33 courses with the subject SOC, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
SOC 1050Introduction to Deaf Studies3
Credit(s) Offered: every other Spring - odd years Utilizing a multi-disciplinary perspective to emphasize issues and values impacting the American and international Deaf Communities, topics covered include: causes of hearing loss, speech and hearing process, manual sign systems, professions in the field of D/deafness, current events in the Deaf community, aspects of deaf communication, technology and its impact on communication, educational philosophies, and history of the Deaf in the United States and globally. Cross-listed with ASL 1050
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every semester The course encourages the student to critically analyze the social world, which they inhabit. Major theoretical orientations and major concepts of the discipline are reviewed. Social institutions such as family, education, and medicine are examined, and different research techniques used by sociologists are introduced.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other year This course provides an in-depth examination of poverty in the U.S. and its ramifications, using a sociological perspective. It analyzes critically the meaning of poverty, the distribution, the official measure and perspectives on the causes of poverty. In addition, the course explores the consequences of poverty, and discusses welfare reform and attitudes toward government assistance to the poor. Although the course focuses particular attention on the U.S., poverty in the developing world is also discussed.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: may be less than every two years This course looks at disability from a sociological perspective. How people with various disabilities understand and live their lives are often predicated on notions of health, rehabilitation and infirmity. To derive answers to the many questions that disability presents we will explore how sociological theories and perspectives can be applied to disability as a concept and its lived reality. During the semester we will examine the concept of disability and its historical roots, looking at the structural issues that have impacted people with disabilities. We will look at causes of disability. We will examine the activism of people with disabilities. We will also examine research and theories that seek to problematize the notion of disability and its relationship to institutional frameworks and medical initiatives. This course will examine these issues via film, television, radio, the internet and written texts along with classroom interaction.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other year Throughout the 20th, and now the 21st century, consumerism has increasingly come to dominate American society. Shopping, buying, having, showing and wearing are central aspects of who we are, who we dream of being, how we interact with each other, and how we affect the larger environment. This course is an overview of contemporary consumer society. It draws from classic sociological texts, as well as recent writings about consumer society from the new sociology of consumers and consumption. Interdisciplinary material from economics, history, anthropology and marketing is included as well. It presents many of the key issues and controversies surrounding consumerism by providing multiple points of view and asking students to make up their own minds about issues.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) This course uses a sociological perspective to examine issues relevant to firearms ownership and use. Topics covered will include demographics of – and reasons for – firearms ownership; meanings of firearms to different groups; firearms ownership as a potentially stigmatized status; and effects of firearms laws on public safety and well-being.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: Spring This course examines the role of power, inequality, and culture in shaping environmental outcomes, and emphasizes the importance of environmental justice. It challenges students to reflect on the complacency of contemporary life and its environmental consequences.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
IDIS 1250 or SOC 1100 or permission from the instructor Meets
SOC 2300Sociology of Aging3
Credit(s) Offered: annually This course examines the socially defined age, the aging process and aging societies. It considers such topics as age roles, the status of the elderly across cultures and across history, and the downward mobility of the elderly in American society.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other Spring - even years This course provides a historical and contemporary perspective of Deaf Culture using a socio-cultural model. Students examine Deaf Culture and make comparisons and contrasts with other cultures. Topics include communication, language, cultural identity and values, group norms, traditions and the worldview of deaf people. Cross-listed with ASL 2350
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
ASL 1000 or permission of instructor, and SOC 1100 Meets
SOC 2440Urban Sociology3
Credit(s) Offered: every other year This course provides a survey of urbanization and the various problems associated with contemporary urban life. Computer-assisted analysis of large-scale data sets helps students explore the issues in planning development. A cross-cultural and historical approach to American urban life is emphasized.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: annually This course provides a comparative, historical and interdisciplinary introduction to interactions between racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. and other societies. Students explore social attitudes and consequences of racial and ethnic difference, and examine how such differences affect the lives of American people. Consideration is given to the political, economic, legal and socio-cultural experiences of various minority groups.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other year A survey of the peoples and cultures of Africa is the major focus of this course. This course examines the social and cultural systems of groups including the Ibo, Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani, Kpelle, Bantu Tiriki, Ganda, Jie, Rwanda, Swazi and Pastoral Somali. Cross-listed with AAST 2510
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other year In this course, students explore sociological issues revolving around drug and alcohol use and abuse in the American society. Topics of discussion include the socio-historical origins of drugs and alcohol use from a cross-cultural perspective; effects of formal organizations such as drug rehabilitation and alcoholic centers on drug users; and push factors such as family, work, and economic pressures, as they relate to chemical dependency. Also investigated are society’s drug problems in terms of legal and illegal drug use; medical versus recreational use of psychoactive drugs, alcoholic beverages, and tobacco; and definitions and classifications of psychoactive substances.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: Spring This course provides a survey of the socioeconomic characteristics and features of the developing societies in the context of historical and contemporary experiences of those societies. One of the primary objectives of the course is to critically analyze how the socioeconomic characteristics of the less developed societies affect and are affected by their relationships with developed Western societies and their implications for development. The role of women in development and the impact of development on women also are examined.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other year The course emphasizes the structure and function of religious organizations, beliefs and practices. Current issues in American religion are also explored.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other year The course analyzes family structures and functions. Current trends along with practical solutions to problems of family living are discussed.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: annually The course examines underlying dynamics and consequences of contemporary social conditions believed to be both undesirable and changeable. Strategies for resolving social problems in the environmental, economic, family, medical, political, and legal spheres are analyzed and compared.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: annually In this course, students explore the effects of stratification on health status and health care. Topics discussed in class include communication between physicians and patients of different socio-cultural backgrounds; formal organizational studies of health facilities such as hospitals, clinics, or doctors’ offices; social factors and their relation to chronic illness; and the sociology of mental illness. Also investigated are the relationships between doctors and nurses, the organization and utilization of health services, the comparative examination of health systems either within a society or in a cross-cultural perspective, and the perception of illness as deviant or aberrant behavior.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every semester This course provides a survey of the field of criminology, including such topics as theories of crime; criminal statistics; homicide, rape and property crimes; white collar crimes and corporate deviance; and debates on punishment and rehabilitation.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: less than every two years This course examines major sociological theories of delinquency including an analysis of empirical studies. Attention is also given to the juvenile judicial system and proposed treatment programs.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other year This course provides an introduction to the ways sociologists think about educational goals, processes and outcomes. Students investigate a variety of historical, theoretical and substantive issues, including the development of the U.S. public education systems, the distribution of education in society, the players in the system, the influence of social factors on educational experiences and educational reform.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: Fall The course provides a critical examination of the dominant perspectives and dimensions of social stratification, using a cross-cultural, historical and interdisciplinary framework. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of U.S. class structure and the effects of social stratification on life chances of groups.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: Fall The course introduces students to the research methods used to study the social world with a focus on those that are qualitative in nature. It emphasizes the connections among social theory, methodology, technique, and ethical practice. Topics covered in class include research design, literature reviews, field work, interviews, and data analysis.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: Spring This course introduces students to quantitative (numerically-based) methods of studying the social world, as well as the types of statistics typically used in sociological analysis. Through taking this course, students will learn how to design and utilize basic methods and techniques of quantitative data-gathering, as well as how to understand, apply, and interpret basic social statistics. Students will use both manual and computer software-based approaches in their work.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
MATH 1700 , SOC 1100 and sophomore, junior or senior status
SOC 3050Social Research Methods3
Credit(s) Offered: Spring This course equips students with skills in quantitative and qualitative research methods. Students will learn how to design and apply methods such as surveys, interviews, and content analysis to investigate social issues, while also gaining handson experience in literature reviews, data collection, and data interpretation.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
SOC 1100 and one from MATH 1100 , MATH 1700 , MATH 1800 . Sophomore, junior, or senior status. Meets
SOC 3100Gender and Society3
Credit(s) Offered: every other year This seminar course examines the social construction of gender and gender inequality at the individual, interactional, and macro levels of society. It employs an intersectional approach that considers gender in relation to race, social class, sexual identity, and other social factors.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
SOC 1100 and sophomore, junior or senior standing Meets
SOC 3110Sociology of Sexualities3
Credit(s) Offered: every other year This course examines the social construction of sexualities. Students will learn about sex practices, sexual identity and sexual orientation from a sociological point of view. Topics including sexuality in mass media and the social control of sexuality are explored through a variety of readings, class discussions and writing projects.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
SOC 1100 and sophomore, junior, or senior standing Meets
SOC 3160Social Theory3
Credit(s) Offered: Fall The course studies social philosophy precursors, sociological scientific theorists from Comte to Parsons and contemporary schools of thought in Sociology.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: every other year This course focuses on law as a practical resource. Students examine how the availability of law is distributed in society, what the law provides for those who use it, and how the law has been influenced by certain trends of use. Students study ways in which the law has been analyzed and discover the nature of legal evolution and social change.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) This course is a program of study designed for in-depth learning in a specific topic for which no regular course is available. This Independent Study is only for Sociology majors and may be taken no more than two times with permission of faculty. Independent Study requires approval of the professor and of the Sociology Curriculum Committee.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
1
Credits (max)
6
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Credit(s) Offered: annually The Internship is arranged in consultation with faculty and carried out under the auspices of an approved agency or program at the local, state or federal level. This experience is designed to develop skills in sociological practice, principles and/or research. Students are encouraged to discuss Internship plans with their advisors early in their university experience, as there are specific procedures and required courses.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
6
Credits (max)
6
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Junior or senior standing and 2.5 cumulative average in the major, program approval
SOC 4965Internship in Sociology9
Credit(s) Offered: as needed The Internship is arranged in consultation with faculty and carried out under the auspices of an approved agency or program at the local, state or federal level. This experience is designed to develop skills in sociological practice, principles and/or research. Students are encouraged to discuss Internship plans with their advisors early in their university experience, as there are specific procedures and required courses.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
9
Credits (max)
9
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
Junior or senior standing, 2.5 cumulative average in the major, and program approval
SOC 4970Internship in Sociology12
Credit(s) Offered: annually The Internship is arranged in consultation with faculty and carried out under the auspices of an approved agency or program at the local, state or federal level. This experience is designed to develop skills in sociological practice, principles and/or research.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
12
Credits (max)
12
Credit unit
Credit(s)
Type
course
Edition
2025-2026
Catalog
Fitchburg State University 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
