Sociology (SOCI)

An exploration of significant questions and integrative concepts in Sociology, their grounding in the process of scientific discovery and application, and their broader relevance to society. Designed for first-year students. Although topics vary, the courses also seek to improve students’ communication skills beyond the written word.

An exploration of a specific topic in Sociology. A grade of C- or better fulfills the COLL 150 requirement. Although topics vary, the courses emphasize academic writing skills, reading and analysis of texts, and discussion.

This course is an introduction to sociology. It examines historical traditions, classical writers and their theories and basic sociological concepts. Sociological research is used to illustrate how sociologists help us understand the relationships between the social world and the individual.

Selected topics in sociology. The topics to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester. Instructors may require prior approval for registration.

This course explores different theoretical approaches to gender and its intersections with other sources of inequality such as race, class and age. Possible topics include: gender and sexuality, masculinities, gender and the body, and inequalities in the workplace and home.

This course explores inequality and how it is created and maintained. It takes an in-depth look at class and stratification in society, examining inequality in income, wealth, prestige, and power, and the cultural and economic systems that maintain it.

This course examines justice and civility in law and law enforcement. Two interrelated parts are explored: (1) the creation and administration of criminal law; and (2) the development of patterns of behavior that violate criminal laws.

This course Introduces students to the sociological analysis of social problems with an emphasis on the impacts of globalization. Specific topics covered may include economic development and wealth inequality, global warming, global health, and gender inequalities.

This course examines how health, illness, and health care are shaped by society, and vice versa. It includes a focus on how cultural and structural factors influence the practice of medicine across contexts, as well as an exploration of the social causes of illness and mortality. Topics include: the social construction of illness, the social organization of medicine around the world, social responses to illness, social foundations of health behaviors, and the link between social stratification and health disparities.

This course explores problems in society and their social construction. Explores how sociologists approach issues such as inequality by race, class and gender. Other topics covered may include violence, environmental degradation and social deviance.

This course will focus on various institutions in the United States with particular attention paid to the ways that institutional arrangements both reflect and recreate inequality in American society. In addition the course will explore how the seemingly individual attributes of race, class, and gender operate within these larger social arrangements reinforcing already existing systems of advantage and disadvantage.

This course explores classical and modern sociological theories and theorists. Examined also is the development of the discipline of sociology during the 19th and 20th centuries.

This course introduces students to the logics of sociological research, and the diverse research designs that follow. Specifically, students will be introduced to selected qualitative and quantitative research designs that exemplify alternative logical and empirical traditions in sociological research. Students will learn skills necessary to understand the logic of different underlying methods, evaluate the strengths/weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative approaches, and assess whether research findings support stated conclusions. Attention will also be given to assessing the ethical/political implications of research design.

In this course, students learn how to locate quantitative data, critique sources of data, and prepare data for analysis. Students learn descriptive, inferential, and multivariate explanatory techniques of data analysis, with an emphasis on selecting among these techniques and carrying them out using statistical software. Students learn how to interpret quantitative findings and convey them to a variety of audiences.

Students examine and learn the strategies of qualitative sociologists by reading excerpts from qualitative works and reflective writings about doing research. Students gain experience gathering a variety of qualitative data by performing ethnograhpic, comparative historical, archival, interview-based, and/or focus group research.

Selected topics in sociology. The topics to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester. Instructors may require prior approval for registration.

This course examines debates about the effects of population growth on the environment, food supplies, distribution of resources, and standards of living. It explores the causes and consequences of population growth, composition, and distribution in economically developed and underdeveloped areas.

This course examines the media as an institution that influences and is influenced by other institutions. Possible topics include: media industries as complex organizations, media influence on politics, audience reception of media content, and the implications of new media technologies.

This class explores how religious beliefs, practices, and institutional structures are shaped by gender, race, and sexuality. We pay particular attention to the boundaries of sociological methods and inquiry by listening carefully to related critical theological perspectives.

This course examines economic action through a sociological lens. It includes examinations of early and recent features of capitalist development, the relationship of states and economic actors and institutions, labor and labor movements, and globalization. An introduction to the growing field of economic sociology, students will explore the embeddedness of markets, the importance of networks, and how race, class, and gender impact economic action.

This seminar examines changing economic, political, educational and residential conditions of Blacks in the United States in terms of their historic and contemporary consequences. Explores the diverse experiences of Americans of African descent and intra-group tensions (class and gender related).

This course introduces students to the life-course perspective as a theoretical and analytic framework for studying crime and criminal justice. The course will review and evaluate the theoretical, methodological, and practical issues that have emerged from the growing importance of the life-course perspective in the field of criminology.

This class is designed to introduce you to the field of Asian American Studies. Even though Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the United States, they are often left out of discussions about race relations and racial stratification. In this course, we will study how race/ethnicity influences life in the U.S., with a focus on Asian American communities and identities. We begin with a review of the demographic history of Asians and Asian Americans in the United States in order to situate the Asian American experience within broader social and historical contexts, and to highlight the diversity of Asian American communities and families. Key to understanding the demographic history of Asian Americans are the immigration and naturalization laws that shaped who could enter the United States, and who could become citizens. Next, we examine the contemporary experiences of Asian Americans in order to address questions of what it means to be American, how racial/ethnic groups are stratified in the U.S., and how Asian Americans establish their ethnic identities. We also examine the role of Asian Americans in challenging and maintaining social boundaries by examining current legal debates on such topics as affirmative action, military naturalization, and immigration/refugee policies.

This course explores how legal systems construct and regulate gender and sexuality. We will bring the tools from an array feminist, queer, and critical race theory frameworks to bear upon legal arguments to illuminate their limits and contradictions. This course will be anchored in social science theory as well as the lived experiences of marginalized and criminalized populations.

This course explores why gender-based violence and discrimination persist globally despite numerous United Nations instruments of human rights law, including the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the 1995 Beijing Platform of Action, and the UN Women, Peace, and Security framework. To this end, this course will center the experiences and knowledge produced by scholars and activists from historically excluded communities from all over the world.

This course explores non-Western societies, including critical examination of the ways in which non-Western cultures have been interpreted in the West. Topics include gender, class, and race-based stratification; family systems; industrialization; urbanization; international migration; globalization; national cultures as "imagined communities."

This course examines the impact of globalization on the social, cultural and economic development of "non-Western" societies. Case studies will emphasize interconnections between global processes and local people. Possible topics: global economy, transnational migration, human rights, gender, and racial/ethnic diasporas.

This course critically examines the construction and institutionalization of global health using a sociological lens. We analyze concepts and cases related to colonialism; gender and social structure; neoliberalism; environmental health; international institutions; global health data and metrics; intellectual property and pharmaceutical access; and structural inequalities.

This course focuses on how cultural, political, and economic forces shape and have been shaped by families over time. Particular attention is paid to how immigration, medicine, education, aging, gender, and sexuality impact family experiences. Students will have the opportunity to apply course concepts through interview-based research projects.

This course explores the forces that influence people to leave their own countries for the U.S.; how immigrants and their children adapt to their new surroundings; the role of historical and contemporary immigration on race/ethnic relations.

This course examines education as an institution that perpetuates inequality but also serves as a pathway for social mobility. It explores current educational issues such as equality of educational opportunity by race, class and gender, school segregation, and school accountability.

This course examines why some environmental risks gain attention while others are ignored, how communities and individuals respond to environmental hazards, how environmental concern is measured, characteristics of the environmental movement and whether our society can become sustainable.

This course examines economic justice in the United States by engaging students in research and service on the topic of eviction. Students will learn how race, class, and gender shape access to economic opportunity and wellbeing in the United States, investigate why Virginia has such notoriously high eviction rates, consider the consequences of eviction in the community, and evaluate social movement and public policy responses to the Virginia eviction crisis. Broadly speaking, the course aims to enhance your knowledge of the workings of power, privilege, and inequity in U.S. society, past and present, and facilitate critical analysis thereof. Class sessions will emphasize dialogue—sharing our own assessments and questions, listening carefully to others, and engaging in close consideration of alternative viewpoints. Throughout, we will interrogate the meaning of economic justice, and evaluate different strategies for promoting economic justice including the expansion of legal aid to tenants facing eviction. We will devote time in and outside of class to applied community engaged learning.

This course examines different approaches to social change, social movements and collective action. Case studies will be used to explore such topics as; movement formation, strategies and effectiveness, collective identities, counter-cultures, the media and social control.

This course examines the role of work in contemporary society. Social, institutional and cultural influences are explored. Topics examined include: global work issues, paid and unpaid work, gendered segregation of work, discrimination in the workplace, and workplace cultures.

This course examines the emergence of cities, particularly urbanization in the U.S. Explores urban structure from ecological and social perspectives, selected problems associated with urban growth including housing, segregation, education, crime and politics.

Selected topics in sociology. The topics to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester. Instructors may require prior approval for registration.

This seminar examines large bureaucratic organizations and interorganizational systems that profoundly shape the character of our society and our lives. Theories are used to improve our ability to analyze, work within and respond to organizations.

This seminar explores the social, cultural and social-psychological aspects of human aging. Examines the social construction of old age; race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation and aging; age and social inequalities; care work, family and aging.

This seminar provides an in-depth exploration of the literature in the sociology of science and technology. Particular attention is given to how race, gender, class, sexuality, and globalization shape the use of technology and the production of scientific knowledge.

This seminar examines the role of race/ethnicity as factors of social differentiation in various societies using a comparative approach. Topics include: effects of de-colonialism, consequences of nationalization projects, distribution of societal resources and the assimilation/ pluralism paradigms.

This seminar examines how sociologists study sexuality. Topics include: sociological approaches to studying sexuality, the growing prominence of sexual minorities, sexuality throughout life, sexual subcultures, the politics of sexuality, and how sexual norms differ among various social groups.

This interdisciplinary seminar examines the history, culture, social structure, and social processes of justice in the United States. Drawing from literature, history, ethnography, policy analysis, and criminology, the course examines meanings and experiences of crime and justice as American phenomena.

This class uses a sociological lens and examines research addressing racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes. We pay particular attention to the role of public policy in creating and maintaining racial and ethnic disparities in the US broadly as well as within the criminal justice system specifically.

This seminar examines behavior that violates social norms, yet is not necessarily illegal. The course focuses on social control and the emergence of deviant lifestyles.

This seminar examines shifting patterns, experiences, and theoretical perspectives of migration in a context of globalization. Emphasis is on the causes and consequences of migration. Topics may include: race, gender, family, work, immigrants’ rights, changing notions of citizenship and democracy.

In the upper-level seminar, students will use the interdisciplinary lens of border studies to explore the cultural, political, and economic dynamics of immigration and their implications for the larger issues of democratic participation, community, and social membership.

This seminar examines the role of extractive and agricultural industries in processes of globalization and socioeconomic change. Topics include: the commodification of nature; resource scarcity, and global expansionism; unequal ecological exchange; resource wars; and the end of nature.

Social conditions such as poverty, social isolation, segregation, and experiences of discrimination are associated with poorer health outcomes across a range of disease mechanisms. This course will cover health outcomes research from a variety of disciplines, with a particular focus on how social inequality—particularly along lines of class, race, gender, and sexual identity—shapes patterns of health and illness. It will draw on such research to understand how individual illnesses and deaths are caused by social factors and use health outcomes as a window for examining the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts in which health inequalities occur.

The course examines the ways in which human societies and individuals shape the planetary landscape, enhance disease outbreaks, and in turn respond. Students learn about this in a variety of places and do a research project on their own or in groups to examine a specific place, how its landscape has changed, and how this has impacted health and disease.

This seminar explores sociological aspects of mental illness and mental health. It examines the social and cultural sources of mental disorders, definitions, types, distribution within society, and sociological factors in the treatment of mental illness.

What does it mean to “belong” to a society? Who has the “right” to belong and who decides? This 400-level seminar explores questions related to citizenship and belonging in the US and beyond. Topics include (im)migration, indigeneity and settler colonialism, gender, race/ethnicity, and human and civil rights.

This course explores the social meanings and the structural relations of power that influence production, distribution, and consumption of food. It focuses on developing a sociological understanding of the structure of a globalized, industrialized agriculture and food system and the impacts on farmers, consumers and communities.

This course interrogates the meaning of community. Course participants will ask questions about what communities are, where they exist, how they change, the conditions under which they flourish (or do not), and how the perspectives on these various questions have changed over time.

This course explores Black communities of Williamsburg in the early 20th century. The history of these communities has been neglected, and students will have opportunities to interact and collaborate with members of the Black descendant community as they explore theoretical debates and practical efforts to restore erased and/or marginalized Black histories.

Independent readings directed toward conceptual topics and substantive areas in sociology. Students will read materials in their own area of interest in consultation with an appropriate faculty member. Readings will not duplicate areas covered in courses offered in the curriculum.

This course is designed to permit the sociology concentrator to engage in independent research after completing Sociology 352 (Social Research). Working closely with a department faculty member as an advisor, each student will prepare a substantial research paper.

This course is designed as a capstone experience for senior majors. It also fulfills the major writing requirement.

Sociology Honors candidates enroll for both semesters of their senior year. Requirements: oral defense of an honors proposal at the end of the first semester; preparation and presentation of a completed Honors project, satisfactory performance in a comprehensive oral examination focusing on the Honors thesis.

Sociology Honors candidates enroll for both semesters of their senior year. Requirements: oral defense of an honors proposal at the end of the first semester; preparation and presentation of a completed Honors project, satisfactory performance in a comprehensive oral examination focusing on the Honors thesis.

This course is designed to allow students to gain first-hand knowledge through practical experience in real-world settings. Students will be supervised by and will meet regularly with department faculty members. The internship includes readings in related areas of sociology as assigned by supervising faculty as well as a final paper.