Sociology (SOC)

SOC 500. Special Topics3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Nine hours of core courses or consent of instructor.

Description: Exploration of well-defined topics in Sociology not treated in regular courses. Topic will be announced in Schedule of Courses.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 512. Gender, Race, Work, and Welfare3 Units

Prerequisite(s): 9 hours of social sciences work at the 300 level or above; or consent of instructor.

Description: Introduction to theory and research on labor market and welfare state with focus on gender race/ethnicity as they influence women's experiences of and ideas about work and welfare.Credit may not be earned for both WGST 512/PAS 512 and SOC 612/WGST 612/PAS 612.

Note: Cross-listed with PAS 612, WGST 512, WGST 612, and SOC 612.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 604. Proseminar in Sociology-MA1 Unit

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: This course orients students to the graduate program requirements, discusses the expectations for and responsibilities of graduate students, provides information and tools for successful completion of their degree, and encourages professional development, which involves socialization into the department, the field of sociology, and academia at large.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 609. Statistics I3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: This is an entry-level graduate course that provides students with the basics of statistical analysis using software (such as Stata and/or SPSS). The course begins by exploring steps for effective data preparation and management, topics which are foundational for accurate analysis and reporting. Next, students treat flexible nonparametric chi-square testing to better understand and make decisions about cross-tabulations of variables and consider additional statistics and tests for reporting associations between variables, including Pearson's r and Spearman's rho. The course then covers the logic and assumptions of multiple regression modeling for continuous and complete dependent variables, as well as how to interpret regression output. Finally, students are introduced to data visualization principles and common types of charts so that they can "tell the story" of their findings in clear, engaging, and powerful ways.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 612. Gender, Race, Work, and Welfare3 Units

Prerequisite(s): 9 hours of social sciences work at the 300 level or above; or consent of instructor.

Description: Introduction to theory and research on labor market and welfare state with focus on gender race/ethnicity as they influence women's experiences of and ideas about work and welfare.Credit may not be earned for both WGST 512/PAS 512 and PAS 512/WGST 612/PAS 612.

Note: Cross-listed with PAS 612, WGST 512, WGST 612, and PAS 512.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 615. Research Methods3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: This course provides the first step in the process of moving from a consumer to a producer of social research by reviewing fundamental issues in the design of sociological research and issues specific to various types of data collection. Students will be guided through the processes of conceptualizing and developing empirical quantitative and qualitative studies, developing researchable questions and designing methods to answer those questions, assessing common techniques for social science data collection, exploring best practices in social science research, and examining strategies to improve approaches to research. Ultimately, students will be able to work through designs and techniques of a range of methodological approaches and be prepared for more in-depth exploration of quantitative (e.g., survey) and qualitative methods.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 618. Qualitative Research Methods3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Prerequisite(s): SOC 615 or permission of instructor.

Description: This course is designed to train students in qualitative research methods, sampling, and data analysis techniques using a grounded theory approach. Over the course of the semester, students will have an opportunity to pilot a research study from start to finish, present their work to the class, receive feedback from the professor and classmates, and learn through an active process of constructing new knowledge. By the end of the course, students will have conducted participant observation research, learned to take jottings and turn them into field notes, conducted several in-depth interviews, and learned how to code and analyze data to identify emergent theoretical and/or empirical contributions. By the end of this class, students should be capable of designing and carrying out a qualitative study of their own, using methods that are scientifically appropriate.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 622. Survey Research and Design3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Prerequisite(s): SOC 615 or permission of instructor.

Description: This course will cover comprehensive survey planning, including ethical issues paramount to survey-based research; pros and cons of various modes of administration; instrument design (such as operationalizing concepts and constructs into measures, question design considerations, response choices, optimizing layout, etc.); pretesting (such as focus groups and cognitive interviews); sampling; and administration procedures (e.g., follow-up procedures for nonrespondents, strategies to boost response rates, third party survey platforms/tools; privacy issues; data quality checks; transitioning to data analysis, etc.).

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 627. Data Visualization3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Prerequisite(s): Graduate level statistics course (e.

Description: g., SOC 609, SOC 610, SOC 611, or approved equivalent); or consent of instructor. This course offers ways in which to explore, analyze, and tell the story of data in a strategic manner. Topics will include how to make data more accessible and engaging by combining theories on perception with empirically derived practices to develop effective graphs, tables and text; how to generate compact dashboards, which display central metrics and multiple charts as a single page; how to use data visualization to explore novel variables and relationships as well as to monitor established ones; and how visualizations can be helpful conducting data analysis (e.g., to reveal conditional or nonlinear relationships, or to assess whether data meet assumptions of a statistical procedure).

Note: Cross-listed with SOC 427.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 630. Sociology of Education3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: Education occupies a central role in our society as a site for socialization, social reproduction, and social mobility. This course will consider links between public education goals and prevailing political, economic, and social ideologies; analyze educational processes and structures, such as related to racial, ethnic, class, and gender inequalities; and discuss the ways in which social identities, experiences, resources, conditions, and outcomes interact with school/educational systems. To explore the purpose(s) of schooling, how schools/education systems work, and how they can change, students will examine the historical origins, ideologies, and theories; institutional processes and structures as sources of inequality; and prospects for and debates on reducing educational inequalities.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 631. Sociology of Work3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Even Years

Description: Examines historical forces which have shaped the social division of labor, various structural arrangements in the workplace, and current occupational trends; the use of sociological theory in the study of industrial society; the social organization of work, alienation, labor relations, personnel policy, the impact of industrialization on social life and culture.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 636. Sociology of Human Sexuality3 Units

Description: Advanced study of the historical, cultural, structural, and social-psychological factors affecting human sexual expression.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 640. Urban Sociology3 Units

Description: Systematic critical examination of the history and application of social theory to the urban place. Specific attention is given to the utility of classical and contemporary theory in predicting and explaining human behavior in the urban environment.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 642. Sociology of Disabilities3 Units

Description: Intensive examination of sociological perspectives on medicine, culture, and science to examine the meanings, experiences, demographics, and impacts of disability in historical and contemporary social contexts.

Note: Cross-listed with WGST 615.
Note: Credit may not be earned for this course and SOC 442 or WGST 415.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 645. Environmental Sustainability and Social Change3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): SOC 618 or SOC 622; or permission of instructor.

Description: This course provides an overview of U.S. environmental history from both policy and movement perspectives. While the initial focus will be U.S.-based, the course will also examine climate change in the global context. Key areas such as environmental sustainability and the emergent solutions to the "wicked problems" associated with improving and protecting environmental conditions will be explored.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 650. Sociology of Families3 Units

Description: Study of the institution of the family, including intensive analysis of selected aspects of family group processes.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 655. Social Problems3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: This course offers in an in-depth examination of selected social problems in the Louisville metro and surrounding area and provides student insight into what constitutes a social problem, how to connect data to structural explanations for each social problem, and how two or more social problems are connected. For each social problem, students will read articles/books covering theories and concepts critical for understanding the social problem, explore qualitative and/or quantitative empirical information describing the social problem, discuss local government agencies and non-profit organizations that are attempting to address the social problem, and examine the differential impacts of the social problem from an intersectionality framework.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 665. Sociology of Gender3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: This course examines the ways in which gender structures social life on both the micro level of individual experience and the macro level of social structure. Students will discuss theoretical perspectives on the development of gender and gender stereotypes and explore scientific research and perspectives on gender differences and similarities. The course will also examine the structural foundations and theoretical explanations of gender inequality, as well as the intersectionality of gender and other social locations and identities.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 670. Advanced Demography3 Units

Description: Advanced study in topics related to population structure, composition, distribution, size, change, and growth.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 672. Feminist Research and Methods in the Social Sciences3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Admission to Women's and Gender Studies Graduate Certificate or MA degree program, or admission to Sociology MA program, or permission of instructor.

Description: Through readings across social sciences disciplines (i.e., in sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics, political science), course will analyze many ways feminist theory and methodology have influenced research in the social sciences.

Note: Cross-listed with WGST 602.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 675. Social Inequality & Stratification3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

Description: This course examines the sociology of social stratification and inequality, within, but not limited to, the U.S. context. Social stratification along class, racial, citizenship or legality, and gender lines manifest through inequality within and between social groups in terms of economic, cultural, and social resources, power, and domination. Scholars and policy makers have long been interested in the causes, consequences, and solutions to inequality. Yet, the social complexities that underlie persistent inequality are challenging to understand and address, particularly in the context of economic, political, and social changes. This course will address several key issues, including defining, measuring, and theorizing on social inequality and stratification and how they emerge; why they persist over time; their effects on individual life opportunities and chances; how groups/organizations and societies have worked and continue to work to ameliorate inequality; and how change can occur.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 685. Race and Ethnicity3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

Description: Over a century of sociological work on the question of race has led us to a similar conclusion, that race and ethnicity still play a tremendous role in society. Yet, how does and ethnicity matter in today's society? How are ideas about difference strengthened or challenged through social experiences, institutions, and ideologies? What are the social, political, and ethical consequences of mis-understanding the continued salience today? This seminar will focus on the role of race and ethnicity in the production of social ideals, the making of citizens, and our everyday lived experiences. This course will engage in dialogue about historical and contemporary works surrounding race and ethnicity through the exchanges of difference and power and continue toward a deeper sociological appreciation of the contemporary functions through which race and ethnicity continue to be made and remade within society.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 690. Independent Study-MA1-6 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.

Description: Students may request permission to conduct an independent study which explores a topic of interest to the student and is in the realm of expertise of a sociology faculty member who has agreed to supervise the study. Students interested in conducting an independent study should contact the graduate advisor in Sociology for details.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 691. Topical Seminar in Sociology3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Description: A special topics course explores a topic not covered in existing courses. Topics will vary but, when offered, will be announced in the Schedule of Classes.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 692. Thesis Administration3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: This independent study course requires students to work on their thesis under the direction of their thesis committee chair.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 693. Thesis Analysis3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Description: This independent study requires students to conduct the research portion of their thesis, specifically a secondary data analysis, survey research, or qualitative research under the direction of their thesis methodologist.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 695. Thesis Research1-9 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisite(s): Consent of graduate advisor.

Description: This course provides an opportunity for students to finish their thesis and defend it before a faculty committee.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 704. Proseminar in Sociology-PhD1 Unit

Description: Designed to provide new PhD students with an introduction to Sociology as a profession and to the Department of Sociology.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 706. Doctoral Exam Preparation3-9 Units

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisite(s): Consent or graduate advisor.

Description: This course provides doctoral students the opportunity to prepare for their comprehensive exams.

Note: May be repeated for a total of 9 credit hours.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 710. Statistics II3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Prerequisite(s): SOC 609 or permission of instructor.

Description: This course surveys multivariate regression techniques (a.k.a., generalized linear models) and provides an introduction to fitting regression models in the social sciences. Students will learn how to select and execute regression models appropriate to several types of dependent variables (ordinary least squares, binary logistic, multinomial logistic, ordered logistic, Poisson, and negative binomial regression models). Students will also learn how to perform key robustness checks for each type of regression and how to approach corrections for problems uncovered. Finally, students will learn how to interpret and communicate results of multivariate regression models to a scientific audience and gain an increased ability to incorporate empirical data analysis into their own work.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 715. Statistics lll3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Prerequisite(s): SOC 710 or permission of instructor.

Description: This course is intended to help students to carry out research in situations wherein there are two or more dependent variables to be analyzed simultaneously. Presentation of material will have an applied focus in which students will analyze data with Stata and/or SPSS/Amos software and present findings in tabular, graphical, and textual formats. The course begins with students assessing the landscape of possible applications of multivariate statistics, and the first substantive topic will be cluster analysis, which explores how cases may be classified into groups using multiple criteria. The course then segues into exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, with the latter being especially useful for an in-depth treatment of structural equation modeling (SEM). SEM permits students to estimate statistics for latent variables and perform both causal model testing and exploration.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 735. Classical Theory3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: This course focuses on some of the classical sociological theories that have provided the framework for sociological work and will examine the perspectives of influential theorists whose ideas have shaped and are still shaping the discipline of sociology. The course is designed to motivate students to systematically read and comprehend primary texts written by influential social thinkers and explore the social world of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the ramifications of these explanations for today's social world. Ultimately, students will be able to understand some of the fundamental arguments and theoretical texts in sociology by identifying each theory regarding its concepts, logic, analytical assumptions, and implications and developing a comparative understanding of classical theoretical frameworks.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 738. Contemporary Theory3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Description: This course focuses on key bodies of contemporary sociological theory that expand, challenge, and/or lie outside the bounds of classical sociological theories and is designed to motivate students to systematically read and comprehend primary texts written by influential social thinkers and develop a sense of how theory emerges from socio-historical context. Ultimately, students will be able to understand some of the fundamental arguments and theoretical texts in sociology by identifying each theory regarding its concepts, logic, analytical assumptions, and implications and developing a comparative understanding of contemporary theoretical frameworks.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 740. Social Policy3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only

Description: This course examines the main areas of social policy from an interdisciplinary perspective with emphasis on a variety of sociological approaches to policy-making and analysis. It is designed to introduce students to major tools used in the study of social policy, primarily the sub-fields of implementation, analysis, and theory. Students will gain a critical understanding of how to apply key theoretical concepts and methodological approaches to questions related to social policy, and discern the relative strengths and limitations of different approaches. They will also learn how areas of social policy intersect and change over time. (Students taking this course are expected to have a basic understanding of social science research methods and theory.)

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 790. Independent Study-PhD1-6 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisite(s): Consent of graduate advisor.

Description: Students may request permission to conduct an independent study which explores a topic of interest to the student and is in the realm of expertise of a sociology faculty member who has agreed to supervise the study. Students interested in conducting an independent study should contact the graduate advisor in Sociology for details.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

SOC 795. Dissertation Research1-9 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of graduate advisor.

Description: This course provides an opportunity for students to finish their dissertation and defend it before a faculty committee.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes