Sociology-Anthropology (SOC, ANTH)
Professor: Ross (Chairperson)
Assistant Professors: Adams, McCall
The Sociology-Anthropology Department offers three tracks in the major. Tracks I and II both provide a solid foundation in the related disciplines of anthropology and sociology; however, Track I involves a concentration of coursework in anthropology and Track II involves a concentration of coursework in sociology. Track III is an interdisciplinary course of study grounded in sociology with an emphasis on population and policies pertaining to human services. Students interested in teacher certification should refer to the Department of Education listing.
Track I - Sociology-Anthropology, Anthropology Concentration requires ANTH 114, 229, 344; SOC 110, 240, 330, and 430; two ANTH electives; and an additional elective appropriate to the student’s sub-field interest. This elective must receive approval from the Department of Sociology-Anthropology, with BIO 338 or 436 (for bioanthropology), PHIL 225 (for linguistic anthropology), a MLS course numbered 221 or above (for cultural anthropology), and REL 226 (for archaeology) being recommended.
Track II – Sociology-Anthropology, Sociology Concentration requires ANTH 114, 229; SOC 110, 240, 330, 344, 430; and three additional departmental electives, two of which must be SOC courses.
Track III – Human Services requiresSOC 110, 222, 240, 330, 430, and 448; either ANTH 344 or SOC 344; PSCI 230; PSY 110 and one from PSY 116, 239, 242, 410 or CJCR 204; and two courses from SOC 210, 220, 228, 244, CJCR 203, ECON 224, or HIST 342.
The following courses satisfy the cultural diversity requirement: ANTH 114, 229, 230, 232, 234, 310, 320, and 344; SOC 240 and 334.
The following courses, when scheduled as W courses, count toward the writing intensive requirement: SOC 210, 222, 228, and 330.
Minor
The Department of Sociology-Anthropology offers two minors: Anthropology and Sociology.
A minor in Anthropology requires ANTH 114, 229, and three ANTH electives numbered 200 or above.
A minor in Sociology requires SOC 110 and four SOC electives numbered 200 or above.
ANTHROPOLOGY (ANTH)
114
INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY
This course serves as an introduction to anthropology, including all four sub-fields of anthropology, which are cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological/physical anthropology, and anthropological linguistics. By looking at human societies holistically and across cultural contexts, anthropology offers a series of tools to address contemporary problems.
229
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Cultural anthropology seeks to explain the diversity of human societies, while looking for commonalities across them. This course serves as a general introduction to the field of cultural anthropology, including an introduction to the history of anthropological research and the practice of ethnography. Topics include kinship, race, globalization, gender, social status, identity and violence.
230
ANTHROPOLOGY OF LATIN AMERICA
This course examines the history of anthropology in Latin America, from early concerns with Native American populations in Central and South America, to current concerns with cultural plurality, neoliberal economic reforms and environmental conservation. Topics include European colonization, globalization, gender, and medical anthropology. Alternate years.
232
ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropologists have examined the interaction between people and the environment from many different perspectives. This course surveys several of these approaches to understanding human/environment interactions with particular emphasis on human adaptation to the environment across cultures and through time, as well as the current concerns with environmental sustainability and the social context of the environmental movement. Alternate years.
234
ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY
There is a tremendous diversity in how human societies organize themselves for production, distribution and consumption. This course is an examination of the ways people organize themselves around these tasks. The class is both theoretical and practical. Students concerned about real-world business problems re-examine desire, decision-making and the impact of culture on economic behavior, while anthropological theories are considered in terms of their practical utility for understanding observed economic behavior. Topics include the origins of economic systems, ancient economies, colonialism, globalization and international commerce. Alternate years.
310
FOOD AND CULTURE
This course surveys the growing body of scholarship in food studies and the anthropology of food. Food production and consumption are examined in terms of human biology, culture, and social status across time from our evolutionary ancestors to the present day. Topics include systems of food production, the social and cultural context of agricultural settings, the rise of industrial agriculture and fast food, and social movements based in ideas about food, such as the organic and locavore movements. Alternate years.
320
SPECIAL TOPICS IN ANTHROPOLOGY
Study of selected anthropological problems, theorists, or movements. Sample topics include art and society, ethnography and ethnology, applied anthropology, anthropology of gender, culture and agriculture, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). With departmental consent, this course may be repeated for credit. Alternate years.
344
ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY
This course covers the history of theory in anthropology, with a greater emphasis on theories used within cultural anthropology, although theoretical trends in archaeology, anthropological linguistics and biological/physical anthropology are included to a more limited degree. The course is reading intensive and broad, including work by Franz Boas, Eric Wolf, Clifford Geertz, and Pierre Bourdieu among others. Alternate years.
470-479
INTERNSHIP (See index)
Anthropology internship experiences, such as with the Lycoming County Historical Museum, are available.
N80-N89
INDEPENDENT STUDY (See index)
An opportunity to pursue specific interests and topics not usually covered in regular courses. Through a program of readings and tutorials, the student will have the opportunity to pursue these interests and topics in greater depth than is usually possible in a regular course.
490-491
INDEPENDENT STUDY FOR DEPARTMENTAL HONORS (See index)
SOCIOLOGY (SOC)
110
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
An introduction to the problems, concepts, and methods in sociology today, including analysis of stratification, organization of groups and institutions, social movements, and deviants in social structure.
210
SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS
This course is an examination of the concepts of mental health and mental illness from a sociological perspective. Major issues to be addressed include a consideration of the meaning and implications of the term “mental illness,” an examination of the most important sociological and social psychological theories of mental illness and mental health, an examination of the social reaction that American culture has traditionally responded with to the condition of mental illness, and an analysis of historical and modern methods of treatment. Alternate years.
220
SOCIOLOGY OF FAMILY
This course examines American families from a sociological perspective with particular emphasis on the interplay of family as it relates to other social institutions such as the economic, political, educational, religious, and legal institutions. We look at the multiple forms of family and examine racial, ethnic, and social class variations. Additionally, family as a gendered institution and its implications for men’s and women’s lives are addressed.
222
INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN SERVICES
This course is for students interested in learning about, or entering, the human services profession. It reviews the history, the range, and the goals of human services together with a survey of various strategies and approaches to human problems. A twenty-hour community service component is an optional element of the course. Prerequisite: SOC 110 and/or PSY 110; or consent of instructor.
228
AGING AND SOCIETY
Analysis of cross-cultural characteristics of the aged as individuals and as members of groups. Emphasis is placed upon media portrayals as well as such variables as health, housing, socio-economic status, personal adjustment, retirement, and social participation. Sociological, social psychological, and anthropological frames of reference are utilized in analysis and description of aging and its relationship to the individual and society. Prerequisite: SOC 110. Alternate years.
240
RACE, CLASS, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
A survey course in the sociological field of social inequality. This course explores the explanations and persistence of poverty and inequality. Consideration is given to how dynamics of race, class and gender interact, creating historically specific and enduring patterns of inequality. Among the subjects explored are class, race/ethnicity, gender, intersectionality, power, elites, poverty, social mobility and status attainment. While most of the focus is on the United States, these subjects are also explored within comparative and historical frameworks. Prerequisite: SOC 110.
244
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
This course covers three specific perspectives on social problems. First, in a world of potential conditions that could be considered problematic, how do some of these conditions rise to the status of a problem worth public consideration and resources? The social constructionist perspective of social problems is examined to answer this question. The second portion of the course examines several enduring social problems from a social-historical perspective. The final goal of the course is to look at the impact of social policies to address social problems. Alternate years.
300
CRIMINOLOGY
Analysis of the sociology of law; conditions under which criminal laws develop; etiology of crime; epidemiology of crime, including explanation of statistical distribution of criminal behavior in terms of time, space, and social location. Prerequisite: SOC 110 or consent of instructor. Cross-listed as CJCR 300.
305
SOCIOLOGY OF LAW
This course examines law as a social institution that involves an interactive process: on the one hand, law is created and maintained by human beings, and on the other hand, law provides the structure within which human beings develop values pertaining to justice and injustice. This course examines how law is utilized to address social problems, settle disputes, and exert power over others. Specific attention is given to the legal social control of race, class, and gender. This course addresses how law permeates all facets of life from personal identity to the development of domestic institutions to the governing of international relations. Alternate years.
310
MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY
This course examines the social contexts of health, illness and medicine. It gives prominence to the debates and contrasting perspectives that characterize the field of medical sociology. Topics include the social environmental and occupational factors in health and illness, the development of the health professions, ethical issues in medicine, healthcare reform, and the conundrum of managed care. In exploring these topics, emphasis is given to how the social categories of gender, ethnicity, and social class relate with illness, health, and health care. Alternate years.
320
SPECIAL TOPICS IN SOCIOLOGYANTHROPOLOGY
Study of selected sociological and/or anthropological problems, theorists, or movements. Sample topics include sociology of education, environmental sociology, art and society, sociology of childhood, and media and culture. Prerequisite: SOC 110 or consent of instructor. With departmental consent, this course may be repeated for credit. Alternate years.
330
RESEARCH METHODS I
In studying the research process in sociology-anthropology, attention is given to the process of designing and administering both qualitative and quantitative research. Students complete an original field work project in a public setting. Additionally, students learn to compile and analyze quantitative data through a micro computer statistical software package. Different methodological skills considered include: field work, questionnaire construction, unobtrusive research, and program evaluation. The course must be taken in the junior year. Prerequisites: SOC 110 and MATH 123.
334
AMERICAN IDENTITY
A course on U.S. immigration and assimilation. This multicultural course covers the historical significance of U.S. immigration and the experience of immigrants from 1492 until the present day. Comparisons between when and why groups immigrate as well as their various successes and failures are explored. This course is designed to facilitate an increased understanding of one’s cultural identity, provide a forum to discuss and better understand cultural differences, investigate the mechanisms and consequences of prejudice, oppression, and discrimination on American minority groups, and to explore personal beliefs about human differences. Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Alternate years.
344
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
This course traces the origins of modern social theory beginning with the aftermath of the democratic revolutions in America and France and the capitalist Industrial Revolution in Britain. Analysis of the classical theoretical paradigms of functionalism and conflict theory draws specifically on the works of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel. Contemporary theories include exchange and rational choice theory, symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, phenomenology, feminist theory, critical theory, and post-modernism. Prerequisite: SOC 240. Alternate years.
430
RESEARCH METHODS II
Building on the research skills acquired during a first course in research methodology, students complete an original quantitative or qualitative research project utilizing one of the many data collection strategies available to sociologists and anthropologists such as field work, content analysis, surveys, qualitative interviews, experimental design, secondary data analysis, or program evaluation. Topic selection is of individual student’s choice. Prerequisite: SOC 330 or CJ CR 447 and either ANTH 344, SOC 300 or 344.
448
PRACTICUM IN SOCIOLOGY-ANTHROPOLOGY
This course provides students with the opportunity to apply a socio-cultural perspective to any of a number of organizational settings in the Williamsport area. As the basis for the course, students arrange an internship in the local community. At the same time the student is contributing time and talent to the organization in question, he/she will also be observing, from a socio-cultural perspective, the events, activities, structure, and dynamics of the organization. These experiences will be supplemented by academic readings, a regularly scheduled seminar, and the keeping of a detailed field journal. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
470-479
INTERNSHIP (See index)
Interns in sociology typically work off campus with social service agencies under the supervision of administrators.
N80-N89
INDEPENDENT STUDY (See index)
An opportunity to pursue specific interests and topics not usually covered in regular courses. Through a program of readings and tutorials, the student has the opportunity to pursue these interests and topics in greater depth than is usually possible in a regular course.
490-491
INDEPENDENT STUDY FOR DEPARTMENTAL HONORS (See index)