Sociology (SOCU)

SOCU 101 Introduction to Sociology

Students examine the basic concepts, principles, and findings of sociology: addressing the nature of human social relations from simple, face-to-face relationships, through formal organizations, to whole societies. Students also analyze how social patterns are created, how they become organized and established, and how they change. 3 credits.

SOCU 301 Social Research Design

Learn how sociologists carry out investigations of social life. Students will learn how to design and conduct surveys, experiments, and do participant observation. Equal attention will be given to the needs of students as consumers of social research, trying to make sense out of daily reports on sociological findings in newspapers, television, and magazines. 3 credits.

SOCU 329 Experimental Topics in Sociology

An examination of selected topics in sociology relevant to evolving areas of importance to the field. Syllabi must be approved by the Dean and announced to the Curriculum and Academic Committee prior to being offered. May be repeated for credit provided the course content is different. 3 credits.

SOCU 350 Human Diversity

This course examines the significance of race, class, gender, and sexuality in personal identity formation as well as in the formation of U.S. social institutions, systems, and structures. Students will consider how race, class, gender, and sexuality intersect in their own lives and which social institutions can best address the systems and structures of inequality they and others have encountered as a result. Students will also discuss the role of social institutions in social change. 3 credits.

SOCU 401 Sociology of Social Conflict, Analysis, and Resolution

Social conflict is evident in the news each day. For many of us it is a part of our personal experiences and daily lives. This course focuses on the analysis of conflict from an interdisciplinary perspective. What is conflict? How do we develop and change our identities, attitudes, emotions, and behavior regarding conflict? How do these processes vary across social groups? To answer these questions, this class will present a variety of ways that third parties and organizations intervene in an attempt to de-escalate conflict. Theories of conflict, methods of conflict management, and an examination of case studies and historical interventions will provide the student with tools for analysis of conflicts in his or her personal life and on the international front. Through simulations, role-playing and skills-training, each student will experience the basic concepts, principles, and methods of conflict resolution. Towards the end of this upper division course, the student should be able to map out and analyze conflict situations, using theoretical concepts and frameworks. 3 credits.

SOCU 415 Sociology of Organizations and Institutions

How and why are organizations created? What are their purposes? How does the need for organizational survival come to supersede whatever human purposes lay at its origins? Course will look at organizations through numerous metaphors: as machines, as organisms, as antipoetic systems, etc. 3 credits.

SOCU 416 Sociology of Health Care

This course presents health care as a dynamic social and political institution. Students will learn to analyze the U.S. healthcare system from a sociological perspective, recognizing the social inequalities and stratification involved in all aspects of the system. These aspects include: societal definitions of health, illness, and health care; the social distribution of illness; access to health care; current health care crises; and proposed health care policies. Students will also compare the U.S. health care system to health care systems in other nations. 3 credits.

SOCU 420 Sociology of Deviant Behavior

This course examines why societies label behavior deviant and explores the distinction between behaviors considered "socially unacceptable" and those considered "criminal." Theories of deviance, as well as the amount, distribution and patterns of deviance are considered. Discussions may also include political influence, social change, and selected types of deviant activity. 3 credits.

SOCU 436 Globalization and Social Change

This course presents the history and meaning of globalization for various social institutions: the economy, politics, media, religion, and social justice. Students will pay special attention to social and political inequalities and change. The course also addresses the impact of globalization on local, everyday events as well as the impact of local institutions on global events. Students will hypothesize future trends in globalization and also propose solutions to social problems resulting from those trends. 3 credits.

SOCU 448 Social Inequality/Stratification

Inequality among members of the American and international community. Theoretical emphasis on class, racial/ethnic, occupational, age, and sexual inequality. Students examine the social/structural bases of inequality and theories to explain the creation of systems and ideologies of subordination. 3 credits.

SOCU 484 Social Theory

How is society possible? How does society change? How are social, political, and economic power distributed? This course addresses these questions through the critical study of theories written by classical and contemporary social theorists, including Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber, as well as more recent structural-functionalist theorists, post-structural theorists, black theorists, feminist theorists and intersectional feminist theorists. Students will apply social theories to current events and practical workplace issues. 3 credits.

SOCU 499 Independent Study

Prerequisites: Instructor's approval and approval of petition.

Directed reading and/or research designed to meet specific needs of superior upper-division students. 1-3 credits.