Sociology (SO)
SO-100 Introduction to Sociology: Exploring Our Social World
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW, TLC
The nature of group behavior and social interaction viewed through analysis of structure, norms, and values.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
SO-110 Cultural Anthropology
Cross-cultural analysis of the human capacity for adaptation and technological and ideological development. Significant field studies will be examined.
3 Credits
SO-190 Sport and Society
LASC Categories: HBS, USW, DAC, DIV
Analysis of sport as a social system. The implication of sport within interrelational contexts of other social systems.
Every year. 3 Credits
SO-193 First Year Seminar Sociology
LASC Categories: FYS
Introductory level course covering topics of special interest to first year students. Offered only as a First Year Seminar.
3 Credits
SO-199 Special Topics in Sociology
Foundations in a selected sub-field of sociology ; announcement made at pre-registration time.
3 Credits
SO-200 Contemporary Social Problems
LASC Categories: HBS, DIV, USW
This course studies how social problems come to be: students learn about what constitutes a social problem and who defines a social problem? Why do some social problems receive so much attention, while others are ignored? We will examine these questions drawing on case studies of contemporary issues, like inequality, racism, immigration, mass incarceration, health care, climate change, drugs, and more.
Every year. 3 Credits
SO-201 Prejudice, Privilege, and Power
LASC Categories: DIV, TLC, HBS, ICW
This course is an introduction to the social psychological foundations of identity and its relation to prejudice, privilege, and power in micro-interactions and social structures. Students will engage with social psychological understandings of categorizations and their implications at the individual and structural levels.
Other or on demand and other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-207 First Generation to College: Campus Diversity and College Inequality
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW, DAC
First generation to college is a term for the increasing numbers of students who are first in their families to attend college. As college has been increasingly framed as the primary mechanism for social and economic mobility, college attendance has reached historic highs for nearly every demographic including for historically marginalized communities. This has created increasingly diverse campuses and it has increasingly bound colleges to broader patterns of inequality. This course examines the racial and economic politics facing first generation to college students as well as the structural inequalities shaping college and its promises of social and economic mobility.
Other or on demand and other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-215 Medical Sociology
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW
Prerequisites: SO-100
The structure of health care delivery systems and levels of health care personnel, patients, and families of patients.
3 Credits
SO-220 Sociology of the Family
LASC Categories: HBS
A comparative approach to the study of the structure of family systems with emphasis on changing patterns of family life.
Every year. 3 Credits
SO-228 Latinx Experiences in the U.s. and the World
LASC Categories: TLC, USW, DAC, DIV
This course surveys current theoretical approaches used to explain Latina/o experiences and provides an empirical overview of how social institutions affect the daily lives of Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. and the world.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-230 Political Sociology
LASC Categories: HBS, GP
Prerequisites: SO-100
Foundations of social movements in political phenomena, social conditions, and emerging political institutions; the structural basis of social change and politics.
Other or on demand and every year. 3 Credits
SO-235 Music and Social Change
LASC Categories: CA, HBS, TLC, ICW
Using case studies, social theory and historical materials, this course explores the role of music in social change.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-240 Sociology of Education
Prerequisites: SO-100
Study of modern educational systems, emphasizing the social, political and economic factors that influence its organization and its functions.
3 Credits
SO-250 Sociology of Religion
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW, DAC
Prerequisites: SO-100
A cross-cultural comparative study of the nature of religious institutions as systems of socially determined and socially relevant beliefs and practices.
3 Credits
SO-255 Sociology of Disability
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW, DAC
Using theory and practical application, this course explores the impact of impairment and disability within a societal context.
3 Credits
SO-270 Social Theory I
LASC Categories: TLC, GP
Prerequisites: SO-100
Fundamental concepts and intellectual traditions, especially the contributions of Comte, Spencer, Marx, Toennes, Durkheim, and Simmel.
3 Credits
SO-275 Social and Behavioral Statistics
LASC Categories: QAC
Prerequisites: SO-100 and any 200 Sociology course. SO 280 recommended
Data tabulation; graphing; measurement of central tendency, variability, and correlation; hypothesis testing applied to psychological and sociological data. Hand and computer analysis.
3 Credits
SO-280 Research Methods of Sociology
Prerequisites: SO-100
An analysis of the research function in sociology; the conduct of research appropriate to undergraduate students; the formal presentation of research papers.
3 Credits
SO-285 Race, Class and Gender
LASC Categories: HBS, DAC
An introduction to dominant-minority group relations through the investigation of the patterns and dynamics of differentiation, inequality and discrimination.
3 Credits
SO-295 Sociology of Death & Dying
LASC Categories: DAC, HBS, ICW
Prerequisites: SO-100
The course explores the sociological concepts and perspectives as they relate to death and dying and how American society deals with illness, dying, death and bereavement.
3 Credits
SO-299 Special Topics in Sociology Concepts, Realities and Representations
Intermediate level topics.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-300 Social Change
Prerequisites: 2 Sociology courses at 200 level, EN-102.
A study of the conditions, patterns, and consequences of social transformation with emphasis on institutional and individual patterns of adjustment and adaptation.
3 Credits
SO-303 Environmental Sociology
LASC Categories: DIV, GP, HBS
This course explores the relationship between environment and society through a focus on political ecology, sociological dimensions of environmental crisis and dynamics of social change. Prerequisite: 30 completed credits.
Other or on demand and every year. 3 Credits
SO-305 Applied Sociology
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW
This course approaches Applied Sociology through a project based learning experience incorporating elements of a Community Based Research Process and/or Public Sociology. While applied topics of the course will change from semester to semester, this course will explore the theories and methods of applied sociology, potentially including ethnographic, institutional, and participatory research techniques in community settings.
3 Credits
SO-307 Puerto Rican Diaspora
LASC Categories: DIV, GP, USW
This course surveys a wide range of Puerto Rican experiences and provides an overview of how social structures shape the daily lives of Puerto Ricans in the United States. Through a focus on diasporas, the course centers on migration as a key experience within Puerto Rican imaginaries. The course explores the sociological themes of identity, race, ethnicity, language, gender, sexuality, social class, and stratification through the lens of Puerto Rican struggle and resistance. Puerto Rican diasporic communities are examined at the intersections of colonialism, modernity, and neoliberal globalization. Prerequisite: 30 completed credits.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-312 Youth, Race, and Public Space
LASC Categories: DIV, HBS, ICW
The course studies young people as agents of social change through key debates and local/global case studies across the academic subfields of youth studies, critical race theory, and public space scholarship. Students in this course engage with youth experiences of increased surveillance and regulation in public space as well as creative forms of subversion and resistance. Through the discussion and analysis of cutting-edge scholarship, students in this course craft critical ethnographies at the multiple intersections of youth, race, and public space. Prerequisite: 30 completed credits.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-315 Social Movements
Prerequisites: two Sociology courses at the 200 level
Processes by which new norms and forms of social organization emerge from group behavior, aggregate behavior, and social movements.
3 Credits
SO-318 Worcester and Its Discontents
LASC Categories: DIV, HBS, ICW
This course studies the city of Worcester from a sociological perspective focused on settler colonialism, industrial capitalism and neoliberal gentrification. Students learn about the systematic erasure of indigenous knowledge as crucial to the formation of the capitalist city. Students make key connections between settler colonialism and the contemporary displacement of working-class communities of color in Worcester. The course chronicles lived experiences of economic restructuring within Worcester that signal a meaningful shift from industrial powerhouse to postindustrial theme park. Prerequisite: 30 completed credits.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-320 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
LASC Categories: GP, USW, DAC, WAC, DIV
This course focuses on historical and contemporary discussions of Race and Ethnicity within Sociology. The course will familiarize students with central threads in the study of race and ethnicity and work to identify gaps, particularly as they are relevant for the academic and social sphere of today. Prerequisite: 30 completed credits.
Every year. 3 Credits
SO-332 Contemporary Immigrant Experiences
LASC Categories: GP, USW
Prerequisites: EN-102.
In this course students will examine immigrants' lived experiences in the U.S., and learn about the legal systems immigrants must navigate and their experiences with incorporation into different areas of society. Students will be exposed to current debates in the field and engage with theories of immigration, immigration policies, and other laws that shape immigrants' lives. This course will facilitate an understanding of how communities respond to practices that curtail immigrants' basic rights as they navigate intersecting structures of power in American society. Students will be encouraged to look at local examples to make connections between policies, theories, and debates.
3 Credits
SO-340 Social Psychology
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW, TLC
Prerequisites: 6 credits in Sociology.
This course explores the interplay between the individual and society by examining how social factors shape our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. We will investigate the concept of the self as a product of society, as well as the self as a force in society.
Other or on demand and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
SO-350 Wealth, Poverty, and Power
LASC Categories: HBS, WAC, DAC, DIV, GP, TLC, USW
Sociological examination of economic stratification; focuses on the translation of class into power via politics, education and collective struggle. Prerequisite: 30 completed credits.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-355 Gender and Sexuality
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW, DAC
This course introduces the sociologist study of gender and sexuality. This course examines how social institutions and cultural norms construct particular gender roles and sexual identities within society.
3 Credits
SO-360 Urban Sociology
LASC Categories: DIV, HBS, ICW, GP
A cross-cultural study of urban social systems and the phenomena and problems connected with the planning process. Prerequisite: 30 completed credits.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
SO-375 Contemporary Social Theory
Prerequisites: SO-270
Analytical devices, conceptual schemes, and models used by contemporary theorists with emphasis on structural sociology.
3 Credits
SO-400 Independent Study
For advanced sociology majors only; topic to be approved by an independent study advisor. (Requires eight prior courses in sociology.)
1-6 Credits
SO-408 Directed Study
Directed study offers students, who because of unusual circumstances may be unable to register for a course when offered, the opportunity to complete an existing course with an established syllabus under the direction and with agreement from a faculty member.
1-3 Credits
SO-410 Field Work
Data collection based on participant observation within a social service organization; assignment approval by field-work advisor. (Requires eight prior courses in Sociology.)
1-6 Credits
SO-420 Seminar in Sociology
Prerequisites: 9 credits from department Sociology.
Advanced study topics in selected areas of Sociology.
1-3 Credits
SO-425 Global Capitalism
LASC Categories: HBS, GP, WAC
Prerequisites: EN-102
This class will look at the development of capitalism from an historical, sociological, and critical perspective and consider the ways capitalism has made and unmade the world. Themes may include: imperialism and the underdevelopment of the Global South, decolonization struggles, global urbanization, global financial institutions, global labor struggles, war and capitalism, global environmental crises and the struggle over resources, and market hegemony.
Every year. 3 Credits