Courses: Sociology (SOC)College: Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Any TCCN equivalents are indicated in square brackets [ ].

SOC 1300: Introduction to Sociology
[TCCN—SOCI 1301]
Cr. 3. (3-0). Credit for SOC 1300 may not be applied towards a degree for students who have credit for SOC 1301. Major theories, methods; and findings pertaining to the study of societies, institutions, organizations, and groups. The interrelationships of society, culture, and personality.

SOC 1301: Honors Introduction to Sociology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: enrollment in Honors College. Credit for or concurrent enrollment in ENGL 1303 or equivalent. Credit for SOC 1301 may not be applied toward a degree for students who have credit for SOC 1300. SOC 1301 will substitute for SOC 1300 as a prerequisite for advanced sociology courses. Scientific study of human societies; characteristics of social units, their interrelationships, and processes of change. Major theories, methods, and research findings in sociology.

SOC 2310: Social Problems
[TCCN—SOCI 1306]
Cr. 3. (3-0). Analysis of major social problems including crime, drug abuse, inequality, racism, and unemployment, among others. Examination of proposed solutions and potential consequences for policy.

SOC 2320: Perspectives on the Black Experience in the United States
Cr. 3. (3-0). The black experience in selected sociological frames of reference, emphasizing social change, social movements, and institutional processes in historical and current perspectives.

SOC 2325: American Minority Peoples
Cr. 3. (3-0). Examines the experiences of minority groups in the United States, including American Indians, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, as well as other minority groups.

SOC 3300: Introduction to Sociological Theory
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300; preference given to declared major or minor in SOC. Analysis of major sociological theorists from the late 19th century to the present; current theoretical issues.

SOC 3311: Sociology of Law
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: SOC 1300 and junior standing. A comparative and historical examination of the relationships between legal and non-legal institutions with a review of the major theorists including Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Selznick, Unger, and Black.

SOC 3312: The Sociology of Deviance
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. The relationship of social structure to deviant behavior with specific reference to criminality, delinquency, mental disorder, drug addiction, and alcoholism.

SOC 3313: Criminology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or SOC 2310. Theories of the origins of criminality - biological, psychological, and sociological; their logic, methodology, and data.

SOC 3315: Sexuality and Society
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. The sociocultural determinants of psychosexual development; the incorporation of the sexual in contemporary institutions and values. Special emphasis on sexual deviants and sexual minorities.

SOC 3316: Sociology of Sport and Leisure
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Sport and leisure behavior as manifested at both the individual and institutional levels; relationships with politics, stratification, the economy, and other areas.

SOC 3318: Introduction to Social Work
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. The United States social welfare system contrasted with other national systems with an overview of the fields and specialties in social work practice.

SOC 3320: African American Stratification
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or SOC 2320 or consent of instructor. Processes resulting in inter-intra ethnic and racial inequality of status, wealth, and power. Dynamics of movements and change.

SOC 3321: African American Family
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Historical and sociological analysis of the African American family with emphasis on its structure, function, and unique characteristics.

SOC 3322: African American Religion
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Complex role of religions in the African American experience.

SOC 3324: Hispanic Identity
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Historical, sociocultural, and structural aspects of the construction of identity among Hispanics in contemporary U.S. society.

SOC 3326: Immigration in U.S. Society
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Patterns of immigration since World War II and resulting societal change.

SOC 3327: Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Theories of intergroup relations explored in terms of the experiences of racial and cultural groups in the United States. Topics include group identity and politics, ascriptive inequality and discrimination, and cultural pluralism.

SOC 3328: Race and Ethnicity in World Perspective
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Experiences of racial and ethnic groups of diverse nations in comparative perspective.

SOC 3330: Introduction to Social Psychology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Perspectives concerning the nature of social man; the explication of a model relating social institutions to character and personality.

SOC 3340: Sociology of Film
Cr. 3. (3-0). Socio-cultural study of themes, production, and distribution of cinema. How film reflects the values and attitudes of society: moral codes, minority groups, family and marital arrangements, sexuality and deviance.

SOC 3342: Sociology of Work
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: three semester hours of sociology or consent of instructor. Modern industrialism as social behavior; work groups as social systems; assumption and values with regard to the meaning and place of work in American society.

SOC 3343: Social Movements
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Characteristics and constructive processes of crowds, publics, and organizations as agents of social change; case studies of specific movements.

SOC 3345: Sociology of Death and Dying
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Social factors and processes that affect attitudes toward death, dying, grief, and bereavement.

SOC 3346: Qualitative Research Methods
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Experience in participant-observation, interviewing, visual ethnography, and other field-research skills with emphasis on computer usage.

SOC 3347: Sociology of Mass Communication
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Media participation in the social construction of reality, focusing on the interaction of social symbols and personal metaphors.

SOC 3349: Sociology of Culture
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Contemporary theories on how knowledge and culture affect the construction of social reality.

SOC 3350: Sociology of the Body
Cr. 3. (3-0). Theoretical and empirical literature on the social body, including social constructivist interpretations and research on body work, "deviance," resistance, and medicalization. Can be repeated for credit.

SOC 3351: Social Class and Mobility in America
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Class, race, and sex inequalities in power, prestige, and life chances viewed in the context of American occupational structure and social mobility processes.

SOC 3352: Population Analysis
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: MATH 1310 or consent of instructor. Theory and methods in the study of human populations. Fertility, mortality, migration, trends of world population change, population and the environment and population and economic development.

SOC 3357: Urban Sociology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. The nature, conditions, and consequences of urbanization; growth and structure of metropolitan regions; social and demographic characteristics of urban populations.

SOC 3360: Sociology of Food
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor.  Differing perspectives on food practices as they relate to social structure, social systems and sociocultural meanings with an emphasis on contemporary food movements and globalization.

SOC 3365: Sociology of Education
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Issues confronting American education, including desegregation, student achievement, teacher morale, student dropout behaviors, and teacher turnover.

SOC 3366: Sociology of Art
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or permission of instructor. Sociological approaches to the study of art worlds, artists, objects. The roles objects and producers can play within society are also explored.

SOC 3370: Popular Music and Society
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Application of sociological theory and methods to the analysis of post-World War II popular music as a social institution with emphasis on its cultural, technological, organizational, political, and mass media contexts.

SOC 3371: Sociology of the Family
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: three semester hours in sociology or anthropology, or consent of instructor. The family as an institution; general structures and functions; variation and types of American society.

SOC 3372: Mexican American Family
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Historical, cultural, and social trends of the diverse living arrangements of Mexican Americans in contemporary U.S. society.

SOC 3373: Comparative Family Structures
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Historical and cross-national variations, with attention to differences between U.S. racial/ethnic groups and the impact of industrialization upon family changes.

SOC 3375: Religion and Society
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Conceptual problems; a typology of churches; examination of the interdependence of religious and other institutional structures.

SOC 3380: Introduction to the Sociology of Health Care
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Social factors in genesis and development of disease; health practitioners and practices in cross-cultural perspective; the modern American medical and other health care professions.

SOC 3382: Sociology of Drug Use and Recovery
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Institutional processes shaping the definitions of and responses to substance abuse. Gender, racial, and economic influences on substance usage and recovery.

SOC 3385: Sociology of World Religions
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Knowledge of the world's religious systems, social-structural factors associated with their origins and development and the impact on contemporary societies.

SOC 3388: Visual Sociology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. Uses of still or moving images as a means to collect social data, enhance interviews, and disseminate findings.

SOC 3390: Sociology of Gender
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300. Contemporary gender role stereotypes and their effects on childhood socialization, major social institutions, interpersonal relationships; social movements and changing gender roles.

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Effective beginning Fall 2013:

SOC 3392: Sociology of Latinos in Houston
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: SOC 1300 or consent of instructor. A sociological examination of Mexican Americans and other Latinos in Houston focusing upon history, demographics, education, politics, culture, and relations with other groups in the city of Houston.

SOC 3397: Selected Topics in Sociology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: three semester hours in sociology or consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

SOC 3398: Independent Studies in Sociology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: approval of undergraduate advisor or chair. May be repeated once for credit.

SOC 3399: Senior Honors Thesis
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: 3.25 cumulative GPA and a 3.50 in sociology courses in residence. Completion of SOC 1300, 3300, 3400, 3401, and approval of undergraduate advisor or chair. Must complete SOC 4399 for Honors credit.

SOC 3400: Introduction to Social Statistics
Cr. 4. (3-2). Prerequisites: SOC 1300, MATH 1310 or equivalent; preference given to declared major or minor in SOC. Descriptive and inferential statistics used in sociological research. Data analysis using a personal computer.

SOC 3401: Introduction to Sociological Research
Cr. 4. (3-2). Prerequisite: SOC 3400 or equivalent. Preference given to declared major or minor in SOC. Sociological research, field methods, experiments, survey research, census data, utilization of records and existing data, and evaluation research.

SOC 4383: Senior Seminar in Sociology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: SOC major, senior standing, six hours from: SOC 3300, SOC 3400, or SOC 3401, and nine hours of 3000-4000 level SOC course work. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

SOC 4394: Internship in Sociology
Cr. 3 per semester. Prerequisites: sociology major; 2.5 cumulative GPA in sociology courses; senior standing; six hours from SOC 3300, SOC 3400, or SOC 3401, and nine additional hours in sociology. Supervised field experience. May not be repeated for credit.

SOC 4398: Independent Studies in Sociology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: approval of undergraduate advisor or chair. May be repeated once for credit.

SOC 4399: Senior Honors Thesis
Cr. 3 per semester. (3-0). Prerequisite: 3.25 cumulative GPA and 3.50 in sociology courses in residence, completion of SOC 1300, SOC 3300, SOC 3400 and SOC 3401 and approval of the undergraduate advisor or chair. Must complete two semesters for Honors credit.

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Catalog Publish Date: August 22, 2012
This Page Last Updated: April 11, 2013