Course Catalog for SOCIOLOGY
SOCL 101
Principles of Sociology
The course will deal with questions such as these: What are the underlying causes of our major social problems? Are inequality and the exercise of power by some over others inevitable in all social life? How important in human life are cultural and social factors compared to the influence of biological inheritance, personality and economic constraints? What are the origins of, prospects for, and results of attempts at deliberate social change? To what extent can we realistically expect to achieve our democratic ideals of freedom and equality in contemporary societies? The course addresses the basic concerns, ideas and methods of sociology both as a scientific and a humanistic discipline. (SOIP)
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 201
Research Methods in the Social Sciences
An introduction to social sciences inquiry, stressing what is common as well as what is different in the techniques and procedures employed in the different disciplines. The course seeks to develop the student’s skill in designing original research and in evaluating the significance of already published research findings. Topics include: the interdependence of theory and research; ways of formulating research problems and hypotheses; the variety of research designs (introducing the ideas of statistical as well as experimental control); and an overview of the major procedures of instrument construction, measurement, data collection, sampling, and data analysis. Required laboratory sessions offer experience in each step of the research process. (NUM)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 202
Classical and Contemporary Theory
Critical examination of the major theoretical perspectives current in sociology (structure functionalism, interactionism, conflict theory, exchange theory, and ethnomethodology) and consideration of their implications for core problems: such as social order and social change that concern all sociologists. Also, emphasis upon the methods of theory construction, the relationship between theory and research, and the significance of the classic (e.g., Durkheim’s Suicide) for sociologists now. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 205
Cultural Sociology and the Sociology of Culture
This course introduces students to the sociology of culture (understanding the social influences of social formations) and cultural sociology (understanding cultural influences on social processes). Major themes and issues in cultural sociology are examined to answer the following questions: “What is culture and what does it do?” and “How is culture to be studied?” The course addresses these questions by exploring the seminal issues Marx, Weber, and Durkheim raised about culture. In addition, the course examines how scholars (from a variety of theoretical perspectives) approach these seminal issues. Examples of issues that spring from the work of classical sociologists include the following: “Do media messages shape our view of reality? If so, how?” and “How do class and lifestyle intertwine to reproduce inequality?” The course also deals with substantive questions that have recently arisen including “How is market activity undergirded by cultural assumptions?” and “How does social context shape the production of scientific knowledge?” Special attention is given to how theoretical ideas are translated into empirical projects. Although the course has no specific prerequisites, some passing acquaintance with Durkheim, Weber, and Marx is helpful. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 210
Statistics for the Social Sciences
This course is an introduction to statistical methods, their conceptual underpinnings, and their use in analyzing social science data. Topics include basic presentation and graphing of data, descriptive statistics, probability theory, the normal distribution, one and two sample t-tests and tests of proportions, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, chi-square tests, and an introduction to linear regression. The course will emphasize the logic and practice of statistical analysis as it applies to the social sciences. Students will also learn to carry out basic statistical analysis with the aid of computer software. This course is intended for students who want a practical introduction to statistical methods and who plan to major in a social science. (NUM)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 213
#MeToo: The Sociology of Sexual Violence, Coercion, and Victimization
This course examines sexual assault and harassment through data, theory and praxis. First, students examine empirical evidence regarding the scope of sexual assault (including on college campuses), and how to address claims which challenge the prevalence of sexual violation. In particular, how social scientists measure sexual violence and sexual consent will be illustrated. Second, this course addresses micro- and macro-level 'powerscapes' surrounding sexualized interactions. For example, the interactional study of deference and demeanor between social unequals helped crystallize the term, sexual harassment. Additionally, an intersectional perspective tells us how sexual violation is shaped by interlocking systems of oppressions. Finally, linking theory with praxis, students explore prevention strategies like bystander intervention programs. Classes will include historical and contemporary legal cases discussion, and documentary films. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 214
Racism
A cross-national comparison of racial and ethnic differences as sources of conflict and inequality within and between societies. We will also consider the role of race and ethnicity as a basis for group and national solidarity. Topics will include the persistence of ethnic and racial loyalties in regard to language, marital choice, and politics; a comparison of social mobility patterns among various ethnic and racial groups; ethnicity and race as reactionary or revolutionary ideologies; and the issues and facts regarding assimilation and pluralism in different societies. (SOIP)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 215
Principles of Social Psychology
This course offers an introductory exploration of the field of social psychology, the study of human interaction. Humans are social beings who thrive on healthy connections with others. Studying these connections, interactions, and subsequent effects on human psychology and behavior gives us a more complete and nuanced understanding of ourselves as individuals and society as a whole. Concepts and theories covered in this course include but are not limited to obedience and conformity, prejudice and discrimination, love and attraction, extreme behaviors, and more. A key goal for this course is to develop students' critical thinking skills and research strategies for complex human behavior and various social issues. Mutual respect and civility are expected when taking this course. (SOCW)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 217
Lights, Camera, Society!: Sociology Through Film
For some, society is nothing more than a random collection of people all making individual choices in a particular time and location. Yet, this worldview minimizes and overlooks the manifold levels of social life-- social systems, social interaction, and social selves--and our participation in them. Films represent one avenue of illuminating our social world because they mirror back to us key sociological insights of C. Wright Mills, Karl Marx, W.E.B. DuBois, and George Hebert Mead, for example. Students will apply the work of these scholars to films like Wall-e, Norma Rae, Friday Night Lights, and Ex Machina. Class time will involve discussion of films and applied exercises including an extensive role play simulation of Greenwich Village, 1913: Suffrage, Labor, and the New Woman, and a trip to the Tenement Museum in New York City. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 225
Climate Justice
People living in poverty, people of color, tribal communities, and other marginalized groups are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards and suffer the worst effects of climate change. The overarching goals of the course are to 1) identify the primary structural causes of these inequalities, and 2) study the efforts of the Environmental Justice (EJ) and Climate Justice (CJ) movements to eliminate these inequalities and create more just and sustainable societies. The course draws on core concepts from environmental sociology, political ecology, sociology of race and ethnicity, Indigenous studies, and social movement theory to explain these phenomena. (SOIP)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 227
From Hartford to World Cities: Comparative Urban Dynamics
The 21st century is truly a global urban age characterized by the simultaneous decline and revival of post-industrial cities in the United States and the co-existence of boom and poverty in the rapidly industrializing cities in developing countries, as well as by how globalization is exerting a growing impact on urban places and processes everywhere. This course adopts an integrated and comparative approach to studying the local and global characteristics, conditions, and consequences of the growth and transformation of cities and communities. Using Hartford—Trinity's hometown—as a point or place of departure, the course takes students to a set of world or global cities outside the United States, especially a few dynamic mega-cities in developing countries to explore the differences and surprising similarities among them. (GLB5)
PR: URST101 or CTYP101 or SOCL 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 230
Doing Sociological Field Work
The qualitative research enterprise can involve enormous complexities and conundrums unless the researcher is fully acquainted with qualitative methodology. This course will provide students with a basic understanding of various types of qualitative research procedures. Beginning with the formation of the research question, students will learn step-by-step what the qualitative research process entails. We will explore various approaches that fit into the framework of qualitative research, such as doing ethnography, using archival data, and conducting interviews. Students will also learn how to construct and interpret verbal data, such as interviews and biographies, in addition to learning how to work effectively with visual and observational data. The course will also acquaint students with the various ways in which researchers document, analyze, code, and categorize qualitative data. Enrollment limited. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 241
Mass Media, Popular Culture, and Social Reality
This course examines the integral role mass communication has in social and cultural life. Specifically, it explores how we identify and construct our social identity using media images. This is accomplished by focusing on different types of media content and their effect on individuals and culture, as well as by examining audience response to media content. Other topics covered include the social and economic organization of mass media, development of communication technologies, and sexist and racist stereotypes in the media. (SOIP)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 245
Environmental Sociology
Environmental sociology is a growing subfield of sociology which examines the relationship between social systems and ecosystems. It explores the many ways human societies impact the natural world and how the natural world shapes human societies. The goal of the course is to provide an overview of the central debates in environmental sociology and explore current environmental topics from a sociological perspective. At the end of the course, you will be able to describe key theories in environmental sociology and explain how environmental sociologists look at issues like the global climate crisis, the current mass extinction of animal and plant species, the environmental impacts of food production, energy production, ecotourism, and more. (GLB5)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 246
Sociology of Gender
Sex and gender are used as principles of social organization in all known societies. This course surveys research in the sociological study of gender with the goal of providing students with a theoretical grounding for analyzing gender from a sociological perspective. We will explore how our lives and the world around us are shaped by gender and how gender has been constructed over time. We will further examine how sociological research on gender helps us to understand power and inequality at various levels – institutional, organizational, and interactional—by examining various topics such as gender socialization, reproduction, education, work, and violence. We will also pay attention to how gender reinforces and builds upon other areas of inequality such as social class, race, ethnicity, and age. (SOC)
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 249
Northern Apartheid: Fashioning Jim Crow Across the American Rust Belt
It is a common misconception that racial apartheid in the United States was geographically confined to the American South. This premise often leads people to believe that Northern racism did not exist in America, that the North was a promise land built upon the ideals of abolition. This course will challenge those assumptions. It will explore the ways in which racial apartheid was reimagined through both policy and practice, and mapped on to the United States geographically, as a result of the Great Migration. This course will situate the Northern United States in its true history of bigotry and apartheid through the exploration of the more covert mechanisms that were used to build separate and unequal lived experiences across this nation. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 210 or permission of instructor.
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 253
State, Minds, and Inequalities: Mental Health Politics
Why is our mental health system so fragmented? Are prisons the new carceral asylums? What might a people's psychology look like? Sociologists counter the medical model by examining mental health institutions through structural relations and also understand the concept of mental illness as culture-bound. From state-run asylums, community-based care, and the post-deinstitutionalization era, this course traces shifts in our mental health policies. In particular, this course addresses how power interacts with institutions, mental health policy, the logics of the criminal legal system, and medical debates and expertise which medicalize and control people, especially those marginalized by anti-blackness and ableism. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Seminar
SOCL 260
Sexual Diversity and Society
Sexuality has often been considered to be a natural, biological instinct-a drive that is fueled by hormones, genes or deep psychic impulses. During the last twenty years, however, scholars (including sociologists) have challenged this view of sexuality. Instead, they argue that how we organize our sexuality-our desires, ideas, value systems, practices and identities-are profoundly shaped by social and cultural influences. Although this course focuses on the social construction of homosexuality, we will also examine the many ways that normative as well as nonnormative sexualities are socially constructed. We will also examine the many ways that the social construction of sexuality is informed by class, gender, race and ethnicity. Using materials from sociology and from the many other disciplines that are working in the areas of lesbian and gay studies and queer theory, we will explore the impact that history, economics, social structure and cultural logics have had on sexual behaviors, identities, and belief systems. Enrollment limited. (SOIP)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 272
Social Movements
The objectives of this course are to enhance your ability to think critically about the problems we face in society from a sociological perspective, to analyze the social movements that have developed in response, and to work reciprocally with a local organization to gain perspective on how social movement organizations operate in addition to working alongside them in their efforts. We will primarily utilize five theoretical perspectives to understand social movements: 1.) collective behavior, 2.) resource mobilization, 3.) political opportunity / political process, 4.), new social movement theory, and 5.) network / new media / alternative globalization. We will be concerned with not only how social problems come to be defined as such, but also with who is affected by these problems and how, and with what people are doing, have done, and might continue to do to address unequal distributions of power, money, and other resources. We will examine how individuals have come together to change society through protest, revolution, and other social movements. We will examine U.S-based and international social movements and revolutions historically, and we will also discuss inequalities and oppression as they characterize the national and global climate today. We will consider possibilities for social change and examine the landscape of current social movement responses. Students in this course will work with a Hartford-based community organization that is fighting for social justice, in coordination with the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER). We will work closely as a class with this organization and apply sociological theoretical perspectives to analyze their work, learn what is important to them and how they function, and help them advance their efforts to achieve their goals. Through working with a local group, we will deepen our understanding of local and global social issues and gain real-world experience as social justice-oriented sociologists on the ground in Hartford. (SOGI)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 303
Sociology of Education
This course will examine and apply a sociological perspective to education and schooling. It will examine the ways that formal schooling influences individuals and the ways that culture and social structures affect educational institutions. It begins by surveying texts which look at education and schooling from different viewpoints within sociological theory (including but not limited to: functionalism, rationalization, conflict theory, cultural studies, feminism, and intersectionality).The course then examines contemporary issues affecting US and international educational systems, considers proposed reforms, and discussed alternatives to schooling. In addition to weekly written assignments, students will complete a secondary data analysis project related to an educational topic of their choice. (SOIP)
PR: EDUC200 or SOCL101
1.00 units, Seminar
SOCL 312
Social Class and Mobility
This course is an introduction to the theory and research on stratification and mobility in modern societies. Every society distributes resources unequally. This distribution affects not only economic outcomes such as wages, profits, and material well being, but also social and political outcomes such as protest, voting behavior, and self-esteem. This course will explore why this occurs, the types of inequalities that exist, and the consequences of inequality for the distribution of power and for democratic processes in American society. Specific topics include class, occupational, race and gender inequalities, and the social, psychological, and cultural consequences of inequality. (SOIP)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 313
Student Movements
The goal of this course is to better understand conflicts over "official knowledge" and curriculum in schools, libraries, and universities. The course begins with key theoretical readings from the sociology of education and critical curriculum studies, ethnic studies, and social movement studies. In the second part of the course, we will delve into the history and politics of ethnic studies, paying particular attention to student struggles for Black, Chicana/o, and Puerto Rican studies during the 1960s and 1970s. The third and final part of the course examines institutional responses to demands for ethnic studies, current conflicts over curriculum and ethnic studies, and an in-depth look at Connecticut's recent landmark legislation requiring that public high schools offer an elective in African American and Latinx studies. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Seminar
SOCL 315
Colonialism and Society
European colonialism caused catastrophic societal transformations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and activists have identified U.S. settler colonialism as an ongoing structure that continues to dispossess Indigenous nations of their land and sovereignty. In this course we will explore the origins of colonialism and its relationship to capitalism, the social changes brought about by colonialism, colonialism's enduring impact of social life, as well as anti-colonial thought and action from the 20th century to the present. We will also take a critical look at sociology's relationship to colonialism and the current movement towards a "post-" or "de-colonial" sociology. (SOIP)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 316
Global Gender Inequalities
This course broadly addresses women’s low status and power worldwide. Topics include issues such as son preference, gendered violence, maternal health and reproductive rights, sexual rights, work and household labor, globalization, politics, human rights, and women’s global activism. Utilizing a transnational sociological feminist perspective, students learn how gender inequality intersects with not only culture but also nationalism, racism, and economic injustice in various countries and regions of the world (Southeast Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America). At several key points, students engage in critical comparison between examples of gender oppression and exploitation observed in both the United States and other societies (i.e., gendered violence), which reveal a false binary in the discourse of progress often drawn between “us” and “them.” (SOGI)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 320
Urban Crisis: Racial Apartheid, Rust-Belt Decline and Suburban Revanchism
Using the Flint Water Crisis and the Detroit Bankruptcy as a case for how "crisis" is exploited to greenlight colonial revanchist projects, students will examine the ways in which state and regional actors use the seemingly colorblind processes of gentrification and regionalization, to "reclaim" the city from Black and brown people in order to insure the continuation of racial apartheid across this nation. Additionally, this course tasks students with rooting both Hartford, CT and their own communities in both the historical pretexts and contemporary mechanisms used to uphold racial apartheid in this country, with the hopes of developing solutions to address issues of inequity in urban spaces. (SOIP)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Seminar
SOCL 325
Sociology of Law
This course offers a sociological perspective on the law, as well as the causes and consequences of the legal system. Topics covered include a comparison of scientific and legal modes of inquiry, the uses and importance of social science findings in judicial and policy decision-making, social factors affecting jury selection and jury decisions, racial and class inequalities and the law, law as a form of social control, legal organizations and professions, and law as an instrument of social change. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in a prior Sociology course or permission of the instructor. This course is not open to first-year students.
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 336
Race, Racism, and Democracy
This course is designed to explore various efforts to reconcile ideals of equality with persistent and perpetual forms of racial oppression. By examining the history and culture of the U.S. and other democratic societies, this course analyzes the central paradox that emerges when societies maintain racial inequality but articulate principles of equality, freedom, and justice for all. Hence we will examine the differences between what people say and what they actually do, and how congruencies and incongruencies between the structure of institutions and culture force one to distinguish myth from reality. This is done so that students can better understand how the structure and process of politics govern the everyday lives of oppressed racial groups in capitalist democracies. (GLB5)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 342
Sociology of Religion
An examination of the significance of religion for social life, using major sociological theories of religion, supplemented by material from anthropology and psychology. The course focuses on how religious beliefs and practices shape the world views and behavior of humans and influence the development of social structure. The following topics are examined: the origins of religion, magic and science, rituals, religion and the economy, women and religion, and religions of Africans in diaspora. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 346
Mental Health and Criminal Justice
This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexities inherent in improving the mental health of justice involved persons. We will examine the relationship between complex social factors including race, education and socioeconomic status to understand why some populations are more vulnerable to justice involvement. Our restorative justice approach includes the role of law enforcement, courts and the corrections systems, probation and parole. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Seminar
SOCL 351
Society, State, and Power
This course examines the sources of power and influence in Western nations. Power flows to people who command a legal, political, or institutional monopoly over valued human resources. We will examine the development of these monopolies, the organizations that perpetuate these monopolies, and the consequences that these monopolies have for our personal and political lives as well as for notions of democracy, solidarity, and freedom. In this respect, we will focus much of our attention on the institutions of state and economy in U.S. society and evaluate the different theoretical perspectives that explain how these institutions confer power on some and deny that power to others. Specific topics include power struggles around the right to representation, for control in the workplace, against racism and discrimination, and over policies to aid the poor. (SOIP)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 363
The Individual and Society
An introduction to microsociology. Topics to be considered include the self and symbolic interaction, conversational analysis, rhetorical and frame analysis, and the social construction of reality. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Lecture
SOCL 390
Medicine, Health, & Society
This course challenges common views of physical and mental health and illness, and encourages students to understand medicine and embodiment from a sociological perspective. Topics include the historical production and medical control of the human body and populations, sociocultural and structural determinants of health and wellness, the stratification of health outcomes via race, class, gender, sexual orientation and other social variables, the social construction of mental health and addiction, current and controversial issues in medical care and health insurance coverage, the role of corporate medicine in the commercialization of physical, psychological, and sexual health, the social construction of ability/disability, and popular representations of neuroscience, psychology, and medical research in the media and their effects on the categorization of "healthy" identities, bodies, and lifestyles. (SOC)
Prerequisite: C- or better in Sociology 101
1.00 units, Seminar
SOCL 399
Independent Study
Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment. (SOC)
1.00 units min / 2.00 units max, Independent Study
SOCL 410
Senior Seminar: Guided Research
This course provides a capstone to the sociology major by guiding students through the various stages of the research process. Students develop a research topic, situate that topic in the relevant substantive areas of the discipline, refocus that topic in light of past research and theoretical thinking on the topic, develop a research design best suited to the questions to be addressed, and collect and analyze data to answer those questions. In the process of this guided research, students review and assess the state of the discipline as it pertains to their particular interests, conduct literature reviews before the data collection process to focus their questions and after the data collection process to situate their specific findings in the discipline. In conjunction with the social science data specialist, students explore different methodologies to address their questions and analyze the data. (WEB)
This course is open only to senior Sociology majors.
1.00 units, Seminar
SOCL 420
Senior Seminar: Special Topics
The course provides a capstone to the sociology major by focusing on a specific subject, a new substantive area, theoretical approach, or neglected paradigm of the discipline. Students read broadly on the topic, discuss the implications of the topic for the state of sociology as a science, as a field of critical inquiry, and as a vehicle for social change, give presentations on some aspect of the topic, and conduct independent research that relates the topic to trends in the discipline. (WEB)
1.00 units, Seminar
SOCL 466
Teaching Assistantship
Credit does not count toward the major. Submission of the special registration form, available online, and the approval of the instructor are required for enrollment. Guidelines are available in the College Bulletin. (0.5 - 1 course credit)
0.50 units min / 1.00 units max, Independent Study
SOCL 490
Research Assistantship
This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to undertake substantial research work with a faculty member. Students need to complete a special registration form, available online, and have it signed by the supervising instructor.
0.50 units min / 1.00 units max, Independent Study
SOCL 498
Senior Thesis Part 1
Written report on original research project. Students should consult with the faculty supervisor before registration, i.e., during the previous spring term. Required of all candidates for honors; elective for others. Submission of the special registration form and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for each semester of this year-long thesis. (2 course credits to be completed in two semesters.) (WEB)
1.00 units, Independent Study
SOCL 499
Senior Thesis Part 2
Continuation of written report on original research project. Students should consult with the faculty supervisor before registration, i.e., during the previous spring term. Required of all candidates for honors; elective for others. Submission of the special registration form and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for each semester of this year-long thesis. (2 course credits to be completed in two semesters.) (WEB)
1.00 units, Independent Study