SOC 230 Principles of Sociology

An introduction to the concepts, methods and theories employed by sociologists to understand societies, social institutions and the myriad expressions of group life.  The course explores the cultural contexts of human behavior to explain individual and group interaction, social mobility and inequality, relations formed by class, gender and race, and patterns of socialization, deviance and social change.

This course wll be taught in the Spring of 2010 based on the Harry Potter series. Students are expected to see all the movies and read two of the books in the series. Students are sorted into "houses" and compete for extra credit in house points based on class attendance and participation.

For Fall and Spring of 2009/10, the book, Gang Leader for a Day is being used. This book follows the expereince of sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh as he works with gang members in Chicago--even going so far as being allowed to be the "gang leader" for a day. This book is an excellent example of participant observation and a sociological examination of deviant behavior along with issues of poverty and race. A reviewer on Amazon.com said, " I enjoyed this very much. Sudhir can write so well that it's one of those "you can't put it down" books. I also learned a great deal of interesting knowledge that I would not have been able to find out any other way: not only what the drug trade is like, but what life is like inside a dilapidated low-cost housing tower. I've been recommending this to all my friends."

SOC 260 Cultural Anthropology

Understanding the power of culture in shaping our lives depends on knowing the ways life is displayed all around the world.  This course introduces students to the discoveries of anthropologists as they have lived among preliterate and preindustrial people, and as they apply their signature methodologies to culturally distinctive communities in today's world.  Comparing how a range of cultures address the challenges of social existence sets the stage forenlightening dialogue.

SOC 231 Social Problems

This examination of American society places an emphasis on the institutional bases of social problems and conflict as well as the policies designed to address these problems.  Topics include poverty, racism, environmental threat, crime and violence, and other contemporary challenges.  Attention is consistently directed to the influences of htese social problems on women's lives as well as the ethical dilemmas and debates surrounding the solutions to these problems.

In the Fall of 2008 this course used the book Opting Out: Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home by Pamela Stone. This book describes the complex reasons that 54 women left their high-powered positions after having children and how their lives proceeded from that decision. Opting Out? shows how a mix of forces conspired to nudge women out of their careers, despite the fact that most originally intended to stay in them. A review in Working Mother Magazine said: "This study is full of surprises, such as the finding that many women feel pushed out of the workplace."

SOC 271 Home and Housing in Mexico

The purpose of this course is to examine how the culture of Mexico shapes expectations about family and home as well as the political and economic contexts of housing.  Religious, historical, political and social aspects of Mexico's culture will be examined in terms of the impact on family and home life.  In addition, the institutional structure of the Mexican government and economy will be examined for its effects on home ownership and financing.  Comparisons with the culture and institutions of the United States will be discussed.

This course and the following two on Mexcio use the book Mexican Lives by Judith Heilman to illustrate what life is like for urban living Mexicans of many differentsocial class levels. The author intervewed many different people for this book and does an excellent job of giving the reader a sense of what daily life is like in Mexico. One reviewer on Amazon.com said: " I take a group of graduate nursing students to Oaxaca every year for a two-week language acquisition and practice experience. Previously I used a collection of articles from popular press and health care literature to provide background. Now, I use Mexican Lives to prepare these students with excellent results. I cannot imagine a better reading assignment of this type for the students. To me, it is a perceptive, thoughtful and beautifully written book."

SOC 272 Culture and Family in Mexico

This course examines the culture and family structure of Mexico in light of this country's economic, political and religious history.  Inequalities based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability and social class level will be examined as well.  A study of social movements to improve the status of oppressed people in Mexico is also included.

SOC 273 Education and Family in Mexico

The basic purpose of this course is to examine how education as an institution is interrelated with the family and culture of a society.  To explore a particular case study, the country of Mexico and its unique educational system and famliy structure will be analyzed.  This history and traditions of this nation and their impact on education will be discussed as well.

SOC 280 Applied Sociology

This course is an introduction to the application of sociology to a range of 'real life' problems and issues so that students gain an understanding of how to practice sociology in all fulture careers or occupations.  The sociological perspective is applied in a way that is centered upon community based education/service learning.  Students will participate in class exercises and organized community focused activities that meet identified community needs and reflect on these in such a way as to gain broader appreciation of the discipline of sociology, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.

SOC 299 Introduction to Research in Sociology

Open to freshmen and sophomores who have an interest in sociology and who would like to work individually with a faculty member on a project involving research from a sociological perspective.  The student will formulate and execute a research project at an intermediate level of complexity and present the results to an appropriate public audience.  A research proposal form completed by the student and faculty mentor is required for registration.  May be repeated for credit for a maximum of six semester hours.  Prerequisite: At least 3 credit hours in 200 level SOC.

SOC 332 Human Sexuality

The research literature on sexual interests, behaviors and relationships is reviewed through study of the changing practices and perceptions of sexuality in America.  Topics include the cultural construction of sex, the process of learning to be sexual, sexual deviance, the influence of marriage and the interplay between sex and power in our society.  Recognition of both risks and rewards associated with sexuality provides the context for studying controversial policies in society.  Also offered as HED 332. 

Iin the Spring and Summer of 2009, this class will use the book, Stripped: Inside the Lives of Exotic Dancers by sociologist Bernadette Barton. This book is based on hours of interveiws with strippers around the country and describes the economic, physical, social and psychological effects of being in the buisness.

SOC 335 Race and Ethnic Relations

Patterns of relationship among racial and ethnic groups in the United States are analyzed.  This course explores inequalities of wealth, power, and status along with the persistence of racism, movements to advance civil rights and efforts by groups to maintain social boundaries.  Current trends in intergroup relations are discussed to explore how changing demographic racial patterns may affect future definitions of race and ethnicity.  In the Fall of 2009 students will read Jonathan Kozol's The Shame of the Nation--a powerful story about racial and class inequality in public schools in current schools.

SOC 337 Corrections

A study of the criminal justice system; police, attorneys, courts, judges, jails, prisons, parole.  Attention is given to conflicting punishment philosophies and practices.  Studies of inmate society are highlighted in this survey of America's attempts to correct the crime problem.  Prerequisite: At least 3 credit hours in 200 level SOC.

SOC 338 Sociology of Families

This course will provide students with an overview of the famliy from a sociological perspective.  Students in the course will examine transformation of the family across time as well as its position as both a private and public institution.  Topics include defining family, gender and power, courtship and marriage, parenting, divorce anf remarriage, work, and family violence.  Particular attention is placed upon the changing roles of women in the family and the ways in which families impact the lived experiences of the women in them. 

SOC 340 Aging and Retirement

As the elderly population increases what challenges do these individuals face and what impact will they have on society?  Students in this course will examine the physical, psychological, and sociological dimensions of the aging process in order to gain insight on these questions.  Topics include retirement, poverty and old age, Social Security and Medicare debates, long term care and end of life decisions, and issues related to the growing elderly population in the United States. 

SOC 346 Anthropology of Religion

Questions concerning religion have been central to the discipline of anthrpology since its inception in the late nineteenth century.  This course looks thematically at the concepts of myth and symbol, the body, ritual, identity, gender, religious practice and practitioners, using a range of anthropological approaches to the study of religion that have been developed and refined over the past hundred years.  This course will not be a prerequisite for other courses.  Cross listed as REL 346.  Prerequisites: One 100 level Religion course.

SOC 360 Media, Self and Society

What is 'the media' and how can it impact the ways in which we see the world and ourselves in it?  This course will examine these questions as we examine the roles that various media forms play in our society, particularly in regards to issues of identity across lives of race, class, gender and sexuality.  Students will examine historical and theoretical aspects of the media from both sociological and cultural studies perspectives, the ways in which mainstream and alternative media construct identities, and the impact that these images have on the society in which they circulate. 

One book that was used in the Fall of 2008 is a book called Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers by Alissa Quart. The author examines how the industry sells not only products but images or ideals to American teens. The author interviewed teenages to get their stories and the book uses material from those interviews throughout as well as using theory and others research to support the author's arguments. One reviewer on Amazaon.com said, "Quart does an excellent job of disecting the corporate world's exploitation of children and teenagers. This book could have been just another indictment against advertising, but Quart examines multiple aspects of brand-mania. I especially liked how she includes a chapter on "brand-name" colleges and universities (this is not just about sneakers and jeans, folks)."

SOC 374 Social Research Principles

This course will explore the logic of scientific inquiry.  Throughout the course students will explore the relationship between theory and methodology, the nature of causation, components of research design and a variety of methods for social science research.  Guidance in retrieving information, reviewing and evaluating research reports, and constructing a research proposal is provided.  Also offered as POL 374.  Prerequisite: At least 3 credit hours in 200 level SOC.

SOC 420 Gender and Society

What does sex have to do with gender?  What does gender have to do with social systems?  This course explores these questions by looking at the ways in which sociologists have theorized and written about gender.  Students will explore what it means to understand gender as a social and cultural construct as wel as the impact that these constructions have on the lived experiences of individuals in society.  Additionally the course will examine the complex ways in which gender intersects adn interacts with other facets of our social identities including race, class and sexual orientation.  Prerequisite:

SOC 430 Population Dynamics

Trace the effects of births, deaths and migration on population size, composition and distribution around the world.  Examine the effects of population changes on the environment, the world's resources adn on global security.  Socioeconomic, political and religious institutions will be explored and the status of women around the world will be related to demographic changes.  Demographic trends in the United States are evaluated in the context of global influence.  Prerequisite: At least 6 credit hours in SOC or at least 75 total credit hours.  In the Spring of 2009, book More: Population, Nature and What Women Want was used in the class. This class was offered as both a sociology/Social Science course but also as a CORE 400. The course is also accepted as an elective for International Studies and Women's Studies.

SOC 431 Social Stratification

Explanations for social inequalities are considered along with current research on class, status, power and social mobiity.  Both national and international patterns of wealth and poverty are inspected to explain 'who gets what adn why'.  Inequalities of households, of population groups, and of nations as they participate on the global stage receive specific treatment.  Prerequisite: At least 6 credit hours in SOC. 

SOC 436 Criminology

This course explores questions about the criminal law, criminal conduct, the risks of criminal victimization and prevailing crime control policies.  Theories developed to explain why individuals offend adn why crime rates vary are examined in light of research findings, so that students gain a thorough understanding of crime and its causes.  These ideas are applied to conventional street crime as well as to organized crime and elite crime.  Prerequisite: At least 6 credit hours in SOC.

SOC 440-449 Selected Topics in Sociology

Customized by the professor to reflect specialized areas of knowledge or new advances in the field, this course introduces students to compelling publications and/or media that will extend their grasp of sociological analysis.  Selections spotlight issues associated with active public dialogue witht he objective of discovering how sociology speaks to those issues.  Course numbers advance as topics shift to favor additional enrollments as desired. 

SOC 440 Deviance (Spring 2007; Fall 2008; Fall 2009)

During the Fall of 2009, this class will examine deviance in society in many ways. One book that will be used is the book Brothel: Mustang Ranch and its Women A reviewer on Amazon.com said: It's too bad this isn't required reading for "I've got my mind made up, don't confuse me with the facts," anti-prostitution people. Alexa Albert is a graduate from the Harvard school of medicine, and she brings a balanced, non-emotional, non-judgmental perspective to the topic of legal prostitution in Nevada (which is pretty rare for this topic). This book adds a candid, human dimension to the lives of sex workers. Highly recommended reading for anyone who wants the real story.

SOC 441 Juvenile Delinquency (Spring 2008; Spring 2010)

SOC 444 Social Interaction (Spring 2009)

SOC 446 Drugs and Society (Fall 2009) This course will be offered for the first time in Fall 2009 and will examine legal and illegal drug use and the effects of this use on our society in terms of drug trade, the criminal justice system, addictions and the drug industry. A new book being used in this course is This is your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting HighinAmerica. The book jacket says:

It's time to stock up on munchies, twist the caps off your water bottles, and get on the bus! You're about to embark on a cross-country tour of the complex, bizarre, and surprising history of drug use in America, a history that takes you from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, through New York's nineteenth-century opium dens, on to the Summer of Love, into the Midwestern "methedemic," and right up to today-where California has effectively legalized marijuana and the rest of the country is thinking of doing the same.

In This Is Your Country on Drugs, journalist Ryan Grim challenges everything you thought you knew about America's drug culture and how and when it began, who contributed to its growth, who opposed it and why, and what makes one drug surge in popularity and another fade.

SOC 489 Social Theory

From the origins of sociological thinking to the current controversies regarding social action and social structure, explanations developed by sociologists to describe and demystify society are studied and applied.  Ideas advanced by Durkheim, Marx and Weber are followed by extensions and alternatives up to and including the Frankfurt School, Feminism, and  Postmodernism.  Prerequisite: At least 6 credit hours in SOC.

SOC 496 Seminar in Public Sociology

This capstone course for the sociology major is an opportunity for students to use their sociological imagination to formulate solutions to the problems that face our world today.  Choosing from a menu of options, including service, research, data analysis, and case studies, students will utilize sociological theories, literature, methods and data to explore a macro-level social problem chosen by the sociology faculty.  Findings of the semester long project will be presented to sociology faculty, students and the broader Meredith community.  Prerequisites: SOC 280, 374, and either PSY 200 or MAT 245.

In Fall 2009, the topic is on the Juvenile Delinquency.  The books, Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth and No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the LIfe of Juvenile Court will be used. Readers on Amazon. com said about Last Chance in Texas: "This is a powerful book about the potential for human redemption. Following the experience of a group of violent young offenders in a Texas youth correction facility, it shows the actual process of rehabilitation." Another reader on Amazon commenting on the book No Matter How Loud I Shout said: "This book gives such insight to the problems of today’s juveniles and how the court system fails them repeatedly and how the kids fail themselves. Truly sad and yet reminding us how cold life can be and how fortunate some of us actually are relative to these kids."

SOC 498 Honors Thesis in Sociology

In conjunction with a sociology faculty mentor, the student will formulate and execute a research project at an advanced level of complexity that will culminate in a paper and presentation.  The project must meet Honors PRogram requirements as well as expectations of the sociology faculty.  A research proposal form completed by the student, faculty mentor, and Honors Program director is required for registration.  Open to seniorswho are members of the Honors Program/Teaching Fellows Programs.  Prerequisites: 3 credits from SOC at level 200, SOC 374 and either MAT 245 or PSY 200.

SOC 499 Research in Sociology

In conjunction with a sociology faculty mentor, the student will formulate and execute a research project at an advanced level of complexity that will culminate in a paper and presentation.  A research proposal form completed by the student and faculty mentor is required for registration.  Open to junior and senior majors and others by permission.  May be repeated for credit for a total of six semester hours.  Prerequisites: 3 credits from SOC at level 200, SOC 374 and either MAT 245 or PSY 200.