Active Course List

This higher level course offers knowledge, strategies, tools-techniques, and leadership skills to effectively manage human and social services programs. Learn sociological theories of organizations and behavior to manage programs and organizations with different structures and functions. Apply learned skills to current and/or future professional positions as, e.g., project managers, organizational leaders and CEOs, or as private contractors to federal and state government, local community, and/or international organizations.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Ethnic Studies (BS) Public/Government | Ethnic Studies (BS) Racial/Ethnic Communities in the United States

Applies sociological theories of identity to the experiences of women being released from prison. Taught at the women's prison in Shakopee, Minnesota and integrates Minnesota State University, Mankato, students with students drawn from the educational program within the women's prison in Shakopee.

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Gold

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Corrections (BS) | Gender and Women's Studies Minor

The course will explore how collective action creates social change by examining both academic and activist orientations toward social movements, with a focus on US movements. Students will learn about social movement histories, explore social movement theories, and examine how people achieve success in education, outreach, and activism efforts.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Advocating for Social Justice Minor

In the media, the term ¿globalization¿ has been used to characterize the changes taking place in our world today, but this class will take a critical look at the term globalization and the increasing influence it has on the daily lives of people around the world. The course will examine how the single-minded focus on the growth of profit has transformed the world and affects the life circumstances of diverse populations. At the conclusion of the course, the students will have a better understanding of what has been called ¿globalization¿ and the forces that shape their lives.

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course will cover theoretical perspectives on crime and their assumptions, empirical research on crime, myths concerning crime, and critiques of the criminal justice system. Students will apply a social justice lens to the study of crime, the criminal justice system and the unequal treatment of marginalized groups.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

The study of the principles and processes that account for the patterns of relations among racial and ethnic groups in the context of the U.S. society. It is designed to provide students with the essential background that will allow them to analyze social structures based on different dimensions such as class, gender, sexuality, and others. In any one of these dimensions or at the cross-section of two or more we find dominant (or majority) groups, which have better access to institutional resources, and subordinate (or minority) groups, which are kept on the margins and powerless.

Prerequisites:

SOC 101

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Ethnic Studies (BS) Racial/Ethnic Communities in the United States

Sociological Theory focuses on the application of theory to understanding the causes of contemporary and historical social problems. The course will introduce students to the connection between theory and research, the contribution of theory to understanding people¿s personal experience, and the role of theory to explain social struggle. Students will be exposed to some of the most notable social theorists, including Marx, Weber, and Durkheim. Students will also learn diverse theoretical perspectives from African-American, Latina/Latino, Asian, and Indigenous social theorists, who have been historically excluded.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Sociology (BS)

The environment tends to be taken for granted, and it is often assumed to be separate from society. People are an inseparable part of nature and must interact with it if they are to survive. This course will encourage students to contemplate their relationship with nature over time and cross-culturally. The course will address a number of contemporary concerns regarding the environment, such as food production, toxins in the environment, natural resource extraction, and climate change. We shall also contemplate solutions to the current environmental issues facing society now and into the future.

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

A survey of sociological theory and research on the ecology, demography, and social organization of the urban community. Presents a sociological interpretation of the development of urban society and how the process of urbanization affects the basic societal institutions and individual behavior. Focus on the development of global cities and the global urban process and its determinants.

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Within the pluralistic culture of the United States, sociology promotes knowledge about multi-cultural groups. With rapid globalization, sociology reveals how the sociological imagination extends beyond the United States. The principle goal of the course is to help students to develop a broader, more informed understanding of the past and present social forces that have created and sustained a global society composed of various class, racial and ethnic groups. The goal of this course is for students to develop an appreciation of the ways in which various theoretical perspectives lead to different understandings of the structures and practices of group relations.

Graduation Requirements:

Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Ethnic Studies (BS) Public/Government | Ethnic Studies (BS) Racial/Ethnic Communities in the United States

Nonprofit, human services, and many other organizations develop programs and interventions to help people, the environment, animals, and the community. This course will explore the theoretical and practical aspects of how to plan and evaluate these programs using effective, evidence-based methods. Students will learn the basics of how to design and evaluate a program and will also have an opportunity to practice developing aspects of an actual program.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Seminar and workshop on the principles and techniques of survey research, including but not limited to understanding survey resarch and designing questionaires; students wil work directly on a survey research project and present project findings.. Prerequisite: SOC 301W or similar research methods course with instructor permission.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

A sociological perspective to examine the history of drug use and abuse in the United States. This may include a symbolic interactionist lens regarding symbolic meanings of drugs in society. Multicultural issues in drug abuse, international drug distribution networks, prevention efforts, and legal issues will be discussed, as well as inequalities in how drug laws are applied.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Examination of ethnographic methodologies in sociology with emphasis on analytic, performance, and autoethnography. Exploration of ethics in ethnography, visual sociology, and first-hand experience in both crafting and presenting ethnographic works.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Seminar and workshop on the principles and techniques of qualitative research, including but not limited to interviews and participant observation; students design and conduct original qualitative research projects, write and present analyses. Prerequisite: SOC 301W or similar research methods course with instructor permission.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Analysis of social forces that impact social change in the United States and globally. Examines the interaction between structural and cultural forces in the understanding of societal changes. Explores the global economic impact and the implications for world-wide changes. Analysis of the process of development and globalization and impacts on nations and populations across the globe.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Advocating for Social Justice Minor

Upper-division seminar focused on major theories and findings in contemporary family sociology; emphasis on reading, interpreting, and critically engaging with scholarly research on families, including dating and cohabitation, marriage, divorce, and parenting.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Social Studies Teaching (BS) Sociology

Analysis of the structures, functions, and origins of religion, its relationship to other social institutions, and its role in modern secular society. Examines processes of individual religiosity and explores current religious movements and trends. Explores world religions to enhance greater cultural understanding.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Social Studies Teaching (BS) Sociology

Topics vary as announced in class schedule. May be retaken for credit if topic varies.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Workshop topics vary as announced in class schedule. These workshops will be based on skill-building and career connections for sociology majors. May be retaken for credit.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Sociology (BS)

For Honors students only.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

This course will focus on ways that sociological concepts and research skills can be applied in practice settings to address human concerns and promote social justice. Students learn how sociological skills can be used to identify, investigate, and implement solutions to problems of social organization, social process, and social change. Through the course of the semester students will engage in experiential and/or project based learning, and collaborate in identifying and executing research in service of addressing a community problem or supporting a community organization.

Prerequisites:

SOC 301W or equivalent; Senior Standing.

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

The internship in sociology is designed to provide opportunity to apply classroom learning, to practice and enhance skills, to experience professional socialization, and to explore a career. It also serves as a vehicle for the student to become more aware of personal strengths and identify areas in which further growth is needed.

Prerequisites:

Consent

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Human-Animal Studies Minor | Non-Profit Leadership (CERT) | Non Profit Leadership Minor | Sociology (BS)

A maximum of six credits is applicable toward a single major in the department; three credits toward a minor.

Prerequisites:

Consent

Areas of Interest:

Government and Public Administration

Programs:

Human-Animal Studies Minor

Introduces students to central topics in medical sociology including: social factors responsible for people's health outcomes; social construction of health illness; health inequalities; evolution of the social institution of medicine; and/or issues realted to race/ethnicity, social class and gender.

Areas of Interest:

Human Services