SO-101   Introduction to SociologyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): SS.SV

A systematic introduction to the major questions, perspectives, and methods of sociology; basic conceptual vocabulary; analysis of individual and group behavior within special areas.

SO-102   Social ProblemsCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): SS.SV

An analysis of social problems in contemporary society; poverty, race, gender and age inequality; work; urbanization; crime; mental illness; and drug use.

SO-107   Introduction to Social JusticeCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): SS.SV

Provides a conceptual and practical basis to understand, interpret, and solve social problems in fair, equitable, and just ways. Also listed as PS-107.

SO-109   Civic Engagement and LeadershipCredits: 1   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Civic responsibility, engagement, and leadership are encouraged through active student involvement in a community or campus organization. Students will perform twelve hours of public service over the course of the semester working for an organization that addresses a particular issue of public concern. Also listed as PS-109.

SO-198   Special Topics in Sociology (100 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Course Type(s): None

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in sociology to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.

SO-201   Global Social ProblemsCredits: 3   

Course Type(s): GLS, RE

Leading areas of tension, crisis, and debate in the contemporary world with emphasis on global population trends, global poverty and hunger, and inequality among nations in the world's economic system and their social policy implications.

SO-203   Career Course in SociologyCredits: 1   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

An introduction to various career opportunities with an undergraduate degree in sociology. It will cover some of the skills necessary for successfully seeking employment and gaining acceptance into graduate school. It will provide sociology and related majors with the opportunity to reflect on professions that use the skills gained through a B.A. program in sociology and to consider their future interests and direction. Students will experience opportunities to prepare for career situations and develop materials to present their abilities to potential employers. This is a one-credit hour course meeting once a week.

SO-207   Principles of Community OrganizingCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101 or higher or GS-225 or higher.

Term Offered: Fall Term

Course Type(s): SJS

Explores the basic principles of community organizing through the lens of sociological theory. Students are introduced to the history of community organizing in the United States, and to the major community organizing traditions that have been used in social justice and social movement work past and present. The course includes focus on central skills of organizing, including but not limited to issue identification, recruitment, actions, and research, as well as movement-building, popular education and training as related to core sociological concepts. Across the term, the course pays particular attention to the ways that race, class, gender, sexuality, indigeneity and other forms of difference shape privilege and power.

SO-225   Introduction to Gender StudiesCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): CD, GS, SJS, SS.SV

Examines gender inequalities and the pervasiveness of gender as a way of structuring/organizing social life. Emphasizes how gender as a social structure intersects with other social structures such as race, class, and sexuality to legitimize power and privilege and/or constrain diverse groups of people. Critiques conventional theories of gender and sociology and covers a broad spectrum of topics using feminist and sociological perspectives. Also pays attention to the connection between social structure and human agency - how people's experiences are both shaped by social forces and shaped through human action. Also listed as GS-225.

SO-231   Urban SociologyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101

Course Type(s): RE

Theoretical analysis of the modern, urban community, including the history of the city and analysis of urban institutions and behavior patterns; problems relating to metropolitan and suburban areas, community planning, and urban renewal. Also listed as GO-231.

SO-234   Sports and SocietyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101 or higher or GS-225 or higher.

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): COSPT, GS, HE.EL, HEPE

The increasingly important role of sports as an institution in modern society. Sports in relation to racism, sexism, education, values, and stratification systems.

SO-241   CriminologyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): CJ-101 or SO-101 or SO-102; and EN-101 and EN-102 or permission of the instructor

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): WT

Explanations of the causes of property and violent offenses. Discussion of white collar, professional and organized crime, and the problem of criminal statistics. Also listed as CJ-241.

SO-243   Juvenile DelinquencyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101

Course Type(s): SJS

History of the concept of delinquency; extent and nature of delinquent behavior; explanations of delinquent behavior; police and court responses to juveniles; and a review of rehabilitative and treatment modalities.

SO-244   DevianceCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101 or SO-102 or CJ-101

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

How society creates and responds to deviant behavior, ranging from violations of courtesy to homicide. Analysis of the system of social control, including the police, education, psychiatry, and the state.

SO-245   Theories of Society ICredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): EN-101, EN-102, and SO-101

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): WT

The wide range of theoretical paradigms that characterized the discipline of sociology from the emergent period of industrialization to the rise of modernity are investigated. More specifically, the major foundations of classical sociology theory as it emerged in the mid -nineteenth century, moving beyond the narrowly constructed cannon of Marx, Weber and Durkheim, toward a more accurate and inclusive look at our intellectual roots as manifested in the works of Gilman, Simmel, DuBois and Mead are explored. Throughout the course, we critically engage in a kind of "sociology of knowledge" as we situate these central ideas and schools of thought in the social, political and economic contexts of the larger society, as well as their specific social history of the discipline. Finally, we engage the course with a preview of the ways in which the wide range of theoretical paradigms that characterized the nascent years of the discipline of sociology set the stage for the development of the modernist and postmodernist traditions, including, but not limited to critical theory; structural functionalism; symbolic interactionism; and feminist and critical race theories.

SO-250   Fundamentals of Social Science ResearchCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): TL

An introduction to the different ways in which social scientists study the social world. Designed to develop students' understanding of the major purposes of social research as well as the major types of quantitative and qualitative research designs. Students will learn the research process itself, from conceptualization and measurement to operationalization, sampling, ethics, and the analysis and presentation of their proposed study. As part of the research process, students will use spreadsheet, presentation, and word processing software to build datasets, analyze data, and design and present research. Also listed as PS-250. Political Science majors should register for PS-250. This course is for Sociology majors only, or other majors with instructor permission.

SO-252   Race and Ethnicity Race and EthnicityCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): CD, GS, RE, SJS

Introduces students to the sociological study of race and ethnicity in the United States as interrelated social systems of power that grant a range of material and non-material advantages to different groups of people based on socially constructed definitions of race and ethnicity, particularly as race and ethnicity intersect with a variety of other social structures such as gender and class. Focuses on the historical legacy and current practices of institutionalized racism that have and continue to shape social relations in the U.S. Also listed as GS-252.

SO-261   Sociology of FamilyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101 or higher or GS-225 or higher.

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): GS, SJS

Analysis of the institution of marriage and family in contemporary America with cross-cultural, sub-cultural, and historical references, including mate selection, family roles and relationships, parenthood, and childhood.

SO-271   Ethics, Justice and American PrisonsCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101 or higher or GS-225 or higher.

Term Offered: Fall Term

Course Type(s): SJS

Explores the rise of mass incarceration in the United States, with a critical look at the ethical, socio-cultural, political and economic factors that shape the American prison system today. The course is also the gateway course to The Monmouth University Academic Exchange Program, also referred to as MU-AEP, a collaborative effort between Monmouth University and the New Jersey Department of Corrections. This program, of which this course is a requirement, is offered by Monmouth University to help to facilitate a transformative exchange of ideas and perspectives between incarcerated students and non-incarcerated students and non-incarcerated students inside the New Jersey state prison. Also listed as CO-271.

SO-272   Economic InequalityCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): CD, SI, SJS

Status, power, authority, and social mobility are the key concepts that sociologists use to study the role of social classes in contemporary, American society. The course covers notable studies of the American class system. It provides a close look at the power relations and lifestyles of various classes and considers the pervasive influence of class identity on social institutions.

SO-274   Global InequalitiesCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): BI.EL, GLS, GU, RE, SJS, SUS

A sociological and political look at global inequalities. Explores diverse themes and aspects of a global society, including the forces that are causing and perpetuating global inequalities. It also looks at the social, political, economic, and cultural consequences of those inequalities. Also listed as PS-274.

SO-278   International Political EconomyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): GLS, PSIP, RE

The role that international institutions, transnational actors, and foreign governments play in the production, distribution, and consumption of resources will be investigated. Since much of international political economy has to do with various thinkers and schools of thought, an appropriate emphasis will be given to some of the important works in the field. For example, we will be analyzing the contributions of Liberal, Marxist, and Statist thinkers and the various perspectives that have been used to analyze the way policies are made, agreements are reached, and resources distributed. Following the establishment of this theoretical framework, we will focus on the growth of regional integration, the role of hegemony in maintaining the stability of international systems, strategies of economic development, and the role of multinational and transnational companies in both the industrial and developing world. In essence, this course is concerned with looking at the relationship between power and wealth and the balance between the state and the market. Also listed as PS-278.

SO-280   Peer TutoringCredits: 1   

Course Type(s): None

Peer tutoring experience. Students will prepare course-related information for presentation to students in courses at the 100- or 200-levels. Peer tutors will meet weekly with a faculty supervisor and assigned students. Permission of the instructor required.

SO-298   Special Topics in Sociology (200 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): None

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in sociology to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.

SO-299   Independent Study in SociologyCredits: 1-3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Guided readings on a topic not otherwise covered in the curriculum. Student must have a least a 2.50 cumulative G.P.A. Prior permission of the directing professor and department chair is required to take this course.

SO-302   Data Analysis for Social SciencesCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101 or higher and MA-105 or higher.

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Introduces students to techniques used to evaluate social science data; addresses strategies for analyzing qualitative data and presents social science applications of quantitative techniques such cross tabulation, t-test, and regression. Students will learn to apply procedures to test hypotheses. Also listed as PS 302.

SO-307   Practicum in Applied Social ResearchCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101 or higher.

Co-requisite(s): PS-250 or SO-250; or PS-302 or SO-302; or permission of the instructor.

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): SJS

An advanced introduction to the principles and methods of conducting social science research for the express purpose of solving social problems. Informed by sociological theories in the tradition of public sociology, students will explore a wide range of applied research strategies, including: community-based research (CBR); participatory action research (PAR); policy research; evaluation research; and power analyses for community organizing. The course also addresses key ethical, political and logistical challenges that shape the work of applied social scientists in the field.

SO-308   Resistance and Revolution: Exploring Social Movements & Social ChangeCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): SJS

Social movements are sustained efforts through which people act collectively to create or resist changes in political, social, economic, legal, and/or cultural systems, as well as specific institutions. Through a combination of theoretical exploration and case studies, this course is designed to generate an in-depth understanding of social movements of the past and the present. We will address questions such as: What events precipitate movements? How do political, social, economic and cultural forces shape movements and influence their outcomes? How have artistic works and creative tactics been used for pursuing social change? In what ways have social media changed the landscape of social action? How have social scientists researched and participated in movements? The course will also explore the work of organizing, strategizing, recruiting participants, leadership development, and tactical decision-making, in addition to the other forms of "on the ground" work within movements. Also listed as PS-308

SO-309   Sociology Internship SeminarCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): EX5

Provides an opportunity for students to apply classroom theory in practice through actual work experience. Includes both academic and experiential learning. The experiential part involves a minimum of 120 hours of work experience during the semester for three credit hours. The academic aspect includes maintaining a journal log and writing a final report.

SO-316   Policy ResearchCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

The principles of social research, with emphasis on an understanding of the policy-making or planning process; development of applied research skills, combining policy-making, implementation, and scientific or empirical research.

SO-320   Small Group CommunicationCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): EX3

Students explore academic perspectives on the process of group communication, leadership, conflict, decision-making, and problem solving, then reflect on and apply these perspectives outside the classroom in the context of a service learning project. Also listed as CO-320.

SO-325   Survey Research ConsultingCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): PS-250 or SO-250 or CO-292 or SW-409 or PY-220 or CJ-315 or HLS-315 or HE-290 or NU-355 or permission of the instructor

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): None

Provides students with real-world experience in the application of social science methodology, specifically survey research. The course is designed to strengthen social science research methods skills as well as competencies in professional communication and collaboration. Students, as a class, will work on a small-scale project (e.g. needs assessment, program evaluation, marketing study, etc.) for a "client" - a non-profit organization, government agency, small business, or academic institute - who has agreed to collaborate as a service learning opportunity. The client is not paying for this service and understands the limitations of working with consultants-in-training. However, the course will strive to adhere to the highest standards in both survey research practice and the client-consultant relationship. Also listed as PS-325.

SO-331   Political SociologyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101

Course Type(s): None

Analysis of the interplay among political and social behavior, bureaucracies, voluntary associations, and government. The social basis of democracy; emphasis on conflict and consensus models of power.

SO-332   Gender and Sexual IdentitiesCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): CD, GS, SI, SJS

Draws on sociological and feminist theories of identity to question the definitions, constructions, deconstructions, ambivalences, and socially constructed nature of gender and sexual identities. In questioning such identities, this course aims at helping students understand the connections between gender and sexuality, and how those two social forces shape people's individual identities and the identities of others. Examines how structures of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and social institutions such as family and work shape gender and sexual identities. It pays particular attention to how ones' social location within power structures shapes personal identities. Also listed as SW-332.

SO-360   Political Economy in the Developing WorldCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): PSIP, SJS

This course introduces undergraduate students to the core concepts, theories and debates of political economy in the context of developing world countries. The primary unit of analysis will be the national case study (i.e., Brazil or Indonesia) rather than the international system or international institutions (for example, World Bank, IMF or global financial markets.) The aim is to provide the intellectual tool set to evaluate questions and challenges of political and economic development and modernization across a range of national case studies from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Also listed as PS-360.

SO-364   Law and SocietyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101 or PS-102 or PS-103

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): PSAL, SIN, SJL

The evolution of law, social forces influencing law, social impact of law, and law as an instrument of social control and social change. Also listed as PS-364.

SO-368   Applied Ethics in American PrisonsCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-271 or CO-271

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): SJS

The second in the sequence of the Monmouth University Academic Exchange Program, a collaborative effort between Monmouth University and the New Jersey Department of Corrections. This program, of which this course is a requirement, is offered by Monmouth University to help to facilitate a transformative exchange of ideas and perspectives on the topics of ethics and social issues between incarcerated students and non-incarcerated students inside a New Jersey prison. Also listed as CO-368.

SO-369   Feminist TheoriesCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-225 or GS-225

Course Type(s): GS

Advanced exploration of the major currents of feminist social theory as they have emerged from feminist movement histories in the U.S. and globally. Students will critically examine competing feminist explanations for the history and persistence of gender inequality, as well as deconstruct sex, gender, sexuality from a range of feminist perspectives. The course will also invite students to consider what it means to be "feminist" and how these meanings are connected to the relations and tensions between gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, class, ability, and nation. In particular, students will compare and contrast key concepts and theoretical assumptions of major feminist theories with a commitment to intersectional analyses. Students will also apply feminist theory to better understand social relationships, organizations, and politics, and self-reflect on how course content applies to their lives as people situation within multiple social contexts and identities. Also listed as GS-369.

SO-371   International Service SeminarCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): PS-102

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): PSIP

Students will learn to unite theory and practice by studying theories and policies based on human security, and learning about their applications through service-learning projects. Students will enhance their understanding of human security by volunteering in international community organizations and reflecting on the social, political, and economic factors and policies that affect them. Also listed as SW-371, AN-371, and PS-371.

SO-375   Social Movements and Social ChangeCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): 9 credits in Sociology

Course Type(s): None

Overview of major contemporary and classical theories of social change within an international and historical context; the social impact of change; effects of social variables on change processes; and assessment of predictive models of change.

SO-379   Work and SocietyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): 3 credits in Sociology

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): SIN

An examination of the individual experience of work: socialization, occupational choice, career development, worker (dis)satisfaction, and unemployment; the organization of work: bureaucracy, professionalism, racism and sexism, theories of motivation, and the reward structure.

SO-390   Washington Center InternshipCredits: 7-12   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): EX5

This internship allows students in all majors to intern at government agencies, public service organizations, and business associations located in Washington, DC. Under the supervision of Washington Center supervisors and faculty, students gain substantive entry-level professional experience along with academic credit over the course of one semester. In general, students are required to intern in a government agency or public organizations four and a half days per week and attend educational seminars and workshops and participate in professional forums conducted by the Washington Center. In addition, students must complete learning objectives and assignments specified by Monmouth University faculty sponsors. Also listed as CO-390 and PS-390. Junior standing and a minimum G.P.A. of 2.50 is required to register for this course.

SO-393   Washington Center CourseCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Students participating in a Washington Center Internship are required to enroll in a three credit seminar. A list of available courses is forwarded to all students prior to the beginning of the Fall, Spring, and Summer term. Regular offerings include: politics, professional communication, the fine and performing arts, and economics. Also listed as CO-393 or PS-393. Junior standing and a minimum G.P.A. of 2.50 is required to take this course.

SO-396   Sociology of EducationCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): SIAR

This course encourages students to study education as a social institution using a sociological lens. The course introduces students to the study of education as a social institution, particularly examining how social inequalities such as race, class, gender, and sexuality shape educational experiences of youth today. Students will also examine the cultural, social, economic, and political structures that shape education as a social institution. The course will focus on education in the United States with an emphasis on racism and anti-racism, along with other forms of oppression.

SO-397   The Sociology of AgingCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): EN-101 and EN-102

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): EX5, WT

A service learning course that encourages students to become involved with the elderly population in the area. It introduces students to the sociological study of social gerontology or, more specifically, aging. Students will examine the cultural, social, and political structures that define the aging process and will study and practice ethnographic, life history in order to conduct life histories of seniors within the local community.

SO-398   Special Topics in Sociology (300 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Prerequisite(s): PY 103 or GS-225 or SO-101

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): None

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in sociology to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. If there is a prerequisite it will be announced in the course schedule.

SO-399   Independent Study in SociologyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Guided readings on a topic not otherwise covered in the curriculum. Students must have at least a 2.50 cumulative G.P.A. and prior permission of the directing professor and department chair to take this course.

SO-403   Theories of Society IICredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): EN-101, EN-102 and 9 credits in Sociology

Course Type(s): WT

The wide range of theoretical paradigms that characterized the discipline of sociology from the emergent period of modernity to our current postmodern era is investigated. In the first half of the course, the traditions of critical theory; structural functionalism; symbolic interactionism; and phenomenology as key schools of thought in the modernist period are examined. In the second half, the most contemporary, and overlapping, additions to the theoretical landscape in sociology in our study of feminist and gender theories; critical race theories; post-modernism; and global theoretical perspectives are examined. Throughout the course, there will be critical engagement in a kind of "sociology of knowledge" as we situate these central ideas and schools of thought in the classic theoretical traditions from which they may intellectually descend, as well as in the more current political and economic contexts that influenced the emergence of these contemporary perspectives.

SO-490   Sociology Thesis ProposalCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): SO-101, 9 credits in Sociology and completion of fifty-seven credits

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Provides students with the opportunity to begin the process of conducting original research in sociology in which they will ultimately produce primary research, analyze data, and write up their findings, discussion, and conclusions. This course allows students to begin the work that they will complete in Sociology Thesis class (SO-491), thus ultimately resulting in a final Senior thesis. Students will write a comprehensive thesis proposal including an introduction and statement of purpose, theory section, literature review, and preliminary methods section.

SO-491   Sociology ThesisCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Fall Term

Course Type(s): RD

Provides students with the opportunity to complete an original research project in sociology in which they will conduct primary research, analyze their data, and write up their findings, discussion, and conclusion. This course will also allow students to combine the work conducted in their proposal class (SO-490) with the work conducted in this semester, thus resulting in a complete Senior thesis. Students will present their work two times: once as practice for the class and a second time for members of the Department of Political Science and Sociology and invited guests. Hence, the goal of this course is to present a holistic perspective to students and serve as their gateway to future studies and plans.

SO-498   Special Topics in Sociology (400 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in sociology to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.

SO-499   Independent Study in SociologyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): None

Guided readings on a topic not otherwise covered in the curriculum. Student must have at least at 2.50 cumulative G.P.A. and prior permission of the directing professor and department chair to take this course.

SO-505   Critical Issues in Crime and DelinquencyCredits: 3   

Course Type(s): None

An overview of some of the major problems confronting criminology and the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Current criminological literature and research will be evaluated in terms of its ability to suggest solutions to these problems.