College Catalog
Course Descriptions
Sociology (SOCI)

SOCI 100 Introduction to Sociology
This course examines the basic nature of human relationships, customs, institutions, social structure, and culture. It emphasizes how they affect our beliefs and behavior, and how they express our fundamental concerns and values. The course teaches the basic concepts, methods and perspectives of sociology as a social science; and it uses them to consider such topics as family life, groups and organizations, sex and age roles, minorities and social classes, religious and political movements, and social problems. Each semester. Fulfills General Education Area 3 - Human Relationships Requirement. See Extended General Education Course Description.

SOCI 111 Cultural Anthropology
Culture influences our relationships with one another and with the natural world, affects our behavior and beliefs, and expresses our fundamental concerns and values. This course uses the anthropological concept of culture as a means for understanding human relationships and for explaining both our common humanity and the differences that exist among us. This course will introduce students to the following topics: the history of anthropology; language and communication; growing up human; sex and marriage; kinship; representations of peoples and nations; religion and values; getting food; the body; gender, race, and class in cross-cultural perspective; the impact of tourism on local cultures; and the place of anthropology in the twenty-first century. Extensive use of films and videotapes. Each semester. Fulfills General Education Area 3 - Human Relationships Requirement. See Extended General Education Course Description.

SOCI 122 Criminology
Sociological approaches to deviance, crime, and the social institutions such as law, policing, the courts, and corrections which encourage and discourage deviant and illegal behavior. Fall semester.

SOCI 222 Human Services Institutions and Practice
An examination of the human services, whether in private or public community agencies or within institutions such as hospitals or schools. The historical development of the welfare state and the human service professions, the various fields of human service, and their professional standards, requirement, and methods are covered in a seminar format. The Brown County human service system will be studied as an example of the typical institutions involved, their interrelationships, and the types of professionals they employ. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Spring semester.

SOCI 234 Society, Sex and Marriage
This course examines the patterning and significance of sexual relations, marriage and family patterns in modern society. It contrasts the functions and the conflicts of dating, courtship, marriage and family life in the context of other social institutions. Marital dissolution is examined along with the strains that the institution of marriage and family undergo in modern society. Emphasis is on students' reflection on their own family experience. Each semester.

SOCI 235 Work in America
This course examines social patterns, corresponding roles and expectations, meanings and impacts of work in various American and cross-cultural contexts. Work is examined historically from the pre-Industrial Revolution to the present. Shifts in the cultural meaning and symbolism of work are analyzed. Research findings and critiques of work and occupations drawn from industrial sociology, the sociology of bureaucracies and complex organization and other sources are studied. Careers are analyzed for their impact upon autonomy and family obligations. Fall semester. Fulfills General Education Area 6 -United States Heritage Requirement. See Extended General Education Course Description.

SOCI 239 Social Welfare Policy and Services
The history and current state of social welfare policy and services is the major focus of this course. Various frameworks and methods used by policy scholars to analyze social welfare policy will be introduced and applied. Past and present examples of social welfare policy at federal, state, county, city, and agency levels will be studied in terms of the historical and contemporary factors that shaped them; the political and organizational process that influenced them; their impact on social welfare services, practices, and practitioners; and the extent to which they help or hinder the general health and well-being of people.

SOCI 240 Social Work Practice Methods: Individuals and Families
This course presents the generalist model of social work practice, which uses the strengths perspective and empowerment approach. Students will understand the knowledge and values and demonstrate the skills necessary for bachelor's level social work competencies. Individual practice assessment is focused on the examination of client's strengths and problems in the interaction among individuals and between people and their environments. Students will also learn to develop a contract and how to plan and carry out intervention and evaluation techniques. The course is also designed to provide instruction and practice in interaction skills necessary for interviewing social work clients and ethical dilemmas that may arise in social work practice. Working with clients in a culturally sensitive way is emphasized. Information is provided in the development of professional relationships that are characterized mutuality, collaboration, and respect for the client system. Spring semester.

SOCI 241 Social Work Practice Methods: Organizations and Communities
This course focuses on generalist social work practice with groups, organizations and communities and developing cutural competence in social work practice. Content will cover the role of social workers in networking, planning and conducting meetings, managing conflict, and using supervision effectively. Also included is practice content which emphasizes professional relationships that are characterized by mutuality, collaboration, respect, for the client system and incorporates use of social work supervision - within macro practice. The course will also cover the knowledge, values and skills to enhance human well-being and amelioration of the environmental conditions that affect people adversely. Emphasis is placed on practice skills in work with clients with differing social, racial, religious, spiritual, and class backgrounds and with systems of all sizes, including an understanding of differential assessments and intervention skills to serve diverse at-risk populations. Social work values and ethics are discussed in relation to macro practice. Students will learn about organizational culture, agency policy, developing and managing agency resources, and implementing agency change. The course will also cover approaches to community change, evaluating macro practice, advocacy and social action. A small section on working in urban verses rural communities is also included. Each semester.

SOCI 245 Ethnography of Folklore
This course will focus on the study of folklore and myth.  Topics covered will include the theory of archetypes, oral vs. literate cultures, and ethnopoetics.  Students will do extensive readings in Wisconsin folklore and will be expected to gather and transcribe stories from their own local folklore traditions. Spring semester alternate years.

SOCI 246 Issues in Archeology
This course will explore how archaeologists search for clues about prehistoric lifeways and what their work means to current Americans-both Native Americans and those of other descent. At issue are the scientific study of past lifeways, archaeological recovery of ancient remains, Native American rights to recover their heritage, museum conservation as a means to preserve the past, and the necessity for educated Americans to become informed before making value judgments on these issues. Classroom activities will include discussion, lecture, videotapes, artifact examination, and guest speakers. Off campus opportunities will include museum visits, field site visits, and optional work at selected sites. Taught occasionally.

SOCI 260 Gender and Culture
What is gender and how is it related to culture? This anthropology course takes a cross-cultural look at the concept of gender, examining men's and women's roles, masculinity, femininity, and sexuality as they are expressed around the world. Particular attention will be given to gender as it relates to popular forms of culture and everyday life. Both the history of anthropological studies of gender and new directions in the field will be introduced. Extensive use of films, videotapes, and student-directed projects. Spring semester alternate years.

SOCI 289 Special Topics in Sociology or Anthropology
A seminar course primarily designed for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, on a special topic in sociology or anthropology. It may be proposed either by students or an interested faculty member. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

SOCI 295 Colonialism and Religion in the Philippines
This course will examine the religions and cultures of the Philippines looking specifically at the often ambivalent linkages among religion, Catholic missions, and colonial rule. The seminar will begin by exploring aspects of the Spanish colonial period, including the diversity of indigenous religions, the role of Islam, the founding of Catholic missions, native responses to Christianity, and the development of a baroque Catholic culture in Manila. We will also examine the role of religion during U.S. colonial rule, and conclude by considering the development of liberation theology in the Philippines. This class is cross-listed as PHLP 295. Offered occasionally.

SOCI 300 Social Research Methods
Survey of quantitative approaches to sociological research. The course provides an overview of the survey research process; including research design, data collection and data analysis. Students will develop the tools to be critical and careful readers of social research. Finally, all students will design and execute an original research project. Prerequisites: SOCI 100 or consent of instructor. Each semester. Ideally, sociology majors will take this course during the same semester as SSCI224.

SOCI 312 Native American Ethology
An anthropology course which surveys the cultures, languages, and histories of indigenous peoples of North America. We will examine the theories and beliefs about the origins of the First Americans, how anthropologists have traditionally studied American Indian cultures, the impact of Europeans and European-Americans on the culture of Native Americans, and the lives of American Indians today. SOCI 111 is recommended. Spring semester.

SOCI 314 Native Peoples of South America
This course will examine the native peoples of South America, from the pre-Columbian world to the present day.  We will read from a variety of secondary and primary sources in order to learn about the cultures and history of ancient and modern Amerindians.  Topics discussed will include gender, violence, religion and myth, shamanism, exploration, the indigenous rights movement, and the role of ethnohistory and archeology in recovering the past of one of the world's most mysterious regions. Fall semester.

SOCI 351 Classical Sociological Theory
Classical sociological theory (1830-1925) was an intellectual response to the traumatic birth of modern society. The nation-state, industrial capitalism, modern individualism all raised difficult questions for the inheritors of the Western tradition. What is the nature of industrial society? What has caused it to develop as it has? Above all, what is the fate of humankind in the advanced, bureaucratic, industrial states? We shall approach these questions by way of a critical reading of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber, accompanied by selections on and from Hegel, the "utopians," the utilitarians, and the social Darwinists. Each semester. Fulfills General Education Area 10 - Western Heritage Requirement. See Extended General Education Course Description.

SOCI 355 Contemporary Sociological Theory
Traces the development of sociological theory since 1925. The course examines various meanings and functions of theory. It treats functionalism, conflict theory, exchange theory, symbolic interaction, critical theory, phenomenological and hermeneutic theories and post-modern theories of society. Students are expected to articulate their own sociological theory. Spring semester.

SOCI 360 Feminist Theory
This course takes a sociology of knowledge approach to the development of feminist theory from the 18th century to the present. The variety of modern and postmodern feminist theories are placed in social, political, and historical context. Primary source examples of each school of thought are read, applied, and evaluated. Because feminist thought has been a response to the conditions of women throughout history, women's oppression at various points in history will be covered. Crosslisted with WMGS 360. Offered alternate years.

SOCI 364 Sociology of the City
This course examines the dynamics of the growth and ongoing life of cities. It will explore the history of cities in modern America, sociological perspectives on urban living and contemporary issues of urban life. The course will discuss the social forces that shape urban life; among these being, immigration, race, class, politics and economics. It will discuss both the challenges facing modern urban areas and various efforts to address those challenges. Prerequisite: SOCI100.

SOCI 378 Leadership and Society
This course provides an in-depth and critical assessment of various approaches to the roles that power, authority, leadership, and influence play in society. It studies the functioning of power in the social structure and contrasts that with the roles of authority and influence in culture. Leadership is studied in the linkages between structure and culture where values and institutions crucially intersect. The impact of leadership within various social institutions and across cultural, structural, and individual levels of interaction is examined. Cross-listed as LEAD 378. Offered occasionally.

SOCI 380 Sociology of the Gang
In 1928, sociologist Frederick Thrasher published The Gang, a study of 1,313 gangs in Chicago. Today, over seventy years later, gangs are still part of the American scene and sociologists are still trying to understand the young people who form and join them and the "elemental social processes" that are part of gang phenomena. In this course, we will survey the general theories and findings of sociologists and criminologists who have studied gangs in the United States, read monographs and articles reporting findings from contemporary studies of gangs and gang behavior, and learn about various approaches to gang prevention and intervention.

SOCI 481, 482 Human Service Internship 1, 2
4 Semester Credits Each Semester
The seminar format of Human Service Intership is organized around the student working in the human service field and the supervision he or she received in the field. The combination of the internship, the field supervision and reflection in seminar is focused on developing student apllication of knowledge of major social competencies and values necessary for generalist social work practice. An internship should offer the student an opportunity to practice these skills: evaluation and assessment of group and individual psychosocial functioning, plan/policy development and implementation, intervention, referral, advocacy, collaboration, cultural competence, and application of professional ethics. Students are expected to locate the internship, with the assistance and approval of the instructor, before the beginning of the semester and should be on site within the first two weeks of school. Internships should meet the State of Wisconsin regulation and licensing requirements, which can be obtained from the instructor. Often placements will require the student have their own transportation with a clear driving record (in order to transport clients or drive to see clients in their homes), pass drug and background tests, and have some flexibility in their schedule. Students are expected to work 10-12 hours per week for the academic year, with a break between semesters. SOCI 481 is a year-long course.

SOCI 489 Special Topics
This is a seminar course that is offered whenever a mutual interest in a more specialized topic in sociology or anthropology exists for a member of the faculty and a sufficient number of students. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

SOCI 490 Independent Study
Individual study of an approved topic in sociology or anthropology under the direction of a sociology or anthropology faculty member. Permits faculty and students to explore together some subject of special or personal interest. Reading and tutorial discussion are required; written work is optional. Prerequisites: consent of instructor and approval of Associate Dean.

SOCI 492 Directed Research
Qualified students may perform sociology or anthropology research projects under the direction of a sociology or anthropology faculty member. Prerequisites: consent of instructor and approval of the Associate Dean.

SOCI 494 Internship
Appropriate work or active political experience with government agencies or partisan political groups may be undertaken for course credit, when directly related to the educational goals of the student. Prerequisites: consent of instructor and approval of the Associate Dean.

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