Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introduction to the principal concepts, theories, and methods of sociology. Required (normally) for sociology majors.

Long Title: FEMINIST SOCIAL THOUGHT

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Study of feminist theory as critique and reconstruction. Includes Wollstonecraft and de Beauvoir, as well as contemporary debates about equity, difference, knowledge, sexuality, and power.

Long Title: SOCIAL INEQUALITY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A survey of US inequalities of wealth, status, and power. The situation of various minority groups and social classes. What kinds of inequality are unjustifiable? Can they be abolished? If so, how? The trade-off between equality and such valued goods as freedom and efficiency.

Long Title: SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Relationship between gender and social role. Development of the contemporary sexual division of labor and process of socialization with reference to family, education, media, and occupations. Cross-list: WGST 324.

Long Title: HOUSTON: THE SOCIOLOGY OF A CITY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Houston as an exemplar of contemporary urban change. The "golden buckle of the sunbelt"; recovery from the oil boom collapse of the 1980s into a restructional economy and a demographic revolution; the changing politics of education, quality-of-life issues, and interethnic relations, as they interact to shape the urban future. Guest lectures, field trips.

Long Title: RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Historical and contemporary issues and theories of race and ethnic relations in the United States. The key groups covered will be European Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Mexican Americans. Group patterns of assimilation and conflict inform a basic tenet that race and ethnicity are organizing features of society.

Long Title: URBAN SOCIOLOGY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Study of urban development, form, and heterogeneity; and the conditions of life associated with living in cities. Examines the rise of cities, their growth and purposes in the U.S. and internationally. Examines behavioral adaptations required by city life, and considers urban subcultures.

Long Title: ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Sociological perspectives on "the economy" emphasizes that (1) economies are not reducible to markets and that (2) markets are social structures. Accordingly, this course examines how economic processes, such as production, distribution and exchange, are embedded in interpersonal relationships and social institutions such as bureaucratic states, local communities and families.

Long Title: DEMOGRAPHY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introduction to the study of the dynamics of population change. Includes demographic data sources, components of population change, mortality patterns, family planning, the measurement of migration flows, and population-economic models.

Long Title: CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Discussion course on major recent trends in sociological theory, especially in the writings of Goffman, Habermas, Bourdieu, Foucault, and Smith. Includes symbolic interactionism, critical theory, cultural studies, text/discourse/semiotic analyses, feminist theory, and postmodern sociology.

Long Title: CRIMINOLOGY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Study of criminal behavior. Includes social construction of crime, elementary forms of crime, empirical patterns of crime, and theories of crime. Field work required.

Long Title: SOCIOLOGY OF LAW

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introduction to Sociological theories of law. Examines central question in the field: Do the social characteristics of legal actors influence legal outcomes? Focuses on the role of race, sex, and social status. Field work required.

Long Title: SOCIOLOGY OF THE FAMILY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will teach students the important influences and consequences of American family life. We will consider issues as dating, marriage and cohabitation, divorce, family structure, gay marriage, domestic violence, and household labor. We will also examine the role of society in shaping family norms and constraints on family behaviors.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will explore the relationship between social factors and health, illness, and mortality. Topics include the stratification of health by race/ethnicity, gender, and social class; environmental context and illness; lifestyle and behavioral risks (smoking, drinking, drugs, and sexual behavior); STD's and cross-national comparisons of health and patterns of disease.

Long Title: SOCIOLOGY OF DRUGS AND ALCOHOL

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will focus on the use of drugs in the United States, and will discuss issues relating to tobacco (e.g, regulation and marketing), alcohol (e.g., binge drinking), legal drugs (e.g., regulation, pricing, and marketing), and illicit drug use (e.g., The War on Drugs, legalization vs. prohibition debates, medical marijuana).

Long Title: TELEVISION IN AMERICAN CULTURE

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Analysis of the development and current structure of the television industry in this country, and of the ways in which television is shaped by American culture, class interests, relevant professions, production and broadcast organizations, technological innovation, audience ratings, economic considerations, interest groups, and governmental actions. Recent criticism and theory will be presented as well.

Long Title: MEDIA, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Examines the structure of the media industry and the effects of its products on culture and society. Students develop the analytical tools required for critical understanding of the relationship between media, culture, and society in America.

Long Title: ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Applications of research and theory in the social sciences to an understanding of the attitudes and behaviors that contribute both to environmental problems and to their remediation; examination of the interactions between population pressures and human appetites, technological developments and ecological constraints as they combine to shape the human prospect.

Long Title: AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SOCIETY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Contemporary life of Blacks (African-Americans) in society. The meaning and significance of race, prejudice and discrimination; social institutions such as the economy, education, and family; and potential strategies such as affirmative action and reparations.

Long Title: RESEARCH METHODS

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An introduction to the methods sociologists use to study human societies and their members. Hypothesis formulation and research design; qualitative studies through observation and interviews; historical and comparative approaches; sample surveys and the statistical analysis of quantitative data; political and ethical issues in social research.

Long Title: FEMINIST SOCIAL THOUGHT

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Study of feminist theory as critique and reconstruction. Includes Wollstonecraft and de Beauvoir, as well as contemporary debates about equity, difference, knowledge, sexuality, and power. Cross-list: WGST 460.

Long Title: SOCIAL STATISTICS

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Emphasizes the practical uses of statistics to answer the types of questions sociologists ask. We learn sample description, sampling and probability, sampling theory, and how to make inferences from samples to populations. We study and apply common univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics. Because most statistical analysis is done with the aid of computers, we also learn how to use a common statistical package.

Long Title: IMMIGRATION AND PUBLIC HEALTH

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course explores the relationship between international migration and public health both historically and in the contemporary period. We will discuss the substantive and methodological complexities of the health-migration relationship and their implications for public policy debates worldwide.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 6

Description: Directed reading and written papers on subjects not regularly offered; advanced study of subjects on which courses are offered. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 4

Description: Directed readings and essay writing on special subjects. Includes advanced study in subjects from other courses, if desired. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Beginning with the theoretical frameworks for ethnographic and other qualitative research methods, the course will cover ethics, entry, observation, field notes, interviewing, data analysis, and writing reports. It will offer a hands-on approach combining lectures, research through lectures, readings, and fieldwork. Field projects can be conducted in group, classroom, campus, or community settings.

Long Title: TRANSLATING RESEARCH INTO POLICY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 2

Description: Research efforts seldom take into account the practical consequences of findings, particularly, how they might best be put to use by whom. Consequently results may never find their way into practice, either because of their technical complexities or because they never reach the people who need them the most. Translation deals with getting the results into a form that meets users' needs in language they can understand. Dissemination deals with the issue of getting those results to the right users. Reaching the diverse users of prevention and population health research with results in a form that they can use presents new challenges. The purpose of this course is to examine these challenges and consider strategies for bridging the gap between research and practice. Course taught at the UT School of Public Health.

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): SOCI 203

Description: Study of social movements that have emerged since the late 20th century, including environmentalism, the women's movement, and the movement for gay rights, peace, indigenous people's rights, and global justice. We will also consider conservative movements, such as fundamentalism, as responses to modernization. Seminar format: presentation, discussion, research paper.

Long Title: THE CRAFT OF SOCIOLOGY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Exploration of work of sociology. Includes its historical and social origins and development, and its shifting philosophical foundations, methodological refinements, and ethical and political implications, as well as discussion of classic and controversial sociological studies.

Long Title: POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Can democracy survive its enemies: tyranny of ruling elites and classes, tyranny of the majority, ethnic and religious conflict, individualism, government secrecy, citizen apathy? Cross-list: POLI 425.

Long Title: SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Study of religious beliefs, symbols, actions, organizations, roles, and various interrelationships between religion and society. Includes new religious movements, secularization, and fundamentalism. Field work required.

Long Title: THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Examination of the major components of the criminal justice system: 1) Police role and culture, contemporary approaches; 2) Courts (judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, plea bargaining, juries, appeals, pre-sentence investigation, and sentencing); and 3) Corrections, with attention to responsibility and punishment, prisons, probation, parole, and alternatives.

Long Title: SOCIOLOGY OF THE LIFE CYCLE: DEATH AND DYING

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Analysis of various cultures' "death systems" (beliefs, values, conceptions). Religious, legal, medical and other approaches to death; analysis of funerary practices and various trajectories of the dying self; "near death experiences", social management of dying in various organizational settings (homes, hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, prisons, battlefields, streets, etc.); changing causes and modes of death (accident, natural disaster, illness, "old age", suicide, homicide, genocide, and war). A field trip to Houston's Glenwood Cemetery, and special consideration of terrorism and the recent tsunami in Southeast Asia.

Long Title: ADVANCED RESEARCH SEMINAR: THE HOUSTON AREA SURVEY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 4

Description: Continuation of the series of annual surveys on how Houston residents are reacting to the ongoing economic and demographic changes. Includes sampling procedures, questionnaire construction, interviewing, data analysis, and the logic and skills of survey research. Culminates in a research report that develops empirical hypotheses and tests their validity with the survey findings.

Long Title: FAMILY INEQUALITY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This is an intense, upper-level seminar focused on aspects of inequality concerning American families. We will discuss how well-known modes of inequality, such as race/ethnicity, gender, and social class, affect individual families, as well as how families serve as agents of inequality along these lines.

Long Title: SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURE

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course surveys the different sociological approaches to studying culture. Part I focuses on the relationships between culture and social structure, including various theoretical approaches. Part II examines different perspectives on modern culture.

Long Title: GENDER AND HEALTH

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will examine the relationship between gender and health, both physical and mental. We will begin the semester by examining issues related to gender and health in the U.S. We will spend the second half of the semester examining gender and health in an international context. Instructor Permission Required.Cross-list: WGST 465.

Long Title: URBAN LIFE AND SYSTEMS

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Study of urban development, its systems, and life experiences of urbanites. Uses readings and weekly time spent in assigned neighborhoods. Students will conduct urban ethnographies and analysis through a series of guided assignments.

Long Title: DIRECTED HONORS RESEARCH

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Sociological research under faculty supervision. Includes first-semester review of relevant literature and the preparation of an outline for planned research, followed by second-semester research and the writing of an honors thesis. Open only to students in sociology honors program. Instructor Permission Required.

Long Title: DIRECTED HONORS RESEARCH

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Sociological research under faculty supervision. Includes first-semester review of relevant literature and preparation of outline for planned research, followed by second-semester research and the writing of an honors thesis. Open only to students in sociology honors program. Instructor Permission Required.