Department of Sociology

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Lemuel Edward Day, Ph.D., Chair

Sociology studies interactions and relationships among human groups and institutions and how behavior is shaped by these relationships. It examines how society maintains stability and how it changes, investigating both consensus and conflict among social groups. Sociology’s subject matter consists of social institutions, including family, work, religion and social processes such as identity development, deviance and socialization. Sociology majors explore foundational ideas about the nature of society, are introduced to key subfields of the discipline and acquire fundamental research and analysis skills to carry out their own inquiries. The department’s faculty members emphasize empirical work in a number of subfields including applied and community sociology, the family, health and medicine, law and society, international and global sociology, gender, the sociology of religion, qualitative and quantitative research methods and cultural anthropology.

Sociology embodies the essential values of a liberal arts education in its emphasis on analysis and problem solving, comparative thinking, writing and critical inquiry. In providing such skills, sociology is a good background for professions in teaching, medicine, social work, law, business and social justice. Finally, sociology provides the breadth of theoretical and methodological training for advanced graduate work in all the behavioral sciences.

Students pursuing the sociology degree must receive at least a “C-” in each of the core courses. All core major courses must be taken for a letter grade, regardless of the emphasis.

Departmental Honors
Students graduating with a GPA of 3.700 or above in the major may be eligible for departmental honors and commendation at the annual Ludie and David C. Henley awards ceremony. Above average participation in university and community service are also considered.

Degrees

• Sociology, B.A.

• Anthropology, Minor
• Law, Justice and Social Control, Minor
• Sociology, Minor

Courses

• AMST 282 - Folklore
• AMST 296 - Indians and Film
• AMST 372 - Images of Indians
• AMST 396 - Indians of California
• AMST 397 - Cultural Mythology

• ANTH 102 - Cultural Anthropology
• ANTH 201 - Physical Anthropology
• ANTH 205 - Language and Culture
• ANTH 211 - Visual Culture
• ANTH 229 - Experimental Course
• ANTH 230 - Indigenous Rights: Peace and Justice in the Americas
• ANTH 291 - Student-Faculty Research/Creative Activity
• ANTH 300 - Queer Anthropology
• ANTH 301 - Ethnographic Fieldwork
• ANTH 305 - Anthropological Theory
• ANTH 315 - Art and Anthropology
• ANTH 321 - Archaeology
• ANTH 329 - Experimental Course
• ANTH 330 - Indigenous Rights: Peace and Justice in the Americas
• ANTH 335 - Anthropology of Space and Place
• ANTH 360 - North and Middle American Indians
• ANTH 361 - Conflict and Social Change in Latin America
• ANTH 395 - Topics in Anthropology
• ANTH 399 - Individual Study
• ANTH 491 - Student-Faculty Research/Creative Activity

• SOC 101 - Introduction to Sociology
• SOC 199 - Individual Study
• SOC 201 - Introduction to Research Methods
• SOC 203 - Statistics for the Social Sciences
• SOC 204 - Marriage and the Family
• SOC 211 - Social Problems
• SOC 217 - Social Change Through Community Engagement
• SOC 225 - Social Inequality/Stratification
• SOC 229 - Experimental Course
• SOC 231 - Foundations of Criminal Justice
• SOC 281 - Sociology of Sex and Gender
• SOC 290 - Independent Internship
• SOC 291 - Student-Faculty Research/Creative Activity
• SOC 292A - Social Work Field/Practicum
• SOC 293 - Introduction to Social Work
• SOC 295 - Topics in Sociology
• SOC 299 - Individual Study
• SOC 301 - Field Research
• SOC 305 - Social Theory
• SOC 306 - Social Movements
• SOC 307 - Survey Research
• SOC 310 - Feminist-Art-Theory-Power
• SOC 311 - Society and Mass Communications
• SOC 312 - Sociology of Religion
• SOC 313 - Sociology of Gangs and Gang Prevention Programs in Orange County
• SOC 316 - Immigration in Southern California
• SOC 318 - Quantitative Data Analysis
• SOC 320 - Sociology of Death
• SOC 323 - Applied Demographics in 21st Century
• SOC 326 - Mind, Self and Society in Tibetan Buddhism
• SOC 329 - Experimental Course
• SOC 332 - Crime, Justice and Globalization
• SOC 335 - Society and the Environment
• SOC 345 - Social Psychology
• SOC 346 - Solving Problems in Costa Rica: Globalization and Americanization in a Developing Country
• SOC 347 - Topics in Literary and Cultural Studies
• SOC 349 - ‘We Shall Overcome’: White Terror, Black Struggle, and American Memory
• SOC 350 - Gender, Stratification, and Globalization
• SOC 354 - Non-Violent Social Change
• SOC 359 - Terrorism and War in the Media
• SOC 370 - Race and Ethnicity
• SOC 371 - Sociology of Human Sexuality
• SOC 383 - Sociology of Deviant Behavior
• SOC 385 - Medical Sociology
• SOC 393 - Child Abuse
• SOC 395 - Topics in Sociology
• SOC 399 - Individual Study
• SOC 404 - Global Family Systems
• SOC 410 - Victimless Crimes
• SOC 429 - Experimental Course
• SOC 480 - Topics in the Sociology of Health
• SOC 481 - Holistic Health
• SOC 490 - Independent Internship
• SOC 491 - Student-Faculty Research/Creative Activity
• SOC 492A - Social Work Field/Practicum
• SOC 492B - Seminar Internship
• SOC 497 - Senior Thesis Project
• SOC 499 - Individual Study

Return to: Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences