Renwick Griswold, Monica Hardesty

Sociology is an outgrowth of the unique capacity of human beings to wonder about their own and others' behavior.  If you've ever wondered why people generally stand meekly in line and wait their turn, rather than aggressively push their way to the front or about why sexual activities have so many rules about what, when and under what conditions they are permissible -- then you have experienced the same curiosity about social life which is at the core of sociology.

The overall intention of the course is to assist students in developing a sociological consciousness, entailing a critical, yet creative, view of the social structures of our daily lives.  We will go beyond common sense notions about social reality to analyze the social meanings and arrangements we might ordinarily take for granted.  We will seek in a sense to "demystify" contemporary American society with particular reference to the implications for our own individual biographies.

Other goals include:

To become sensitive to the myriad of different cultural values and norms that pervade human societies.  To become less ethnocentric by becoming more analytical about other groups of people, other forms of behavior and other social values.

To understand the process of socialization of humans:  the effects that different agencies of socialization (families, peer groups, school bureaucracies, etc.) have on the growth and development of humans.

To become aware of the different ways in which humans define their situations and act on the basis of sex, social class, age, race, ethnic group, family, or nationality.

To begin to comprehend the complex relations between the various institutions of society:  economic, political, family, religious, etc.
 
 
 

Return to Summer Course Listing  
SOC 170  SOCIAL RESPONSES TO CRIME

                  Professor Mark Beaulieu

 "Social Responses to Crime" has several objectives.  First it is a survey of the major social institutions created to define and control criminal behavior.  Second, the course will illustrate how one can determine the underlying moral and political principles and the professional and economic interests that form the foundation of the criminal justice system.  Third, the course introduces the ways in which rates of crime are determined, the structure, operation and effectiveness of the major criminal justice agencies, and the major contemporary issues in crime control.

This course is designed to introduce to students the criminal justice system in the U.S.  The course emphasizes a sociological analysis of the structure, process and effectiveness of criminal justice systems.  That is, the course approaches the criminal justice system as a social system that is constituted by a combination of micro-sociological, structural, historical and cultural factors.

Students in Social Responses to Crime will learn the following:

1. An overview of the American criminal justice system as a historically and structurally situated system of human behavior

2. The philosophical basis of criminal justice policies

3. Current trends in crime and victimization

4. Practical problems in law enforcement and corrections

5. Current debates about crime and social control policies
 
 
 
 

Return to Summer Course Listing     
SOC 250  FAMILIAL ASPECTS OF AGING

                Donald Sukosky

A sociological examination of gerontology as it relates to the contemporary American family.  Particular emphasis is given to the familial roles in the socialization of the aged, the psychological and physical adaptation to aging, and the functionalism of extended consanguine relationships.
 

Return to Summer Course Listing

SOC 271 DEVIANCE

Professor Albert DiChiara

This is a distance learning course

This course analyzes the social processes and structural factors that form deviance in society. The course includes the study of how behaviors and attributres come to be defined as deviant as well as how patterns of deviance come to be organized. These topics are linked to the reaction to deviance to outline the relationship between deviance and social order.

Return to Summer Course Listing 

SOC 278  DRUGS AND SOCIETY

                 Professor Stephen Norland, John Morra

The study of drugs in society is an exercise in unraveling one of our cultural contradictions.  Why, for example, do we spend millions of dollars encouraging some drug use and, at the same time, spend more millions of dollars discouraging drug use?  When our country declares another war on drugs (we have had several in our history), why is it that only people suffer?  We have fought wars on drugs with law enforcement and various kinds of treatment.  How are we doing?

These are some of the questions this course pursues.  We analyze the mysterious grounds on which substances get classified as beneficial or harmful.  Both historical studies and more recent research suggest factors which we probably do not consider.  Another part of the puzzle involves understanding why and how patterns of drug use and abuse occur.  Along the way we consider related questions such as:  Is problem drinking a disease?  Is cocaine really addictive?  Do people learn to get high?

What's the better way to handle a slippery object such as a bar of soap?  Hold it loosely or use all of your strength to grip it as tightly as possible?  Drug problems are slippery too, and the analogy with soap is not inappropriate according to some of the scholars we read.  They take opposite views on the ways to best control drug problems.  We consider a variety of controls, including law enforcement and punishment, several kinds of treatment and educational efforts.  We explore whether some of the things we do may actually make the problems worse.

I usually use objective examinations to assign grades.  The class sessions ordinarily involve lecture and discussion.  We often read a textbook (Ronald Akers, Drugs, Alcohol and Society) which stresses how people learn to use drugs.  We also read a study of a more particular issue, such as one on people who use cocaine heavily (Dan Waldorf, Cocaine Changes) or the reasons not to think that drinking problems constitute a disease (Herbert Fingarette, Heavy Drinking).
.

Return to Summer Course Listing

SOC 281 Women and Society

Laura Lockwood

An examination of the relationship between women's roles and status. Issues include integration of women into various institutional sectors, theoretical explanations of sex discrimination and inequality, the female and male sex roles in other cultures, and changing social and structural patterns in contemporary America.

Return to Summer Course Listing

SOC 320 SOCIAL RELATIONS

Professor Monica Hardesty

This course is designed to introduce students to the symbolic interaction perspective within sociology. A key assumption underlying this course is that sociology's value lies in its ability to provide fresh insights into events and situations that students might ordinarily take for granted. The order and predictability of everyday interaction is the main focus of the course. Students will discover that talking, using space, waiting, relating to members of the opposite sex, choosing clothes, touching, presenting images of self to others, and encountering strangers are all behaviors which happen in culturally predictable ways.

Return to Summer Course Listing

SOC 355 POPULAR CULTURE

Jack Banks

The course is designed to introduce students to the diverse elements of popular culture as a valuable source of data about the social norms, values, and conflicts of mass societies. Crazes, fads, fashions, and trends will be examined in terms of collective behavior and the processes of mass communication to understand their origins, development, and impact on society. Specific case studies of contemporary issues, such as pornography, television and violence, trends in popular music, and sport and leisure, will also be discussed.

Return to Summer Course Listing

SOC 378 STUDIES IN CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR: RACE AND CRIME

Professor Mark Beaulieu

This course will examine the role of race in various aspects of criminology. Topics include crime trends by race/ethnicity, theoretical explanations for differences in criminal behavior by race/ethnicity, differences in treatment by the criminal justice system (both historical and today), and changes in policy that have had an impact on minorities.

Return to Summer Course Listing  
SOC 379 STREET GANGS AND GANG CONTROL

Albert DiChiara

This course examines the structure and function of street gangs in the U.S. and other countries in historical and sociological perspective. Contemporary strategies of gang control are examined and evaluated.