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Go to: Program Requirements
Departmental Secretary: Diane Haywood, SS 307, 702-8677
The knowledge sociology provides for the understanding of human relations and
social organization has made it attractive for students considering careers in
such professions as business, education, law, journalism, social work,
politics, public administration, and urban planning. As a basis for more
specialized graduate work, it affords entree to careers in social research in
federal, state, and local agencies, as well as into business enterprises,
private foundations, and research institutes. Sociology also provides an
excellent foundation for students who are planning academic careers in any of
the social sciences. The concentration program in the College is accordingly
designed to meet the needs of a very diverse group of students.
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Course Requirements. Students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in
sociology are expected to complete the following requirements. However,
students with adequate background in sociology from Common Core courses or
other sociology courses may petition the program chairman to substitute other
200-level courses for one or more of the introductory sequence courses.
1. A three-quarter introductory sequence consisting of:
a. Social Structure and Change (Sociology 200). This course is an
introduction to the basic theories and concepts of macrosociology. The first
half explores the theories of Marx, Weber, and Bourdieu, and their general
explanations of social change and social stratification. The second half deals
with sociological approaches to ethnicity, race, class, gender, and
nationalism.
b. Interaction, Community, and Culture (Sociology 201). This class deals with
the social construction of the individual, the study of face-to-face
interaction, community and urban studies, and the study of cultural
institutions, symbols, and beliefs.
c. Sociological Methods (Sociology 202). This course is applications oriented
and stresses both professional and academic use of current research methods in
the collection and analysis of data. An opportunity to apply many of these
methods and analyze the resulting data is an integral part of the course. A
review of contemporary philosophies of social research, theory construction,
statistical techniques, and computerized data processing supplements the major
emphasis.
2. Statistical Methods of Research I (Sociology 203/304). This course provides
a comprehensive introduction to widely used quantitative methods in sociology
and related social sciences. Topics covered include analysis of variance and
multiple regression, considered as they are used by practicing social
scientists.
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3. Six additional courses in sociology or related fields, at least three of
which must be in sociology. These courses may be drawn from any of the
200-level courses in sociology and, after completing Sociology 200-201, from
any 300-level courses in sociology that have not been cross-listed with
undergraduate numbers. Courses may usefully be thought of as falling into six
topical clusters: macrosociology and intergroup relations; sociology of
institutions; urban sociology; comparative, historical, and cultural sociology;
microsociology; and theory and methodology. Of special note is the new
three-quarter American society sequence that consists of the following
courses:
a. American Social Criticism (Sociology 289), which examines the tradition of
general American social criticism based on the reading of classic texts.
b. Contemporary American Society (Sociology 287), which is an overview of key
features of modern American society (family, gender, race, work and labor
force, and poverty) from a sociological perspective.
c. A third course, which will vary each year. In 1994-95 it is Current Issues
in Race and Ethnic Relations (Sociology 254). Other courses related to American
society may also be substituted.
4. The senior seminar (Sociology 298).
Summary of Requirements
Concentration 3 Sociol 200-201-202 or approved substitute
1 Sociol 203/304 (statistics course)
3 sociology courses
3 courses in sociology or related fields
1 Sociol 298 (senior seminar)
- B.A. paper
11 (total)
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Senior Project. During the senior year, all students concentrating in
sociology are expected to work on an original project of sociological inquiry
on a topic of their choice culminating in a final paper from twenty to forty
pages in length. The project may take the form of either (1) a critical review
of a body of literature on a problem developed in conjunction with the work of
one or more courses, or (2) an independent research project in which questions
are formulated and data are collected and analyzed by the student. In the
spring quarter of the junior year, students meet with the program chairman to
discuss possible projects. A faculty sponsor is selected for the project during
autumn quarter of the senior year. A form briefly describing the project and
signed by the faculty sponsor is submitted to the concentration program
chairman before the middle of the winter quarter. The chosen topic is developed
during the autumn and winter quarters and the paper is completed in the spring
quarter. Students must register for one reading or research (Sociology 291 or
295) course with their faculty sponsor and may register for additional research
and reading courses with either their faculty sponsor or other members of the
sociology faculty. However, only two sociology reading or research courses can
be counted toward the completion of the courses in sociology or related fields
required for a concentration.
Senior Seminar. All projects are reported on and discussed in an
undergraduate seminar (Sociology 298). The senior seminar is a yearlong course.
Students participate all three quarters, although they register only once.
Registration takes place in the spring quarter of the senior year unless the
student plans to graduate out of sequence in some quarter other than spring. A
first draft of the paper is to be submitted in the first week of the student's
final quarter. All projects are due in final written form no later than the end
of the ninth week of that quarter. Those being submitted for evaluation for
honors are due by the first day of the eighth week.
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Honors. Concentrators with a grade point average of 3.0 overall and 3.25 in
the concentration who have written substantial bachelor's papers may be
considered for graduation with honors in sociology.
Handbook. Students interested in pursuing the Bachelor of Arts degree in
sociology are encouraged to pick up Undergraduate Program in Sociology
in the Office of the Department of Sociology (SS 307).
GARY S. BECKER, University Professor, Departments of Economics and Sociology;
Research Associate, Economics Research Center at the National Opinion Research
Center
CHARLES E. BIDWELL, William Claude Reavis Professor, Departments of Sociology
and Education, Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, and
the College
MARY C. BRINTON, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and the College
RONALD BURT, Professor, Department of Sociology & Strategy in the Graduate
School of Business
TERRY NICHOLS CLARK, Professor, Department of Sociology and the College
JOHN L. COMAROFF, Professor, Departments of Anthropology and Sociology and the
College; Chairman, Department of Anthropology
ROGER V. GOULD, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and the College
WENDY GRISWOLD, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Committee on the
History of Culture, and the College
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EDWARD O. LAUMANN, George Herbert Mead Distinguished Service Professor,
Department of Sociology and the College; Director, Ogburn/Stouffer Center for
Population and Social Organization at the National Opinion Research Center
DONALD N. LEVINE, Peter B. Ritzma Professor, Department of Sociology and the
College
WILLIAM L. PARISH, Professor, Department of Sociology and the College
ALBERTO PALLONI, Professor, Department of Sociology
MOISHE POSTONE, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and the College
MARTIN RIESEBRODT, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and the
Divinity School
ROBERT J. SAMPSON, Professor, Department of Sociology and the College
GEORGE STEINMETZ, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and the
College
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Go to: Summary of Requirements
Go to: Faculty
Sociology
Undergraduate Program Chairman: Linda Waite, NORC 357, 753-7381
Program of Study
The discipline of sociology encompasses a diversity of substantive interests,
theoretical orientations, and methodological approaches. The phenomena studied
by sociologists range from face-to-face interaction in small groups to the
structure of the modern world system. They include stratification and mobility,
demographic change, urban/rural/suburban communities, mass media, and the
social dimensions of such areas as education, family life, law, the military,
political behavior, science, and religion. The methodologies of the field range
from experimentation, survey research, and field observation to historical
comparison and mathematical model building.
Program Requirements
Students may enter the sociology program at any time during their second year
or at the beginning of their third year by informing the faculty program
chairman of their decision. For students with adequate course background, it
may be possible to enter as late as the end of the third year. The only
prerequisite is completion of any one of the Common Core social sciences
sequences.
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Faculty
ANDREW ABBOTT, Professor, Department of Sociology and the College; Master,
Social Sciences Collegiate Division
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