Course will focus on established traditions in the United States including evangelical and mainline Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, black Protestantism, and Orthodox Judaism. Prerequisite: Six credits of sociology or instructor permission.

Studies the relationship between family and society as expressed in policy and law. Emphasizes the effects of formal policy on the structure of families and the interactions within families. The American family system is examined as it has responded to laws and policies of government and private industry and to changes in society. Prerequisite: Six credits of sociology or instructor permission.

Topics vary from semester to semester and will be announced.

Introduces the study of race and ethnic relations, including the social and economic conditions promoting prejudice, racism, discrimination, and segregation.  Examines contemporary American conditions, and historical and international materials.

Demography is the scientific study of human populations. We will emphasize fertility, mortality, and migration, and the social and economic factors that affect them.

Ideas refer to anything which is said to exist, from people to planets to God. Sociology of knowledge describes and explains variation in ideas across different social settings. This course will familiarize students with theoretical and empirical work on the behavior of ideas, and convey the major accomplishments, shortcomings, and prospects of the subfield using the history & philosophy of science, and the workings of science as an institution.

Study of a comprehensive contemporary understanding of the history, struggle and diversity of the African-American community.

Studies the linkage between mass communications and social life. Particular emphasis will be placed upon how electronic media affect public discourse and how electronic media affect behavior by rearranging social situations. Prerequisite: Six credits of sociology courses or instructor permission.

Examines the role of meaning in social life, with a focus on how different theories of culture allow analysis of the relationship of culture to exchange, authority, solidarity, and domination. Analysis of key cultural artefacts (movies, texts, monuments, etc.) is combined with the study of theories of social performance, fields of cultural production, and semiosis. The role of culture in social transformation is also considered.

The pharmacological revolution, symbolized by drugs such as Prozac and Ritalin, is a cultural as well as a medical phenomenon. The course explores the history of the revolution and the confluence of social changes driving it forward. Also considered are its implications for self, the definition of psychic distress, and the norms and values that structure how we live. J-term courses require approval for SOC major/minor credit.