Course Descriptions
SOC 532 APPLIED RESEARCH METHODS
This course studies specialized research methods including evaluation research and social needs assessment for sociology and related social sciences. These methods vary from the more common survey techniques by the nature of the unit of analysis (most often a case study), the types of data collection (interviews, focus groups, and existing data), and the analytical techniques used (more qualitative). Generally, these techniques are applied to the solution of community problems.
SOC 543 SOCIAL STATISTICS
This course focuses upon various statistical techniques including descriptive and inferential statistics, cross tabulation, anova, correlation and regression. Lectures, assigned readings and projects are used to describe and illustrate the logic, interpretation and assumptions of each statistical model. Emphasis is placed upon intuitive understanding of the techniques and their assumptions as well as on applications.
SOC 564 SEMINAR IN ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
This course is designed to provide graduate students a thorough background in the major theoretical perspectives regarding environmental sociology. This background will enable students to view environmental issues from alternative positions and to formulate possible solutions to contemporary environmental problems. The course focuses on the social construction of the environment and on environmental problems and solutions.
SOC 565 SEMINAR IN RACE AND ETHNIC STUDIES
In-depth examination and critique of important monographs and journal literature dealing with the social life of American minority peoples. Designed to promote mature scholarship in the study of literature drawing from it principal influences, ideologies, structural forces and changes characteristic of the social life of comparative minority groups. Students will be responsible for identifying sociological propositions reflected in the discerned patterns of interaction occurring in selected institutions in contemporary American society. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of Graduate Advisor and instructor.
SOC 567 SEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
This course includes the advanced study of logic, principles, and procedures involving techniques of design, data collection and organization, analyses and interpretation for qualitative and quantitative sociological research. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of Graduate Advisor and instructor.
SOC 568 TECHNIQUES IN GRANT PROPOSAL WRITING
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of the principal technical and theoretical skills necessary for the development of research projects in the social sciences. Furthermore, it investigates the primary assumptions of qualitative and quantitative research and stressing their scope and limits. Through an examination of the epistemological characteristics of major paradigms in the social sciences, the course illustrates various analytical techniques necessary for the preparation of research proposals. This activity includes techniques for the identification of research questions, the development of justifications, the integration of theories and methods, and the development of analytic designs. This is a course specifically designed for students who would like to be involved in research grant writing and in conducting research.
SOC 572 SOCIOLOGY OF THE FAMILY
This course consists of the study of the family as a social institution. It begins with a traditional functional analysis of the institution and follows with critical and interactionist interpretations. Current changes in the institution using historical and global perspectives constitute the bulk of the course.
SOC 574 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
This course is a study of religion as it operates in society. It examines religious beliefs, religious rituals, group religious experience, and the religious community. Using a cross-cultural perspective, the course investigates the roots of religion in non-industrial societies and follows that with an analysis of religion in industrial societies.
SOC 575 GRADUATE READINGS IN SOCIOLOGY
Independent study of subjects not covered in the regular graduate curricula, including independent study of particular value to students needing to pursue a special subject related to thesis. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of Graduate Advisor and instructor.
SOC 576 SOCIOLOGY OF COMMUNITY
Advanced study of the structure and processes of change as expressed in local problem-solving action. Attention is given to an understanding of the organization of local social life through which individuals are meaningfully related to the larger society. The specific objective is to emphasize the transition to nonterritorial communities and the attendant issues regarding the effectiveness of intermediate control and decision-making structures in meeting needs and providing services. This includes a concern for problems related to the emergence of structures (groups and institutions) cutting across town, city, metropolis, or state boundaries. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of Graduate Advisor and instructor.
SOC 582 SEMINAR IN SOCIAL INEQUALITY
This course studies contemporary class, status and power hierarchies with emphasis on empirical research pertaining to placement in these hierarchies on the basis of birth-achieved statuses such as sex, race, and class origin. Consideration is also given to contemporary and classical sociological theories of social inequality.
SOC 583 SOCIAL STATISTICS
This course focuses upon various statistical techniques used to analyze survey data including descriptive and inferential statistics, cross tabulation, ANOVA, correlation and regression. Lectures, assigned readings and projects are used to describe and illustrate the logic, interpretation, and assumptions of each statistical model. Emphasis is upon intuitive understanding of the techniques and their assumptions as well as on applications. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and completion of three hours of undergraduate statistics.
SOC 585 SEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
The course is a historical survey of the most significant 19th and 20th century developments in Sociology with emphasis placed on the relevance of classic sociological theory in the formation and development of contemporary sociological theory. The characteristics and origins of major sociological schools are explored including the study of the works and ideas of Emile Durkheim. Karl Marx and Max Weber. The course also investigates the development of Neo-Marxism, Interactionism, Functionalism and Post-Modernism. Accounts of these paradigms are provided together with their theoretical ramifications. Illustration of the basic assumptions of Critical Theory, Ethnomethodology, Symbolic Interaction and Exchange Theory are also provided. The course is designed for students familiar with the basic history and elements of sociology.
SOC 587 GENDER AND SOCIETY
The course focuses on the social construction of gender and provides students a framework for them to think critically about what it means to be a man or a woman in contemporary US society. The course uses a socio-historical approach to investigate the concept of gender and its relationship to sexuality.
SOC 589 SEMINAR IN SOCIAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT
A graduate seminar dealing with the individual, society, and culture, and the relations among them, with particular emphasis on social change and the society of the future. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of Graduate Advisor
SOC 660 SEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGY
This seminar is designed to provide an examination and study of substantive areas and/or sociologically significant issues not covered in other departmental offerings. Particular attention is on current literature presented in the context of papers and discussion. May be repeated. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
SOC 698 THESIS PRACTICUM
Students are encouraged to initiate planning and formulation of approved problem in conjunction with course work in Methods and Theory.
SOC 699 THESIS
The completion and accepted defense of Thesis. The student must be registered in SOC 699 the semester in which the master's degree is to be completed.