Optional Specializations in Sociology
Students majoring in Sociology may pursue a general course of study in the discipline or concentrate in a specific area or areas. The purpose of specialization is to provide the student with a focused, systematic, and in-depth educational experience in the context of a broad liberal arts education. Please see the Sociology academic advisor for more information on completing an area concentration.
General Requirements:
Each concentration requires the completion of four courses with a grade no lower than a C for each course. Additional courses not listed may be counted with approval. At least three courses must come from Sociology for each concentration. Additional requirements may apply. See the Sociology academic advisor for more information.
The following courses may be used to complete any of the area concentrations if the content is related to the concentration (approval is required):
SOCI 4365Topics in Sociology
SOCI 4391Conference Course
SOCI 4393Internship in Sociology
SOCI 4395Service Learning Independent Study
Diversity: Race, Class, and Gender*
The concentration in Diversity: Race, Class, and Gender focuses on the ways in which race, class, and gender (RCG) organize and impact social life, including the various ways RCG are both systems of stratification and sources of individual and group identity, how RCG are constructed and maintained, how people experience RCG, and the impact of RCG on various institutions, including families, work, media, and sport. A concentration in RCG Diversity gives students an appreciation for the complexity of RCG in the United States and the challenges they represent. Four courses are required with at least one coming from each section below.
Select at least one course from the following:
SOCI 3337Racial and Ethnic Groups in the US
SOCI 3314 The Latina Experience (may count within only one area)
SOCI 3338 Contemporary Black Experience
SOCI 3339 Race, Sport, and Media
SOCI 3345Sociology of the 1960s
SOCI 4331 Race, Ethnicity, and Family Formation
Select at least one course from the following:
SOCI 3334Gender Roles
SOCI 3314 The Latina Experience (may count within only one area)
SOCI 3356 Women, Work, and Social Change
Select at least one course from the following:
SOCI 3336Social Inequality
SOCI 4341Inequalities in Public Education
* Those wishing to complete both diversity concentrations must complete at least seven distinct courses.
Diversity: Race and Ethnic Relations*
The Diversity: Race and Ethnic Relations concentration allows students to compare and contrast immigration, acculturation, and adjustment processes of various racial and ethnic groups in the United States. It examines conventional and controversial arguments, as well as classical and contemporary ideas about the dynamics of inter-group relations as pertaining to culture and identity, politics, socioeconomic factors, and many other issues. Some courses within this concentration will address a wide range of groups (such as African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and white ethnic groups), while others will focus on one group. Four courses are required.
SOCI 3337 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the US
SOCI 3314 Latina Experience
SOCI 3338 Contemporary Black Experience
SOCI 3339 Race, Sport, and Media
SOCI 4331 Race, Ethnicity, and Family Formation
SOCI 3345Sociology of the 1960s
* Those wishing to complete both diversity concentrations must complete at least seven distinct courses.
Families
The concentration in families allows students to focus their study on issues related to families, including how people experience family lives, the impact of family on well-being, the impact of family structures on other institutions, as well as how families are impacted by changes in other institutions, including the labor market, educational institutions and the legal system. Pursuing a concentration in families is beneficial for careers in counseling, health care, social services, marketing, public policy, education or care industries (e.g. child care and advocacy and/or elder care). Four courses are required.
SOCI 3328 Marital and Sexual Lifestyles
SOCI 3331Sociology of Family
SOCI 4331Race, Ethnicity, and Family Formation
ANTH 3338 Comparative Family and Kinship Systems
Health and Sport
Bodies are increasingly on the sociological agenda as our population grapples with aging, illness and wellness, food, exercise, and sport. Social scientists began to address such issues after WWII as the shift from physical labor to office work, coupled with the availability of inexpensive mass-produced food, created a perfect storm of unprecedented body problems. Meanwhile, authors such as Susie Orbach argued that ‘fat is a feminist issue,’ drawing attention to the impact of patriarchy and gender socialization on the ways in which women view themselves, diet, and dress. Meanwhile, the sixties spurred a do-it-yourself self-reliance that placed value on people taking charge of their own lives, including their health, food, and exercise. This sociological concentration brings together diverse courses that focus on health and sport. Four courses are required.
Select at least three courses from the following:
SOCI 4320 Medical Sociology
SOCI 3341 Sociology of Sport
SOCI 3339 Race, Sport and Media
SOCI 3342 Sociology of the Human Body
Up to one of the following courses may be selected:
SOCI 3348 Sociology of Risk
ANTH 3332 Food and Culture
ANTH 3369 Medical Anthropology
Research and Evaluation
The basic objective of a concentration in research and evaluation is to develop the skills needed to provide scientific solutions to social problems. Students are trained in research design, including development of interview schedules and questionnaires, selection of appropriate samples, and use of statistics to analyze resulting data, and interpretation of findings in the context of sociological theories, previous research, and practical implications for society and social behavior. Students will learn fundamental computer skills for social research applications and may also acquire familiarity with distinctive features of qualitative research methods. The core proficiencies of the social research and evaluation concentration are attractive to prospective employers for jobs that involve, for example, needs assessment and program evaluation, forecasting social trends, or marketing and customer satisfaction. Four courses are required.
Required:
SOCI 3352Social Statistics
SOCI 3462Social Research
SOCI 4370Senior Research Seminar OR SOCI 4391 Conference Course
Select one course from the following:
SOCI 3365 Program Evaluation and Needs Assessment
SOCI 3366Population Trends and Processes
SOCI 4306 Qualitative Research Methods
ANTH 3341 Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
Social Psychology
Social psychology explores why people act the way they do in a variety of everyday social
settings. Attention is given to the social origins and consequences of individual attitudes, feelings and behaviors. In these courses, students will be introduced to theoretical perspectives for studying interpersonal relationships, group processes and social institutions. They will learn to evaluate the findings of experiments, surveys, and naturalistic observation addressing topics such as social attitudes, self-concept, roles, power, aggression, helping behavior, norms, conformity and independence, socialization, collective behavior, deviance, group dynamics and intercultural interaction. Principles of social psychology can also be applied in efforts to implement social change at the levels of the individual, the group and the larger social system.
SOCI 3317 (Individual and Society) provides a general introduction to the interdisciplinary field
of social psychology, its conceptual frameworks and methods of research. Other courses in this concentration examine selected applications of social psychology. SOCI 3317 is required for
the departmental concentration in Social Psychology but this course is NOT a prerequisite for enrolling in other courses in this area; courses may be taken in any sequence students prefer. Four courses are required.
Required:
SOCI3317Individual and Society
Select three courses from the following:
SOCI3318Self and Social Identity
SOCI3319Small Groups
SOCI3320Deviance: Social and Personal
ANTH3331Culture and Personality
Theory and Cultural Studies
Social theorists understand the social world in broad terms, akin to viewing the earth from an airplane. Their high-altitude work addresses important empirical issues such as class, race, gender, inequality, and justice. Many of these issues came into focus during the struggles and social movements of the 1960s, such as civil rights, the women’s movement, the anti-war movement, environmentalism, and the LGBT movement. Traditional social theorists such as Marx, Weber and Durkheim wrote at the dawn of the industrial age and the growth of large cities. They wrote books that were mechanically reproduced on the printing press invented by Gutenberg. Today, a great deal of social theory addresses changes in our lives since the Internet, which helps spread modernity globally. Theorists also track changes in culture, communication and entertainment, giving rise to a branch of theory termed ‘cultural studies.’ Scholars in cultural studies address the growing importance of social media as well as continue work on the impact of radio, television, and film on our lives. This sociological concentration brings together courses that focus on broad-gauged issues of social structure and everyday life, including the impact of culture.
Four courses are required with at least three coming from the following:
SOCI 3372 Sociological Theory
SOCI 3345 Sociology of the 1960s
SOCI 4309 Writing for the Social Sciences
ANTH 3300 Anthropological Theory OR ANTH 4345 Visualizing Culture
Additional electives:
ENGL 4355 Literary Criticism and Theory I OR ENGL 4356 Literary Criticism and Theory II