Sociology

The Department of Sociology offers an A.B. in Sociology and a minor in Sociology.

Major in Sociology

Students seeking to major in Sociology with a grade of C+ or better in the introductory course will be approved as majors in the department. The Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) is the faculty advisor for all department majors. Prospective majors must contact the DUS to confirm their decision to declare the major. We strongly recommend that students take Introduction to Sociology before enrolling in other sociology courses. Introduction to Sociology is listed as a prerequisite for some upper-division courses. Please consult the course descriptions.

Students majoring in Sociology are required to take ten courses in the department: six required courses, two Foundational Topic Lectures, and two Advanced Seminars. The six required courses are as follows: Introduction to Sociology, Methods of Social Research, Sociological Theory, Statistics for Social Research, and a two-part Senior Seminar.

Sociological Theory and Social Statistics should be taken during the sophomore or junior year. Methods of Social Research must be taken in the junior year. Students moving to the Capitol Campus during their junior year or studying abroad for the entire year can petition the instructor to take Methods of Social Research during their sophomore year. In the Methods course, students write a proposal for the research that will be the basis for their senior thesis, which is completed in the two-semester Senior Seminar in the senior year. Majors should consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies about studying abroad or any unusual plans for completing the requirements.  

Course Offerings

Courses in the Sociology Department are divided into three categories:

Required Courses are the building blocks of the major.
SOCI 1001: Introduction to Sociology
SOCI 2901: Methods of Social Research
SOCI 2902: Sociological Theory
SOCI 2903: Statistics for Social Research
SOCI 4961/4962: Senior Seminar I/II

Foundational Topic Lectures introduce students to the main subfields of Sociology, including gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, education, social inequality, social movements, crime and deviance, community and urban studies, and demography. Foundational topic lectures are denoted as 3000-level courses. The below list is not exhaustive:

SOCI 3594: Criminology
SOCI 3371: Culture and Consumption
SOCI 3863: Education and Society
SOCI 3645: Family and Society
SOCI 3432: Immigrants and New Societies
SOCI 3592: Law and Society
SOCI 3466: Modernization and Development
SOCI 3558: Political Sociology
SOCI 3431: Population Studies
SOCI 3044: Race and Ethnic Relations
SOCI 3336: Religion and Society
SOCI 3140: Social Inequality
SOCI 3555: Social Movements
SOCI 3379: Sociology of Food
SOCI 3870: Social Networks
SOCI 3261: Sociology of Gender
SOCI 3709: Sociology of Health and Illness
SOCI 3260: Sociology of Sexualities
SOCI 3109: The City: Approaches to Urban Studies

Advanced Seminars enable students to develop in-depth knowledge of particular subjects through intensive seminars. Students develop specialized expertise on sociological topics in these writing-intensive courses. Advanced seminars are denoted as 4000-level courses. The below list is not exhaustive:

SOCI 4426: Consumer Culture in East Asia
SOCI 4954: Environmental/Food Justice Movements
SOCI 4122: Gentrification, Justice and the Future of Cities
SOCI 4384: Happiness and Society
SOCI 4123: Housing Policy in America
SOCI 4039: Race, Color and Culture
SOCI 4033: Race, Society and Cinema
SOCI 4591: Sociology of Violence
SOCI 4053: The Politics of Community
SOCI 4419: Urban Inequalities

Requirements for the A.B. in Sociology 

  • SOCI 1001: Introduction to Sociology (before junior year)
  • SOCI 2901: Methods of Social Research (junior year)
  • SOCI 2902: Sociological Theory (sophomore or junior year)
  • SOCI 2903: Statistics for Social Research (sophomore or junior year)
  • SOCI 4961: Thesis Research (fall of senior year)
  • SOCI 4962: Thesis Research (spring of senior year)
  • Two (2) Foundational Topic Lectures
  • Two (2) Advanced Seminars

Integrated Writing Within the Sociology Major

The Department of Sociology offers a wide array of courses which fulfill the integrated writing requirement. After taking a first General Education course focused on writing, the second such course which sociology majors will take must come from among selected sociology offerings.  Our majors get to choose from among those courses we designate as Integrated Writing courses (occasionally abbreviated below as “IW”).  

Sociology Courses with Integrated-Writing (IW) Strategies:  Race,Color, Culture; Sociology of Sexualities; Capitalism: Culture, Markets, and Power; Methods of Social Research; Sociological Theory; and many of the Advanced Seminars.


Minor in Sociology

Requirements for the minor are Introduction to Sociology, either Methods of Sociological Research or Sociological Theory, plus four electives, two of which should be Foundational Topic Lectures and one of which should be an Advanced Seminar. The fourth elective can be selected from either the Foundational Topic Lectures or the Advanced Seminars.

Requirements for the Minor

  • Introduction to Sociology (SOCI 1001)
  • Methods of Sociological Research (SOCI 2901) or Sociological Theory (SOCI 2902)*
  • Four electives. Of those four, two should be from the Foundational Topics Lectures above, one from the Advanced Seminar, and the final one can be from either the Foundational Topic Lectures or the Advanced Seminars.

*Note: Minors electing to take Sociological Theory can complete the course in their sophomore or junior years. Minors electing to take Methods of Sociological Research should complete the course in their junior year. Students moving to the Capitol Campus during their junior year or studying abroad for the entire year can petition the instructor to take Methods of Social Research during their sophomore year.


For course listings in Sociology see the Schedule of Classes