Course Descriptions

AY 110 Physical Anthropology and Archeology
The study of natural selection, primate evolution, and living primate societies, provides a baseline from which to study the evolution of the human species. The course also traces human cultural and social development from the foraging bands of the first humans to the civilizations that appeared at the dawn of written history. Physical variation among living populations is also studied.
3 credits

AY 111 Cultural Anthropology
Why is there such variety among human societies in the way their members live, dress, speak, behave toward one another, and worship? This course explores the shared patterns of thought, behavior, and feelings that is, the cultures of a number of peoples, and offers an explanation for the form they take and the differences between them. A primary goal is to develop a new perspective on the values and institutions of Western culture.
3 credits

AY 120 Language, Culture, and Society
This course is a broad exploration of anthropological approaches to the study of humankind's premier symbol system - language. Topics to be covered include: the origins of spoken and written language; language change and variation through time and across space; the appreciation and analysis of language as a system (with examples from phonology, morphology, and syntax); ethnosemantics and the relations between language and thought in different cultures; and the sociolinguistic analysis of conversation and discourse with particular attention to issues of gender and inequality.
3 credits

AY 130 Societies and Cultures of Africa and Latin America
This course is an introduction to the cultural anthropology of two very diverse regions of the world. Africa and Latin America/the Caribbean are both continents with several distinct cultural heritages and a complex blending of the ancient and the modern. The course ranges broadly, exploring the ancient civilizations of each area, the cultural ecology that shapes human behavior and society there, the distinctive cultural patterns that characterize each, the historical and cultural linkages between these two regions, and the similarities and differences in African and Latin American experiences with colonialism, capitalism and development in an increasingly global system.
3 credits

AY 140 Marriage in Cross-Cultural Perspective
This course is an exploration of marriage as a social and symbolic system, focusing on analysis of marriage practices in several ethnographic areas, including Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, Europe and the contemporary U.S. The goals of the course are to expose students to a range of theoretical perspectives used in anthropology, and to guide students to an appreciation of how marriage systems participate in the construction and reproduction of kinship and gender identities, and relations of power, authority, and inequality.
3 credits

AY 150 Societies and Cultures of Asia and the Pacific
This course is an introduction to the cultural mosaic and social dynamics of Asia. While offering an ethnographic and cultural ecological survey of geographical Asia, the course focuses mainly on three regions: South Asia, mainland and insular Southeast Asia, and East Asia. In each region we explore the historical development of high civilizations, the transformation of society and culture through the era of colonial domination, and the rapid and profound changes affecting the regions as they modernize and articulate with a global economy.
3 credits

AY 160 Medical Anthropology
This course explores the social and cultural dimensions of illness, disease, healing and health from a cross-cultural perspective. Among the topics considered are: the relationship between biology and culture; the sociocultural causes and consequences of epidemics and pandemics; social inequality and health-related issues; how different cultures conceive of the body, health and illness; shamanism and ethnopsychiatry; culture-bound syndromes; birth and reproduction cross-culturally; health and the life cycle; the cultural dimensions of the clinical encounter, especially in pluralistic societies; and aspects of the political economy of medicine in the United States.
3 credits

AY 168 Women and Men: The Anthropology of Gender
Through a comparison of selected Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and Native American societies, this course will explore the ways that culture can mold the biological facts of sexual difference into socially accepted behavior, creating two, and sometimes more, genders. Topics will include the allocation of work, power, and prestige between men and women, the belief systems that legitimate gender roles, and some possible causes for the wide variation that exists among cultures.
3 credits

AY 180 Asian-American Communities
The fastest growing communities in the United States are those of people of Asian and Pacific Island ancestry, yet Asian-Americans are among the least understood of all immigrant groups. Using ethnography, literature and film we explore the dynamics of specific Asian communities in the U.S. from the 19th century to today, with attention to the cultural background and historical conditions from which they emigrated, and the different Americas into which they moved. Among other themes, we consider the culture and political economy of racism, gender and intergenerational relations, social networks and social mobility, and the creation of Asian-American identity.
3 credits

AY 199 Societies and Cultures of East Asia
This course is a survey of social and cultural patterns in the East Asian societies of China, Japan and Korea. The lectures and readings are designed to provide an overview of the shared traditions and cultural histories of the region, and to explore the specific local-level circumstances that make each society unique. The class will analyze contemporary ethnographies and other works that describe the relationships in each cultural tradition among several domains, including: family, marriage and kinship; ecology, economics and politics; community organization and stratification; religion and cosmology; social change and modernization.
3 credits

SO 11 General Sociology

This course is an introduction to sociology. It aims to provide the student with a sense of sociology's orientation; its particular way of looking at human behavior in the context of people's interaction with each other. The course emphasizes the kinds of questions sociology asks, the methods it uses to search for answers, and how it applies the answers to problems of people's everyday lives and issues of social policy.
3 credits

SO 112 American Society
This course analyzes the dominant ideology and values which have shaped American culture namely, the Protestant Ethic and how and why these values are changing. This is followed by an analysis of major institutional trends that have transformed and continue to transform America and the modern world: bureaucratization, industrialization, urbanization, the rise of the business corporation, science, and technology and the effects of these institutions in producing new personality types, mass society, and rapid social change. Purpose of the course is to provide a macro-sociological framework.
3 credits

SO 121 Statistics: Social and Political Data Analysis

This course is designed to provide a basic introduction to the role of statistical analysis in understanding social and political data. Emphasis is placed upon actual data analysis using the University's computer facilities. An extensive social and political data archive including 1980 Census data, political polls, and national survey data are utilized for computer analysis.
4 credits

SO 142 Sociology of the Family
The family is a basic social institution of all societies. The course will begin by examining family systems as they exist in other cultures and in times past. However, the central focus of the course will be on understanding the contemporary American family system. American patterns of dating, mate selection, sexual behavior, marriage, parenting, and aging will be examined as well as alternative life styles and family instability.
3 credits

SO 149 Abnormal Family Interaction
This course is an attempt to integrate traditional sociological views of the family with the family therapy perspective that emerged from psychiatry in the 1950s. It examines the roots of behavioral and psychological dysfunction in the history and interaction of the family. The course focuses on: (1) marital conflict and divorce; (2) alcoholism, depression, and other individual symptoms; and (3) problems with children.
3 credits

SO 151 Sociology of Religion
This course is a combined theoretical and empirical treatment dealing with: the sociology of religion; the character of religious institutions; the relations of religious institutions with other institutions in society; and the internal social structure of religious institutions. Particular attention is given to the process of secularization in the modern world and the crisis this poses for traditional religion.
3 credits

SO 161 American Class Structure
This course is an introduction to sociology. It aims to provide the student with a sense of sociology's orientation; its particular This course examines the roots and structure of class in the U.S., as well as the consequences of this hierarchical arrangement on everyday life. Although the primary focus of the course is on social class, the dynamics and consequences of social class cannot be fully understood without addressing the complex interconnections between class, race and gender.
3 credits

SO 162 Race, Gender and Ethnic Relations
An analysis of sociological and social psychological dimensions of race relations, ethnic interaction, and the changing role and status of women. While the focus of the course is on the American scene, problems of women and minorities in other parts of the world are also examined along with their importance for world politics. What sociologists and social psychologists have learned about improving dominant/minority relations is considered. (formerly listed as Race and Ethnic Relations)
3 credits

SO 163 Urban/Suburban Sociology
This course explores the following: 'The nature of the city' and growth of metropolitan regions in the contemporary world; the ecological approach and the use of demographic data in the analysis of modern urban communities; social organization of metropolitan regions and the emergence of urban-suburban conflict; 'big city' politics, community-control, and regional government as dimensions of organization and disorganization in city life; and city planning and urban development at local and national levels as efforts to solve the urban crisis.
3 credits

SO 169 Women: Work and Sport
Sex and gender stratification exists in most areas of everyday life throughout American society. This course concentrates on women in the workplace and in sport. Women's occupational status and the accompanying roles from the colonial period to the present are analyzed from a variety of theoretical perspectives including the biological, social learning and feminist approaches. Since sport is a microcosm of society, the perceptions and experiences of female athletes in twentieth century America are treated as a mirror of the inequality within the larger world.
3 credits

SO 171 Criminology
This course examines the origin, causes, and history of crime. It also explores victimless crime, white-collar crime, and organized crime. The control of crime and the agencies of control are also examined as well as the techniques of punishment and rehabilitation.
3 credits

SO 175 Sociology of Law
The basis of this course is the relationship of law and society. Several issues to be explored are the meaning of law, civil disobedience and other challenges, and law as an agent of social change. A major theme of the course is legal equality vs. social inequality a theme to be analyzed in terms of discrimination against the poor, women, and various racial groups. The second half of the semester is devoted to a discussion of the role of lawyers, the police, and the courts in American society.
3 credits

SO 183 Public Opinion and Polling
The course will examine the construction and utilization of public opinion surveys. The impact upon the American political process will be explored. The question of the role of public opinion in a democratic system of government will also be examined in detail. Archive data drawn from private polls, the Gallup and Harris polls will be utilized to illustrate the polling process and as a background to the substantive issues which will be discussed.
3 credits

SO 184 Population: Birth, Death and Migration
Demography is the study of population. The causes and consequences of population change will be studied in detail. Global population problems and those faced by the United States will be addressed. Real demographic data will be analyzed in a "hands-on" fashion during weekly demographic techniques sessions. (Formerly listed as Demography).
3 credits

SO 191 Social Change in Developing Nations
This course will examine the major societal changes occurring in developing countries during the 20th century. Answers will be sought to two basic questions: to what extent are the current efforts of Third World nations to modernize comparable to the earlier experience of the United States and Western Europe? How do existing inequalities and dependencies between developed countries and Third World nations affect their chances of modernizing?
3 credits

SO 192-193 Social Work I and II
An examination of the field of social work; its concepts, methods, and changing role in present day society; a related explanation of community resources, and how agencies function and change to meet the problems from early childhood to those of the aged, upheavals in family life, and special problems presented by urban living.
6 credits

SO 222 Methods of Research Design
A study of the nature and function of the scientific methods as applied to the field of sociology. Emphasis is placed upon survey research design and secondary analysis of existing data. Teams of students design and conduct research projects as part of the course assignments. Prerequisite: SO 11.
4 credits

SO 279 Seminar: Criminal Justice System
This seminar explores in detail the workings and problems of the criminal justice system in the United States. In addition to investigating the sources of criminal behavior, the course focuses on the arraignment process, probation, the trial, sentencing, prison reform, and parole. Site visits supplement lectures and discussion. Prerequisite: SO 171.
3 credits

SO 328 Sociological Theory I
This course is the first of a two-course sequence in sociological theory. The course concentrates on the theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber, the founders of modern sociology. It places them and their theories in the context of the social, economic, political and intellectual turmoil of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Prerequisite: SO 11.
3 credits

SO 329 Sociological Theory II
This course is the second of a two-course sequence in sociological theory. The course focuses largely on American sociology and its development during the twentieth century. Structural-functionalism, critical social theory, symbolic interactionism, and biologically oriented theory are examined. Prerequisite: SO 11.
3 credits

SO 397-398 Field Work Placement
A one- or two-semester internship program. Students are placed in professional and service settings where they work under supervision and acquire experience in the area they have chosen for their placement. In addition, they are helped to integrate their experiences with the intellectual foundation acquired in their academic courses.
3 or 6 credits

SO 399 Independent Research
Upon the request of a student, and by agreement of an individual professor in the department, a student may do a one semester independent study on a defined research topic or field of study.
3 credits