SOC - Sociology

Course introduces sociological perspective used to study contemporary society, with focus on United States. Content includes culture, socialization, social interaction, groups and networks, deviance and social control, inequality in society, social institutions such as family or education, and processes of social change.

Course investigates social conditions that contribute to contemporary U.S. and global social problems. Content includes globalization; poverty; health and healthcare; discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, age and sexual orientation; crime and criminal justice system; substance abuse; population growth, environmental problems, sustainability and the climate crisis; and war and terrorism.

Course explores fundamental sociological concepts, theoretical approaches, and history of the family, patterns and shifts in marriage and partner selection trends, as well as changes in family structures in modern societies. Content includes many diversity issues of family including marriage, partnering, cohabitation, parenting, grandparenting, childhood, divorce, domestic violence, gender roles and social policy. Considers examples across cultures and investigates how individuals’ family lives are shaped by broader social systems, especially issues of privilege, inequality and social justice.

Course uses a variety of sociological perspectives to study behaviors commonly labeled deviant because they fall outside societal norms. Course examines the identification as deviant of individuals and of particular segments of society, by formal and informal means; the effects of institutionalization and social control upon the deviant; and the efforts of deviants to eradicate the label society has placed upon them. Content includes process of defining deviance; different forms of deviance such as criminal deviance to mental illness; social causes of deviance; social responses to deviance from stigmatization; systems of social control; reintegration of deviants into society.

Course introduces sociological perspectives on sex and gender as a factor in social stratification, gender role construction and acquisition, and the consequences of changing social definitions of gender roles across time and place. Content includes analyses of cross-cultural gender construction; gender socialization and inequality in education, the family, the workplace, and the mass media; and the impact of gender systems on life chances and outcomes, including intimacies and violence.

Course examines the history and contemporary landscape of race and ethnicity in American society. Content includes an exploration of the historical context around race and ethnicity, the evolution of racial ideologies, racial inequality/discrimination in institutions (education, employment, healthcare, criminal justice system and housing), environmental racism, social movements and social change, and a comparative look at global ideas of race and racism.

Course examines nature and causes of violence in context of contemporary American society. Content includes historical trends in violent behavior, social factors contributing to violence; types of violent behavior (interpersonal, collective,and organizational); strategies to prevent the expression of violence, and system of social control.

Course explores major issues relating to field of sociology. Topics selected from subspecialties: socialization, social organization, deviance, stratification, race and ethnicity, gender, social institutions, collective behavior, urbanization, and social change. Focus and/or scope differ from other sociology courses currently offered. Course may be taken for credit up to four times on different topics. Fee Varies. Prerequisite may vary by topic.