Sociology
Courses
SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology 3.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 115 Social Problems 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 207 Medicine and Society 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 210 Race, Ethnicity and Social Inequality 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 215 Sociology of Work 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 220 Wealth and Power 4.0 Credits
Examines the extent of differences in wealth and political power in modern society and looks at the origins and implications of those differences.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 221 Sociology of the Family 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 222 Sex and Society 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 230 Gender and Society 4.0 Credits
Explores the status and roles of modern women and men, with emphasis on changes in family relationships, career options, and lifestyle alternatives.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 235 Sociology of Health and Illness 4.0 Credits
Examines the history, economics, and politics of our health-care system and the effects of technology on the quality of health care.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 238 Sociology of Health Professions 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 240 Urban Sociology 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 241 Research Design: Qualitative Methods 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 242 Research Design: Quantitative Methods 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 244 Sociology of the Environment 4.0 Credits
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?.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 261 Sex and The City 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 268 Sociology of Sport 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 271 Sociology of Aging 4.0 Credits
Introduces the multidisciplinary scientific study of the causes and consequences of aging, its history, methods of research, major theoretical approaches, and empirical findings.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 278 Global Climate Change and Society 3.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 281 Gentrification and Neighborhood Change 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
Prerequisites: SOC 101 [Min Grade: D] or SOC 115 [Min Grade: D]
SOC 313 Sociology of Global Health 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 318 Social Networks and Health 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 320 Sociology of Deviance 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 330 Development and Underdevelopment in the Global South 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 335 Sociology of Education 3.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 339 Sociology of the Countryside 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 340 Globalization 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 342 Global Environmental Movements 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 346 Environmental Justice 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 348 Plastics in Society 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 349 Sociology of Disasters 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 355 [WI] Classical Social Theory 4.0 Credits
Critically examines the ideas of the classical sociological theorists (e.g., Marx, DuBois, Durkheim, and Weber).
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 356 [WI] Contemporary Social Theory 4.0 Credits
Covers a broad range of theories that guide contemporary sociological thought.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Prerequisites: SOC 355 [Min Grade: D] or SOC 260 [Min Grade: D]
SOC 370 Practicum in Applied and Community Sociology 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 405 Medicine, Technology and Science 3.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 406 Housing and Homelessness 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
SOC 410 Imagining Multiple Democracies 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman or Sophomore
SOC 420 Love, Rage & Debt: The Debt Society 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
Prerequisites: SOC 356 [Min Grade: C]
SOC 430 Politics of Life 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 444 Social Movements 4.0 Credits
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.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
SOC 450 Capstone in Sociology 4.0 Credits
This seminar is intended for students majoring or minoring in sociology. Students will reflect on their experiences as a sociology student, connect these with issues in the discipline, and consider how they plan to use their sociological skills and imagination after college.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman or Pre-Junior or Sophomore
Prerequisites: SOC 101 [Min Grade: C] and (SOC 115 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 210 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 215 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 220 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 221 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 222 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 230 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 235 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 240 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 241 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 242 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 268 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 271 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 313 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 320 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 330 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 335 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 340 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 345 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 346 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 349 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 355 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 356 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 370 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 410 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 420 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 430 [Min Grade: C] or SOC 444 [Min Grade: C])
SOC 490 Sociology Research Seminar I: Research Design 4.0 Credits
An in-depth exploration of selected topics. Projects are selected by students in consultation with a faculty member.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Can enroll if classification is Junior or Senior.
Prerequisites: SOC 241 [Min Grade: D] and SOC 242 [Min Grade: D]
SOC 491 Sociology Research Seminar II: Data Acquisition and Analysis 4.0 Credits
Continuation of SOC 490.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Can enroll if classification is Senior.
Prerequisites: SOC 490 [Min Grade: D]
SOC 492 Sociology Research Seminar III: Practicum in Sociological Research 4.0 Credits
Continuation of SOC 491.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Prerequisites: SOC 491 [Min Grade: D]
SOC I199 Independent Study in SOC 0.0-12.0 Credits
Self-directed within the area of study requiring intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
SOC I299 Independent Study in SOC 0.0-12.0 Credits
Self-directed within the area of study requiring intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
SOC I399 Independent Study in SOC 0.0-12.0 Credits
Self-directed within the area of study requiring intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
SOC I499 Independent Study in SOC 0.0-12.0 Credits
Self-directed within the area of study requiring intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
SOC T180 Special Topics in Sociology 0.0-12.0 Credits
Topics decided upon by faculty will vary within the area of study.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
SOC T280 Special Topics in Sociology 0.0-12.0 Credits
Topics decided upon by faculty will vary within the area of study.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
SOC T380 Special Topics in Sociology 0.0-12.0 Credits
This course will explore current issues and debates in Sociology. It will be conducted as a seminar. The topic will vary each term.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
SOC T480 Special Topics in Sociology 0.0-12.0 Credits
Topics decided upon by faculty will vary within the area of study.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit