions, and individual experiences are importantly structured by the macro-structural context, e.g., by socioeconomic status, race, gender, sexuality, and other dimensions of social inequality. At the same time, these and other micro-sociological processes reflect individual-level identities, perceptions, motivations and cognitions. This seminar examines a wide range of social psychological phenomena linked to inequality (e.g., the effects of class, minority status, and gender on disparities in identity, self-concept, and health; the development of status hierarchies in small group interaction; intergroup relations, prejudice, and discrimination). We begin with a consideration of ?personal structure,? emphasizing the cultural and structural variability of self-conceptions and identities, cognitive processes, and motivation, as well as the biosocial bases of action. These may be considered individual-level ?building blocks? of social psychological theories (along with emotions, attitudes, values, and ideologies). We then address prominent theoretical perspectives in social psychology that illuminate the linkages between micro-social contexts of inequality and identity, including symbolic interactionism, exchange theory, structural social psychology (?social structure and personality?) and the social psychology of the life course. Social psychological theory and research are foundational to many specialty fields in sociology, including the sociology of the family, education, health, deviance, work, social mobility, social movements, emotions, and the sociology of childhood, youth, and aging. Social psychology is also central to prominent theoretical debates in sociology surrounding the relationship between social structure and agency; individual-level identities, perceptions, moti
SOC 8731 - Sociology of Knowledge
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall)
Knowledge and related terms (ideology, stereotype, prejudice, belief, truth). Variation of knowledge across social groups/categories (e.g., gender, race, class, generation, nationality); institutions (e.g., politics, law, science); and societies across time and space. Power, rituals, institution, networks, and knowledge. Genealogy of theories.
SOC 8735 - Sociology of Culture
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Spring)
Definition/importance of culture as dimension of social life. Structural/Durkheimian approaches, cultural Marxism, practice theory. Cultural creation/reception. Identities as cultural formations. Culture/social inequality. Culture and race. Cultural construction of social problems. Culture and globalization.
SOC 8777 - Thesis Credits: Master's
(1 cr [max 18]; Prereq-Max 18 cr per semester or summer; 10 cr total required [Plan A only]; No Grade Associated; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 50 credits; may be repeated 10 times)
(No description)
SOC 8790 - Advanced Topics in Sociological Theory (Topics course)
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Spring; may be repeated for 12 credits; may be repeated 4 times)
Sample topics: theories of conflict, theories of purposive action, Marxist theory, and structure-agency debate.
SOC 8801 - Sociological Research Methods
(4 cr; Prereq-Grad soc major or instr consent; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Multiple objectives of social research and how they inform research design. Conceptualization and measurement of complex concepts. Broad issues in research design and quantitative and qualitative approaches to data collection and management.
SOC 8811 - Advanced Social Statistics
(4 cr; Prereq-recommend 5811 or equiv; graduate student or instr consent; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall & Spring)
Statistical methods for analyzing social data. Sample topics: advanced multiple regression, logistic regression, limited dependent variable analysis, analysis of variance and covariance, log-linear models, structural equations, and event history analysis. Applications to datasets using computers.
SOC 8851 - Advanced Qualitative Research Methods: In-Depth Interviewing
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Spring Odd Year)
Interviewers have opened up other worlds to the sociological imagination and taught us much about the way people think, feel, and make sense of the world as well as of their own identities. We will conduct interviews; transcribe, code, and analyze interview data; and write up interview- based research. We will also consider a range of epistemological, practical, and ethical issues related to interviewing as a research method, reading materials drawn from a broad range of substantive sociological subfields as well as from geography. This course is best suited to graduate students who have an interview-based project in mind and want to acquire the skills for carrying out their research, and students who are considering using interviews in their dissertation research and want to try their hand at interviewing before making a decision. Because this is a hands-on, fieldwork-based course, no auditors are permitted.
SOC 8852 - Advanced Qualitative Research Methods: Ethnographic Practicum
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Fall Odd Year)
Ethnographic practice involves two core activities: engaging people in their own space and time, and separating yourself enough from the fieldwork site to write about observations and experiences with some degree of analytical distance and theoretical sophistication. Ethnographers are always both participant and observer, although some of them -- often those who start off as insiders at a site from the beginning -- will be more practically or emotionally enmeshed in a fieldwork site than others. This seminar emphasizes both these core activities: students develop the practice of shuttling constantly between fieldwork site and writing field notes and analysis. Complementing the field work will be reading and discussion of classic and contemporary ethnographies. Each student will undertake his or her own fieldwork project, learning how to generate field notes that include rich description and coherent, flexible analysis. These projects should generate a useful body of qualitative data, as well as an intensive, hands-on experience of the design, research process, and analysis of ethnography. Prerequisites: graduate student, and completion of SOC 8801, or instructor consent.
SOC 8853 - Advanced Qualitative Research Methods: Historical & Comparative Sociology
(3 cr; A-F or Audit; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
This course is designed to teach graduate students to design and carry out theoretically informed and methodologically sophisticated historical research projects. In the first section of the course, we will explore the meaning of historical sociology, the disciplinary reflexes of sociologists and historians, conceptions of time in historical sociology, the uses of narrative in explanation, the use of case studies and comparisons in historical analysis, and varieties of explanation. The following section will examine the problems and potentials involved in different types of sources used by historically-oriented social scientists and the politics of historical memory. The final section will survey research by sociologists, historians, and political scientists that attempts to develop historically informed theories of various phenomena, such as race relations, nation and state formation, colonialism and imperialism, democratization and citizenship, gender and sexuality, and contentious politics. This course fulfills an advanced qualitative methods requirement for Sociology graduate students.
SOC 8888 - Thesis Credits: Doctoral
(1 cr [max 24]; Prereq-[Completion of four semesters and all required credits completed], 24 cr required; No Grade Associated; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 100 credits; may be repeated 10 times)
(No description)
SOC 8890 - Advanced Topics in Research Methods (Topics course)
(1.5 cr [max 3]; Prereq-8801, 8811, or instr consent. Cr will not be granted if cr has been received for the same topics title; Student Option; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 6 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
Advanced Research Methods (e.g., multilevel models), historical/comparative, field, survey research. Topics specified in Class Schedule.

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