• SOC 4510

    Topics in Sociology of Work
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.11

    Last Taught

    Fall 2025

    Studies the division of labor, occupational classification, labor force trends, career patterns and mobility, occupational cultures and life-styles, and the sociology of the labor market. Prerequisite: Six credits of sociology or instructor permission.

  • SOC 3120

    Sociology Research Methods
     Rating

    3.50

     Difficulty

    2.67

     GPA

    3.23

    Last Taught

    Fall 2025

    Introduces data analysis and data processing, as well as the conceptualization of sociological problems. Emphasizes individual student projects.

  • SOC 3130

    Introduction to Social Statistics
     Rating

    3.23

     Difficulty

    2.80

     GPA

    3.23

    Last Taught

    Summer 2025

    Studies elementary statistical methods for social science applications. Topics include summarizing data with graphs and descriptive measures, generalizing from a sample to a population as in opinion polls, and determining the relationship between two variables. No special mathematical background is required, and students will be taught basic computer techniques. Three hours of lecture, two hours of laboratory work. Majors are expected to take this course in their third year. Prerequisites: SOC 3120

  • SOC 3710

    Organizations
     Rating

    2.78

     Difficulty

    3.00

     GPA

    3.26

    Last Taught

    Fall 2025

    Many goals require the combined efforts of multiple individuals, from developing a new product to providing health care to the poor. Yet individuals have their own interests, so how do organizations keep them coordinated? And what are the impacts of organizations on social inequality and social institutions such as democracy? This course introduces the study of organizations in their cultural, economic and political environments.

  • SOC 3310

    Sociology of Self
     Rating

    3.29

     Difficulty

    2.50

     GPA

    3.30

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    What is the difference between individual and self? Do we carry a fixed, unchangeable self inside, or do we have as many selves as the situations in which we commonly find ourselves? Can we go as far as saying that the self comes from the outside, and if so, when do we internalize it? At birth, once and for all? Or repeatedly and in everyday life? We will explore these questions and more as we venture into an exciting field-sociology of the self.

  • SOC 4055

    Law, Inequality and Social Change
     Rating

    4.33

     Difficulty

    4.00

     GPA

    3.31

    Last Taught

    Fall 2025

    This course will consider the social-science perspective on law and legal institutions; theories of laws and legal institutions that trace their origin to social consensus or social inequality; how social inequality influences how people think about law, why they obey it, and whether they mobilize it to resolve disputes; and whether law is an effective tool for social change.

  • SOC 4230

    Deviance and Social Control
     Rating

    2.78

     Difficulty

    3.67

     GPA

    3.34

    Last Taught

    Fall 2024

    Examines a variety of deviant behaviors in American society and the sociological theories explaining societal reactions and attempts at social control. Focuses on enduring conditions such as drug addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness. Prerequisite: Six credits of sociology or instructor permission.

  • SOC 5140

    Qualitative Methods
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.34

    Last Taught

    Spring 2025

    Studies the theory and practice of qualitative, non-statistical methods of sociological inquiry including field work, interviewing, textual analysis, and historical document work. Students practice each method and design larger projects. Prerequisite: Six credits of sociology or instructor permission; open to advanced undergraduates.

  • SOC 3290

    Sociology of Childhood
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.36

    Last Taught

    Fall 2024

    The class introduces the 'new social studies of childhood' and the idea that the experience of childhood is a social construction, not a string of biological facts. Topics include: how caring for children varies across time & space, and considering childhood in the context of Western cultural trends - increasing inequality, unequal distribution of overwork, poverty, war, liberty, decreasing privacy, consumerism, sexualization, networked society.

  • SOC 3400

    Gender and Sexuality
     Rating

     Difficulty

     GPA

    3.37

    Last Taught

    Fall 2025

    Focuses on the construction of gender and sexuality, and of the many ways human groups regulate and attach meanings to these categories. Some general themes addressed will be: contemporary and historical definitions of gender, sex, and sexuality; gender socialization; the varieties of sexual identities and relationships; embodiment, childbearing, and families in the contemporary United States. Prerequisite: At least 3 credits in Sociology or permission of instructor.