Info
Apply
Visit

Sociology

Requirements & Courses

  • Sociology Major Requirements

    Thirty-six credits which must include:

    1. Core: SOC-101, 301, and 302.
    2. Two concentrations, with eight credits in each area (a total of 16-credits):
      • Self and Society: SOC-224, 234, 236, or 243
      • Social Structure and Inequality: SOC-141, 225, 226, 229, or 341
      • Social Institutions: SOC-220 and SOC-353
    3. Eight credits of SOC electives. No more than four credits of approved SOC-180 may count towards the major.
    4. The senior comprehensive evaluation for the major is the successful completion of the Major Field Test in Sociology.
    5. Department Honors: Successful completion of SOC-500 and a minimum of 3.5 GPA in Sociology.
  • Sociology Minor Requirements

    Twenty-four credits of Sociology; which must include SOC-101.

Courses

  • SOC
    101
    .
    Principles of Sociology
    4 credits
    Identify sociology as a tool to widen perspective and understanding, employ basic sociological concepts in the observance of social behavior, and identify the basic social institutions and their functions. Prerequisite for all other SOC courses.
  • SOC
    141
    .
    Social Problems
    4 credits
    Examination, evaluation and discussion of contemporary social problems providing theoretical orientations and analytical skills to understand their complexities and ramifications. For example: poverty, health issues, crime and ways of dealing with crime.
  • SOC
    180
    .
    Topics in Sociology
    1 credit
    Investigation of a selected topic. May be taken only once for credit toward the ANT major.
  • SOC
    220
    .
    Sociology of Family
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Examines how family life is structured by broader social, political, and economic changes. Analysis organized historically around clan, lineage, nuclear and post-nuclear family structures. Contemporary family problems also studied. Fall Term.
  • SOC
    224
    .
    Women, Work, and Calling
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Examines the concepts of work, vocation, and calling as they apply to the lives of women, from a sociological perspective. Students are encouraged to apply insights from this course to their own vocational journeys.
  • SOC
    225
    .
    Conflict and Class
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Examination of class and its consequences. Topics may include ideology, the middle class, social movements, and social order (e.g., war and peace). Class intersects with gender and race issues. Cross-cultural settings will be examined.
  • SOC
    226
    .
    The Color of Justice
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Uses socio-historical and cultural awareness to investigate connections between the history of Jim Crow, courtroom relationships, spaces of incarceration, race, family, and community.
  • SOC
    229
    .
    Population Dynamics
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Population dynamics mirror plate tectonics - they move slowly, but are very powerful. They influence societies and individuals and are international in scope. One need understand them to better view social problems.
  • SOC
    234
    .
    Aging and Health Institutions
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Examines key concepts, main theories, and important substantive issues related to aging and health institutions from a sociological perspective. Among the central issues explored are gender and racial inequality in aging, as well as social institutions connected to aging and public policy.
  • SOC
    236
    .
    Social Psychology
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101 and PSY-121 or Permission.
    Exploration of the intersection of sociology and psychology via such topics as social influence, social cognition, self, and attitudes as they impact areas such as intergroup relations, pro-social behavior, and aggression. Cross-cultural comparisons are made.
  • SOC
    243
    .
    Social Deviance
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Examination, evaluation and discussion of major theories and approaches to deviance, forms of deviance, their institutional relationships, as well as implications for individuals and applications of concepts to “real world” events.
  • SOC
    280
    .
    Topics in Sociology
    2-4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Examines special subjects in Sociology.
  • SOC
    301
    .
    Methods of Social Research
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: 12 credits from SOC
    Fundamentals of basic principles, logic, and procedures of social research. Examines survey, unobtrusive, and qualitative methodologies as well as research ethics and policy.
  • SOC
    302
    .
    Social Theory
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101 or permission
    This course involves the posing and answering of questions about the nature of self and of social life. It investigates the fundamental issues of how social order is maintained and conversely, how social conflict and change occur. The first half of the course focuses on the work of classical social theorists such as Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, W.E.B. DuBois, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the second half, we examine the work of contemporary theorists and schools of thought such as Erving Goffman, Symbolic Interactionism, Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, Feminism, and Post-Modernism.
  • SOC
    341
    .
    Race and Ethnic Relations
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101 or SOC-141
    Examines racism in American society; dominant-subordinate group relations with particular emphasis on African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and White Ethnics; political, economic, social and cultural consequences.
  • SOC
    353
    .
    Sociology of Gender
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Explores the social construction of gender and the myriad ways gender influences individuals, interpersonal relationships, popular culture, sexuality, race, social class, the life course, and social institutions such as work and family.
  • SOC
    380
    .
    Topics in Sociology
    2-4 credits
    Prerequisite: SOC-101
    Examines special subjects in Sociology.
  • SOC
    385
    .
    Sociology Practicum
    1 credit
    Prerequisite: Permission.
    Participation in community institutions, agencies, schools, and business with individual faculty supervision. Applications of concepts through experience. About 11-14 hours of field work per week for each four credits. Includes paper report.
  • SOC
    386
    .
    Practicum
    4 credits
  • SOC
    399
    .
    SOC Independent Study
    1 credit
  • SOC
    499
    .
    Sociology Independent Study
    2-4 credits
    Prerequisite: Permission.
    Supervised reading or project in special area of sociology.
  • SOC
    500
    .
    Sociology-Senior Thesis
    2-4 credits
    Prerequisite: Permission.
    Designed for senior Sociology majors with the consent of the Department. Program of empirical and theoretical research.