Courses

• Anthropology (SCSA) Courses
• Sociology (SCSS) Courses

Anthropology (SCSA) Courses

SCSA 002: INTRO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
Cultural anthropology attempts to make the diverse peoples and lifeways of the world understandable. It seeks to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. This course introduces cultural anthropology, describing its methods, theories and research problems. While a major objective of the course it to review some of the debates and concepts central to contemporary cultural anthropology, attention also is given to the history of the discipline and its connections with Euro-American social thought.

SCSA 025: SELECTED TOPICS, 3 credit hrs.
These courses cover introductory topics offered on a temporary basis, before being added to the approved program curriculum.

SCSA 076: INTERMEDIATE TOPICS IN ANTHROPOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
Courses listed as Intermediate Topics in Anthropology are sophomore-level course topics offered on a temporary basis before being added to the approved curriculum.

SCSA 101: FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
This course introduces the themes and theories central to feminist anthropology. It illustrates the emergence and implications of feminist perspectives for cultural anthropology by examining the distrinct ways anthropologists have approached the entanglement of gender, culture, and power. It begins by considering the marginalized history of women as both anthropologists and subjects of anthropological analyses. Against this background, it devotes attention to specific problems and strategies, including the body, sexuality, the state, kinship relations and economic production. Throughout, readings, class discussions and student projects seek not only to work through the awkward relationship between feminism and anthropology, but also to address the varieties of women's experiences and identities cross-culturally. Prereq.: Introductory course in anthropology, sociology, cultural studies or instructor's consent. Counts toward sociology and ANSO theory-intensive requirements. May be used as part of Women's Studies Concentration.

SCSA 125: TRAVELING CULTURES, 3 credit hrs.
This course explores transcultural processes, movements, and exchanges. Drawing on recent scholarship in anthropology, as well as sociology and cultural studies, we address the ways in which objects, ideas, peoples, and practices have accounted for these "travels." Prereq.: 6 hours credit in anthropology, sociology, cultural studies and/or multicultural studies, including an introductory anthropology or sociology course or instructor's consent.

SCSA 141: ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY, 3 credit hrs.
This course offers an overview of anthropological theory. Beginning in the mid-19th century, it traces the history of anthropological thought, contrasting distinct frameworks for making sense of cultural patterns, practices and precepts. As such it connects classical ideas with more recent innovations. Theoretical frameworks discussed include social evolution, functionalism, structuralism and a variety of post-structuralisms. Attention is given to the social and historical contexts framing anthropological theories. Prereq.: Introductory course in anthropology or sociology or instructor's consent. Counts torward SOCIOLOGY and ANSO theory-intensive requirements.

SCSA 150: SPECIAL TOPICS, 3 credit hrs.
These courses are upper-level course topics offered on a temporary basis before being added to the approved curriculum. Prerequisites vary.

SCSA 153: DOCUMENTARY VIDEO CHALLENGE, 3 credit hrs.
This course will be an immersion in methods of qualitative fieldwork and digital video as cultural critique. Students will be introduced to ethnographic participant-observation and interviewing methods, as well as video editing techniques. We will travel to the San Francisco Bay area and conduct research with the International Rescue Committee. During the three-week J-term course students will work in small groups to conduct ethnographic research, document it on videotape, and produce short video essays that will be put on both the IRC website for community outreach and the Drake Cultures of Engagement site. This course will serve as an introduction to qualitative interview-based research and critical digital storytelling. Cross-listed with SCSS 153.

SCSA 156: ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS, 3 credit hrs.
Ethnography is a methodological approach and a literary genre, literally writing about people. This course introduces the concepts, intellectual traditions, ethical issues and methodological techniques central to the ethnographic study of culture. In this methods-intensive course, students are required to conduct field research in a specific social context using techniques discussed in class. Prereq: Entry-level course in sociology, anthropology or cultural studies or consent of the instructor. Counts toward Sociology and ANSO methods-intensive requirements.

SCSA 175: MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
This course is an introduction to the key concepts, theories, and methods of medical anthropology. Medical anthropology examines affliction and healing in a cross-cultural perspective. It emphasizes the understanding of how health and healing are shaped by both cultural and biological processes. It also analyzes the relations among health, illness, social institutions, power, and cultural representations. Medical anthropologists examine the ways in which global processes--health policies, epidemics, war and violence, inequalities--affect the life of individuals and communities. They take us into refugee camps, hospitals, zones of social abandonment, factories, and strees across the world and in our community. This course will focus on three broad topics. We will start by discussing how health-related issues, including disease and treatment, are far more than narrow biological phenomenon. By examining specific ethnographic cases, we will see how these processes are all heavily influenced by cultural and social factors as well. We will then grapple with the Foucauldian concept of "biopower" by means of specific ethnographic applications. By reading about colonial and postcolonial governance in the global South, the "construction" of mental illness, current national and global policies toward asylums seekers, and the use of pharmaceuticals, we will reflect upon the ways in which medicine can be an instrument of domination, discipline, and surveillance. The final section of the course discusses the contributions that medical anthropology can make to increase access to health services and to improve--i.e., humanize--health care in the U.S. and across the world.

SCSA 180: RITUAL AND MYTH, 3 credit hrs.
Myth and ritual are aspects of all human societies, ours included. What roles do myths and ritual play in human experience and everyday life? Why do we need them? Are myths and rituals ways of responding to existential questions? Or reflecting on the fact they can't be responded to? Do they reproduce or subvert social orders? This course will address these questions by drawing on readings from history, religious studies, anthropology, sociology, and film studies. We look at some specific cases of societies experiencing turmoil and violence that cannot possibly be understood except in reference to local myths and rituals. We then conclude with a look at mythical and ritual phenomena in American society, focusing on urban myths, vampire legends, and UFO stories to reflect on what these stories tell about "us."

SCSA 197: INDEPENDENT STUDY, 1-3 credit hrs.
Directed independent study and or research in a problem area selected by the student and not otherwise provided for in a regularly scheduled course.

 

Sociology (SCSS) Courses

SCSS 001: SURVEY OF SOCIOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
A survey of the substantive areas of study and the theoretical and methodological tools of the discipline of sociology.

SCSS 010: GENDER AND CULTURE, 3 credit hrs.
This course introduces students to ways of thinking sociologically about gender arrangements in U.S. society. It focuses on analysis of the dynamics of gender and power in specific cultural spheres, such as media, language, science and technology, or family /kinship arrangements. Students learn conceptual frameworks that enable them to critically examine taken-for-granted beliefs about gender and to develop an awareness of its social construction. May be used as part of Women's Studies Concentration.

SCSS 020: INTRO TO RACE AND ETHNICITY, 3 credit hrs.
This course examines the contemporary and historical aspects of race and ethnic relations. Moving away from popular racial discourse that focuses on individual attitudes and only on people of color, this sociological study of race and ethnicity has much more to do with how social structures create and reinforce race and ethnic inequality. Students and professor together will examine how social structure and individual attitudes and behaviors affect race and ethnic relations in the areas of personal attitudes, employment, media, romance, and education.

SCSS 025: SELECTED TOPICS, 3 credit hrs.
These courses cover introductory topics offered on a temporary basis, before being added to the approved program curriculum.

SCSS 050: INTIMATE RELATIONS, 3 credit hrs.
Sociological and social psychological perspectives are used to explore aspects of the development, maintenance and dissolution of intimate social relationships, especially those characterized as marriage and family relationships. Prereq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent.

SCSS 061: ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
Environmental sociology examines the relationship between human communities and the natural environment in the modern world. In particular, it focuses on how political, economic and cultural institutions shape our interactions with the natural environment. This course also consdiers how societies are responding to environmental problems on a global and local level, with special attention to the intersection of environmental problems and social inequality. Specific topics of study may include industrial pollution, environmental ideologies, global climate change, and natural disasters, among others.

SCSS 070: PSYCHE, SELF AND SOCIETY, 3 credit hrs.
In this course, students learn to think theoretically about the relations between self and society, through the study of theories in sociology and related fields regarding subjectivity, social identity and power. Approaches covered include symbolic interactionism, social constructionism, poststructuralism and psychoanalysis. Students examine these theories by considering relevant topics such as cultural identity and difference, media images and postmodernity. Prereq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent. Counts toward SOCIOLOGY and ANSO theory-intensive requirements.

SCSS 071: ENVIRONMENTALISM IN THE UNITED STATES, 3 credit hrs.
This course uses a sociological approach to examine environmental activism in the United States. Students will learn about the ideological and organizational diversity of contemporary environmental movements, consider beliefs and experiences that lead people to participate in these movements, and study the ways that environmental activism is shaped by social structure and social institutions. Movements covered may include ones that focus on wilderness protection, animal rights, anti-pollution activism, environmental justice, buying "green," and others.

SCSS 072: GLOBAL SOCIAL CHANGE, 3 credit hrs.
In this class, we will examine and critique dominant conceptualizations of globalization and economic development. Globalization and economic development are two interconnected concepts, constructed through the same historical and social contexts of unequal power relations. Both words are tyically understood as something positive, and something that "we" in the United States have that "they" do not. In the class, participants will look at how dominant economic development and globalization ideologies emerged, how they operate, and how they are resisted. This course will investigate alternative ways of imagining and constructing global social change using discussion, case studies, fiction, lectures and writing. Prereq: One course numbered Anth 002-025 or Soc 001-025 or instructor consent. Fulfills International/Multicultural Area of Inquiry.

SCSS 074: DEBATING MARRIAGE IN CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES, 3 credit hrs.
This course will explore contemporary debates in the United States over marriage. We will critically engage with two particular streams of political and social dialogue concerning marriage: policies promoting marriage among welfare recipients as a means of combating poverty, and laws and policies concerning the legalization of gay marriage. Each of these topics on its own provides a rich and controversial political debate over the relationship between individuals, political dialogue, and the larger social structure. When explored alongside each other these political debates make clear the role of the state in legitimizing and reproducing particular forms of family, and the ways that people in different social locations - or embodying particular social identities - are situated differently in relation to social power. This course will draw on a broad range of disciplinary perspectives including ethnography, history, sociology, women's studies, and American studies. Students will engage in course work that challenges them to critically explore their own identities in relation to family and the state, as well as the larger political issues being considered.

SCSS 075: INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN'S STUDIES, 3 credit hrs.
This course is designed to familiarize students with women's experiences as well as with the ways in which society shapes notions of gender. The course also provides ways to identify and analyze how a society's notions of gender shape the ways in which a society sees and organizes itself. Class members examine the construction of women's social roles and their personal experiences, discussing points of congruence and dissonance. In this interdisciplinary course, reading and discussion material are drawn from fields such as religion, sociology, psychology, political science and literature, so students may examine the views, status and contributions of women. Class sessions consist of lectures, guest speakers, films, and discussion. Cross-listed with WGS 075. 

SCSS 076: INTERMEDIATE TOPICS IN SOCIOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
These courses cover topics being offered on a one-time basis, or for the first time, before being added formally to the curriculum. Prerequisites vary.

SCSS 077: THE ART OF THE INTERVIEW, 0-3 credit hrs.
Qualitative interviewing as a sociological method allows the researcher to look at the complex interpretive practices participants use to make sense of life events. As a method, it is distinct from surveys, polls, or journalistic interviews. In this course, readings, discussion, and assignments will teach qualitative interviewing for two purposes. First, students will develop skills in this important sociological method. Second, students will explore the Drake engaged citizen topic for the current year through qualitative interviewing and collective interpretation of the interviews.

SCSS 080: SOCIAL PROBLEMS, 3 credit hrs.
Why do we care about some social problems and yet ignore others that are possibly more harmful? This course is not an in-depth study of any one social problem nor is it a survey of social problems in our society. Rather this course will examine how and why we think about social problems and how we respond to them (or do not respond). Using the theoretical perspective of social constructionism, students will examine how social problems are socially constructed and how different organizations and constituencies attempt to frame them in different ways. Students will learn that the way we define and interpret social problems is based on human activity and claims-making, which both reflect and perpetuate larger cultural and social forces. The principles and concepts learned in this course will be useful for critical analysis of social problems, statistics, inequality, public policy, politics, media, advocacy, and popular opinion. The course fulfills a theory-intensive requirement for sociology majors. Prereq: Entry level sociology or anthropology course or instructor consent.

SCSS 081: MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
This course applies sociological principles to health, illness, and health care. In order for students to fully develop an understanding in this context, a variety of perspectives will be explored and critiqued including that of patients, providers and society. This draws on foundational disciplines at the broader level and frames them into the biomedical experience. For example, sociological constructs of age, gender, ethnicity, and social class; psychosocial aspects of personal illness experience, historical and political perspectives of dominance, regulation and governance of providers and health care organizations will be the multidisciplinary topics covered. Other topics may include but are not limited to: history of 'western' medicine, models of illness, stress and well-being, social stratification of illness, health demography, medicalization and de-medicalization of illness, disability, and patient-provider relationships. A combination of reading, discussion, reflective activities, and paper/project composition will be used to facilitate comprehension of the course material.

SCSS 085: SOCIOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE, 3 credit hrs.
Sociology of Everyday Life focuses on the daily details of how people interact with each other and the consequences of those interactions. Social interactions help create and maintain relationships, social divisions, institutions, social structure, and cultural forces that make up our world and shape our differing subjective experiences. Some of the topics will include interpersonal relationships, emotion work, self-narratives, negotiating a working consensus, saving face, politics of language, identity, constructing normality and deviance, institutional talk, impression management, social control, and politics of reality. Prerequisite is SCSS 001 or instructor’s permission.

SCSS 100: DOING MORALITY, 3 credit hrs.
This course examines the social construction of morality in social situations, with particular reference to the ways that "troubles", "problems" and "bad" behavior become more public moral questions. In addition, the nature of morality as an accomplishment, as something that is done rather than something that we have are central issues, as is the question of what it might mean to "be moral" in 21st Century North American space. Interpretive theories of deviance and social problems, juxtaposed with elements of poststructuralist thinking, provide analytical resources that shape the discussion.

SCSS 105: RACE, GENDER AND POVERTY, 3 credit hrs.
This course focuses on the way that race, gender, disability, and poverty are organized and configured through public policy, social structure, and public discourse. Prereq; Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor consent. May be used as part of Women's and Gender Studies Concentration.

SCSS 130: CONTEMPORARY CHINESE SOCIETY, 3 credit hrs.
An examination of various aspects of social life in post-imperial China. The course aims to increase understanding of dominant 20th-century cultural and institutional practices and their links to the past. It also aims to heighten a reflexive sense of awareness among those studying China as an "other" culture and the implications this positioning has for the knowledge such inquiry produces. May be used as part of Women's and Gender Studies Concentration.

SCSS 133: SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL CHANGE, 3 credit hrs.
This course examines various ways that sociologists think about social structure and social institutions. Sociologists use the terms "social structure" and "social institutions" refer to broad patterns of social organization that influence the lives of individuals, sometimes without their knowledge. Drawing from important theoretical works, we will explore the sorts of structures and institutions that sociologists believe characterize modern societies, as well as considering where these structures come from and how they change over time. Topics include social stratification, systems of norms and values, language and culture, bureaucracy, and social conflict and revolution. Sociology and ANSO majors may use this course to satisfy one of their "theory-intensive" requirements. Prerequisite is one sociology or anthropology course or instructor's permission.

SCSS 135: TECHNOSCI CULTURE AND PRACTICE, 3 credit hrs.
This course offers a historical and theoretical overview of the interdisciplinary field called science studies or the social studies of science and technology as it has emerged mostly since the 1970s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The focus moves beyond looking for so-called "social factors" or "forces" thought to influence the social organization of science and scientific work to taking the very contents and practices of science as the objects of critical examination, including the very study thus constituted.

SCSS 137: WOMEN, MADNESS AND CULTURE, 3 credit hrs.
This course explores the relationship between gender and socio-cultural definitions of mental health and illness, and examines the history of the treatment of women within the major settings of the mental health system; psychiatry, psychoanalysis and asylum. The first major goal is to understand the social relations of power within which psychiatry emerged and within which women became defined as "hysterical", "irrational" or "mad". A second goal is to chart the relationship between women's social roles and the experience and treatment of mental illness, making use of autobiographical and fictional accounts by women, films and other materials. Prereq.: One entry level sociology or anthropology course or Introduction to Women's Studies (WGS 075/SCSS 075/ENG 075) or instructor consent. May be used as part of Women's and Gender Studies Concentration.

SCSS 140: YOUTH AND CRIME, 3 credit hrs.
A sociological study of the youthful offender in American society. Special emphasis is placed on theories of youthful crime, societal responses that have impacts on definitions of youthful crime and subsequent public policy, research methodologies employed in understanding the quality and quantity of youthful crime, predicting youthful crime, and social control associated with youthful behavior defined as being negative. Prereq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent.

SCSS 145: FOOD AND SOCIETY, 3 credit hrs.
The aim of this course is to unearth and analyze the social context of food production, distribution, and consumption. Students will examine social identities represented and reproduced in food consumption, food regulation and food-based activism, and cultural differences in the preparation and eating of food, among other topics. The course will focus mainly on food in the United States but may also consider comparisons with other countries. Materials for the course include works written by sociologists and anthropologists as well as popular examinations of the food industry and food policy. Pre-req: one entry-level sociology or anthropology course.

SCSS 146: RESTORATIVE JUSTICE, 3 credit hrs.
Restorative justice is a perspective that views crime as a harm against people and the community, which needs to be addressed through the involvement of offenders, victims, and the community. This course provides an introduction to the principles and practices behind restorative justice. The course is designed to allow students to struggle along with the experts in trying to navigate the opportunities and challenges, the success stories and the pitfalls that accompany restorative justice programs. In the process, students will explore questions about justice, crime, imprisonment, punishment, rehabilitation, forgiveness, and the purpose of a legal system.

SCSS 150: SELECTED TOPICS, 3 credit hrs.
Courses listed as selected topics in sociology are either one-time offerings or are courses that have not been added formally to the curriculum. Prerequisites vary. Availability of graduate credit is course-specific.

SCSS 151: CRIMINOLOGY, 3 credit hrs.
General facts and theories with respect to crime, the criminal and his or her treatment by society; emphasis is on the theories of causation and criminal behavior and problems in prison treatment, probation, and parole. Prereq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent.

SCSS 152: MADNESS, CULTURE, AND POWER, 3 credit hrs.
In this course we will examine mental illness and psychiatry from a critical, social and historical perspective. The course focuses on mental illness not solely as an individual, medical problem, but as a social phenomenon, created, experienced, and interpreted in particular historical and social circumstances. Particular themes we will address include the historical and social construction of concepts of mental illness, gender, racial and cultural differences in diagnosis; media images of mental illness and psychiatry, the social experience of depression and trauma, and autobiographical narratives of mental illness.

SCSS 153: DOCUMENTARY VIDEO CHALLENGE, 3 credit hrs.
This course will be an immersion in methods of qualitative fieldwork and digital video as cultural critique. Students will be introduced to ethnographic participant-observation and interviewing methods, as well as video editing techniques. We will travel to the San Francisco Bay area and conduct research with the International Rescue Committee. During the three-week J-term course students will work in small groups to conduct ethnographic research, document it on videotape, and produce short video essays that will be put on both the IRC website for community outreach and the Drake Cultures of Engagement site. This course will serve as an introduction to qualitative interview-based research and critical digital storytelling. Cross-listed with SCSA 153.

SCSS 154: POVERTY AND SOCIETY, 3 credit hrs.
A focus on a sociological exploration of the relationship between poverty and current social concerns, the changing nature of poverty, changes in social responses to poverty, with a special emphasis on public policy implications. Prereq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent.

SCSS 155: GLOBAL YOUTH STUDIES, 3 credit hrs.
A period before adulthood—youth—has specific meanings as a marked social category. Nations view young adults as both the key to the future and a threat to the current social and political order. At the same time, young adulthood experiences by national context and social location (including race, gender, class, and sexual orientation). The class compares youth experiences globally in the areas of education, family, employment, identity, health, and other topics. Participants will participate in the Global Youth Studies Wikipedia editing project, an ongoing effort to make Wikipedia more global and inclusive in its coverage of youth studies.

SCSS 156: REPRESENTING RACE, 0-3 credit hrs.
This methods-intensive course will introduce students to the interviewing methods associated with life history research, as well as the issues of representation involved in the writing and filming of people's lives and identities. Prereq; Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent.

SCSS 157: SOCIOLOGY OF THE SIXTIES, 3 credit hrs.
This methods-intensive course examines how sociologists have used historical research to understand the rapid social changes that occurred in American society around the 1960s. The class will investigate the development of mass-based civil rights activism in the American South and may also consider multicultural and peace movements, activism focused on gender and sexuality, and the resurgent conservative politics of the period. Students in the class will be introduced to methods of historical analysis and argumentation and will complete an independent research project using these methods.

SCSS 158: SOCIAL SCIENCE STATISTICS, 3 credit hrs.
Descriptive and inferential statistics most often used in social science research are examined, with an emphasis on statistics as communication tools; includes development of skills in formula reading, interpreting statistical outcomes and selecting appropriate statistics for analysis of various research questions and data. Counts toward SOCIOLOGY and ANSO methods-intensive requirements.

SCSS 159: METHODS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH, 3 credit hrs.
Survey of selected research methods used in sociology, with varying emphasis on survey, documentary, observational, archival and other techniques, both qualitative and quantitative. Counts toward SOCIOLOGY and ANSO methods- intensive requirements.

SCSS 160: JOBS, ORGANIZATIONS, AND INEQUALITY, 3 credit hrs.
This course examines the organization and experience of work in the modern American economy, using both classical and contemporary sociological writings. We will pay special attention to how the workplace and labor market are connected to inequalities of race, class, and gender. The course also will examine the growth of flexible manufacturing and service sector employment in the United States and the corresponding rise of contingent and insecure work. Finally, we will discuss several perspectives on the relationship between work and family structure.

SCSS 161: RACE AND ETHNICITY, 3 credit hrs.
An examination of the nature of social inequality based upon conceptions of race and ethnicity. Emphasis is on the economic and power relationships that have characterized the history of racial and ethnic inequality in the United States. Prereq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent. May be used as part of Women's and Gender Studies Concentration.

SCSS 167: SOCIOLOGY OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, 3 credit hrs.
This course is an exercise in the application of sociological theory, concepts and methods to the study of African-Americans. The focus of the course is the socio-historical context of the African-American experience. Students examine the social institutions of United States society as they relate to the African-American experience and the subcultural institutions established by African-Americans. Prerq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent.

SCSS 170: DEVIANCE, 3 credit hrs.
In its broadest sense, the course is about how definitions of “badness” are created in society and culture and attached to people, actions, places, and things. The sociological concept “deviance” can take the place of the word “badness” in that sentence. This process is political and has a great deal to do with power, including the power of the state. The premise of the course is that deviance is always relative to time, place, power,  authority, and even person. Prereq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent. Counts toward SOC and ANSO theory-intensive requirements. AOI: Values and Ethics. LPS fulfillment.

SCSS 171: GRIEF AND LOSS, 3 credit hrs.
In this course, students will learn how narratives of grief are constructed, experienced, debated, politicized, and pathologized. We will examine various aspects of grief including cultural difference, social policing, media portrayals, and theoretical debates. Students will learn how tragedy and grief are used to sell politics and products and what implications this has on individual and cultural understandings of loss. This course is reading and writing intensive. Prereq: one entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor consent.

SCSS 173: GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP, 3 credit hrs.
What does it mean to be a global citizen? In this class, we will work to construct definitions of what it means to think and act from this identity category. Through both global and transnational contexts we will explore the idea of citizenship in relationship to identity, allegiance, ethics, and hybridity. This course will also focus on research and action as global citizens; students will reflect on and enact their own practices as global citizens. Because this is a sociology course, an emphasis will be placed on the social construction of the category of citizen, relationships among individuals, groups, and societies, and the interaction between social structures and human agency. May be used as part of Women's and Gender Studies Concentration.

SCSS 174: FEMINIST THEORIES OF SUBJECTIVITY, 3 credit hrs.
This course is a critical, in-depth examination of contemporary feminist theories of subjectivity. The central concern is for students to gain an understanding of the relationships between sexual difference, subjectivity and social relations of power. Students explore theories that address the psychic and subjective roots of relations of gender, power and domination, as well as the socio- historical dimensions of gender subjectivity. Materials and the approach used in the course are interdisciplinary, drawing on sociology, literary criticism, film studies, philosophy and psychoanalysis. Prereq.: Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (WGS 75/SCSS 75/ENG 75) or one entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructors consent. Counts toward SOC and ANSO theory-intensive requirements. May be used as part of Women's and Gender Studies Concentration.

SCSS 175: SOCIAL STRATIFICATION, 3 credit hrs.
This course examines class, race, and gender inequality in the United States by combining hands-on experiences with careful consideration of sociological theory. Through service learning, reading, writing and classroom discussion, students will evaluate the effectiveness of social theory to explain stratification in the United States as well as responses to structural inequality. Students must commit to working at a service learning partner site eight hours per week. Counts toward SOC and ANSO theory-intensive requirement.

SCSS 176: DOCUMENTING LIVES, 3 credit hrs.
This theory-intensive course will draw on a broad range of disciplinary perspectives to consider questions concerning how to document, understand, and interpret the life experience of human beings, primarily in the contemporary United States. We will focus in particular on the documentation of women's lives. Documentary film, popular culture, documentary writing, ethnography, feminism, psychology, anthropology, sociology literature, and memoir will be considered in exploring how to represent the ways that such axes of difference as race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, class, age, and disability shape individual and group identities. Course materials will focus on the ways that society organizes categories of identity and treats people differently based on such categories, as well as how such aspects of identity shape individual conceptions of self. Counts toward SOC and ANSO theory-intensive requirement. May be used as part of Women's and Gender Studies Concentration.

SCSS 177: GENDER AND VIOLENCE, 3 credit hrs.
This course examines gender and violence, including the social construction of the problem, interdisciplinary theoretical explanations, and the social and cultural contexts. This course also explores how media, politics, and popular discourse impact policy for intervention and prevention, and individual understandings of gender and violence. Prereq: SCSA 2-25 or SCSS 1-25 or SCSS 75/ENG 75/WGS 75 or instructor consent. May be used as part of Women's and Gender Studies Concentration.

SCSS 178: GENDER, TECHNOLOGY, EMBODIMENT, 3 credit hrs.
In this course we will study the social and ethical implications of new technologies that alter the understanding and experience of embodiment and that challenge the boundaries and meaning of gender and race-ethnicity. We will read critical feminist and social analyses of topics such as genetic testing, new imaging technologies, reproductive technologies such as ultra-sonography, transnational surrogate motherhood, posthumanism, and affect and biotechnologies of control. We will study theoretical concepts through which to analyze the changing relations between biotechnologies and social relations. Prerequisite: One entry-level sociology or anthropology course.

SCSS 181: DEATH AND SOCIETY, 3 credit hrs.
How do we respond to death and why? Using a sociological lens, this course examines historical and contemporary perspectives on death, dying, and bereavement. Students will expolore variations in attitudes and rituals concerning death, dying, funerals, and memorialization. Though the experiences of death, dying, and bereavement are intensely personal, they are shaped by social, political, legal, and cultural forces. These experiences also vary by culture, social class, age, race, gender, and religion. Other topics include the politics of death and the influence of the funeral industry. This course is reading and writing intensive. Prerequisite: one entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor consent.

SCSS 196: TRAVEL STUDY SEMINAR, 1-6 credit hrs.
The course combines focused domestic and/or international travel and critical inquiry themed by social and cultural questions specific to the site/s visited. Student work typically includes pre-trip course assignments, in-trip lectures and discussions, and post-trip completion and submission/presentation of written work. The seminar is led by faculty who design, oversee, and direct the course and evaluate student work. Students are required to revlect on themselves as observers of the socialcultural sciences, artifacts, and peoples encountered, and they are asked to consider the implications fo their presence and participation in the inquiry for the nature of the information they produce as well as the ethics of that production and subsequent use. No prerequisites.

SCSS 197: INDEPENDENT STUDY, 1-3 credit hrs.
Directed independent study and/or research in a problem area selected by the student and not otherwise provided for in a regularly scheduled course. Prereq.: Sociology major, senior standing, overall GPA of at least 3.0, completion of not less than 18 hours of sociology courses, instructor's consent and department approval.

SCSS 198: INTERNSHIP, 3 credit hrs.
The internship provides an opportunity for practical application of theoretical and research issues in approved work situations, with faculty supervision, guidance and evaluation. Prereq.: Sociology major, completion of 15 hours of sociology courses and 60 hours of college credit with overall GPA of at least 2.75, instructor's consent and department approval. The internship is graded and may be counted toward major.

SCSS 199: SENIOR CAPSTONE, 1 credit hr.
Senior sociology and anthropology/sociology majors complete their Senior Capstone requirement by enrolling in SOC/SCSS 199 in conjunction with a flagged Senior Experience Course. Senior Experience Courses are identified in the schedule of courses for each semester. In consultation with the instructor of the Senior Experience Course, students design their Capstone Experience. All students completing their capstone during an academic year participate in the planning of an annual colloquium and present their papers/projects/ experiences at this public event. Prereq.: Senior sociology or anthropology/sociology majors.