Summer 2022 Online Courses

Summer Session 1: May 16 – June 30

• SOC 100:730 Introduction to Sociology with Ezgi Karaoglu

  This class will be simple and sweet, yet complex, and bitter, like the answers behind many questions about everyday social life. In this class, we explore the macro-structural forces that influence social phenomena with relatable questions and examples. The questions vary from simple ones such as “Why the pants for women are designed as pocketless?” to complex ones as “What will be the short and long-term impacts of the ongoing pandemic on different social groups?”. The topics will cover gender, sexuality, class, race, family, media, and deviance. There will be no big exams but weekly non-cumulative mini quizzes. The assignments consist of reflexive pieces incorporating self-taken photos, movies, news pieces, and songs on contemporary social issues. Throughout this course, you will develop sociological imagination for thinking critically with an open mind required to discuss contemporary social issues and real-world problems.

• SOC 214:730 Social Inequality with Vanessa Rickenbrode
  How common is rags to riches in reality? Why do some individuals and societies have more than others? In this course, students will learn the theories and measurements sociologists use to analyze economic inequality in the United States and globally. Students will explore inequality from multiple perspectives, from intersecting forms of oppression and privilege to global stratification. By the end of this course, students will understand the ways inequality manifests in things such as health, crime, and education. Through essays, exams, and reflections on course material, students will build skills that enable them to identify and implement just solutions in the world around them.
• SOC 216:730 Sex, Gender, & Sexuality with Praveena Lakshmanan

  This interactive online course is an introduction to diversity of thought and approaches around how society generates and articulates our understandings of sex, gender, and sexuality. The goal of this course is to explore the influence and critical significance of sex, gender, and sexuality in contemporary context. To accomplish this goal, we will use sociological perspectives and methods, systematic analysis, and experiential accounts to recognize and challenge the taken for granted assumptions about gender, sexual difference, masculinity, femininity, and gender relationships. We will approach sex and gender as simultaneously biological and social, while paying attention to how sex and gender are socially constructed. We will learn to understand and thoughtfully articulate how the intersections of gender with identities, institutions, and cultures shape interactions, perspectives, and responses. As a whole, this course will cultivate contextually rooted knowledge and offer students the opportunity to develop competence in written and oral expressions/visual communication about sexuality and gender — skillsets useful beyond this course. 

• SOC 252:730 Introduction to Environmental Sociology with Nate Poirier

  This course will introduce students to environmental sociology and closely related bodies of literature. It is designed to raise awareness of some potentially controversial issues and asks challenging questions about commonly held views concerning human thought and action towards the environment and nonhuman animals, as these play out in various domains of social life. Topics include environmental activism, environmental justice, treadmill theory, history of environmentalism, connected oppressions, eco-anarchism, anti-capitalism, state repression of radical activists, consumption, ecofeminism, and climate change. Topics will be approached through classic and contemporary literature and assignments designed to highlight connections between students and their surrounding environment(s). 

• SOC 315:730 Family & Society with Inna Mirzoyan
  The word family is complex and takes on multiple meanings based on different cultures and individual preferences. This course provides an overview on the historical, theoretical and political implications of such diverse family structures in society. How do individuals determine what is a family and why have family units remained important functions of society? How are current political and legal decisions impacting individuals and their decisions on marriage, education, home ownership, where to move to, and when/if to have children? To respond to such questions, students will reflect on their own unique families and upbringing, and relate their perspective to the course readings and assignments that will include a narrative photo essay, Twitter project, and interactive Ebook quizzes.
• SOC 475:730 Health & Society with Madeline Nash

  In this course, we will be examining the social roots of health and disease. Rather than understanding health from an individual perspective, we will be examining how SES, gender, race and ethnicity, as well as sexual orientation affects health outcomes. Some of the topics we will be covering include: medicalization and construction of illness, fundamental cause of disease, social support and social networks, as well as health care interactions/access. By engaging with these topics, students will develop a social structural perspective for health that can be applied to careers in medicine, public health, health policy, and social science. 

• ISS 215:732 Social Differentiation & Inequality with Stacy Smith

  In this course, we cover the basics of inequalities based on race and ethnicity -- helping you to gain an important understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In the past, students have benefitted from this introductory-level class, which will get you up to speed on the topic very quickly. In the second part of the semester, we put this learning to work, going more in-depth on the experiences of Indigenous peoples in the Americas, pre-Columbus to now, from the perspective of Indigenous authors. Subjects include the protest over the DAPL pipeline and #MMIW.
• ISS 310:732 People & Environment with Ben Marley
  By most scientific accounts our society is environmentally and socially unsustainable. How do we explain the civilization crisis we are experiencing? How do we resolve the crisis? In ISS 310 we will diagnose the root causes of the crisis and evaluate solutions. Specifically, we will focus on improving well-being and environmental sustainability through alternative modes of organizing society and nature. We will explore topics such as capitalist growth, mass consumerism, extractive development, and post-capitalist strategies of existence.

Summer Session 2: July 5 – August 18

• SOC 100:731 Introduction to Sociology with Faith Bradley
  SOC 100:731
  Introduction to Sociology
  Faith Bradley
• SOC 215:731 Race & Ethnicity with Angelica Ruvalcaba
  This course provides a sociological overview of race and ethnicity. It will cover concepts of colonialism, racism, racialization, intersectionality, white supremacy, immigration, and racial justice. We will explore key concepts, terms, and theories to gain a profound understanding of race and ethnicity and engage how they exist in the United States today. And in this process, we will explore historical and current issues to answer the following questions: How has race existed? How has racism remained the same or changed over time? And, how do race and ethnicity intersect with sex, gender, class, and other axes of inequality?
• SOC 316:731 Youth & Society with Kitty Groeller

  Youth & Society is all about the sociological understanding of youth and adolescence. In this course, we will be diving into socialization, subcultures, and social change. How is youth, adolescence, and emerging adulthood defined? What effect does our upbringing have on our choices for college? What does the future hold for youth activism? We will be exploring all of these questions and more through contemporary social research and engaging assignments, such as a childhood autoethnography and a music analysis!

• SOC 350:731 Society & Mental Health with Jodi Yelinek
  What is mental illness? Is mental illness "real" or is it something created by society? Who gets to decide? How has that changed over time? Why is stigma attached to mental illness? Is there less stigma than there used to be? Is there more mental illness now than in the past, or just more awareness? Are we overmedicating Amercia? Do people ever recover from mental illness? We discuss answers to these questions and much more in this course!