Courses

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

• CAS SO 322: Gender and Health
  Prerequisites: at least one previous sociology course or consent of instructor. - Gender power relations and inequalities in health, healthcare institutions, medical research, public health policy, and global health politics. Examines the intersection of gender with other systems of power in medical practice, research, and the experience of health and illness. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• CAS SO 323: Markets in Biomedicine and Healthcare
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: at least one previous Sociology course or consent of instructor. - Complex ways in which market exchange impacts commodification of the human body, the practice of medicine (assisted reproduction, organ transplantation) and drug clinical trials. Theoretical discussion of market exchange from an interdisciplinary perspective, brief overview of the US health care system and global medical tourism. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Ethical Reasoning, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Social Inquiry II
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS SO 334: Sociology of Mental Illness
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: at least one previous Sociology course or consent of instructor. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - 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. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Critical Thinking, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS SO 335: Sociology of Race, Class & Gender
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: At least one prior 100- or 200-level sociology course, or CAS WS 101/1 02. - 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. 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.
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  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Historical Consciousness
  • The Individual in Community
• CAS SO 352: American Masculinities
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: one 100- or 200-level course in either sociology or women's, gender, & sexuality. - Explores masculinity: as a historical, social construct and site of power and violence; as a facet of identity and system of oppression; as style, myth, and representation; as something perpetually in "crisis" and in need of recuperation; as a process that helps and harms; as a set of ideals, practices, and traditions; and as system that cuts across race, ethnicity, sexuality, social class, nation, geography and place, age, and other lines of difference. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS SO 391: Social Inequality in America
  Students learn about sociological theories and read empirical research describing how social inequality in the US is produced and reproduced in various institutions and through different mechanisms. We explore what it would take to address these different sources of social inequality in the American context and learn from comparisons with other countries and historical moments. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry I.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS SO 400: Advanced Research Practicum
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASSO303) and junior standing; or consent of instructor. First Year Writing Sem inar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Prepares students planning to conduct honors research project in their senior year. Students interested in developing a research project for alternate purposes are 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.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS SO 401: Senior Independent Work
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: approval of the Undergraduate Program Committee. Senior independent work in sociology.
• CAS SO 402: Senior Independent Work
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: approval of the Undergraduate Program Committee. - SR INDEP WORK
• CAS SO 403: Seminar: Gender Stratification
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous Sociology courses; or consent of instructor. - 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.
• CAS SO 404: Seminar on Sociology of Families
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous Sociology courses; or consent of instructor. First-Year Writing Seminar (WR 120 or equi valent) - 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. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS SO 405: Senior Research Seminar
  Prerequisite: approval of the Undergraduate Program Committee. - Provides an in-depth engagement with the skills of sociological thesis-writing, including: reviewing literature, data coding and analysis, writing abstracts, presenting at conferences, and managing long-term projects. This is the Fall course in the Sociology Honors Thesis senior-year sequence.
• CAS SO 408: Seminar: Ethnic, Race, and Minority Relations
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous Sociology courses, at least one of which must be CAS SO 207; or consent of instructor. - 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.
• CAS SO 411: Seminar: Sociology of the Nonprofit Sector
  Introduction to sociological research on that part of society known as the nonprofit sector, including nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, voluntary associations, and social movements. Focus on some of the literature's major themes: civil society, social capital, and nongovernmental organizations. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Social Inquiry II
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS SO 415: Seminar: Sociology of Law
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous Sociology courses: or consent of instructor. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - 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. 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.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS SO 418: Seminar: Sociology of Medicine
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous sociology courses; or consent of instructor. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Focuses on major topics in the area of health and medicine, with different themes each semester. Topics have included Global Health; Health Disparities; and Death and Dying. Check with instructor for topic. 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.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS SO 420: Seminar: Women and Social Change in the Developing World
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous sociology courses; or consent of instructor. - The class goes around the world to examine similarities and differences in women's experiences, with a focus on the Global South, the poorer countries of the world, in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. It focuses on social, political, cultural, and economic issues. Comparisons will be made with women's experiences in the US and other wealthy countries of the world. A seminar, students are expected to discuss the readings each week.
• CAS SO 425: Seminar: 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. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: The Individual in Community.
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  • The Individual in Community
• CAS SO 431: Seminar: Genders, Sexualities, and Youth Cultures
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior standing or consent of instructor. - 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. Effective Fall 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• CAS SO 437: Seminar: Sociology of Culture
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous sociology courses; or consent of instructor. - 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.