Course Descriptions: Sociology

SAS 113 Statistics for Social Science Majors (annual)
(also listed as MAT 261)
Basic concepts in descriptive and inferential statistics including measurement scales, frequency distributions, measures of central tendency and dispersion, normal distribution, correlation coefficients, linear regression, probability theory, binomial distribution, and parametric and non-parametric tests of significant differences. 3 credits.

SAS 121 Introduction to Social Work (annual)
Introduction to theory and practice of social work focusing on the social welfare system; federal, state and municipal programs; principles of social psychology as applied to the counseling process; family systems theory.
3 credits.

SAS 201 Methods of Sociological Research (annual)
Basic concepts, principles, and the function of research in sociology. The scope and variety of available techniques in research design, data gathering, and analysis. The problems and validity of opinion surveys, participant and controlled observation, questionnaire construction, interviewing, case studies, and elementary statistical analysis. The relationship of research to theory.
Prerequisite or Corequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 203 Social Theory (bi-annual O)
Major trends, schools of thought, and critical issues in the development of sociological thought up to World War II. The intellectual foundations of sociological theory, with stress on the seminal ideas of the "classicist" theorists.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 204 Contemporary Social Theory (bi-annual E)
Major trends in sociological theory from the American school of Social Darwinism through neo-positivism, structural functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism (the Frankfurt School), ethnomethodology, ethnoscience, Grunded Theory, and phenomenological sociology. Representative theorists include Lundberg, Parson, Merton, Dahrendorff, Habermas, Berger and Goffman.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 221 Urban Sociology
(upon request)
Theories and social factors concerning urbanization: life in modern urbanized communities (cities, town, and suburbs); the growth of cities and the megalopolis concept; the urban crisis and the American experience; social forces affecting modern communities.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.
 

SAS 222 Social Change (bi-annual E)
Theory and description of causation and consequences of change in social and cultural systems. Evolutionary and revolutionary change; impact of technology, knowledge, class, and population.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 301 The Family (bi-annual O)
The family in various cultures but particularly in American society. Components of family structure, organization, and its relation to other social institutions. Family cycle and mate selection. Factors contributing to family instability and disorganization in contemporary American society.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 311 Social Stratification
(upon request)
Social inequality on the basis of general birth, wealth, income, and occupation in modern society reflected in caste or class structures. The various theories of social stratification in Marx, Weber, Sorokin, and the functionalists, with attention to class conflict and social mobility.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 312 Political Sociology
(upon request)
The concept of power as embodied in political institutions and ideologies. The structure of political parties, mass movements, and secret and underground organizations. Political ideologies, utopias, and social myths in relation to democracy, socialism, communism, anarchism, fascism, nationalism, pan-Slavism, and pan-Germanism.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 332 Crime and Juvenile Delinquency (bi-annual O)
The sociological definition and approach to the study of criminality and delinquency, and the nature, types, and extent of crime. The causes of crime and methods of determining criminality, the social function of criminal law, the police, the courts, the prison community, punishment, rehabilitation, and crime prevention programs.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 333 Selected Topics in Social Deviance (upon request)
The concepts of social deviance, pathology, social disorganization, value conflict, and labeling. Sociological theories of deviant behavior in relation to alcoholism, drug abuse, criminality and delinquency, suicide, sexual deviance and mental illness. A critical assessment of social causation, labeling stigmatization, and the scientific methods of determining deviance. The structure and organization of treatment for deviants, and institutions dealing with social deviance.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 351 Sociology of Knowledge
(upon request)
The root of cultural notions of knowledge and reality in social structure. Social analysis of ideology, propaganda, rationality, science and art, ethics, and norms.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 371 The American Jewish Community (annual)
Size and geographic distribution of the Jewish community; education, income, occupation, and voting behavior; the historical role of American Jewry; traditional and alternative communal and political organizations; the internal dynamics of Jewish life; problems of identity, acculturation, and assimilation.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 402 Selected Topics in Contemporary Social Problems
(upon request)
Social problems in a rapidly changing society, particularly in the United States. Results of urbanism, mass society, alienation and conflicting interests, institutional breakdown, social deviance, political activism and apathy, economic dislocation, and problems of race, family, and education.
Prerequisite: SAS 103. 3 credits.

SAS 481 Independent Study
(upon request)
Credits by arrangement.

SAS 493 Advanced Topics in Social Science (annual)
Prerequisite: Senior status or Departmental permission. 3 credits.

SAS 494 Senior Honors Project in Sociology (upon request)
Prerequisites: SAS 493 and Departmental permission. 3 credits.