DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology Department Course Descriptions Spring 2010
SOCI 101S 01&02 - Introduction to Sociology
4 Credits
Pankhurst
Pre-requisites: None
This course serves as an introduction to the cultural and structural patterns of human behavior as seen through the sociological perspective. The content of this course, as presented through readings, lectures, exercises, films, and discussions, focuses upon norms, social interaction, social organization, and social change. The course addresses socio-cultural differences in life styles through an analytical approach which views social behavior as the result of a complex integration of institutional affiliations (e.g., religious, family, educational, political, and economic). The course also introduces students to the discipline of sociology and to sociology as a profession. These sections of Sociology 101 will have a lecture and discussion format. Grades are based on quizzes, three examinations and several exercises.
SOCI 110C/S 01 & 02 - Cultural Anthropology
4 Credits
Rowell, Katherine
Pre-requisites : None
This course introduces students to key concepts, methods, and approaches in cultural anthropology. Topics addressed include culture theory, fieldwork, language, ethnicity, tourism, media, popular culture, globalization, gender relations, social change, war, peace, development, and religion, among others. As this list suggests, anthropology is a discipline that draws on many other fields, and our course readings reflect that cross-disciplinarily. A special focus on indigenous peoples of the world and humans rights issues will be explored. Course will include some opportunities to participate in applied anthropology projects and research. Ethnographic setting explored in this class range from the contemporary United States to Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
SOCI 201 01 War, Identity & Justice: Lessons from Bosnia
4 Credits
Doubt, Keith
Pre-requisites: None
What is the contemporary character of war and its destructive impact on societies? How does social violence confront and ultimately transform social identities at both the individual and the collective level? What is justice and its necessity to social order? Drawing upon sociology, documentaries, and political theory, this course studies war crimes, the construction of identity in multi-ethnic societies, the political character of nationalism, the social context of terrorism, and the idea of justice in our modern era. First, from the study of Bosnia, the course develops a sociology of war, a psychology of identity, and a philosophy of justice. Then, the course applies this set of concepts to the modern wars in Algeria, Chechnya, Iraq, and the Middle East. The objective is develop a perspective on social violence at the collective level that is comparative and historical, one that is objective as well as moral, humanistic as well as empirical.
SOCI 201 2.1 - African American Social Thought 19th Century; 2.2 - African American Social Thought, 20th Century
2 Credits Each Half
Doubt, Keith
Seon, Yvonne
Pre-requisite: None
These two courses survey the tradition of African American social thought and the establishment of this tradition as a decisive and critical force in modern social thought. The first half of the course, taught by Professor Keith Doubt, is centered on the works of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. The second half of the course, taught by Professor Yvonne Seon, a retired professor in African American Social Thought, is centered on the works of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. The courses take up as well the important contributions of Anna Julia Cooper, Ralph Ellison, Cornel West, Patricia Hill Collins, Henry Louis Gates, Audre Lorde, and bell hooks to our subject. Each course requires intensive readings and clearly written and analytically astute papers. Several hours of outside preparation – involving reading, journal keeping, and library research – are required.
SOCI 210S 01 - Sociology of the Family
4 Credits
Pankhurst, Jerry
Pre-requisites: None
This course explores the ways in which social, economic, political and cultural forces shape the family. During the semester we will review sociological literature on the family, reflect on our own experiences, analyze the social problems families face, investigate social policies surrounding the family, and seek to understand the interconnection between the family and the other institutions that constitute society.
The class is designed to address the wide diversity in family forms, practices and experiences, and to acknowledge the link between societal changes and changes in family patterns. With this emphasis on diversity and change, course materials will continuously address the intersection of race and ethnicity, class, and gender on experiences in the family and family structure.
SOCI 245C 01 - Gender and Society
4 Credits
Vodopivic, Nina
Wittenberg Fulbright Scholar in Residence, Slovenia
Pre-requisites: None
The course will explore how gender structures societies and social changes, and what forms of gender relations and ideas about gender are shaped through and in these changes. The focus will be on women and men’s experiences in Central and South Eastern Europe. We will not look at present hierarchies, power relations and inequalities as “natural” and given but explore the ways in which they are constructed and reproduced. We will explore how gender ideologies and roles were (re)defined, perceived, and experienced through women and men’s experiences and perspectives and from their points of views. Attention will be paid to the gap between the proclaimed politics (“what is said”) and lived realities (“what is experienced and done”).Through case studies from across Central and East European region we will study gender and society from the perspective of the anthropology and sociology of gender and feminist studies.
After an overview of the most salient debates about gender issues in Central and South Eastern Europe, we will explore women and men's experiences focusing on State-gender relation, address women's movements and the rise of feminism in “East” and “West.” The following topics will be discussed: equality and difference, social construction of gender, gender roles and identities (Superheroes: workers, mothers and housewives), state-gender relations including state policies towards female sexuality and reproduction (“This is my body!”) including issues of abortion (legislation and practices - Slovenia, Poland), rape (as a weapon in a Yugoslav war), a private adoption market in babies (Ukraine, Romania), gender in relation to class and ethnicity, gender divisions of labor at work detecting how notions of “natural differences” are used for defining division of labor at work and at home, gender and migrations including gender and trafficking addressing also issues of human rights, slavery, labor and globalization.
Pre-requisites: None
This course will provide a broad introduction to the religion of Islam, accompanied by an examination of the connections between Islam and the varied life of Muslim societies and of Muslim minority communities in non-Muslim societies. Given the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the West’s military reprisals and subsequent reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, the ongoing struggle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the devastation of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia and elsewhere in the Indian Ocean basin, and other problem situations, knowledge of these issues has become of highest priority. We will seek to understand the complex sources of conflict in areas in which Islam is implicated in some way; we will also try to become acquainted with the rich cultural life of Muslims. We will consider Muslim societies all over the world, but, in support of the minor in Africana Studies, we will give a special emphasis to Islam in Africa and to African American Islam.
Course format: lecture/seminar, with much group discussion. Graded Requirements: A variety of writing exercises throughout the term, oral presentations, examinations and a term project. This course is Writing Intensive (W) and can be taken for either “C” or “R” credit in General Education. Prerequisite: None.
SOCI 280S 01&02 Animals and Society
4 Credits
Nibert, David
Pre-requisites: None
Increasingly, social scientists are focusing on the ethical, environmental and social consequences of human treatment of other animals. This course will examine how human societies have viewed and treated other animals and how the interactions and the structure of the relationship between humans and other animals affect both those animals and human social organization. For example, some scholars argue that cultural practices that define and use nonhuman animals as food contribute significantly to various forms of environmental devastation. Human health research indicates that high rates of heart disease and cancer in many cultures can be attributed to the consumption of animals. Others suggest that human perception and treatment of nonhuman animals are related in significant ways to such enduring problems as racism, sexism and violence against vulnerable groups of people. This course will examine the causes of human exploitation of other animals and the issues that frame the animal rights debate.
SOCI 301 01 - Anthropology in East Europe
4 Credits
Vodopivic, Nina
Wittenberg Fulbright Scholar in Residence, Slovenia
Pre-requisites: None
This course will explore societies and social changes in Central and South Eastern Europe. Guided by anthropological theory, ethnographic case studies, and interdisciplinary studies of transformations, the course will analyze socio cultural continuities and changes, similarities and differences of experiences and practices across the region. By identifying institutional and political changes, the emphasis will be on how these changes are understood, perceived, and lived by individuals in their everyday lives. We will explore parallels, interactions, and contrasts with other regions in the world. A focus on the way individuals contest, contradict, follow, oppose, and negotiate institutional changes points to people’s perspectives, understandings and points of views, questioning predominant imaginaries and singular political “truths” while also revealing the gap between the declared politics and practices of everyday life. Questions about how changes have affected social lives and shaped individual and group survival strategies will be organized around the important concept of identity. After introducing the region and contemporary trends in studying Central and South Eastern Europe topics discussed will include: memory and nostalgia, transformations of socialist factories into modern capitalist enterprises through listening to voices from production halls (From superheroes to tired bodies: voices from production halls), holidays and calendars (“Dedek Mraz or Santa Claus”) to see how political regimes mark time and space. We will explore how Eastern Europe survived without Coca Cola and MTV dealing with issues of consumption, tourism, shopping and smuggling, art and culture (movies and music), looking into issues of migrations (“Others” in Europe , What is the right color of passport?), nationalism, and applied issues of civil society, and NGOs exploring notions such as democracy, civil society and human rights.
SOCI 307 1Z - Research Methods
5 Credits
Doubt, Keith
Pre-requisites: SOCI 101S or SOCI 110C/S and minimum math placement 23 and
a stats class. Note: Stats may be taken concurrently with SOCI 307.
This course will introduce students to the design and implementation of various social science research methods. The course examines every phase of the research process including the development of testable research questions, integration of theory into the empirical process, choosing effective methods for study, and various techniques for collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and reporting data. Students will construct and implement research designs using various quantitative and qualitative methods, primarily in preparation for the completion of their independent senior thesis project. This is a required course for sociology majors.
SOCI 330 01 Wealth, Power and Poverty
4 Credits
Nibert, David
Pre-requisites: None
This course examines the causes and consequences of the unequal distribution of wealth and power in human societies. While historical and cross-cultural examples will be examined, primary attention will be given to the United States. Distribution of resources will be examined with reference to class, gender, race, sexual orientation, age, and ability. Current economic and political conditions will be examined for their bearing on contemporary unequal distributions of political, economic and social resources. Attention will be given to the institutionalized and ideological legitimation of social stratification.
SOCI 370 01 & 02 Criminology
4 Credits
Norris, Mike
Pre-requisites: None
This course will emphasize explanations of criminal behavior, consequences of crime for victims and for society, types of juvenile and adult crime, and societal responses to crime. The strengths and limitations of the criminal justice system will be examined, and various approaches to corrections and to crime prevention will be considered.
