This course explores the relationship between politics and society via a focus on historical and/or contemporary issues. Themes may include political power, the role of the state, collective behavior and social change, and civic culture and citizenship.

Racism, the disparagement and victimization of individuals and groups because of a belief that their ancestry renders them intrinsically different and inferior, is a problem in many societies. In this course we will examine the problem of racism by investigating the workings of these sociological processes theoretically, historically, and contemporaneously.

This course focuses on various aspects of religion and society such as American culture, gender and the family, politics, science, religious diversity and pluralism, violence, and other emerging issues.

Focusing on the fundamental concepts of sociology with special attention to sociological theory and research methods, this course is a more advanced version of introductory sociology. The course is designed to enable students to learn more deeply about the various ideas and concepts of the sociological tradition and to develop their capacity to use them. This course counts in place of SOC 1010 for sociology major and minor requirements.

Introduces the sociology of law and covers major topic areas within it. Examines what we mean by "law," how aspects of society influence law, and how aspects of law in turn influence society. Emphasis is placed on law in the United States, but some comparisons will be made to other societies.

Topics vary each J-Term session and will be announced.

Migration results from inequality, whether internal to societies or between countries. People migrate to better their lives, moving from poorer countries to wealthier ones in search of upward mobility. This makes migration a virtually unstoppable force, but it crashes into the immovable object known as the state. The resulting border conflicts and immigrant struggles to assimilate define the problem of immigration in the US.

This course examines sociological theories of power and their intersections with culture. It focuses on oppression and social change in the 20th and 21st century U.S. through the lens of cultural expression, beliefs and meaning. It includes close reading of social theories of power and empirical studies of social institutions and social identities. Prerequisite: Six credits in Sociology or permission of instructor

This course pursues the question of the ways in which classical social theory is rooted in, and indebted to, philosophy and metaphysics. This will be shown through four cases: Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason', Hegel's 'Phenomenology of Spirit', Nietzsche's 'Will to Power', Heidegger's 'Being and Time'. Problems central to all sciences and modes of cognition, such as knowledge & truth, theory & ideology, and agency vs. causality will be covered.

Feminist Theory offers a focused exploration of ways that late 20th Century and early 21st Century feminist theorists challenge, alter and deploy central concerns and paradigms of Western cultural assumption. Although Feminist Theory as a category incorporates interdisciplinary and global perspectives, the slant of this course is a focus on Western culture and Feminist Social Theory.