SOAN 290 - Special Topics in Sociology

Credits: 3 in Fall or Winter, 3 or 4 in Spring

A discussion of a series of topics of sociological concern. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Spring 2022, SOAN 290A-01: Special Topics in Sociology: Global Urban Sociology (3). The course will explore the complexities of city life in an increasingly globalized world, focusing on three broad topics. First, we will examine the challenges caused by urbanization in both developed and developing societies: how to provide basic services for urban residents, avoid environmental degradation, and mitigate poverty, inequality, and violence. Second, we will discuss the economic role that cities have played during different historical periods. Third, we will consider how urban life may change in the future, looking especially at technology and climate change. Pérez.

Spring 2022, SOAN 290B-01: Special Topics in Sociology: Introduction to Criminology: Crime Holistically Viewed as a Social Event of Interactions (3). This mutually engaging class introduces the fundamentals of criminology via a holistic perspective. As a social event of interactions, every crime has a unique set of causes, consequences, and participants. However, patterns emerge allowing for potential generalized themes for us to analyze, scrutinize and learn. Crime affects all of us directly and indirectly. It has a significant impact on those who are direct participants in the immediate social event itself such as offenders, victims, police officers, and witnesses. Yet, crime also has a powerful but indirect effect on society as a whole. We will laterally study crime from the varied perspectives of direct and indirect participants in an attempt to derive productive holistic understandings. Cataldi.