Minor in Sociology

Prerequisite: ENG 102

Introduction to social movements and collective action, covering several theoretical perspectives on how to understand and analyze social movements in recent global history, from their origins to their demise; a global survey of the processes of social and political awareness, mobilization, and development of such movements.

Prerequisite: ENG 102

Introduces students to the concept and origins of popular culture and to social theories used by academics to analyze its impact on self and culture in modern consumer societies. Topics include mass media, TV, the internet, video games, sports, leisure, fashion, celebrity, shopping, advertising, and youth culture.

Prerequisite: ENG 102

An expansive overview of world consciousness, drawing upon the significant, creative contributions of men and women from varied cultures and different fields of learning. Emphasizes the approach of comparative synthesis. Studies the world’s outstanding creative thinkers and the interconnectedness of their works.

Prerequisite: ENG 240

Examines how international cinema represents various aspects of societies and cultures outside the U.S. Representative films of Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, Australia and Oceania, and Canada may be studied.

Prerequisite: ENG 102

An introduction to health care as a social institution. Utilizing both medical and sociological perspectives, medical sociology explores models of health, illness, and treatment, the sources of modern illness, and the social distribution of illness in the US. The course compares the US health care system to systems worldwide and looks at the current system from a historical perspective. Topics include the social construction of health care settings and illness; the experience of disability, mental illness, chronic illness, and chronic pain; alternative health care systems; epidemics and pandemics; and the ethics of health care in the US.

Prerequisite: ENG 102

Examines the institutions of marriage and family structures and their historical development. Topics include kinship, changing gender roles, changing family forms, divorce, domestic violence, and economic structure.

Prerequisite: SOC 100 and ILR 260

This course examines the foundational theories that have engaged social theorists. It analyzes the historical, cultural, social, economic, political, intellectual, and biographical contexts within which they developed, and appraises the extent to which they continue to inform sociological research and thinking.

Prerequisite: ENG 102; SOC 100

Examines the major social theories that have engaged social theorists from the mid-twentieth century onward. The course also investigates the historical, sociological, intellectual, and biographical contexts within which contemporary social theories have developed and the extent to which they inform current sociological research and thinking.

Prerequisite: ENG 102; SOC 100

Research design and methods including survey, network, experiment, qualitative, quantitative, and collection, organization and interpretation of research data.

Prerequisite: ENG 102

Examines the origins of cultural pluralism in the USA and the valuing of diversity as a socio-cultural imperative. Explores the social history of race and ethnic relations in the USA from Colonial America to the present. Topics include voluntary and involuntary immigration, internal colonization, theoretical frameworks for understanding prejudice and discrimination, master narratives, the US Census, eugenics, immigration policy, and how gender and class complicate understandings of race and ethnicity in the USA.

Prerequisite: ENG 102

A critical examination of theories of power, including the relationship of power to culture, social class, the economic order, government, ideology, poverty, race, sex and other topics. Studies community, national and international power structures and institutional leaderships.

Prerequisite: ENG 102; SOC 100

Employs a critical sociological approach to deviance and social control in contemporary society. Topics to be considered include the origins and functions of deviance in society, the institutional production and categorization of deviance, the impact of deviance on personal and social identity, deviant careers, and deviance and social change. Considers major theoretical sociological perspectives on deviance; makes use of current data on crime and current research in sociological and criminological journals and websites; and examines portrayals of deviance and social control in literature, film, and popular culture.

Prerequisite: ENG 102

Uses the functionalist, conflict and interactionist perspectives, this course explains how human conditions come to be perceived as social problems, and how to evaluate their proposed solutions.

Prerequisite: ENG 102; SOC 100

The study of social structure is central to sociology, and the study of work, the workplace, and various forms of organizations is fundamental for understanding the contemporary social world and the individual and society. Students will study the major theoretical approaches to the sociology of work and organizations, the evolution of the modern workplace and organizations, contemporary debates about work and in organizational theory, careers in sociology, and preparation for the job market. While grounded in sociology, the course examines contributions from economics, management and leadership studies, and psychology.