Examines: how childhood has been defined and shaped in our own society, historically, looking at the historically changing social construction of childhood in our own society; children's connections to the adult-organized world, where we learn about various socialization theories and how children learn to be members of the culture, as well as how children are linked to the broader society - the school system, the economy and system of social class, the mass media, consumerism; children's own social worlds, as we, all semester, look at how young children experience, respond to, and attempt to

Basic urban sociological concepts. Topics include the development of cities, the emergence of suburbs, the residential segregation of ethnic minorities. Considers trends in the US and abroad.

Literature on health and illness from three sociological perspectives: 1) epidemiological: focus on social and psychological factors as causes of disease; 2) illness-behavior perspectives: focus on variation between persons and groups in their evaluation and response to pain and symptoms; and 3) organizational: emphasis on problems in organization and delivery of medical services. Prerequisite: 100-level SOCIOL course.

Media and technology is all around us: E-mail, TV, Microsoft, Google, blogs, magazines, and phones shape the world we live in and ourselves. This course asks how media technology shapes the most fundamental aspects of our lives, from our education to our interpersonal relationships, our cultural tastes to our politics. We will first develop a critical perspective on the history and usage of media technology, but will then learn how to use the media and technology we talk about with special workshops on Podcasting, Powerpoint, and Wikis in order to put those lessons into sociological practice.

The relation of deviant behavior to acceptable social patterns of behavior. Several forms of deviant behavior, both economic and personal transgressions of acceptable behavior. The causes and conditions for the creation of deviant behavior and the mechanisms for its social control. Prerequisite: 100-level Sociology course.

This course will explore the role that community supervision plays in the U.S. Criminal Justice System. The course will span the evolution of probation services from the 19th Century father of probation, John Augustus, to the modern day focus on evidence-based practices supervision. Likewise, the history of parole will be explored from its origin in England and Ireland to its current practice in community corrections. We will also focus on the federal probation system, which is practiced across the United States and its territories.

Not available at this time

At least since the 1960s, sociology and the other social sciences have largely sidestepped questions of inequality in relation to Asian Americans, simplistically and indiscriminately positing them as a "model minority." This course examines various forms of social inequality between Asian Americans and other groups as well as among Asian Americans, including those based on race, gender, class, citizenship, and sexuality.

An introduction to the major subfields of the profession, the populations social workers serve, the types of interventions they use, the theories behind those interventions, and the obstacles to success.

This course has two main objectives: 1) to provide a theoretical and empirical foundation for the sociological study of law, legal institutions, and legal actors and 2) to enhance critical thinking about the role of law and legal institutions in social life.