Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • CAS SO 335: Sociology of Race, Class & Gender
    No one of us is one thing, one identity, nor motivated by one singular interest, nor privileged or subjugated by one singular form of power, but how do those multiple forms of ourselves affect how we are advantaged, disadvantaged, viewed, and understood by the social world? Our social world, is, by default, a vast web of social intersections between and across groups with shared, overlapping, and conflicting identities. Race, class and gender affect nearly all of our lived experiences and greatly complicate and nuance concepts of diversity and difference. Also offered as CAS AA 335 and CAS WS 335. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • The Individual in Community
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • CAS SO 352: American Masculinities
    Considers the biological and social organization of masculinities; the ways culture reproduces/articulates masculinities, particularly with regard to race and class; how masculine identities are expressed; male privilege; alternative masculinities; and what is at stake in negotiating contemporary masculinities. Also offered as CAS WS 352.
  • CAS SO 400: Advanced Research Practicum
    Prepares students planning to conduct honors research project in their senior year. Students interested in developing a research project for alternate purposes will be admitted with permission of the instructor. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS SO 401: Senior Independent Work
  • CAS SO 402: Senior Independent Work
  • CAS SO 403: Seminar: Gender Stratification
    Considers how the social production of gender contributes to various forms of gendered inequalities in employment, the family, dating markets, media representation, etc., with a special emphasis on how race, class, sexuality, and disability mediate the process. Also offered as CAS WS 403.
  • CAS SO 404: Seminar: The Family
    Explores the rise of "modern" families and the plurality of contemporary family forms and processes including gay and lesbian families and new reproductive technologies. Particular attention to social and economic inequalities and their implications for family life. Also offered as CAS AA 404.
  • CAS SO 408: Seminar: Ethnic, Race, and Minority Relations
    Formation and position of ethnic minorities in the United States, including cross-group comparisons from England, Africa, and other parts of the world. Readings and field experience. Also offered as CAS AA 408.
  • CAS SO 415: Seminar: Sociology of Law
    Classical and contemporary perspectives on law's development in society. Selected applications of law are then examined with attention to constraints on law's ability to achieve such societal goals as justice and equality and to alter social relations fundamentally.
  • CAS SO 418: Seminar: Sociology of Medicine
    Focuses on the medical profession, sources of its power and authority, the effects of recent changes in financing and delivery of healthcare. Medical training and decision-making analyzed. Doctor-patient interaction and the use of alternative treatments. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Writing- Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS SO 420: Seminar: Women and Social Change in the Developing World
    Studies women in nonindustrial countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, stressing empirical research, theory, and methodology. Comparisons between regions and with industrial countries. Focus on sex segregation, female labor force participation, migration, fertility, family roles, and women and political power. Also offered as CAS IR 425.
  • CAS SO 425: Seminar: Sex and the City
    Sex and the City explores the relationship between sexualities and place. Taking us from big city "gayborhoods" to rural hamlets, the course considers how sexual identities and behaviors interact with place ecologies and processes, from gentrification to suburbanization.
  • CAS SO 431: Seminar: Genders, Sexualities, and Youth Cultures
    Investigates the social construction of gender and sexuality in adolescence. Engaging critical approaches to youth cultures, the course examines the structural conditions that shape gender and sexuality norms, and the ways youth navigate and redefine their social worlds.
  • CAS SO 434: Seminar: Sociology of Mental Illness
    An evaluation of current theories and research on the social sources and consequences of mental illness. Featured topics for discussion include social-psychological perspectives on the definition, diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of mental disorders.
  • CAS SO 437: Seminar: Sociology of Culture
    The sociology of culture in the twenty-first century. Focuses on the connection between the mind and culture. Examines the interdependence between culture, society, and individuals, and how belief, faith, knowledge, symbol, ritual, and the like both produce and are products of social organization.
  • CAS SO 438: Seminar on International Migration
    Explores the social dynamics of contemporary international migration, ranging from the development of transnational migrant communities to the impact of state policies that strive to regulate migrant labor flows.
  • CAS SO 440: Seminar: Comparative Political Cultures
    Explores the "deep cultural" level behind the daily conduct of politics. A theoretical framework relying upon Tocqueville and Weber is developed and then applied to unveil the political cultures of the United States, Germany, England, Russia, China, Japan, and Mexico.
  • CAS SO 452: Contemporary Debates in Sexualities Research
    Engages debates about sexual identities, practices, and communities, conceptualizing sexuality as both a social construct and an institution. Students consider how sexualities operate across social contexts, their effects on systems of inequalities, and their intersections with race, class, and gender. Also offered as CAS WS 452.
  • CAS SO 455: Topics in Social Issues
    Topics seminar that takes in-depth look at a social issue. May be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Fall 2019: Sex and the City. Draws on sociology, as well as history and memoirs, to explore place and sexualities. Considers how space cultivates community and identity, and how LGBTQIA individuals' lives vary by nation, region, city and neighborhood.
  • CAS SO 459: Deviance and Social Control
    This seminar explores sociological explanations for why and how certain attributes and behaviors are defined as deviant, the consequences of deviant labels, and how rules and sanctions are created and enforced. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course

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