Courses in Sociology & Anthropology

Sociology Courses

Anthropology Courses

Click on the links below to learn about the various courses offered in the fields of Sociology and Anthropology.

Sociology Courses

SOCI:101 Principles of Sociology. Methods and approaches of scientific analysis applied to contemporary cultures and societies. Includes socialization, individual and group interaction, major social institutions, social organizations, social change, and collective behavior. Core: Perspectives on the World and the Individual. 4 SH.

SOCI:102 Social Problems. Basic concepts and principles of Sociology applied to significant social problems. Examines social disorganization, cultural conflicts, and personal deviations associated with the stress of industrialization, urban life, and bureaucracy. Core: Perspectives on the World and the Individual. 4 SH.

SOCI:200 Topics in Sociology. Intermediate study of selected topics. Topics vary and depend on student and instructor interest. Possibilities include social policy analysis, sociology of dissent, juvenile delinquency, and sex roles. Prerequisite SOCI:101. 2-4 SH.

SOCI:210 Caribbean Culture and Society. This course considers the history, politics, economics, and culture of the people of the Caribbean area. It focuses on issues of self-identity and expression within the context of hegemonic European values and institutions. Prerequisite: SOCI:101 or ANTH:162. 4SH.

SOCI:230 Social Psychology. The study of how individuals are influenced by social interactions. Examines social phenomena such as attitude change, conformity, impression formation, stereotyping, aggression, and helping. Includes research methods and results, explanatory theories, and application to practical problems. Same as PS:230. Prerequisite: PSYC:101. 4SH.

SOCI:240 Gerontology. Examines the importance of age as a variable influencing human behavior and social organization. Emphasizes health, housing, socioeconomic status, personal adjustments, retirement, and social participation. Prerequisite SOCI:101. 4 SH.

SOCI:253 Crime and Delinquency. An examination of the nature, extent, and causes of crime and delinquency. Includes the analysis of the various types of criminal and delinquent behavior along with their respective behavior systems. Also addresses major current issues in crime and delinquency. Prerequisite SOCI:101. 4 SH.

SOCI:254 Criminal Justice. Delineation and examination of the criminal justice system. Emphasizes the concepts of criminal law and criminal justice along with the functioning of the police, the courts, and corrections. Also considered is the examination of major controversies and issues of the criminal justice system. Prerequisite SOCI:101. 4SH.

SOCI:310 Political Sociology. Political attitudes, opinions, and participation as they affect US politics and public policy. Emphasizes mass and elite behaviors. Includes the socio-psychological basis for politics, socialization, and voting behavior. Same as POLI:310 Prerequisite POLI:111 or instructor's permission. 4 SH.

SOCI:311 Sociological Theory.Western social theory from Comte to the present with emphasis on recent developments. Considers major schools, including positivism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism,functionalism, social exchange theory, critical theory, phenomenological theory, and postmodernism. Prerequisite: three courses in sociology. 4SH.

SOCI:315 Social Stratification in Contemporary Society. This course examines factors that contribute to social stratification in contemporary society. Specifically, the course looks at three dimensions of social stratification, namely the economic, political, and ideological dimensions and interaction of race, class, and gender in this process. Topics include theories of social stratification, occupational prestige and mobility, segregation, corporate welfare, social welfare, and the ideology of legitimization. Prerequisite: SOCI:101, SOCI:102, or ANTH:162. 4 SH.

SOCI:320 Society and the Future: American Perspectives. Future prospects of selected American institutions in the next several decades. Includes alternative social policies. Also examines the concept of future and methods of future study. Topics vary and may include population, community, the family, organizations, economy, environment, technology, health, education, welfare, religion, politics, law, war, or peace. Addresses both trends and policy implications from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Core: Perspectives on the World, Futures. 2 SH.

SOCI:331 Social Control and Deviance. Processes, agencies, and methods that influence members of groups to confor to social norms. Includes factors producing deviant behavior patterns. Covers individual socialization and institutional and personality patterns affecting internal and external control processes. Examines power, class and status, formal and informal group sanctions, and ideological forces of social control. Prerequisite: SOCI:101.4 SH.

SOCI:333 Development, Globalization, and Society. This course looks at the relationship between economic development paradigms, institutions, and groups in society. It focuses on international economic relationships, world order, and the resultant social and political conflicts. More specifically, the course examines how global economic development policy since 1960 has influenced relations between states, major institutions, organizations, and social groupings both in the developed and developing world. Same as POLI:333. Prerequisite: SOCI:101 or ANTH:162. 4 SH.

SOCI:341 Family and Kinship. A comparative study of the family as a universal human group. Covers the structures and functions of families in different cultures. Emphasizes historical and contemporary changes in the American family and the consequences of those changes for society. Prerequisite SOCI:101. 4 SH.

SOCI:342 Sociology of Organizations. The process of management principles and basic organizational theory. Emphasizes applications of theory to case studies. Experiential activity introduces students to motivation, decision-making, leadership, group processes, and interpersonal communication. Prerequisite: junior standing. 4 SH.

SOCI:374 Social Work. Introduces and exposes students to the various aspects of social work and social welfare. Includes examples of casework, group work, community organizations, and a combination of current practices. Explores how society provides services to meet human needs through public, voluntary and combined efforts. Prerequisites: SOCI:101 or PSYC:101. 4 SH.

SOCI:413 Race, Ethnicity, and Minorities. Focuses on race and ethnic relations in contemporary society. Explores the boundaries and markers for being a member of an ethnic, racial, or minority group. Specifically, this course regards race as a social construct that has significance for structural opportunities, experiences, world-views, and conceptions of self and others. Strategies used by dominant groups to maintain their power and privilege, and those used by subordinate groups to create and preserve their cultural identity and to resist their subordination also are examined. Prerequisite: SOCI:101. 4 SH.

SOCI:431 Seminar: Social Change. Conditions and factors affecting the development and transformation of social groups, institutions, and communities. Studies scientific, technological, demographic, economic, political, and ideological influences on the direction and rate of change. Examines trends in modern social organization-industrialization, secularization, bureaucratization, etc.-and their impact on the social order. Prerequisites: SOCI:101 and 3 additional courses in Sociology. 4 SH.

SOCI:500 Seminar. One or more seminars are offered annually on selected topics of the instructor's interest. Prerequisite: 3 courses in Sociology or Anthropology. 4 SH.

SOCI:501 Independent Study. Individual work for qualified students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Supervised readings and writings in advanced fields of sociological study. Prerequisites: SO:101, three courses in Sociology, and instructor's permission. 4 SH.

SOCI:570, 571 Practicum. Supervised field work in selected social work agencies. Students will keep a log, meet with a faculty member to discuss work, and write a paper. Prerequisites: junior or senior status, relevant course work, and permission of the department. 4 SH.

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Anthropology Courses

ANTH:162 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Students learn about the major themes and analytic approaches of Cultural Anthropology. Topics covered include: the culture concept; cultural relativism; ethnography; ritual; religion; sexuality; gender; race; class; ethnicity; kinship; political economy; and globalization and transnationalism. World regions studied vary and may include: Asia; the Middle East; Africa; North America; South America; and Europe. Core: Perspectives on the World, Society and the Individual. 4SH.

ANTH:200 Topics in Anthropology. Intermediate study of selected topics. Topics vary and depend on student and instructor interest. Possibilities include the anthropology of modernity, cross-cultural perspectives on gender and sexuality, and drugs and culture. Prerequisite: ANTH:162 or permission of the instructor. 2-4 SH.

ANTH:211 Latin American Cultural Studies. Focuses on the cultural context and the cultural implications of social relations in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking America. Topics covered include race, human rights, economics, music, migration, politics, and ideology. Countries studied include Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba, and Argentina, but may vary in any given year. The course makes use of ethnographies, films, music, newspapers, and the web. 4SH.

ANTH:220 Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion. Examines anthropological concepts of magic, witchcraft, and religion in a cross-cultural context. Drawing on ethnography, anthropological theory, history, and film, the class explores the nature of magic, witchcraft, and religion; the relations among them; and the ways in which they interact with other social formations, for example gender, politics, and economics. Countries studied have included South Africa, India, Haiti, and the US. 4 SH.

ANTH:222. Life During Wartime. Explores key understandings and discourses about war, and the intersection of anthropology and violent conflict. Examines the role of anthropology in both understanding and responding to war and violent conflict, seeks to understand knowledge about war and what role it plays in cultural practice, and focuses attention on literature and materials drawn or arising from current wars and violent conflicts in the world. The course investigates popular and scholarly materials addressing current conflicts, including book-length texts, journal and magazine articles, documentary and ethnographic films, television and popular films, and newspapers. Prerequisite: ANTH: 162, SOCI: 101, or permission of the instructor.

ANTH:310 National, Transnational, and Diasporic Communities. Considers the nature of belonging in the world today. Who is "at home?" Who is displaced/out of place? Begins with theories of the nation and anthropological research on national communities and nation-building, then turns to a consideration of those considered outsiders to the nation-state, i.e., diasporic, transnational, and refugee communities. Addresses culture as it is formed by the globalization of capital, commodities, media, literacy, and international political and religious movements. Topics covered may include Jewish, Palestinian, African, and Chinese diasporas, refugees in Tanzania and in Europe, and Indian intellectuals in the US. Prerequisite: ANTH:162 or SOCI:333 or permission of the instructor. 4SH.

ANTH:312 History and Culture of Jewish Cuisines. Examines the meanings and uses of various Jewish cuisines as they developed in diverse regions and historical periods. Will consider the laws of kashrut and their modern interpretations, the social history of traditional Jewish foods, the literary development of Jewish cookbooks, and literary and cinematic representations of Jewish cuisines and dining. Same as JS:312. 4 SH.

ANTH:320 Cultures of Science and Technology. What is cultural about science and technology? Do science and technology have a culture, or are they "neutral," "acultural" domains of knowledge? This course examines science and technology from an anthropological perspective, taking scientists as "natives," and laboratories, science meetings, and chat rooms on the web as "natural habitats." Topics covered include high-energy physicists, workers in a nuclear lab, artificial life, the social world of DNA, and new reproductive technologies. Prerequisite: ANTH:162 or permission of the instructor. 4SH.

ANTH:322 Visual Anthropology: Imagining the Other.Explores key interrelationships between image-making and enthnographic discovery and representation. Students will be introduced to the history of ethnographic film and photography, and will also be given the analytical tools to read popular films and photographs as cultural texts. The course focuses on the production, representation and use of images to communicate information about cultural-historical processes, events, and subjects. Prerequisite: ANTH:162, SOCI:101, or permission of the instructor. 4SH

ANTH:341 Family and Kinship. A comparative study of family and kinship. Covers the structures and functions of family and kinship in different cultures. Emphasizes historical and contemporary changes in knowledge and practice focused on family, marriage, procreation, and kinship in the US and the consequences of those changes for society. Prerequisite: ANTH:162 or SOCI:101. Same as SOCI:341. 4SH

ANTH:400 History of Anthropological Theory. Surveys major anthropological theories (e.g., evolutionism, functionalism, structuralism, symbolism, and post-modernism) and theorists (e.g., Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Lévi-Strauss, Geertz, and Clifford). Examines how ideas about culture have changed over time. Takes a critical perspective by locating both theories and theorists within national and historical frameworks. Prerequisite: AN:162. 4SH.