93 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.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Studies the fundamental concepts and principles of sociology with special attention to sociological theory and research methods. Survey of the diverse substantive fields in the discipline with a primary emphasis on the institutions in contemporary American society.
Effective Date 08/01/2024 Analyzes the causes and consequences of current social problems in the United States: race and ethnic relations, poverty, crime and delinquency, the environment, drugs, and problems of educational institutions.
Effective Date 08/01/2009 This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of sociology.
Effective Date 06/15/2011 Topics vary from semester to semester and will be announced.
Effective Date 11/20/2024 Focusing on the fundamental concepts of sociology with special attention to sociological theory and research methods, this course is a more advanced version of introductory sociology. The course is designed to enable students to learn more deeply about the various ideas and concepts of the sociological tradition and to develop their capacity to use them. This course counts in place of SOC 1010 for sociology major and minor requirements.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Comparison of family organizations in relation to other social institutions in various societies; an introduction to the theory of kinship and marriage systems.
Effective Date 08/01/2020 Examines the role of meaning in social life, with a focus on how different theories of culture allow analysis of the relationship of culture to exchange, authority, solidarity, and domination. Analysis of key cultural artefacts (movies, texts, monuments, etc.) is combined with the study of theories of social performance, fields of cultural production, and semiosis. The role of culture in social transformation is also considered.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Studies socio-cultural conditions effecting the definition, recording, and treatment of delinquency and crime. Examines theories of deviant behavior, the role of the police, judicial and corrective systems, and the victim in criminal behavior.
Effective Date 05/01/2024 This course is organized around two main themes: understanding the causes of crime and how societies respond to it. All topics are approached from sociological, philosophical, historical and empirical perspectives, with the aim that students will gain an analytically sophisticated understanding of some of the key contemporary issues in criminology and penology on both sides of the Atlantic.
Effective Date 02/27/2020 This course examines how the medical system is shaped by cultural and societal forces, analyzing unique dimensions of medicine from varying perspectives prominent in the discipline of Sociology. Topics will focus upon the interaction of social categories (e.g., socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, gender/sexuality) upon the distribution of diseases, experiences of illness, and relationships between patients and medical professionals. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 2559 top #20 Medical Sociology
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Gender and Society
Effective Date 08/01/2026 Sport is a legitimate area of sociological interest for many reasons. Sport is a socially created institution where issues that are of importance to sociologists play out. These include how sport as an institution influences social cohesion and integration, promotes the reproduction of social stratification, provides a space for social interaction, is related to the wider dominant culture, and socializes young people through institutional practices. Requisites Students cannot enroll if they previously completed SOC 2595 Topic #10 Sociology of Sports
Effective Date 01/01/2010 This course will examine various types of inequality (race, class, gender) in the US and abroad. We will discuss sociological theories covering various dimensions of inequality, considering key research findings and their implications. We will examine to what extent ascriptive characteristics impact a person’s life chances, how social structures are produced and reproduced, and how individuals are able or unable to negotiate these structures.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 This course is an early level course, which aims to introduce students to a sociological perspective on popular culture, and to examine the working of selected sociological concepts in several examples of popular culture. A familiarity with introductory level sociology is suggested, but not required. The course has two parts. In the first we will become acquainted with sociological perspectives and theories on culture; in the second we will look at several popular novels and movies and discuss how they might be interpreted sociologically.
Effective Date 11/29/2017 Topics vary each J-Term session and will be announced.
Effective Date 09/29/2020 This course covers sociological approaches to death and dying. Topics include social theory and theorists as they relate to death, American culture history, and contemporary issues regarding death and dying.
Effective Date 08/01/2026 This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of sociology.
Effective Date 08/01/2026 Topics vary from semester to semester and will be announced.
Effective Date 11/01/2010 Topics vary from semester to semester and will be announced.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 This course is an introduction to the topic of environmental sociology. Our central focus will be the relationship between human society and the natural world, with particular attention to axes of social location, such as race, class, and where people live. We will consider these distinctions in understanding how people are differently affected by, imagine, or influence the natural world.
Effective Date 10/23/2020 Demography is the scientific study of human populations. We will emphasize fertility, mortality, and migration, and the social and economic factors that affect them.
Effective Date 11/04/2016 This course has two aims: to examine key themes in the sociology of health and illness through an exploration of the delivery of health-care in Britain and the United States; and to discuss some of the major global debates in the political economy of health. The course will cover health and health systems, health inequalities, and contemporary issues in the political economy of health.
Effective Date 04/21/2022 People often mistake ignorance as the mere lack of knowledge or that which we do not yet know. They fail to consider that ignorance exists in a variety of different forms, or that ignorance is often produced and maintained through sets of practices–whether intentional or not. This course investigates both ignorance and the consequences that particular forms of ignorance have upon our society. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 2559 top #22 Sociology of Ignorance
Effective Date 09/27/2022 Migration results from inequality, whether internal to societies or between countries. People migrate to better their lives, moving from poorer countries to wealthier ones in search of upward mobility. This makes migration a virtually unstoppable force, but it crashes into the immovable object known as the state. The resulting border conflicts and immigrant struggles to assimilate define the problem of immigration in the US. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 2595 topic #5 Immigration and Society
Effective Date 03/29/2010 Markets, firms, and money are part of everyday experience. Economists insist that they should work similarly independently of their social context. The central idea of economic sociology is that economic institutions are ‘embedded’ in social relations. We will study what embeddeness means, and what it implies. We look at how institutions constitute markets; how rationality varies; and how money interacts with social relations in unexpected ways.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Introduces the major theoretical issues and traditions in sociology, especially as developed in the writings of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim. Sociology majors are expected to take this course in their third year.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 This course examines sociological theories of power and their intersections with culture. It focuses on oppression and social change in the 20th and 21st century U.S. through the lens of cultural expression, beliefs and meaning. It includes close reading of social theories of power and empirical studies of social institutions and social identities.
Effective Date 09/19/2013 Feminist Theory offers a focused exploration of ways that late 20th Century and early 21st Century feminist theorists challenge, alter and deploy central concerns and paradigms of Western cultural assumption. Although Feminist Theory as a category incorporates interdisciplinary and global perspectives, the slant of this course is a focus on Western culture and Feminist Social Theory.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 Introduces data analysis and data processing, as well as the conceptualization of sociological problems. Emphasizes individual student projects.
Effective Date 04/24/2009 Studies elementary statistical methods for social science applications. Topics include summarizing data with graphs and descriptive measures, generalizing from a sample to a population as in opinion polls, and determining the relationship between two variables. No special mathematical background is required, and students will be taught basic computer techniques. Three hours of lecture, two hours of laboratory work. Majors are expected to take this course in their third year.
Effective Date 01/01/2024 The pharmacological revolution, symbolized by drugs such as Prozac and Ritalin, is a cultural as well as a medical phenomenon. The course explores the history of the revolution and the confluence of social changes driving it forward. Also considered are its implications for self, the definition of psychic distress, and the norms and values that structure how we live. J-term courses require approval for SOC major/minor credit.
Effective Date 01/01/2010 The class introduces the ‘new social studies of childhood’ and the idea that the experience of childhood is a social construction, not a string of biological facts. Topics include: how caring for children varies across time & space, and considering childhood in the context of Western cultural trends - increasing inequality, unequal distribution of overwork, poverty, war, liberty, decreasing privacy, consumerism, sexualization, networked society.
Effective Date 01/01/2010 What is the difference between individual and self? Do we carry a fixed, unchangeable self inside, or do we have as many selves as the situations in which we commonly find ourselves? Can we go as far as saying that the self comes from the outside, and if so, when do we internalize it? At birth, once and for all? Or repeatedly and in everyday life? We will explore these questions and more as we venture into an exciting field-sociology of the self.
Effective Date 09/21/2022 This course will provide an understanding of how sociologists interpret the body in modernity. Topics will include the body in consumer culture, the gendered body, body modification, identity and the body, technology and the body, the regulation of bodies, and vulnerable bodies. Students will be able to understand the central issues and concepts used by sociologists who study embodiment and the relationship between the body and society. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 3559 topic #28 Sociology of the Body
Effective Date 03/24/2023 This course focuses on drug use and drug control in contemporary American society. This course examines how race and class relate to patterns of drug use and addiction, as well as to drug policy, legislation, and enforcement. Further, the course highlights the political economy of drug control by studying the ongoing “war” on drugs, the recent legalization of marijuana, and the current opioid “epidemic.” Also covers drug culture. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 2559 topic #19 Drugs and Society
Effective Date 05/01/2023 This course examines how merit and privilege intersect at one of our most powerful institutions: higher education. How did we get here? What are we doing? And where are we going? We will address these questions at both individual and institutional levels, exploring how notions and realities of meritocracy and inequality shape experiences within and beyond the classroom.
Effective Date 09/27/2022 In this class we will examine the ways in which popular film in the U.S. has historically helped to define dominant cultural ideas about gender identities and differences. We will also look at the ways in which feminists and gender and sexuality activists have criticized popular film, and created new media products in response to these definitions. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 3559 topic #32 Gender, Power, Film
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Focuses on the construction of gender and sexuality, and of the many ways human groups regulate and attach meanings to these categories. Some general themes addressed will be: contemporary and historical definitions of gender, sex, and sexuality; gender socialization; the varieties of sexual identities and relationships; embodiment, childbearing, and families in the contemporary United States.
Effective Date 08/01/2010 Introduces the study of race and ethnic relations, including the social and economic conditions promoting prejudice, racism, discrimination, and segregation. Examines contemporary American conditions, and historical and international materials.
Effective Date 11/07/2014 This seminar provides a survey of Chinese society and social changes in the reform-era (1979 to the present). It uses sociological analysis to comprehensively examine various aspects of contemporary Chinese society including: economic development, social inequality, governance, political reform, nationalism, religion, ethnicity, and popular culture.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 This course conceives alternative possibilities for our cities. It will include such lines of inquiry as the challenges of equality and justice; sustainability and environmental change; the potential and limits of technology; and the impact of the changing global context. We will examine currently emerging urban forms as well as attempts to imagine new forms of urban life.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 This study of the development of human societies explores the five major ‘techo-economic bases’ that have characterized our species’ history (hunting-gathering, horticultural, agrarian, industrial and information/biotech) and examines how contemporary macrolevel trends affect our lives at the microlevel.
Effective Date 02/19/2013 This course will explore the determinants, nature, and effects of the increase in cross-border flows of goods, services, capital and people that we have come to associate with the term “globalization”. We will investigate how globalization affects domestic & world inequality, the role of institutions, and world & local cultures. The course will include readings from economics, history, world-system theory, and cultural analysis.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Explores the ways in which physical environments shape and are shaped by social life. Examines the relationship between urban space and culture in different historical and social settings, though there is a particular focus on the rise and development of modernity as expressed through the experience of particular cities.
Effective Date 04/03/2015 This course, broadly speaking, will introduce students to principles of data science through the hands-on study of core problems in social research. This course represents an ideal site for the analysis of the intersection between sociological theory and empirical research, and will include numerous opportunities for hands-on engagement with data.
Effective Date 05/01/2026 This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of sociology.
Effective Date 08/01/2026 Topics vary from semester to semester and will be announced.
Effective Date 01/01/2015 Topics vary from semester to semester and will be announced.
Effective Date 01/01/2015 Human societies exist in time.This course will examine the historical development of a variety of societies from earliest times to the present. Its focus will be on the relation of the West to the rest of the world. The course is particularly intended for social scientists, to make them aware of the historical dimension to human society; but it is open to all.
Effective Date 09/27/2022 This course introduces the Soc of Latinxs in the US. Topics explore how Latinxs experience systems & institutions in the US, like education, immigration, work, & the criminal punishment system. Theories of structural racism, racialization, racial formation, as well as histories of colonization & intersectional frameworks ground course learning. Attention is paid to the histories & experiences of Afro-Latinx and Indigenous communities. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 3559 topic #33 Sociology of Latinos
Effective Date 08/01/2025 This course explores the social dimensions of health and illness, focusing especially on the social experience of illness, the social determinants of disease, and the role and meaning of medicine and public health in modern U.S. society. The class examines how we define health problems and their solutions, and it considers the ways in which race, gender, class, age, and sexuality matter for understanding health-related experiences and discourses.
Effective Date 08/01/2022 Many goals require the combined efforts of multiple individuals, from developing a new product to providing health care to the poor. Yet individuals have their own interests, so how do organizations keep them coordinated? And what are the impacts of organizations on social inequality and social institutions such as democracy? This course introduces the study of organizations in their cultural, economic and political environments.
Effective Date 02/10/2021 Innovation and creativity are universally celebrated aspects of modern life. We celebrate geniuses and innovators because they reject tradition and produce ideas that are intuitively innovative. In this course we challenge these myths and develop the tools to understand innovation and creativity sociologically, and to explain why creativity and innovation tend to be rare, celebrated, and valued. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 3559 top #19 Sociology of Innovation
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Social movements are an historical and global phenomenon of great complexity and variety. Because the topic can be so broad, the course is organized around case studies of civil rights, the industrial workers’ movement, environmentalism, religious fundamentalism, and the counter movements to globalization. These cases will be used to illustrate variety of themes and principles, and you’ll learn about specific events, personalities, organizations, and dynamics that shaped these movements. By this method, you will gain specific knowledge about important social movements, as well as an overview and general orientation to the sociology of this dynamic area of social life.
Effective Date 10/03/2012 Are we witnessing today the crisis of secularisms? If so, what are its causes -challenges of revived religions or secularism’s unfulfilled promises? Are the clashes between religions and secularisms inevitable? To address these questions, we’ll discuss the ideas of the prophets of religious decline (Marx, Durkheim, Weber), and consider the problems and the potential of the religious-secular encounters in a global perspective.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 Course will focus on established traditions in the United States including evangelical and mainline Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, black Protestantism, and Orthodox Judaism.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 Political sociology focuses on the social foundations and patterns of political behavior and the socio-historical mechanisms for political stability and political change. Its focus is not restricted to the formal rules that characterize a given political system, such as laws, regulations, or electoral systems: political sociology rather emphasizes how power, in its multifaceted and complex nature, is socially configured and reproduces global power.
Effective Date 01/01/2026 This course will consider the social-science perspective on law and legal institutions; theories of laws and legal institutions that trace their origin to social consensus or social inequality; how social inequality influences how people think about law, why they obey it, and whether they mobilize it to resolve disputes; and whether law is an effective tool for social change.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Studies the relationship between family and society as expressed in policy and law. Emphasizes the effects of formal policy on the structure of families and the interactions within families. The American family system is examined as it has responded to laws and policies of government and private industry and to changes in society.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 “Family inequality is an enduring feature of American family life–both within and between families in the US. This seminar will focus on the ways in which class, race, and gender structure inequality within and between families–and the effects of that inequality on the social, emotional and financial well-being of men, women and children. We will also explore the causes and consequences of growing class-based inequality in marriage. 6 credits of Sociology or obtain permission of instructor” Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 4559 topic #20 Unequal Families
Effective Date 03/01/2009 A discussion-based seminar covering material from a wide range of perspectives in an attempt to understand the social context and effects of visual and other arts. Students are expected to have introductory level familiarity with sociological thinking.
Effective Date 04/21/2022 William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (Feb 23, 1868-Aug 27, 1963) was a uniquely American scholar and activist whose work has renewed significance today. His analysis of the US reveals both the social causes and consequences of racial stratification, while his political activism offers possible solutions. A controversial figure in his time, he helped to found the American sociological discipline and yet was marginalized within it. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 4559 topic #25 Race, Racism & Democracy
Effective Date 10/31/2024 Study of a comprehensive contemporary understanding of the history, struggle and diversity of the African-American community.
Effective Date 08/01/2015 This course considers the nature and effects of consumer society; it explores the theories, practices, and politics of modern consumption. Topics include the historical development of consumer society; the role of consumption in creating personal and political identities; the cultural and social meanings of seemingly impersonal objects like money; the commodification of social life; and the politics of consumption.
Effective Date 04/21/2022 In 1932, referring to the American dream, James Truslow Adams portrayed America as a nation in which life can be “better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” To subsequent generations of Americans and immigrants this meant endless upward mobility and material prosperity but, also, the denial of persistent social inequality. This course examines both sides of the American Dream. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 4559 topic #29 American Dream and Its Limits
Effective Date 08/01/2025 Considers major theories of gender-based inequality at work. Explores gender, disparities in key dimensions of work, such as entry into occupations and jobs; promotion, rank, and authority in organizations; earnings; and conflicts between work and family. Emphasizes the contemporary United States, but includes some cross-national comparisons.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 Examines a variety of deviant behaviors in American society and the sociological theories explaining societal reactions and attempts at social control. Focuses on enduring conditions such as drug addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness.
Effective Date 01/01/2023 This course is an exercise in critical thinking and writing. We will investigate connections between race and crime in contemporary America. To do so, we will explore constructions of crime and race and patterns of victimization, criminality and punishment. We will uncover shifting definitions of crime and the ways that institutions, policies and practices shape patterns of punishment. Requisites Student must have completed SOC 2230 or SOC 3410
Effective Date 08/01/2025 This course explores mental health and illness in social context, focusing especially on the history, definitions, social and cultural determinants, and consequences of conceptualizations and treatment of mental illness. It includes an examination of perceptions of mental illness in popular culture, and the spread of psychiatric ideas in more global context.
Effective Date 09/21/2021 Hate groups are defined by their extreme antipathy towards minority groups of all types, especially racial groups. Typically, they are particularly active when dominant groups feel threatened because minority groups gain power. Hate groups exist to reassert this dominance through fear and terror. This course analyzes the origins, manifestations, and behavior of hate groups from a theoretical, historical, and sociological point of view.
Effective Date 09/27/2022 Empires – large, multinational, territorially-dispersed political entities - have been pervasive in human history. This course will examine a number of them, ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, land and overseas empires. It will seek to find out what principles and practices might be common to all of them, and what, on the contrary, might distinguish them from each other. Six credits of Sociology or instructor permission. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 4559 topic #31 Sociology of Empire
Effective Date 03/24/2016 This course explores the social construction of love and sexualities. Beginning with historical perspectives, the class also compares the organization of intimate life in the United States and other countries. Students evaluate the impact of social inequalities in gender, class and race on the construction of choice and commitment. The class considers how consumer capitalism, the state, and culture interact to shape our intimate practices.
Effective Date 10/02/2017 What is a profession? Why do professions play such a prominent role in society? This course examines the complex nature of professional work, the problem of professional ethics, the influence of professions as political actors, and sources of inequality in professional earnings and prestige. Requisites: 6 credits of sociology or obtain permission from the instructor. Requisites Six Credits of Sociology
Effective Date 08/01/2012 Studies the division of labor, occupational classification, labor force trends, career patterns and mobility, occupational cultures and life-styles, and the sociology of the labor market.
Effective Date 07/30/2021 This course focuses on various aspects of religion and society such as American culture, gender and the family, politics, science, religious diversity and pluralism, violence, and other emerging issues.
Effective Date 01/01/2026 This course delves into sociological approaches to health, including the social construction of health and wellness, medicalization, the intersections of culture, power and inequality with systems of diagnosis and treatment, the social determinants of health, and the subjective experiences of health and disability/illness.
Effective Date 04/16/2024 This course explores the relationship between politics and society via a focus on historical and/or contemporary issues. Themes may include political power, the role of the state, collective behavior and social change, and civic culture and citizenship.
Effective Date 01/01/2026 This course considers various ethical aspects of society in such areas as race, family, work, the economy, and memory. It focuses on sociological approaches to ethical and moral questions in modern society, drawing on empirical examples and case studies.
Effective Date 05/01/2026 This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of sociology.
Effective Date 08/24/2022 This course explores the relationship between science, technology, and society through a topical focus on particular subjects or issues. It uses a variety of sociological approaches to understand the embeddedness of science and technology in society, the social impact of particular scientific or technological developments, or other dynamics of the science, technology, and society interface.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Studies how the social definition of gender affects and is affected by cultural artifacts such as literature, movies, music, and television. Students are expected to be familiar with general sociological concepts and theory and be regularly prepared for participation in a demanding seminar.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 Examines the questions of power and authority in society, with a focus in particular on the historical changes in power relations from the 18th century to the present. Particular foci include: variation in how elites access and justify power; the relationship between culture and interests; power, the body, and the self; and performative approaches to power. Students are asked to write their own analyses of contemporary power relations.
Effective Date 10/03/2017 The history of modern science, from the 17th century to the present, & the division of scholarship into different realms (e.g. “the humanities” versus “the sciences”) is a history of tremendous social & political conflict over the nature and purpose of knowledge production. We will examine these conflicts, and their relationship to the central organizational principles of modern societies, with a particular focus on recent American history.
Effective Date 10/10/2019 Despite the frequent predictions of its demise, nationalism continues to thrive in the modern world. Why is that so? What is nationalism, and what are the sources of its appeal? This course will consider leading accounts of the origins, growth, and persistence of nationalism. Topics to be considered are: the nation and national identity; ethnicity and nationalism; empire and the nation-state; gender and nation; globalization and the nation-state.
Effective Date 02/15/2024 Our current notions of race, ethnicity and nation were developed in conjunction with nation-states. As such, people use them as a basis through which to define territorial, social, ethical and emotional boundaries. In this course, we will leverage a global comparative perspective to better understand the organizing principles of modern nations and nation-states and how they affect the ways we act, classify, think and feel. Requisites Students can’t enroll if previously taken SOC 4559 topic #35 Race, Ethnicity, and Nation from a Global Perspective
Effective Date 02/08/2011 Scholars have characterized the 20th century as an epoch of trauma and atrocity. Previous epochs were brutal also, but the nature of brutality and our vocabularies with which to understand it have been transformed dramatically over the last century. This course explores events (e.g. holocaust, genocide, atomic bombings) and institutional factors (e.g. media,law,philosophy) that have transformed our sense of vulnerability and our responses to it.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 Racism, the disparagement and victimization of individuals and groups because of a belief that their ancestry renders them intrinsically different and inferior, is a problem in many societies. In this course we will examine the problem of racism by investigating the workings of these sociological processes theoretically, historically, and contemporaneously.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 This course examines the many uses of data from the Federal Statistical System for governance, environmental and human health, and private sector uses. We will examine how the data are produced and disseminated and how assertions of data manipulation may be evaluated. We will examine characteristic data errors and how social scientists and data scientists identify and possibly correct data errors.
Effective Date 03/01/2009 Studies the linkage between mass communications and social life. Particular emphasis will be placed upon how electronic media affect public discourse and how electronic media affect behavior by rearranging social situations.
Effective Date 08/01/2025 Examines contemporary immigration into the United States from the point of view of key theoretical debates and historical circumstances that have shaped current American attitudes toward immigration.
Effective Date 01/01/2023 An independent study project conducted by students under the supervision of an instructor of their choice.
Effective Date 08/01/2022 Analyzes issues in sociological research and supports the writing of a Distinguished Majors thesis under the supervision of a faculty advisor.
Effective Date 08/01/2011 Writing of the DMP thesis under the supervision of a DM faculty adviser.
Source: University of Virginia-Main Campus's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 59
