2023-2024 University Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Sociology Major
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Sociology is the scientific study of the organization and functioning of societies, their major institutions, groups, and values. Sociologists are particularly interested in understanding and explaining social issues and problems, and the sources of stress and change in contemporary and historical societies. Our courses provide students with critical perspectives on a wide range of major social issues, including social inequality, race/ethnicity, gender/sexuality, the media, immigration, social movements, globalization, crime/deviance, education, war, and environmental issues. In addition, students take courses on classical and contemporary sociological theory, research design, and qualitative and quantitative research methods. The culmination of our curriculum is the required senior seminar. This course provides an opportunity for students to draw on their substantive and methodological training to complete an independent research project on a topic of their choice. Students majoring or minoring in sociology go on to careers in fields such as communications, marketing, business, management, education, law, medicine/public health, and the nonprofit sector.
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Major Requirements
The sociology major consists of nine courses, only one of which may be outside of sociology. Successful completion requires a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 across all courses counting toward the major. At least three courses must be at the 300-level.
Research-Intensive Course
One research-intensive course from the following list should be completed by the end of junior year. Research-intensive courses (RI) are built around analysis of quantitative and/or qualitative sociological data to help understand key social institutions and issues. RI courses provide in-depth experience with research methods and students use those methods to develop class-based research projects on the topic of the course. Students who have completed a research methods course to fulfill a second major or minor may petition their advisor to use that course to fulfill the requirement.
Four Electives
Students may use one 200- or 300-level anthropology course to fulfill this requirement. No more than one independent study in the department may be used to fulfill this requirement.
Four courses chosen from the following list:
- SOCI 212 - Power, Racism, and Privilege
- SOCI 214 - Stories of Our Lives: Narratives, Meanings, and Identities (RI)
- SOCI 220 - Gender, Sexuality, and Society
- SOCI 222 - Media and Modern Society
- SOCI 228 - Immigration
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- SOCI 303 - Sociology of Education (RI)
- SOCI 305 - Urban Sociology
- SOCI 310 - Sociology of the Body
- SOCI 312 - Social Inequality
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- SOCI 320 - Social Deviance
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- SOCI 324 - Medical Sociology
- SOCI 326 - Nations and Nationalism
- SOCI 328 - Criminology
- SOCI 332 - Business and Society
- SOCI 333 - Sociology of the Life Course (RI) and
- SOCI 335 - Sociology of Death, Dying and Grieving (RI)
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- SOCI 340 - Work and Society
- SOCI 348 - Contested identities: Popular Culture in America
- SOCI 361 - Power, Politics, and Social Change
- SOCI 367 - Sociology of Gender
- SOCI 369 - Women, Health, and Medicine
- SOCI 375 - Media and Politics (RI)
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- Students may take one 200- or 300-level anthropology (ANTH) course to satisfy one of the four electives. (See Anthropology Elective Options )
Senior Seminar in Sociology
GPA Requirement
To qualify for graduation, a minimum GPA of 2.0 is required in all courses counting toward the major.
Honors and High Honors
To be invited to apply for departmental honors, students must have a minimum GPA of 3.50 across all courses counting toward the major.
To achieve departmental honors, students must complete the year-long honors seminar ( and ) in lieu of . Working with the seminar professor and at least one additional adviser, students shall write and defend an extended project proposal in the fall and complete a substantial research paper during the spring semester. As part of the coursework, students shall present the faculty with an oral defense of their proposal, an academic poster reporting their preliminary results, a thesis manuscript, and a final oral presentation. Students enrolling in must also enroll in and complete a senior thesis, regardless of whether they continue to pursue honors. is an additional requirement for students pursuing honors, and cannot be counted as an elective.
Certification of honors and high honors is primarily based on the quality of the written thesis. To receive honors, a three-person faculty committee must determine that it is strong in each of the following areas: asking and answering a clear sociological research question, engaging deeply with social theory, collecting and analyzing empirical materials, and writing in a well-organized and professional style. To receive high honors, the committee must determine that the thesis is excellent in each area.
At graduation, candidates must have a minimum GPA of 3.50 across all courses counting toward the major overall to qualify for honors.
Sociology and Anthropology Department
For more information about the department, including Faculty, transfer credit, awards, etc., please visit the Sociology and Anthropology Department catalog page.
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