Sociology (SOC)

This is an interdisciplinary course in which students learn about a common theme using theories and concepts in sociology and other disciplines ranging from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Not challengeable.

Uses a conceptual approach to marriage and the family. Includes historical, cross-cultural and subculture variations, family problems, and current trends in family organization. Not challengeable.

Introduces basic concepts in sociology focusing on culture, group processes, deviance, social inequality, and social institutions such as the family, education, and religion. Not challengeable.

Surveys a current social problem each week using a sociological approach. Includes such problems as the environment, wealth and poverty, ethnicity, gender, and age. Covers history and attempts to remediate the problem. Not challengeable.

Student-designed courses approved by a faculty member. Prior approval of goals, objectives, procedures, and assessment plan as directed in the Independent Study Manual is required. May be taken multiple times with a different topic for credit. Not challengeable.

Social science statistics is the science of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting numerical data. This class operates under the premise that a familiarity of the logic behind statistically-based numerical arguments is critical for both a deeper understanding of academic inquiry as well as the real world. In this way, this course will attempt to introduce a basic understanding of descriptive and inferential social statistics to uncover the methods involved in formulating these numerical arguments. Letter grade only.

Introduces basic concepts and applications of descriptive and inferential statistics. Not challengeable.

This course focuses on the application of advanced statistical methods with a particular emphasis on regression techniques such as the following: linear regression, logistic regression, probit regression, Poisson regression, negative binomial regression, random effects regression, fixed effects regression, etc. Letter grade only. Not challengeable.

Examines the origin and development of those religions, which undergird East, South, and Southeast Asian worldviews and societies. Not challengeable. Also REL 305.

Explores human sexuality and gender issues from the perspective of biology, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Includes cross-cultural comparisons. Not challengeable.

Provides historical, theoretical, and empirical basis for understanding how and why systems of racial and ethnic social stratification emerge, are maintained, and change. Emphasizing power, it analyzes and compares the experiences of different US racial and ethnic groups. Not challengeable.

This course introduces key ideas in the sociology of health and medicine, with a particular emphasis on socioeconomic inequities in health and health impacts of poverty. Specific health disparities examined will reflect the Healthy People goals and include those related to obesity, health care access, maternal and child health, infectious disease, injury, and violence.

Discusses social deviance in American society and reactions to deviance and their consequences. Includes criminality, mental disorder, drug abuse, and other stigmatized statuses and behaviors. Not challengeable.

Includes theories of delinquency and the influence of the family, schools, drugs, peers, and neighborhoods. Covers juvenile gangs, police processing of juveniles, courts, and placements. Not challengeable.

Explores theories and types of criminal behavior. Includes predatory, occupational, professional, organized, and victimless crime. Covers law enforcement, the judicial process, and sanctions. Not challengeable.

In this course students will examine the socio-historical and political evolution of racism and anti-racism through documentary film. Students will trace the origins and continued significance of race, racism, and anti-racism from the pre-colonial era to the present. While the primary focus will be on the United States, students will also examine race, racism and anti-racism in a global context. Letter grade only. Not challengeable.

Includes the history and evolution of the justice system in the US. Surveys crime and criminal behavior, and the police, courts, and corrections. Includes landmark court decisions. Not challengeable.

Traces the evolution of prisons and jails as social institutions. Discusses correctional goals and philosophies as well as inmate demographics and rights. Includes current thinking, practices, and alternatives to incarceration. Not challengeable.

Explores major theories of social, political, and economic inequality. Stresses power relationships. Can be taken for letter grade only. Not challengeable.

This course focuses on the ways gender structures the world and the resulting inequalities. Changes in women's status compared to men's status will be examined in historical context, and contemporary patterns of gender difference will be examined in areas such as policy and politics, the labor market, family, and socioeconomic status. Social and political responses to gender inequality will be explored.

An interdisciplinary survey course of women's experience in the United States, taught from a feminist perspective. Explores the cultural and social diversity found among women including gender, ethnicity, race, social class, age, physical disability, and women's movements. Also ANTH 334. Not challengeable.

Examines African-American experience in US society, including heritage, history, culture, and political movements. Not challengeable. Also ANTH 335.

Examines the Latino experience in US society, including heritage, history, culture, and political movements of a variety of Latino groups. Not challengeable. Also ANTH 336.

Examines the Asian-American experience in US society, including heritage, history, culture, and political movements of a variety of Asian-American groups. Not challengeable. Also ANTH 337.

Examines the Native American experience in US society, including history, culture, and political movements. Also ANTH 338. Not challengeable.

Focuses on the interaction of society, culture, and personality in socialization, perceptions, attitude formation, and behavior. Includes altruism, aggression, group processes, leadership, and the mass media.

Examines the underlying factors of urbanization in human settlement patterns and evolution of cities in America.

Examines the spatial patterning of crime and its relationship to the urban environment.

Examines the issues relating to white-collar crime.

Examines the relationship between human society and the natural world.

Examines the theoretical and substantive themes within social network science.

Focuses on a broad overview of the law from a sociological perspective. Includes legal systems, theoretical perspectives, law and social control, law and dispute resolution, law and social change, and the legal profession. Not challengeable. May be taken for letter grade only.

This course explores social change and development over the entire course of human history with a special focus on the modern capitalist world system that began about 500 years ago and has since expanded to most of the globe. Within this framework we will examine social change in the United States from its early position and role in the development of the world system to its emergence of the World War II as a world superpower and for a short time as a hegemonic superpower. Special attention will be given to changes in basic institutions such as the economy, state, family, science, education and communication, religion, and also several other important aspects of social structure like the class systems, demographic changes, and urbanization patterns.

A basic understanding of the way the population is changing is increasingly important for addressing social problems and issues, and for business and government decision-making. This course introduces students to the study of populations, including data, statistics, and substantive topics. Topics covered include causes and consequences of population changes related to mortality, fertility, migration, aging, and urbanization.

This course approaches the study of drugs from a sociological-criminology perspective. Students are introduced to several dimensions of drug in society, including historical and contemporary social controls, theoretical explanations for use, the drug-crime nexus, addiction and dependency, and cultural socialization processes. Letter grade only.

This course examines how the political and economic institutions affect the prevalence of crime in human societies. Particular attention is given to how the decisions of the political and economic elite can worsen poverty and inequality as well as how the decline of socioeconomic conditions generate criminogenic environments. Finally, this course will use secondary data to explore these topics, both within the United States and cross-nationally, using a variety of regression techniques. Not challengeable.

Methodology and research design in the behavioral sciences, including qualitative and quantitative methods. Not challengeable.

Student-designed courses approved by a faculty member. Prior approval of goals, objectives, procedures, and assessment plan as directed in the Independent Study Manual is required. May be taken multiple times with a different topic for credit. Not challengeable.

The history and development of sociological theory. The course traces the roots of sociology through the work of Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Harriet Martineau, George H. Mead, W.E.B. DeBois, among others. Core ideas are linked to the biographies and intellectual contexts of each theorist. Issues associated with positivism, objectivity, value neutrality, and humanism frame discussions of theories. Not challengeable.

Historical and contemporary criminological theories including the nature of law and crime, micro theories, macro theories, and intergrative theories. Not challengeable.

Faculty-designed courses in areas of expertise. May be repeated once with a different topic. Not challengeable.

Applies behavioral science theoretical principles and methods under supervision of working professionals. For majors in the behavioral sciences. Requires junior standing. Not challengeable.

In this course students will complete a Senior Capstone Project over one ten-week term. The Senior Capstone course requires students to have an appropriate approved topic on which students will create a research question, literature review, hypotheses, use existing data provide by instructor, analyze the data, and write a formal manuscript of the findings using traditional ASA formatting. Letter grade only.

Culminating activity required by all majors in all departments. Papers/theses/projects researched, prepared, and written under the guidance of a faculty member. Comprehensive exams or recitals required in some departments Academically, students must be in Good Standing to enroll in 499. Not challengeable.

Culminating activity required by all majors in all departments. Papers/theses/projects researched, prepared, and written under the guidance of a faculty member. Comprehensive exams or recitals required in some departments Academically, students must be in Good Standing to enroll in 499. Not challengeable.

Culminating activity required by all majors in all departments. Papers/theses/projects researched, prepared, and written under the guidance of a faculty member. Comprehensive exams or recitals required in some departments Academically, students must be in Good Standing to enroll in 499. Not challengeable.

Culminating activity required by all majors in all departments. Papers/theses/projects researched, prepared, and written under the guidance of a faculty member. Comprehensive exams or recitals required in some departments Academically, students must be in Good Standing to enroll in 499. Not challengeable.

This research-intensive course provides students the opportunity to apply what they have learned during their undergraduate career. Students will complete a group-based or individual research project of an appropriate, approved topic. Students will create a research question, literature review, hypotheses, collect original data or use existing data provided by instructor, analyze the data, and write a formal manuscript or similar outcome of the findings that is of a publishable/presentable quality. Letter grade only. Not challengeable.