44 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 101Introduction to Sociology3.0
Introduction to what sociology is and what it studies. Topics will include socialization, group dynamics, gender roles, structural inequality, race and ethnic group relations, stratification, deviance, and population studies. Special attention will be paid to core social institutions (e.g. family, education, religion, political and economic systems) as well as theories and methods that guide sociological investigation.
Provides a sociological analysis into the causes and possible cures for a variety of social problems. Focuses on topics such as unemployment, crime, poverty, corporate concentration of wealth and power, racism, immigration, health care, and environmental degradation.
This seminar draws on literature in sociology and science and technology studies (STS) to explore the social dimensions of medicine, health and illness. In this seminar, we will explore how definitions, experiences, and treatments of health and illness are shaped by cultural contexts, inequalities, institutional practices, and health care policies. We will examine social trends in medical knowledge and practice as well as how illness categories are created, negotiated, and resisted. As a participant in this course, you will gain the ability to assess changes in the social organization of medicine as well as think critically about the role that different kinds of expertise play in medical knowledge.
Examines cultural diversity, racial and ethnic identity; racism, discrimination and prejudice, as well as minority-majority group relations both globally and at home. Special attention will be paid to the history and present status of various major racial and ethnic groups in the United States including African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans as well as "white" ethnicities.
Examines the transformation of work in 21st century America. Focuses on problems of the "post industrial" workforce: big service sector, shrinking real wages, huge growth in temporary and part-time jobs. Special attention to global factors affecting the career path of recent college graduates.
Examines structure and functions of the family and the roles, relationships, problems, and opportunities of family living from a variety of perspectives. Uses lectures, field experiences, and discussion.
This course examines how sexualities are socially produced and re-produced. Topics of study include gender and sexuality; changing social meanings of variant sexual orientations and practices; the effect of birth-control technologies, sexually transmitted infections and sexual violence on sexual norms; the commodification of sex and the social control of sex.
During this course, we will explore the health professions from a sociological perspective. We will apply major sociological theories about the formation of professions, the socialization of its members, and the dynamics of change in the professions to medical doctors, nurses, and the allied health professions. We will also examine the implications for policy based on this research.
Provides an overview of the contemporary process of urban change and of key problems and policy issues. Concentrates on five concerns: the evolution of urban economics; life and culture in the city today; race, ethnicity, gender, and class of urban populations; urban politics and social forces; and new directions in urban development.
This class will provide an in-depth exploration of sociological research design and qualitative methods. Participants will grapple with issues of sampling, validity, human subjects ethics, recruitment, generalizability, and extendibility. Students will learn how to design interview guides and conduct research interviews. Introductory information on focus groups, fieldwork, action research, and archival research will be presented. Students will also learn how to use NVivo, a software package, to analyze interview data, including mixed-methods applications.
This course provides an introduction to the quantitative methods, techniques and statistical analysis of social science data. The first part of the course broadly covers methodology, including research design, measurement, sampling, and ethical considerations in research. The second part of the course provides a practical, "hands-on" experience with data management, organization, and analysis of social science data, as well as the appropriate interpretation, communication, and presentation of statistical results. Topics include: frequency distributions, cross-tabulations, T-Tests, correlation and bivariate regression, inferences, and hypothesis/significance testing. Statistical software, such as SPSS or R Open-Source, are used for the analysis of data from a variety of social science datasets. While no strong.
This course examines environmental problems through a sociological lens, and focuses on the ways that social practices, social structures and economic and political systems drive environmental change, degradation and preservation. We will explore the following questions: Why do humans keep re-creating environmental problems that threaten human and ecosystem survival even with the development of advanced technologies? What are the social barriers that stand in the way of solving the environmental problems of the twenty-first century? What has kept environmental movements from enjoying more success?.
This course examines the relationship between urban spaces and sexuality. The course focuses on three themes: the role of sexual and gender minorities in the city; sexual commerce like prostitution and sex work; and the social construction of city problems as sexual and family issues. Urbanization allowed the creation of new urban environments allowing alternative stigmatized sexualities to flourish, while simultaneously revealing sexual inequalities through stigmatization, policing, and divestment. Course topics include: how urban spaces enabled the formation of gay cultures and the role of sexual minorities in gentrification; sex work, sex businesses, and policing; and the social construction of "urban family decline" and questioning "inner-city" single motherhood as a social problem.
The course examines the cultural and social aspects of sport. Students will be introduced to sport as a ubiquitous institution in American society as well as the essential characteristics and functions of sport from both a sociological and historic perspective.
Introduces the multidisciplinary scientific study of the causes and consequences of aging, its history, methods of research, major theoretical approaches, and empirical findings.
This course provides an overview of theoretical and empirical work on the social dimensions of global climate change. It focuses on large-scale social institutions and organizational forms as driving forces of climate change in an unequal world, and how these driving forces condition societal solutions to the climate crisis. It will cover topics that are national, international, and global in scope. Attention is also given to the intersection between climate change and other major social issues.
This course examines the rise, fall, and change of urban neighborhoods. Students will be introduced to key debates surrounding processes such as neighborhood disinvestment/decline, urban renewal, and gentrification. Course content will focus on the consequences of neighborhood change for urban communities. Students will learn to weigh the positive and negative, and the real and perceived consequences of gentrification, as well as evaluate urban policies for managing neighborhood change.
This course introduces students to a sociological perspective for understanding global health, healing, and medicine from individual experiences in local circumstances to practices that affect communities and societies throughout the world. It situates health and health care within cultural, social, historical, economic and political circumstances and addresses these topics in settings that are primarily outside the United States.
This course introduces social network analysis to undergraduate students, emphasizing its theoretical, substantive, and methodological foundations. It shows how social networks (types, manner, size and strength, and other dimensions of interpersonal connections) affect a wide array of health outcomes including, illness (flu, STDs, depression), access to and utilization of health information and resources. Students will acquire a sufficient grasp of both the classical and the contemporary network literatures to enable them to pursue independent advanced study in social network analysis.
Examines theories of deviance and social control, focusing on their attribution of causation and the implications for control at both the individual and societal levels. Includes study of the social construction and maintenance of deviant identities and forms of deviance such as mental disorders, alcohol use, and crime.
SOC 330Development and Underdevelopment in the Global South4.0
Focuses on the ways in which the international economy affects the class structure, politics, and development of developing nations. Focuses particularly on multinational corporations and on the successes and failures of import-substitution and export-oriented industrialization programs.
Provides a general introduction to the sociology of education through the study of social, political, and cultural forces operating on public education in the United States and Britain. Examines theories, methods, and case studies to explore issues of identity formation, inequality, and class reproduction in an attempt to understand the role of schooling in contemporary life.
This course examines the environmental and social role of rural communities. While cities seem to dominate modern social life, a significant proportion of the world’s population live and work in rural regions. In this course we will compare and contrast between rural and urban varieties of environmental concern and activism around regional environmental problems, like heatwaves or clean energy needs. We will learn why economies reliant on natural resource extraction, agriculture, nature-based tourism, and small businesses are particularly vulnerable to environmental and economic shocks. Finally, we will explore how rural communities across the world are increasing planned resilience to issues like globalization and climate change.
This course investigates the causal factors for the emergence of what is known as globalization, global economy, global village, etc. It covers the effects of global changes on national political systems, on ecology and on local cultures. The role of the US and reactions to the new world order will also be considered.
This course focuses on key collective actors and institutions that are involved in conflicts around environmental regulations, land and water rights, food sovereignty, and climate change. This course will emphasize how significant environmental concern differs across contexts. We will explore cases of indigenous movements, contrast environmental advocacy in the Global South and North, and the creation of U.S. environmental policies, including historical and cultural processes of change involving social movements, environmental advocacy organizations, foundations and the media.
Focuses on the political economy of environmental injustice and the impact of social movements addressing it; impact of chemical pollutants on human health; and the scientific and legal issues surrounding the study and regulation of pollutants.
This course examines the issues caused by the proliferation of plastics in society, using a social science approach. We will begin by reading research revealing how plastic waste and pollution harm ecosystems and nonhuman species and pose risks to human health. Then we will discuss marketing practices that led to the embedding of plastics in our everyday lives, and get an overview of global commodity chains for trade in plastics. Finally, we will evaluate the effectiveness of U.S. and global public policies to deal with plastic waste such as recycling, extended producer takeback, bans of problematic plastic products such as microbeads and single-use plastic bags, and import bans on foreign plastic waste instituted by a growing number of nations.
Focuses on social aspects of disasters, such as: collective behaviors (panic, crime, improvisation); warning, evacuation and perception of risk; social responses to natural and technical disasters; scientific uncertainties and technical disasters; social produced age, gender, racial/ethnic and social class vulnerabilities to disaster; terrorism-caused disasters; and disaster preparedness and prevention.
SOC 370Practicum in Applied and Community Sociology4.0
This course is central to the newly adopted emphasis of the sociology major on participatory research. These courses are intended as the practicum and supervised project-oriented research work for community organizations and agencies.
Subject
SOC
Credits (min)
4
Credits (max)
4
Credit unit
Credits
Type
course
Repeatable
Can be repeated multiple times for credit Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
This seminar focuses on the social dimensions of medicine, health and illness. In this seminar, we will explore how definitions and experiences of health and illness are shaped by technology use, cultural contexts, institutional practices, health care policies, and inequalities. We will examine social trends in medical technology and science as well as how illness categories are created, negotiated, and resisted. Participants in this course will gain the ability to assess the changing role of science and technology in medicine as well as think critically about the sociological dimensions of the experience of health and illness.
This course examines how housing shapes individual, family, and neighborhood dynamics. Students will be introduced to housing policy in the United States, and will gain an in-depth understanding of homelessness and unstable housing. Other course topics include the meaning of home; the significance of homeownership in the United States; residential segregation; gated neighborhoods; and housing in transnational contexts. Students will learn how to think critically about the role of housing in enduring forms of race, class, and gender-based inequalities and to assess current policy for improving access to stable housing in Philadelphia.
This course will explore the multitude of democratic theories and democracies in practice that have developed during the last several decades. There have been profound changes to our conceptions of ‘democracy’ during the past 40 years driven by social movements around the globe seeking to change their societies. What kind of society do we imagine when we talk about ‘democracy’? We will examine fundamental questions and dilemmas surrounding contemporary democratic culture and we will explore in depth several contemporary democratic movements including feminist, identity based, religiously based, radical, environmentalist, anti-globalization and media activism movements.
This course will explore the sociological implications of debt, on a personal, local, national and international level. Using our own debt as an ethnographic point of departure, we will collectively analyze personal debt, and through this analysis, link our debt to national debt, to historic debt, to reparations, to dispossession, to austerity, both historic and current, to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and to alternative strategies to ameliorate debt, such as Jubilee or debt strikes. We will consider our emotional relationships and political commitments to debt, on both a personal level as well as the societal level. Consideration will focus on how gender, race, nationality, and class intersect with debt, and we will use feminist and critical race theories lenses to frame our discussions.
This course will explore the sociological implications of advancements that have been made in genetic engineering, biotechnologies and other areas of biomedical research. Starting with earlier examples of "power over life" from the 18th and 19th centuries, it will explore themes, dilemmas and complications embedded in the scientific control over life. Topics to be explored include biopower and biocapital, eugenics, race and class, stewardship and bioengineering, new reproductive technologies and reproductive choice, among much, much more. Consideration to feminist, queer and critical race theories will frame much of class discussion.
Focuses on movements for social change through the lens of sociological theory and research. Topics include the rise of social movements; the dynamics of mobilization, organization, commitment and collective identity; movement opponents and targets; violent and terrorist social movements; the role of governments and political elites in repressing or facilitating movement activity; and how movements change society.
This course is a project-based capstone in Sociology. Students will spend the entire term creating a final research project in Sociology. They will choose their own research topics, devise research questions, and choose their own research methods, with the approval of the instructor. At each stage of their project, students will receive supervision and guidance from the instructor. students will collect qualitative, quantitative, historical, or other types of data; analyze the data, and write up the results of their research in an academic paper that can potentially be used to gain employment or acceptance into graduate or professional school.
