Course Descriptions

SIL 126 - Continuing Korean

SIL 131 - Beginning Modern Greek

SIL 132 - Continuing Modern Greek

SIL 138 - Beginning Swedish

SIL 139 - Continuing Swedish

SIL 140 - Intermediate Swedish

SIL 141 - Beginning Brazilian Portuguese

SIL 142 - Continuing Brazilian Portuguese

SIL 143 - Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese

SIL 150 - Beginning Danish

SIL 151 - Continuing Danish

SIL 161 - Beginning Amharic

SIL 162 - Continuing Amharic

SIL 165 - Beginning Hungarian

SIL 171 - Beginning Hindi

SIL 172 - Continuing Hindi

SIL 181 - Beginning Swahili

SIL 185 - Beginning Japanese

SIL 186 - Continuing Japanese

SIL 187 - Intermediate Japanese

SIL 191 - Beginning Hebrew

SIL 192 - Continuing Hebrew

SIL 193 - Intermediate Hebrew

SOC 101 - Introductory Sociology

Introduction to the scientific study of human social interaction with particular focus on the mutual influences between individuals and the groups to which they belong; the basic theories, concepts and techniques used by sociologists in their research.

Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
Not open to seniors.

SOC 102 - Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality

This course addresses the multiple and intersecting ways race, class, gender, and sexuality, affect individual life chances, daily social interactions, and the larger society. We first take a detailed look at each of the core concepts: race, class, gender, and sexuality. Studying the “socially constructed” nature of these concepts, we ask what meanings and values have been attached to them, and how these social constructions help to rationalize and justify social inequality. We then analyze the significance of race, class, gender, and sexuality in a variety of institutional and interpersonal contexts, including schools, the workplace, families and relationships, and the criminal justice system.

Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
Not open to seniors.

SOC 110 - COVID-19 and Society

The COVID-19 pandemic altered the social fabric of societies worldwide and upended our lives to such an extent that it is argued to have ushered in a new era. Our goal in this course is to unpack different aspects of this new era and understand how various social forces shape individual experiences. Accordingly, we will critically examine selected social issues at the macro (e.g., disparities in health outcomes, responses to illness) and micro (e.g., doomscrolling, experiences of stigma, bereavement) levels. To that end, the course will also introduce basic social-structural, interpretive, and critical approaches, though we will emphasize the social construction of reality. 
 

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Public Health Minor requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

SOC 201 - Social Statistics

Sociologists and other social scientists must describe and interpret social facts in order to make sense of the world around them. To do this, they often rely on the analysis of quantitative data using statistical methods. This course acts as a primer to sociological statistical analysis. Students will learn to find and access social data, summarize patterns in that data, represent these patterns graphically, and explore relationships between different variables. Topics include descriptive measures, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, chi-square, correlation, and regression. This course is designed as a gateway to quantitative sociological research, and emphasis is on practice and implementation, with students also learning to use SPSS software.

Satisfies the Mathematical and Quantitative Thought requirement.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
Cannot be taken after another college-level introductory statistics course (such as ECO 105, POL 182, or MAT 341).

SOC 205 - Race and Ethnic Relations

Comparative and historical study of social processes related to racial and ethnic differences in modern complex societies. Readings in theoretical and descriptive literature, focusing on issues of unequal distribution of power and privilege, racism, and ethnic prejudice.

Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.  
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 206 - Asians in the US and Asia

This course introduces students to the sociological study of the construction of race in Asia and the making of Asian Americans in the United States. This course challenges two prevailing conventional notions: 1) history of race is irrelevant in Asia, and 2) Asian Americans are homogenous and very marginal in numbers. Though the historical study of Asia long appeared to be inhospitable and resistant to serious analysis of race, recent scholarship reveals how race in Asia has been deliberately ignored. Although explicitly excluded from American citizenship and still subject to prejudice and discrimination, Asian Americans, coming from more than twenty countries, are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States. By highlighting national, regional, and transnational construction of racial identity in Asia and the making of “Asian American” as a racial group in the United States, as well as bridging the historical and the contemporary, this course examines how those social constructions cannot be separated from power/knowledge, white supremacy, and antiblackness. 

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement. 

SOC 210 - Power and Politics

Power and Politics introduces students to political sociology, and to the study of the production, conservation and distribution of power. We are members of a democratic society: the political system is a reflection of the social system and our collective construction of both legitimate authority and the just exercise of power. For these reasons, the study of power and politics is important both as a way of gaining useful knowledge and as a vehicle for deepening one’s understanding of political sociological theory. 

Satisfies a Communication Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 211 - Demagogues and Dictators

This course introduces students to the sociological study of authoritarianism focusing on demagogues, dictators, and their political systems around the world. Observing the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, many social scientists were once convinced that liberal democracy would eventually spread to every corner of the world. However, according to the Democracy Index in 2018, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, only half of the world population lives under full or flawed democracy (though the index itself is often criticized as undemocratic). The supposed harbinger of liberal democracy, the United States, does not even make the list of top 20. Rather than treating demagogues and dictators as the remnants of “traditional” society or irrational anomalies of modernity against evident historical progress, this course explores the dynamics and characteristics of the exercise of governmental power at the macro level: how and why person-centered political regimes emerge, who and what sustains them, why many side with them, and how and why they wither away. In the process, larger questions of distributive injustice and the construction and perpetuation of structural inequalities are explored.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
 

SOC 217 - Sociology of Gender and Sexuality

This course introduces a critical approach to examining the social construction of gender and sexuality. It explores several different perspectives on gender inequality and the role of social institutions such as family, education, economy, and media in creating the experience of gender and sexuality in society.

Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Communication Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 218 - Gendered Communication in Society (= COM 218)

Examination of the social construction of gender in both personal relationships and professional contexts. Areas to be explored may include: culture, verbal and nonverbal communication, family dynamics and close relationships, education, organizational communication, and roles in media.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement
Satisifes Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement
 

SOC 221 - Schools and Society (= EDU 221)

Satisfies Communication Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Educational Studies minor requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 222 - Sociology of Culture

What is “culture” and how do we study it? The concept itself often oscillates from how we express the beliefs we hold about reality, through the norms and values that orient our moral commitments, and the symbols that “contain” our beliefs. Today, cultural approaches have been incorporated into a wide range of areas in sociology, including the law, sexuality, education, science, economic markets, formal organizations, popular culture, and race and ethnicity. 

Satisfies the Social Science Thought requirement.

SOC 225 - Religion and Non-Religion

The sociology of religion pursues an understanding of both the “social-ness” of religion itself and the mutually influencing interactions between religion and its social environment.  We will analyze religious beliefs, practices, and organizations from a sociological perspective, with a primary focus on religion in contemporary American society.

Satifies Communication studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 226 - Sociology of Sport

In this course, we will examine sport as an institution. We will view sport through a sociological lens and consider how sport is shaped by and in turn shapes social interaction. We will focus on the opportunities and obstacles sports provide for members of different racial/ethnic, gender, and class groups. After introducing basic concepts and theories, we consider youth sports and sports in educational settings, including Title IX, gender segregation, race and reputation, and pay for college athletes. We then consider professional sports, including issues centered on players, coaches, and fans. We will also examine media portrayals and sport activism.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement. 
Satisfies Communication Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justics, Equality and Community requirement.

SOC 227 - Hip Hop and Urban Sociology

Our goal in this course is to interrogate some of the most pressing social problems that face urban Americans, paying particular attention to racial minorities who live in the most impoverished sections. We do so by comparing representations of these locales in hip hop music with social scientific research. We will cover four topics: economic inequality; housing and residential segregation; violence, crime, and punishment; and intimate life.

Satisfies Africana Studies major requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 228 - Sociology of Cities and Urban Life

Today, most of the world’s people dwell in urban areas, and there is every indication that the future will be dominated by cities. Increasingly, then, the study of society is the study of urban society. Some of the principal questions of urban sociology are: (1) how and why cities come into being, (2) why they tend to become organized in particular ways, (3) how they are structured internally, (4) how people living in cities interact with one another, (5) how cities affect regions and individual nations, and (6) how urbanization and urbanism create different social problems.

Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
 

SOC 230 - Sociology of Work

Work not only occupies a central role in our lives, it is closely intertwined with other social institutions and social processes, especially social inequality. Work is perhaps the most important way in which society impacts our social experiences and life chances. Throughout the course, we will challenge the taken-for-granted notions about what constitutes work, what constitutes an occupation or profession, and the value of the economic vs. the social as a work outcome.  Topics will include: contemporary issues in 21st century work; a look at work during and after the Industrial Revolution; major theorist’s contributions to the study of work; work and self in the service industry; work and self among professionals and managers; and the modern distinction between work and family.

Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
 

SOC 231 - Leadership & Organizations

Leaders, teams, and organizations are closely intertwined in the operations of social institutions, social structures, and social processes.  The course provides an introduction to models and theories of leadership, processes inherent in the dynamics of small group interactions, and critical insights from organizational theory.

Satisfies Communication Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 232 - Sociology of Health

SOC 234 - Sociology of Mental Health

This course examines mental health using theories from the sociology of health and medicine. We will analyze mental health through various perspectives: as a societal problem, a health outcome related to social inequality, a social construction, and a site of political struggle. We will first see how the concept came to be, including the medical discourse that gave rise to increased awareness and examination. Using theories of medicalization, we will see why it only became an important concept in recent human history. We will then move towards understanding how mental health is a societal problem- both in terms of increased mental health problems across populations and how this implicates our social structure. Finally, we will examine the political dimensions of mental health: how mental health is part of a shared language in medical discourse, but also in traditions that examine human rights, well-being, and social justice.

Satiafies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfied Public Health minor requirement.

Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 237 - Boys and Men in Society

This course focuses on the diverse experiences of boys and men. We start with the social construction of masculinities across race/ethnicity, class, and sexuality. Through this, we consider the advantages as well as the costs of contemporary notions of masculinity. We examine how boys learn to be men from pre-K through college. We then turn to men’s experiences and interactions with various institutions, including work, family, and the media. We then consider the significance of violence in constructing masculinities. Finally, we focus on more inclusive conceptions of masculinity and men’s role in promoting gender equality. We view all these issues through an intersectional lens, considering gender, race, class, and sexuality. 

Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 240 - Social Movements

An introduction to social movements as distinctive social spaces in which relatively powerless groups of people make collective efforts to affect history. Explores the major sociological approaches to studying these efforts, as well as the dynamics of social movement emergence, goals and messages, tactics and strategies, organization structures, internal conflicts, and activist identity formation.

Satisfies Communication Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 242 - Globalization & Social Change

An introduction to some of the social consequences of the multi-faceted and contested process of globalization. Explores how cultural, economic, and political globalizations are all altering the social landscape, social relationships, and social institutions including patterns of work, cultural consumption, migration, and family relations. Also looks at how diverse groups of people are actively trying to shape globalization in particular ways.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Cultural Diversity requirement.
 

SOC 246 - Modern Families

Introduction to families in the USA. Dating, cohabitation, marriage, divorce, remarriage, intergenerational relationships, domestic violence, and family policy are explored. Attention is given to issues of race, and class, gender, and sexuality.

Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 247 - Global Development & Underdevelopment

This course introduces theory, research, and current debates in causes of global development and underdevelopment.  The course takes a critical and empirically grounded sociological approach.  Moreover, given the growing complexity of the international development agenda, the course material occasionally also draw from other social sciences including anthropology, economics, and political science. The course begins by tracing the historical chronology of the “development project” starting from the end of World War II to the present by focusing on changing meanings and “measures” of global development over time. The second part of the course uses case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America to introduce  correlates of global development and institutions that engender (or hinder) socioeconomic improvement.  Substantive topics include: international trade, globalization and global governance, state formation and democratization, the failures of foreign aid, development from below and NGOs, microfinance, gender and development, and sustainable development.

Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 250 - Housing

Over the last three decades, sociologists have convincingly identified housing as the “structural linchpin” of social inequalities.  By that they mean that inequalities in housing is the center of all other forms of inequalities.  In this course, we aim to investigate how housing became so central to social inequalities.  We do so by, first, defining housing as both a social good and a commodity.  Second, we review five or so decades of housing policy before turning our attention to contemporary debates in housing policy.  Third, we look into what social scientists refer to as neighborhood effects, the varied ways growing up in particular neighborhoods impact one’s social behavior and life outcomes.  In this unit, we will work in groups to investigate the impact of neighborhoods of education, economics, health, crime and punishment, and political behavior.  Finally, we marshal all we have learned to think about housing in Charlotte.  Schedules permitting, we will invite to class speakers from various Charlotte institutions who are engaged in housing policy.  We will also attend events in the city that deal with housing.  Finally, students will be assigned to investigate the housing in various Charlotte neighborhoods.

Satisfies Africana Studies major requirement (Social Thought and Institution catagory).
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

SOC 251 - Health Disparities in the U.S. and Beyond (=PBH 251)

This course will explore connections between race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and U.S.  social policy with the historical and current trends in health disparities in the USA. This course will offer a foundation in both core concepts and theoretical frameworks for understanding health disparities in the US. Additionally, this course will introduce theory and strategies for developing health interventions and policies to address the crisis of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities in the USA.

Satisfies Communication Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
PBH 110 “Introduction to Public Health” or PBH 392 “Introduction to Epidemiology”

SOC 255 - Global Perspectives of LGBTQ Human Rights

This course examines the human rights struggles of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community using a global perspective. Using theories of social movements, human rights, world polity and insights from work on international political economy we will trace the rapid development of social movements and international policymaking impacting the LGBTQ+ community during the late 20th century to today. In addition to learning how this movement has developed and been incorporated in global policymaking, we will examine how human rights discourse is conducted and both diffused and resisted globally. We will trace the origins of activism using social movement framework, see what problems impact the community in nation around the world, and discern how international actors have responded to increased organizational demands for change.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 260 - Oppression and Education (=EDU 260)

This course examines various manifestations of oppression in the United States and the questions they raise about inequality and social justice within educational institutions.  We will apply methods of critical analysis drawn from anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, and psychology to an examination of social issues in the United States educational system.  We will examine education as a central site of conflict over the gap between the United States’ egalitarian mission and its unequal structure, processes, and outcomes.  Students will rethink contemporary solutions to social diversity in education, develop a social justice framework which emphasizes inequality, and design an institutional ethnographic project as a critical intervention in schools and society.

Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Not open to students with credit for EDU 210 or EDU 250.

SOC 265 - Population & Society

This course provides an introduction to social demography: the sociological study of human population processes and their relationship with social, economic, and political changes. The course will begin with an introduction of population characteristics, including its size, growth, and age distribution, followed by a discussion of population dynamics, which are fertility, mortality, and migration. The second part of the course will cover population topics that are relevant in planning and policy debates such as: marriage and family, population health, urbanization, population aging, population and environment, and population changes and economic development in the Global South.

Satisfies the Social and Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 270 - Immigration and Deportation

This course examines immigration to the United States through a sociological lens, with attention to the social, political, and historical contexts of immigration and the relationships between migrants and existing institutions and identities. migration is a rich topic for raising and answering the most fundamental, perennial questions of sociology. What is a social system and how does it change as a result of migration? How does migration affect the relationship between people and the state? Between various states in the global system? To what extent can our current forms of domestic and international organization be understood as systems of stratification and social domination in terms of how migrants move, are considered, and handled? 

The course will first outline the factors shaping migration patterns-why people move-and compare immigration policies across time and space. We include a look at policies and frameworks underpinning immigration to the US, particularly the role of the government in attempting to control immigration through border controls and immigration policies. Next, we examine how ethnic and national minorities are incorporated (or resisted) into American society, exploring debates around assimilation and other models of immigrant incorporation. We consider how gender, race, class, and religion affect the reception and integration of migrants. We also focus on the criminalization of migrants in contemporary U.S. With consideration to involuntary migration, we examine human smuggling and trafficking, the legal protection of and humanitarian assistance by international organizations, nation-states, local governments, and NGOs to refugees, and displacement due primarily to violent conflict, persecution, and natural disasters. Finally, we will examine the consequences of immigration and transnationalism on nation-states and diasporic communities. 

Students should note that this class is reading, writing, and discussion intensive. Assigned readings provide background, concepts, and history required to master this broad arena of social life. Analytical writings provide practice in articulating important social dynamics and institutional processes. Recognizing the sensitivity about migration at this time, we give special attention to the diversity of perspectives contributing to the polemical discourse in the United States and elsewhere on the topic. And because “real life” involves working with other people, this class is designed to encourage a high level of interpersonal interaction through group discussions as we process course material together. You must come prepared and to talk together. Careful reading, then listening, considering, and constructively giving group feedback are core to the pedagogy of this course.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

SOC 272 - Human Geography (= ENV 272)

Human geography is the study of multifaceted and dynamic relationships between people and places. Complex interactions and interdependencies of societies provide a basis for the study of humans in various landscapes. This course offers understandings of how people’s lives are influenced by the places that surround them and how they, in turn, create and change those places. Fundamental geographic concepts will help make sense of our globalizing world and its implications for our everyday lives. We will explore a range of geographic topics, as well as some concepts and methods used in geographic study. This course is a lecture and discussion course designed to provide students with concepts and ideas that are foundational to the study of the geography of human systems. The course features cartographic and social science concepts to support students in their geographic knowledge and analysis of seven broad themes: spatial perspectives; population and migration; cultural patterns and processes; political organization of space; agriculture, food production, and rural land use; cities and urban land use; industrialization and economic development.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Environmental Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
 

SOC 275 - Charlotte: Problems and Promises

This course uses Charlotte and its surrounding areas as a case study for studying social problems. Each iteration of the course will focus on the most pressing social issues that face the City of Charlotte. The course instructor will identify two problems. By consulting with local experts and reading (listening and watching) the local news, students will identify and recommend two more areas of focus. These can include (but are not limited to): migration, climate change, transportation, public health, education inequalities, and criminal justice. A second unit will investigate the sociological roots of the problem, including the historical foundations of each of the identified problems. We will also read the most recent social scientific research to determine the mechanisms that ensure the reproduction of the identified social issues. Through this, students will encounter the various sociological theories (macro, mid-range, and micro) that scholars use to understand social problems. The third unit focus on theories of social change. It examines the solutions that researchers, activities, and policy experts propose for the problems that we identify. Students will explore how some of these ideas are being used in the City of Charlotte; they will also engage with some of the change-agents.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
 

SOC 280 - Introduction to Global Health (=HHV 280)

Global health is an emerging interdisciplinary field that approaches health issues as transnational challenges requiring multi-level, community-based solutions. This course introduces its major concepts, tools, and debates. Topics include global health inequities, historical and ongoing strategies for control of communicable diseases from smallpox to HIV/AIDS, the global rise in prominence of non-communicable disease, connections between social structures and the global distribution of disease, and debates over health as a human right. Students will learn to interpret and evaluate population health indicators, interact with WHO datasets, and analyze health interventions and policies from both solutions-oriented and critical perspectives.

Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement

SOC 290 - Oral History: Problems, Perspectives, & Possibilities (=EDU 290/AFR 290)

In this hands-on methods course, students will build interdisciplinary research skills focused on the theory and practice of oral history.  We will explore the theories, methods, and debates surrounding one of the oldest research tools: oral testimony.  Students will learn to critically evaluate oral sources and use oral histories in conjunction with other forms of research.  Students will engage with the practical aspects of oral history by completing and transcribing two oral history interviews.  In addition, students will gain a sophisticated understanding of individual and collective memory and the questions that both raise for writing oral history.  Each student will participate in a class oral history project.

Satisfies Africana Studies major requirement
Satisfies Sociology major requirement
Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major requirement
Satisfies the Historical Thought requirement

SOC 299 - TBD

SOC 300 - Education in African American Society

This seminar explores the social and historical forces shaping the education of people of African descent in the United States from slavery to the 21st century. We will examine values, beliefs, and perspectives on education across gender and class lines, individual and group efforts toward building educational institutions and organizations, hidden or forgotten educational initiatives and programming, and cross-cultural projects to promote literacy and achievement in African American society.

Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.
Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.

SOC 307 - Sociology of Empire

Students may think empire is an unfamiliar topic to sociology. When we say “society” in many sociology classes, we mostly assume the society is a nation-state. As sociology is interested in something “modern” and notion-states are considered to be products of “modernity,” one often defers studying empire ot colonialism to historians and scholars in other related fields. In contrast, this course reveals empires and colonies have inseparable relations to the making of modern societies, as well as sociology.

SOC 310 - Gender, Race, and Sports

Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies Major and Minor requirement.
Satisfies Africana Studies Major and Minor requirement.
Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.
Satisfies Social Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 315 - Media Effects (= COM 315)

An exploration of relevant theories and practices of conducting media effects research in the mass mediated/disseminated communication contexts including television, radio, print, popular culture, internet, and other forms of new media. Topics include health, advertising, edutainment, stereotypes, violence, pornography, music videos, video games, news, and politics.

Satisfies a major requirement in Sociology.
Satisfies Communication Studies and Film and Media Studies interdisciplinary minor requirements.

 

SOC 316 - Digital Media and Social Change

This course walks students through the various ways digital media (computers, internet, cellphones) has impacted social change at the global level. From the Arab Spring movements in the early 2010s to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in late 2010s on the one hand, and global turn towards right wing fascism on the other hand (e.g. the extremely online formulation of the Trumpian alt-right; “The Great Firewall” in China), digital and social media have played key roles in facilitating social and political conflicts as well as change. After the 2020 global pandemic, digital social spaces replaced traditional society in most domains and institutions, but digital media has been gearing up to transform society for far longer than this critical period in contemporary society. In this seminar, we will take a close look at the various sociological theories that might explain digital media and global social change, and apply them to case studies of contemporary social movements and counter movements across the political spectrum. 

Satisfies Sociology major requirement
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement

Prerequisites & Notes
Pre-reqs: any 100 or 200 level sociology course; SOC 275 Mass Media or SOC 242 Globalization especially encouraged

SOC 320 - Growing Up Jim Crow (= AFR 320, EDU 320)

Examines how a generation learned race and racism in the Age of Jim Crow. Through multiple and intersecting lenses, students will examine texts, such as oral histories, literary narratives, and visual representations of various topics.  Topics will include Jim Crow schooling, white supremacy, disenfranchisement, lynching, rape, resistance, interracial harmony, and desegregation.

Satisfies a requirement in the Sociology major.
Satisfies a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: North America).
Satisfies a requirement in the Educational Studies minor.
Satisfies the Historical Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 325 - Global Antiblackness & Modernity

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 330 - Sociology of Education (=EDU 330)

An introduction to the sociological study of education in the United States, including an examination of the school as an organization within a larger environment. Explores the link between schools and social stratification by analyzing the mutually generative functions of schools and considers how processes within schools can lead to different outcomes for stakeholders.

Satisfies the Education Interdisciplinary Minor.
Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 331 - Theoretical Explorations of Community Engagement

An examination of community engagement through a range of theoretical lenses. After interrogating constructions of “community,” “service,” and “civic engagement,” we will explore the ways in which topics such as social justice, civic engagement, empowerment, diversity, and the ethics of service frame community work. Specific enactments of community involvement are explored including philanthropy, volunteerism, social entrepreneurship, and activism with a focus on leadership and change.

Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 333 - Organizing Innovation and Creativity in Organizations

This course examines major innovations in organizations and asks whether innovation itself can be organized. We will study a range of forms of organizing (e.g., bureaucratic, post-bureaucratic, and open architecture network forms) in a broad variety of settings: from food systems to the military-entertainment complex, from airline cockpits to Wall Street trading rooms, from engineering firms to mega-churches, from improv-comedy to PowerPoint demonstrations, from scientific management at the turn of the twentieth century to collaborative filtering and open source programming at the beginning of the twenty-first.  Special attention will be paid to relationship between organizational forms and new digital technologies. Basic concepts in organizational analysis - groups, projects, communities, knowledge, networks, search, collaboration, space, location, users, producers - are revisited when organizational design cannot be separated from design of the digital interface.

Satisfies a major requirement in Sociology

Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement

SOC 340 - Education in African American Society (=EDU 340)

SOC 344 - Stereotypes and Humor (=COM 344)

This course centers humor communication and comedy studies with a focus on stereotypes in various public and mass communication realms, including entertainment media, stand-up comedy, interpersonal and small group settings. Theoretical frameworks on prejudice, discrimination, intersectionality, social and personal identities, and backstage/frontstage racism will anchor the course towards a critical understanding of how stereotypes, as mental shortcuts and oversimplified kernels of truth, function in their many communicative manifestations. The particular focus on the intersection of stereotypes and humor interrogates a context in which anything goes and even the most otherwise controversial, sensitive hot button topics are given a pass under the guise of humor. Many types of stereotypes take center stage in this course with special attention to those that undermine and marginalize underrepresented populations. We will consider the great potential stereotype humor holds to impact intergroup interaction dynamics in the real world.

Satisfies Communication Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 347 - Topics on Transnationalism

Transnationalism has been defined as a “social process in which migrants establish social fields that cross geographic, cultural, and political borders.”  In this definition, migration is not simply the movement of people from one nation state to the other but a constant ongoing exchange between and across borders.  Immigrants are thus understood to be transmigrants when they “develop and maintain multiple relations-familial, economic, social, organizational, religious, and political-that span  borders” (Schiller, Basch, and Blanc-Szanton 1992:ix). To build on and confront some of the limitations of the transnationalism literature on migration, this course focuses on the motivations, processes, and consequences of migration. Through readings and other mediums, i.e. film, we confront the following questions. First, the focus on motivations reorients the transnationalism literature, and most of U.S. migration studies, to pay as much attention to emigration as it does immigration.  How does the political and socio-economic context of the home country impact motivations for leaving one’s home country? Second, a focus on the process of migration, especially on immigration policy, re-thinks the role of the nation-state in contemporary migration.  Is it as minimal as some transnational scholars argue? And, more broadly, as compared to several decades back, are nation-states less consequential in the lives of migrants in today’s globalized world?  Third, by investigating the consequences of migration, which includes both the consequences for migrants and for those they leave behind at home, this class examines the benefits of transnational lives as well as the difficulties of leading lives constrained by two nations.

Satisfies Africana Studies major and minor requirement
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement

SOC 350 - Political Economy and the World (=COM 350)

The U.S. population continues to become increasingly more diverse, and this increased diversity creates newer, greater challenges for organizations (including government, nonprofit, and corporate entities) as well as for individual communicators. How do our upbringing and biases shape the way we characterize, interact with, and talk about others? The focus of this course is to introduce students to issues of power, race, class, and gender, as related to communication theory and practice.

Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.
Satsifes a requirement in the Sociology major.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 355 - Queer Families

This course disrupts traditional notions of “the family.” More specifically, we will challenge binaries: gender, sexuality, family. We start with the general assumption that there is not one acceptable or even dominant family form. This includes decentering heteronormativity and drawing on queer family theory. We draw on case studies to deconstruct family in the US, South Africa, and China. We consider shifts in opinions surrounding marriage and marriage equality and how the movement for same-sex marriage has changed these attitudes. We focus on trans families and (re)producing trans families through the case of cisgender women and transgender men. We focus on the potential of polyamory and polyqueer sexualities in breaking down sexist and racist assumptions about relationships. We examine intersectionality across different cases, with a particular focus on Black lesbian mothers, queer Latinas, and queer families in Taiwan. We also consider challenging gender through raising trans kids. The class itself will be discussion-based with occasional workshops focused on research projects.
 

Satisifes Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major requirement.
Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies minor requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Restricted to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

SOC 356 - The Feminization of Poverty

The impoverishment of women is a relatively new global phenomenon. This class engages with the different ways in which women are structurally made poorer, more economically vulnerable, and more physically precarious in the 21st century. What changes in our social and political spheres have rendered this violence? We explore the gendered welfare state, globalized markets for both legal goods and illicit services, migrant labor streams, rampant sexual assault in educational and vocational settings, and the disparity between womens’ work and women’s wage labor to better understand the marginalization of women as agents in the anarchic penal state of late capitalism.

Satisfies a major requirement in Sociology.
Satisfies a requirement in the Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 358 - The Sociology of Beatties Ford Road

There is an old tradition in sociology where scholars focus their energies on understanding the life and inner-workings of a section of one city.  The first of these kinds of works was W. E. B DuBois’ investigation of Philadelphia’s 7th Ward, which culminated in the publication of the seminal text The Philadelphia Negro.  Several decades later, Robert Park directed several studies of south-side Chicago neighborhoods that surround the University of Chicago.  The Sociology of Beatties Ford Road, which will be a collaborative effort with Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU), will follow in this tradition.  The class will be held on JCSU’s campus, with JCSU students, and a JCSU faculty.  Our objectives will be to study various aspects of social life of that neighborhood, including, but not limited to, gentrification, public health, education, criminal justice, and slavery on Latta Plantation.  We will read various examples of community studies and study their methods, but, for the bulk of the class, we will work in groups to develop our own research projects.  At the end of the semester, there is an opportunity for a few students to participate in a DRI-like summer research program to continue their research.  

Students interested in taking this course must complete the following form:  https://goo.gl/forms/c8Ohe2DwxYRI3pXZ2

SOC 360 - Medical Sociology

Sociological factors of health and illness, social organization of modern medicine, sociological analysis of the role and status of medical and paramedical personnel in this country, and the social differences in the acquisition of medical aid and in the reaction to medical treatment.

Satisfies the Public Health Interdisciplinary Minor.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 361 - Sociology of Addiction

This course examines addiction using theories from the sociology of health and medicine. We examine the use, abuse, and societal context of alcohol and drugs through a sociological perspective. The goal of this course is to learn how society and political structures are related to individual or group alcohol and drug use. We begin with a social construction perspective on psychoactive chemicals. We then move into discussing the psychological and psychology components of addiction. Finally, we examine how social context can relate to how drugs are viewed, used, abused, and criminalized within particular societies.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

SOC 363 - Urban Geography (= ENV 373)

Urban landscapes differ dramatically from other spaces on the planet in their physical structure, economic base, governance patterns, and intensity of social interactions. Cities are often characterized by striking inequalities in income distribution, social and spatial mobility, access to resources, and forms of cultural expression. Conflicting social forces and economic processes make urban areas vibrant and complex phenomena, and cities are often presented as both the problem and the solution for a sustainable future. This course introduces analysis of contemporary urban systems, with an emphasis on spatial and geographic patterns and processes. We will examine the contradictions and conflicts inherent in the development of U.S. and international cities, as well as the centrality of urban system development in the evolution of local and global political economies. Lectures, discussions, and field trips will provide both theoretical frameworks and contextualized experiences of urban social life. Our examinations of the changing economic, social, political, and environmental dynamics of cities will focus on a wide range of topics, including economic processes, governmental management, urban form, land use, housing, migration, transportation, socioenvironmental justice, and political ecology, among others.

Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies a major requirement in Environmental Studies.
Satisfies a major requirement in Sociology.
Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Environmental Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
No prerequisites are required.

SOC 370 - Major Sociological Theorists

Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 371 - Critical Race Theory (=AFR 371, =EDU 371)

This course introduces students to the development of critical race theory as a specific theoretical framework to explain or to investigate how race and racism are organized and operate within the United States.  The course will have a sociological focus with emphasis on critical race scholarship that includes, but is not limited to, an analysis of double consciousness, colorblindness, intersectionality, whiteness as property, racial microaggressions, and structures of power.  Students will also explore central tenets and key writings advanced in the 1990s primarily by African American, Latino/a, and Asian American scholars in law, education, and public policy.  The course is both reading intensive and extensive with a major writing assignment that addresses a theoretical problem that grows out of the course topics and discussions. 

Satisfies a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: North America).
Satisfies a requirement in the Sociology major.
Satisfies a minor requirement in Educational Studies.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 372 - Feminist Theories

Introduces students to key concepts and debates within feminist social theory.  Explores the significance of gender within social life, how gender is produced at the individual and institutional levels , as well as feminist conceptualizations of ‘the good society.’ Addresses key questions of social theory including the relationship between individuals and social structures, the construction of identities, and the meaning of power.

Satisfies the Gender and Sexuality Studies Interdisciplinary Major and Minor.

SOC 373 - Contemporary Social Theory

This course is designed to provide broad overview of contemporary social theory and introduces you to the concepts, writings, and arguments of some of the most important social theorists of the 20th century. We will discuss complex interrelated cultural, social, political and economic issues and discover how social theorists have dealt with them during the decades in the 20th century when their theories were advanced. Most important, we will endeavor to understand how these issues affect our understanding of the world and the everyday lived experience. The terms and concepts we will get familiarized with are concepts such as social mechanisms, social action, social structure, as well as modernity, post-structuralism, critical theory, rational choice theory, postmodernism, and cultural studies.  

Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement

 

Prerequisites & Notes
Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors only.

SOC 374 - Contemporary Race Theory (=AFR 374)

(Cross-listed with AFR 374.) Race, along with class and gender (and sexuality), continues to be one of the central themes in sociological research.  In most of the subfields of the discipline, researchers of all stripes believe race to be an explanatory variable.  This, however, does not mean that sociologists have one theory of race.  In fact, there are raging debates about exactly what they mean when they evoke the term.  In this class, we will engage with some of the most recent theories about race.  Because some of the debates are built on those of decades past, we will spend the first third of the course establishing the foundational terms of the conversations.  The second third will be organized around a handful of provocateurs.  We will read portions of their original offerings and then read responses from their critics.  The final third will focus on two topics that are proving to have significant impact on theorizing race: immigration and genomics.

Satisfies a requirement in the Sociology major.
Satisfies a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographical region: North America).

SOC 380 - Sociology of Hollywood

Hollywood is more than geography; it is a vibrant, international network of people producing entertainment for fame and profit.  This seminar pursues a sociological analysis of the social space called “Hollywood”: its genesis, operation, and influence.  The class begins with an exploration of the construction of Hollywood itself (e.g., geographic beginnings, the studio system, industry occupations, and financial realities) and then considers the broader effects of the entertainment industry on contemporary American society (e.g., relations with governmental and religious institutions, structures in film production and distribution, and the interrelationship of the entertainment industry and popular culture).

Prerequisites & Notes
Not open to first year students.

SOC 382 - Men and Masculinities

In this course we will pay close attention to the construction of masculinities and how men both affect and are affected by the current gendered social order. Throughout the course, we will consider how men are enabled or constrained by key social characteristics such as age, race/ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation. In particular, we will address the following issues: the concept of hegemonic masculinity; the gender gap in education; the challenges men face as they move from adolescence to adulthood; masculinities in the workplace; body image among men; male infertility; Black masculinity in popular culture; the criminalization of minority males; and the deterioration of white men’s sense of entitlement.

Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Not open to first-year students.

SOC 386 - Religion and Young Adults

What does religious commitment look like among young adults? Our focus in this class will center on young adults in America–those often labeled “emerging adults”–and the nature of their religious involvement (or lack thereof) from adolescence through their later 20s. The continuation of any religious tradition is dependent on the ability to pass along beliefs and practices across generations. Yet, the challenges of sustaining religion appears to be increasing, although unevenly and in not-so-obvious ways. De-conversion, disaffiliation, and disbelief are growing options, and religious diversity and tolerance are more important than ever. Overall, this seminar pursues the most current sociological analysis available at the intersection of age and religion. Our class begins with a broad discussion of Karl Mannheim’s classic discussion on “the problem of generations” and a conceptual discussion of age, generation , and historical effects. The class continues with an analysis of religion in adolescence. Several research sources on the complexities of young adult religion will quickly culminate into an examination of topics including family relationships, peer influences, sexuality, parachurch organizations, college students, and dating/courtship dynamics.

Satisfies a distribution credit in Social Scientific Thought.

SOC 388 - Marriage in the Age of Trump

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump became the 45^th President of the United States. After much momentum that culminated in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country, many feared that marriage equality would not last under a Trump presidency. In this course, we will focus on the impact of Trump’s election on marriage and family, particularly for LGBTQ families. We start by considering the historical battles and shifts that led to marriage equality, including disagreement on the importance of marriage within the LGBTQ community; efforts for domestic partnerships; the defense of marriage at the federal and state levels; court cases, legislation, and ballot initiatives at the state level; and the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. We then examine meanings of marriage for same-sex couples, including marriage as material right, marriage as protest, and marriage as validation. Next we consider the impact of same-sex marriage on the institution of marriage and LGBTQ people by focusing on societies where same-sex marriage has been legal for years. This course is organized as a research seminar so students will engage in their own research projects over the course of the semester.

Satisfies a requirement in the Sociology major.
Satisfies a requirement in the Gender & Sexuality Studies major and minor.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.

SOC 390 - Qualitative Research Methods

This class provides students with training in qualitative field research methods, with an emphasis on participant observation and in-depth interviewing. Students will conduct their own semester-long empirical research projects, going through the entire process of research design, data collection, coding, analysis, and writing. Readings and class sessions will focus on both theoretical foundations and techniques of interpretive, qualitative research. One of the best ways to develop research skills is to get out there and try it, to reflect on the process as you go, and to talk about what is working and not working for you with a group of colleagues and peers. Therefore, students will have extensive opportunities to reflect on their own research practices, learning by doing.

Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.

SOC 391 - Survey Methodology

This course introduces students to survey research methods. Sociology is based on empirical data. Sociologists are trained to collect data in order to answer questions. One of the most commonly used forms of data collection within sociology is the survey. In this course, students will gain experience in designing a survey, sampling, administering a survey, and analyzing survey data. 

Counts as an elective in the Data Science interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.

SOC 392 - Quantitative Data Analysis

The purpose of this class is to prepare you as a future producer and evaluator of high-quality quantitative research - whether as a social scientist, as a decision-maker in a corporate setting, or as a designer and evaluator of social policy. Extending theoretical concepts from introductory Social Statistics coursework, this class provides students with hands-on quantitative analysis experience using existing quantitative research. We survey, and learn to replicate and evaluate, various types of regressions, structural equation models, and longitudinal analyses. Additionally, students learn to critically engage with and evaluate social network analyses, geo-spatial analyses and mixed method research methodologies. Students will complete a capstone project that builds on their existing research, ending the semester with a manuscript able to be presented at a formal conference.

Counts as an elective in the Data Science interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.
Satisfies Mathematical and Quantitative Thought requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
A semester of college-level introductory statistics course in Sociology, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, or Mathematics, such as SOC 260, ECO 105, POL 221, or MAT 341.

SOC 393 - Comparative-Historical Methods

This course examines the core theories, issues, methods, and reasoning that are commonly employed in the field of coparative-historical sociology. Students will learn how history is crucial to sociology as well as practical concerns in conducting comparative-historical research.

SOC 394 - Advanced Seminar in Global Health Methods

This course surveys research methods in interdisciplinary global health with an emphasis on field methods. We’ll focus on strategies and techniques for collecting qualitative and quantitative data in the field, then processing and analyzing it in ways that are useful for generating theory and testing hypotheses. You will field test a variety of methods, including survey research, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and grounded-theory coding techniques for natural social discourse. For your final project, you will propose, design, and pilot your own research protocol for IRB approval. The research methods we will study have their origins in sociology, public health, and anthropology and can be applied to many sociological questions outside health and medicine. What makes this course different from a less specific research methods course is that we will also take time to consider the ethical, legal, logistical, and methodological challenges inherent in doing research on health.

Satisfies a major requirement in Sociology

Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Public Health.

Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement

SOC 395 - Independent Research in Sociology

SOC 410 - Advanced Seminars in Sociology, SOC 410-419

Topics announced in advance.

Prerequisites & Notes
Third or fourth year standing and permission of the instructor.

SOC 430 - Race and Religious Faith

The seminar focuses on the historic Black Church in America as well as religion and migration among non-native, ethnic congregations (whether church, temple, or mosque) in order to examine the relations between race-ethnicity, religion, and broader civic society today. The course also examines the rare achievement of multi-ethnic/multi-racial religious communities. The broader and complex effects of politics and globalization, economics and financial pressures, citizenship and public life, prejudice and discrimination, media and technology, innovations and social change will be discussed throughout the course.

Satisfies a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: North America).
Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Third or fourth year standing and permission of the instructor.

SOC 440 - Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage

Americans love marriage. Most people will marry at some point in their lives and many will marry more than once. In fact, 40% of marriages involve a second or higher marriage for one or both spouses. At the same time, marriage rates have gone down, particularly for those with less education, and people are marrying later. In its place, more and more young adults are cohabiting, one-quarter by age 20 and three-quarters by age 30. Divorce rates remain relatively high, but there have been declines in the overall rate since the 1980s. Amidst these trends, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country, and the proportion of same-sex cohabiting couples who were married jumped from 38% to 61%. This course will examine these trends as well as the decisions, relationships, and conflicts behind them. Much of the course will also be spent investigating topics of interest to class members. All students will conduct research on a topic of their choice and discussions will center on readings related to students’ research topics as well as the research process itself.

Prerequisites & Notes
  

SOC 450 - Identity & Community

This course resources students to conduct individual research using a selected set of analytical perspectives on how to think about the identity (the social processes of the self) and community (the social processes of group belonging). Going beyond the most basic sociological categories used to categorize persons in social life (i.e. sex/gender, sexual orientation, class, nation, race/ethnicity), this course focuses on the processual character of identity formation and group dynamics, especially for considering how identities take shape in social interaction and how groups create, sustain, and/or fade away as sources for individual identity. Not only will we examine how the self is produced by group processes but also how structures shape and mediate between the self and others as well as how the social production of identities is bound up with power, privilege, and oppression. Beginning with classic theoretical frameworks from Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, WEB Du Bois, Erving Goffman, Pierre Bourdieu, and Ulrich Beck, this course will discuss concepts which have shown promise to be particularly helpful in understanding identity and group formation processes in order to position students to discover more particularistic sociological literature used to pursue their own individualized research project-forming a research question and analyzing concrete empirical data-centered on a particular, contemporary identity/community.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
 

SOC 488 - Fatherhood

This seminar focuses on the social, cultural, and historical study of fatherhood.  We start by breaking down stereotypes of fathers from the past and using this to reconsider modern fathers. As we consider current American society (mainly), we start with young men’s procreative consciousness (ideas and awareness about conception, pregnancy, abortion, and potential fatherhood). We consider fathers as gendered beings asking questions such as, can men mother? We discuss the experiences of stay-at-home fathers, gay fathers, stepfathers, and single fathers. Finally, we consider fathers’ rights movements.

SOC 495 - Independent Research in Sociology