Courses on topics of interest to sociology students offered on the basis of need, interest, or timeliness. Prerequisite: 125. Restricted to students with freshman or sophomore standing. May be repeated for credit. For specific section description, click to the Section Details in VitNet.

Non-classroom experiences in the field of sociology. Placements are off-campus, and may be full- or part-time, and with or without pay. Credit for experiences must be sought prior to occurance, and learning contracts must be submitted before the end of the first week of the semester. See the Experiential Learning: Internship section of this catalog for more details. Senior standing required. Graded CR/NC.

Independent reading and/or research under the supervision of a faculty member. Refer to the academic policy section for independent study policy. Independent study contract is required. Prerequisite: 125. May be repeated for credit.

This course takes a sociological perspective on the subject of death. This means that the course is not designed to be therapeutic (e.g., it does not teach students how to grieve "properly" nor does it offer a systematic method for coping with death). Instead, we will adopt an analytical approach and examine the social aspects of death and dying. We will focus specifically on the variations in the ways that human beings interpret, react to, and deal with the biological phenomenon of death.

This course is designed to provide students with a sociological framework for analyzing gender arrangements in contemporary American society. It will examine the significance of social forces in shaping differences between men and women as well as the social problems created by rigid gender expectations. It will also explore gender inequality within major social institutions, focusing on men's'and women's different experiences of and opportunities within work, family, sexuality, and medicine. Prerequisite: 125. SS

This course will examine, from a sociological perspective, the ways race and ethnicity matters in society and the consequence of how we organize these concepts for people's lives.

Culture of pre-literate and contemporary societies. Concept of culture; elements of culture, including technology, economic and political organization, family and kinship, associations, ideology, arts, and language; dynamics of culture stability and change. SS

This course will provide an overview of research in the social sciences. In this course you will learn how to read and evaluate research methods and design your own research study. The course follows the basic steps in social science research: problem identification, research design, subject selection, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. In learning these steps, you will also be introduced to the dominant methods used in social science research: surveys, experiments, qualitative interviews, ethnography, program evaluation, and mixed methods. Prerequisite: 125.

Marriage-family complex as a social institution: variations, interrelationship of family to other social institutions, dating, marriage, childraising, divorce, death, and remarriage, contemporary issues in marriage and family life, and future of marriage and family. This course will empower the student to make more informed decisions about marriage and family life choices. SS

This course will introduce students to the theories and scientific methods that sociologists use to explain human behavior and describe the organization of society. Students will acquire a sociological perspective to analyze how individuals are products of their social environments. Students will also examine the social patterns that comprise systems of social inequality and major social institutions within contemporary American society. Prerequisite: any 100-level VUSM course or transfer student placement. LDW, SS