Schedule of Classes

Sociological insight into study of humans, society, and culture.

Overview of the discipline of sociology. Focus on specializations within the field, possible career paths, and options for graduate study. Introduction to discipline-specific research and writing skills. Discussion of faculty members' ongoing research activities. Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.

Analyzes nature, forms, and problems of social "diversity" with emphasis on patterns of difference and commonality, advantage, and disadvantage in the area of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and physical disability. A particular focus will be on ways inequalities in wealth, education, employment, health, the criminal justice system, popular culture, and the political process are reproduced and challenged in contemporary societies.

Social research methods: research design and models of observation, including single subject and program evaluation, quantitative and qualitative methods, sampling techniques, questionnaire construction, types of surveys, measurement problems, and data analysis.

Examines the construction of gender in non-western societies, concentrating on the way gender shapes and is shaped by power relations in these societies.

Comparative study of non-Western family systems, with a focus on cross-cultural differences and the potential conflicts of migration. Varying focus on families of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Analysis of dominant-minority group relations. The emergence and dynamic of racism. Exploration of the experience of various ethnic and "racial" groups.

An examination of gender as a system of stratification, as a social construction, and as a system of meaning which changes trans-historically and differs cross-culturally. Focus on structural and interactional aspects of gender inequality, as well as the relationship between gender and other social hierarchies, including class, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality.

Development of contemporary social thought from its Euro- American past. Emphasis on contemporary social theory and its major strands in American sociology.

Analysis of the concept and nature of deviance and its various forms, with emphasis on various theoretical perspectives on nature and causation of deviance.

Analysis of the nature and origin of juvenile delinquency within an historical and theoretical context with emphasis on causation of delinquency and evaluation of different responses to it.

Analysis of the concept and nature of crime, the relationship between social structures, social institutions, and crime with a focus on social forces and social controls involved in the creation of crime.

Focus on the emergence and organization of social movements and the conditions under which they successfully bring about social change. Examination of the theory and practice of social movements against the historical backdrop of several important American and European movements over the last half century, including the civil rights, women's, environmental, and peace movements, and the current international movement against corporate globalization.

Supervised work in applied settings; study of practical problems from the perspective of the discipline.

Supervised work in applied settings; study of practical problems from the perspective of the discipline.

Writing-intensive research seminar for majors. Emphasis on the synthesis and integration of information obtained in prior courses in the form of a detailed research proposal on a topic within the student's substantive focus area. With the permission of their instructor, eligible students may complete the empirical portion of the research under SOC 491 the following semester.

Special study on topics with faculty supervision.

Extended individual research with faculty supervision.