Marla Kohlman

The objective of this course is to critically examine social problems in the United States by using sociological perspectives to investigate the cultural and structural foundations of our society. Toward that end, students learn sociological and criminological perspectives that provide a basic understanding of the principles of social-problems research from a sociological perspective. Among the topics to be covered are education, crime, the family and work, using examples from the Age of Enlightenment up to the present day. The most fundamental expectation of students in this course to use their sociological imaginations in every class period to engage in focused discussion of the readings and assignments completed outside of class. This is expected to aid students in the goal of mastering necessary skills of critical thinking and discussion, both verbally and in their writing about contemporary topics of interest and concern. Students may take only one introductory-level course. This counts toward the foundation requirement for the major. No prerequisite.

People in the United States are keenly aware of social differences, yet few have a very precise understanding of "social class," the magnitude of social inequality in U.S. society, or why social inequality exists at all. This course provides a semester-long examination of social stratification — a society’s unequal ranking of categories of people in historical, comparative, theoretical and critical terms. The historical focus traces the development of social inequality since the emergence of the first human societies some 10,000 years ago; the Industrial Revolution; and, more recently, the Information Revolution. The comparative focus explores how and why societies differ in their degree of inequality, identifies various dimensions of inequality, and assesses various justifications for inequality. Attention is also given to the extent of social differences between high- and low-income nations in the world today. The theoretical focus asks how and why social inequality comes to exist in the first place (and why social equality does not exist). This course offers a true diversity of political approaches, presenting arguments made by conservatives, liberals, libertarians and radicals about the degree of inequality in the United States and in the world. Prerequisite: 100-level sociology course.

We all come from families, and the family is a familiar social institution. But family is constituted not just by our individual experiences but also as a product of historical, social and political conditions. This course examines how these conditions have shaped family life as we know it today. We look at the social construction of the family, the psychosocial interiors of families and how governmental policy has shaped and will continue to shape families. In addition, we discuss the increasing diversity of family structures, the institution of marriage, and the social construction of childhood and parenting as represented in empirical research and legal decisions. Our underlying framework for analysis is the gendered nature of family systems. Prerequisite: 100-level sociology course. Offered every two years.

The primary objective of this course is to explore the socio-legal construction of gender in U.S. society as we interrogate the power of underlying contemporary debates predicated upon gender. The focus of discussion is specifically on legal issues that seem to be particularly affected by our societal understanding of the feminine and the masculine as currently constructed, for example, sexual orientation, rape and domestic violence. Prerequisite: 100-level sociology course or LGLS 110. Offered every two years, in rotation with SOCY 232.