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. Course restricted to Freshmen and Sophomores during the first week of classes then opened to upperclassmen as well.

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 the work of sociology. Includes 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: SOCIAL THEORY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course engages and analyzes the foundational texts of social theory from its classical roots to its contemporary branches. Students will explore theoretical approaches that inform current sociological research and during the course will examine social phenomena of particular interest to them from the perspective of two major theorists.

Long Title: FEMINIST SOCIAL THOUGHT

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

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: SWGS 275.

Long Title: POVERTY, JUSTICE, AND CAPABILITIES

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course provides an introduction to the study of poverty, justice, and capabilities. The course considers theory and policy oriented towards improving human well-being in the US and internationally. Readings address not just material deprivations but also gender, racial and ethnic disparities, health status, education, human rights, and political freedoms. Cross-list: HUMA 280.

Long Title: RESEARCH METHODS

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

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: RACIAL & ETHNIC GROUPS IN AMERICA

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course compares and contrasts the immigration, acculturation, and adjustment processes of various racial/ethnic groups in America. In particular, it explores cultural and structural arguments that seemingly explain why some groups have "succeeded" while others have "failed" to attain socioeconomic excellence.

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: 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: THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF FAMILY AND SEXUALITY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This class will explore the social effects of post-industrial transformations in family and sexuality within a global context. Central topics and issues include: the politics of marriage and family values, abstinence education and AIDS prevention; the normalization of divorce; reproductive technology; gay and lesbian family formations; transracial and transnational families and sexualities.

Long Title: POVERTY AND PUBLIC POLICY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will undertake a rigorous assessment of the trends, causes, and consequences of poverty, as well as the development and evolution of U.S. welfare policy, with a particular focus on poor families. The course will incorporate lecture, discussion, and off-campus excursions to encourage the broadest engagement of the material. Recommended pre-requisite: SOCI 101

Long Title: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: RICE INTO THE FUTURE

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Students use th ecampus as a laboratory for learning about sustainability through group projects to reduce Rice's environmental impact or resolve environmental problem. In doing so, they learn about the science, technology Cross-list: ENST 302.

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: SWGS 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: THE SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines the social construction of deviant behavior in American society. Through course readings, discussions, and empirical research projects, student will learn to critically analyze how certain behaviors come to be labeled "deviant" or "acceptable," and how these labels can shift historically, culturally, and politically.

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: SCIENCE AT RISK? OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO PUBLIC SPHERE

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What happens when science enters the public sphere and when the public sphere enters science? Through the lens of sociology we will examine some of the most controversial issues facing science, including biotechnology, science and religion, US knowledge of science, increasing diversity of the science workforce and corporate funding.

Long Title: POPULATION AND SOCIETY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): SOCI 101

Description: Population and Society examines social problems and social change from a population-based perspective. Topics include: basics of demographic measurement and demographic processes (e.g. mortality, fertility, and migration), population growth and social inequality, the changing ways U.S. Census counts population, population growth and changes in the American family.

Long Title: RACE AND RELIGIOUS FAITH

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Class examines race, ethnicity, religion, and civic society. Focusing on American congregational communities (church, temple, or mosque) in considering migration, citizenship, identity, and transnationalism on the historic transformations of non-native, ethnic churches and the Black Church. Discussions on assimilation (and its failure) will include the rare phenomena of multi-ethnic/racial congregations. Cross-list: RELI 327.

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: MULTIRACIAL AMERICA

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Multiraciall America examines the phenomenon of race mixing (e.g. interracial interaction, multiracial identity) from a sociological perspective. The course covers the legal, political, and cultural contexts of interracial interaction and how these impact current understanding of what it means to be "mixed race." Recommended Prerequisite(s): SOCI 101

Long Title: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Strategies by which citizens effect social change through noninstitutionalized political activity. The emergence, maturation, and decay of protest movements. Political impact of social movements on both institutions and individuals. Primary focus is on 20th-century United States.

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 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: 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. Cross-list: SWGS 325.

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?

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: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PUNISHMENT

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will focus on the writings of some of the most influential scholars in sociology, legal philosophy and political theory who have contributed to the creation of ideal or normative views of legal punishment and exposing the harsh realities of how non-violent and violent criminals are actually punished.

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: SCOCIOLOGY 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: 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. Cross-list: ENST 367.

Long Title: THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP: ELITES AND SOCIETY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course explores the rise, reign, and fall of elite groups in human societies (the powerful, the influential, the celebrated, the stars) with emphasis on the contemporary United States. Particular themes to be addressed include power, wealth, fame, and status and the paths to achievement in different sectors of society. Cross-list: LEAD 375.

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: 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: THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Examines the environmental movement in the U.S. and globally. After a historical overview, we will use a social movement perspective to examine mobilization, organizations and tactics, ideologies and identities, as well as exploring aspects of contemporary environmentalism (e.g. green building and slow flood, wildlife management/biodiversity, sustainable development, environmental justice). Cross-list: ENST 415.

Long Title: RESEARCH SEMINAR: THE HOUSTON AREA SURVEY

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

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

Prerequisite(s): SOCI 334

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. Cross-list: SWGS 444.

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 world-wide.

Long Title: IMMIGRATION IN A GLOBAL WORLD

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Course compares early 20th century immigration to the US (and other countries) with more recent migratory flows. Topics will be related to the transnational identities of immigrants, ethnic discrimination, and the impact of immigrants on civic and religious institutions. A central part of the course is a semester-long research project. Recommended prerequisites: (SOCI 101 OR SOCI 203) AND SOCI 298.

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: SWGS 465.

Long Title: URBAN LIFE AND SYSTEMS

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Description: We study Urban Development and the lives of urbanites. We pay particular attention to the way in which cities generate inequality, wealth, and poverty, and how these are experienced by urbanites. we do so not only through readings and discussion, but by weekly time spent in assigned neighborhoods. We explore issues of justice and human capabilities.

Long Title: FROM HARVARD TO HOLLYWOOD: RELIGION IN AMERICAN LIFE

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar explores the expression of religious conviction in public, examining the connection between religion and areas like the economy, politics, professional life, the civil society. Preference will be given to seniors who are particularly interested in applying sociological analysis to the study of religion.

Long Title: IDENTITIES IN A DIVERSE WORLD

Department: Sociology

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: How have shifts in ethnic and race diversity affected the way we answer the question, "who am I?" "Identities in a Diverse World" is a seminar dedicated to answering this core question by exploring the new frontiers of understanding race and ethnicity. Topics include: Racial Passing, Transracial adoption, Whiteness, and Immigration. Instructor Permission Required.

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.