200

This course provides students with the opportunity to study historical and contemporary issues of interest to sociologists. Topics will vary.

In cooperation with University Ministry, this course provides a travel experience to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Border and U.S. immigration policy are highly controversial subjects that involve key sociological and social justice issues.  This course will begin by introducing students to a sociological analysis of these subjects and conclude with a 5 day travel experience at the Border itself. The travel experience will enhance the material presented in the classroom and provide students with the opportunity to see first-hand the social justice concerns in that region.

This course is designed with the goal of introducing students to facts and theories regarding the field of Sociological Theory. Theory seeks to provide grounded and testable hypotheses as to why people engage in various types of social behavior. Social theorists also want to understand how society deals with issues such as social problems, educations, love, social justice, etc. We will examine several specific sociological theorists and assess their thoughts ideas, and research on society.

Students in this course will explore the connections between the public and the private in looking at the social aspects of partnering and families. Marital and family as social institutions are examined through historical, structural, intersectional, and cultural lenses.

IAI: S7 902

Students in this course examine a variety of contemporary social problems, exploring the processes of what and how social issues come to be defined as problems. Students in this course analyze causes and consequences of social problems and propose solutions to these.

Workshops appropriate to the intensive study of particular sociological concepts, structures, and phenomena are offered periodically. Topics will vary.

Students in this course examine theoretical perspectives and empirical research about groups living, working, and communicating across geographical boundaries, such as in neighborhoods, cities, suburbs, and rural areas, as well as electronic communities and other spaces.

This class offers an introduction to the ways that groups emerge to promote and resist social change. Students in this class will examine theories of social change, collective behavior, leadership and organizational models and practices as they study historical, 20th century, and emerging efforts to resist current power arrangements and social conditions and create alternatives designed to increase rights and justice.

This course provides students with a framework to both analyze historical and contemporary patterns of exclusion, perceptions, and experiences and understand, create, and use various strategies, actions, and paths to increase social justice. Students also examine the role and relationships of and between institutions, such as familial, religious, legal, political, economic, and educational systems in creating, maintaining, and transforming said patterns, perceptions, and experiences.

This course incorporates practical applications of the methodological and research techniques needed to conduct quantitative and qualitative research. Skill development in research design, sampling techniques, measurement tools, interviewing skills, and analysis techniques will be practiced. Research ethics and critical analysis of existing research will be examined.