SOCU 101 Introduction to Sociology
An examination of the basic concepts, principles, and findings of sociology: addressing the nature of human social relations from simple, face-to-face relationships, through formal organizations, to whole societies. Discovery of how social patterns are created, how they become organized and established, and how they change. 3 credits.
SOCU 102 Cultural Anthropology
The study of how human civilizations adapt to living situations by forming group identity, family, language and symbols. The examination of how civilizations create world views and concepts of progress, culture, community and social interaction. Students will explore these questions using models from cultures foreign and familiar. 3 credits.
SOCU 201 Social Research Design
Learn how sociologists carry out investigations of social life. Students will learn how to design and conduct surveys, experiments, and do participant observation. Equal attention will be given to the needs of students as consumers of social research, trying to make sense out of daily reports on sociological findings in newspapers, television, and magazines. 3 credits.
SOCU 204 Marriage and the Family
This course studies the family as a social institution; socio-cultural as well as historical factors as related to sexuality, love, and marital choice; adjustment and conflict in marriage, micro-sociological analysis of family structure and dynamics. 3 credits.
SOCU 211 Social Problems
Society is beset by numerous social problems such as crime, war, hunger, homelessness, divorce, ethnic/gender conflict, violence, and economic power struggles, political corruption, and overpopulation. The class will focus on how we define, treat, and solve social problems. 3 credits.
SOCU 293 Introduction to Social Work
This course will provide an introduction to the ecological perspective of the social work profession. The focus of the course will be on the various levels of social work practice: individual and group casework, community organization, cultural diversity and policy-making practice arenas with an emphasis on the interaction between human behavior and the social environment. 3 credits.
SOCU 310 Society and Advertising
An interdisciplinary investigation into the foundations of advertising. Topics include historical origins of advertising; the economics of advertising; legal, social, and ethical issues; advertising as a global philosophy; the politics of consumerism; decoding the hermeneutics and semiology of advertising; advertising as behavior modification and manipulation; subliminal advertising; advertising's influence on the experience of self in modern society; advertising as the modern art form. 3 credits.
SOCU 311 Society and Mass Communications
An analysis of mass communications media as a social institution. The course employs an interdisciplinary approach asking what are the origins, history, evolution, and social functions of the mass media; the impact of the media on the social self; the transitions from oral to print to electronic media; the view that the medium is the message. Strong emphasis on electronic media and the impact of media on the social construction of reality. 3 credits.
SOCU 312 Economics of Social Issues
(Same as OLCU 312) An introduction to the basic tools and logic of economics are applied to social issues. A study of how people as individuals or in groups make decisions and choices, the impact of opportunity cost and constrained maximization on those choices and decisions, and how we as a society and an economy respond to the perpetual condition of scarcity. 3 credits.
SOCU 320 Sociology of Death
An interdisciplinary investigation of death, dying, and the grieving process. Topics include the American way of death as a social institution; dying as a psychological process; how society conditions us to deny death and repress grief and loss; how I relate to my own death and the death of significant others. How the experience, fear, and quality of death has changed historically over the centuries. 3 credits.
SOCU 321 Getting Love Right: Romantic Relationships in Contemporary Society
This course is intended to be a workshop, highly participatory and highly exploratory, rather than a lecture series. We will address our current media-permeated models of romantic love — we're in love with "falling in love." We will explore the distinction between "falling in love" and "loving," the role of commitment versus feelings within a relationship, and the model of friendship and its bearing on romantic, sexual relationships. (Graded on a pass/no pass basis.) 1 credit.
SOCU 324 Society and Religion
How does social structure quietly yet powerfully shape religious beliefs? How do religious beliefs in turn affect social, cultural, political and economic values? 3 credits.
SOCU 325 The Quest for a New Age: Contemporary Spiritual Movements in the West
An examination on both a critical scientific and a personal level of what William James has called the "varieties of religious experience" that human beings have undergone, cultivated, and institutionalized with particular emphasis on modern Western society. We will look at the proliferating variety of both exotic and familiar spiritual experiences and traditions currently growing all around us.
SOCU 326 Topics in Sociology of Religion
An examination of selected topics in the sociology of religion. The topics may be relatively narrowly focused and involve an intensive study of a single religion or more broadly focused involving the study of issues across religions. Courses that treat different themes may be repeated for credit. 3 credits.
SOCU 328 Social Inequality/Stratification
Inequality among members of the American and international community. Theoretical emphasis on class, racial/ethnic, occupational, age, and sexual inequality. Students examine the social/structural bases of inequality and theories to explain the creation of systems and ideologies of subordination. 3 credits.
SOCU 329 Experimental Topics in Sociology
An examination of selected topics in sociology relevant to evolving areas of importance to the field. Syllabi must be approved by the Dean and announced to the Curriculum and Academic Committee prior to being offered. May be repeated for credit provided the course content is different. 3 credits.
SOCU 335 Society and the Environment
The air is thick with smog, famine breaks out with frightening regularity, and resources continue to accumulate in selected regions. Yet, in the long run, we are all citizens of this planet and must manage to survive on it and with each other. What are the key issues in this crucial debate that will determine all our futures? What ideas underlie environmentalism, what policies have to be debated, and what are the costs and benefits of different solutions to these problems? 3 credits.
SOCU 345 Social Psychology
(Same as PSYU 336) Discussion and analysis of the relationship between culture, grouplife, social structure, and human behavior; emphasis upon the dialogue between the individual and social collective. Topics include group behavior, attitudes, stereotypes, nonverbal communication, health psychology, aggression, social perceptions, relationships and helping behavior. 3 credits.
SOCU 347 Society, Culture, and Literature
(Same as ENGU 347/HUMU 347) An exploration of the sociological and/or anthropolitical contexts of literature. The course varies in content depending on the instructor, but the topics to be selected might include the following: urban literature and life; rural, pastoral, or utopian environment; literature and sex roles; the literature of work; the influence of anthropological works on 20th-century literature; poetry and narrative in preliterate society; and the Cambridge School of Classicists and their theories about various myths of the hero. 3 credits.
SOCU 380 Correctional Systems
(Same as CJCU 380) Criminals and institutional personnel involved in corrections at all levels will be reviewed in depth. History, politics, and contemporary corrections issues such as punishment theories, sentencing alternatives, prison experience and prisoner rights, female and juvenile incarceration problems, overcrowding, and 21st century corrections will be examined. 3 credits.
SOCU 381 Sociology of Sex and Gender
Students examine the ways in which macro institutions, (e.g., educational or work systems) and micro institutions, (e.g., ways of conversing) structure gender relations in society, and how gender in turn structures and stratifies the social order. From the perspective of personal identity, we will ask how it is that we experience ourselves as male and female. The social consequences of gender stratification are considered, including such substantive topic areas as the sexual division of labor, sexual politics, and sexual violence. 3 credits.
SOCU 382 Women and Criminal Justice
(Same as CJCU 382) Examines how women's involvement with criminal justice, whether as offenders or victims, reflects prevailing ideology about women's place and function in the wider society. Particular attention is paid to the differential "justice" made on the basis of sex, as well as class and race. 3 credits.
SOCU 390 Socialization Through the Life Span
A comprehensive birth through old age study of human growth and behavior tracing the psychosocial development stages. Students survey the social and environment factors including the influences of society, culture, small groups, and the family on development of the person. 3 credits.
SOCU 391 Youth-at Risk
(Same as PSYU 391/CJCU 391) his course will introduce students to various models, theories, and intervention of children and adolescents considered "at-risk". Topics covered include, but may not be limited to the following: a) socio-cultural factors in defining and influencing behavior; b) psychological models both biological and ecological that interact to shape behavior; c) types of at-risk categories including school dropouts, substance use and addiction, teenage pregnancy, antisocial behavior, delinquency, gangs, school shooters, and youth suicide; and d) specific types of clinical abnormal behavior including anxiety, mood, and impulse control disorders; e) theoretical and practical considerations related to community and school interventions. 3 credits.
SOCU 393 Child Abuse
An introduction to and overview of the phenomena of child abuse as it relates to the helping professional. This class will examine the definition and cause of child abuse from sociological, cultural, and psychological perspectives. The legal and child welfare systems will be studied in addition to treatment and prevention aspects of the child abuse issue. 3 credits.
SOCU 394 The Sociology of Self
A sociological investigation of the persistent question, "Who am I?" Students explore the extent to which answers are drawn from the social construction of status and role thus driving the experience of a real self undercover. 3 credits.
SOCU 396 Population and Demography
At current rates, the 5.7 billion population of the planet will double in 40 years making current problems of overpopulation even worse. This course examines the size and composition of human populations as determined by births, deaths, and migration. Age-sex profiles and the theory of demographic transition are examined, as are policy issues such as birth control, family planning, and national and global population policies. 3 credits.
SOCU 397 Social Movements in the Sixties
(Same as HISU 397/SSCU 397) Through film, literature, and oral history, we will take a fresh look at this controversial time in American history. Beyond protests, civil rights, Vietnam, sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, there is the sociological question of how and when social movements arise, and how individuals within them rise to leadership roles. Social movements are a response to economic and demographic changes and they, in turn, make societal and cultural changes (or perhaps solidify them). Many of the characteristics of modern society that we take for granted -- for example, voting rights for women or organized labor -- have their origins in the struggles of organized social movements. Sociological theory and methods such as oral history provide a means to examine these issues. 3 credits
SOCU 398 Women at Work
A redefinition of "work" on the part of those who do it and those who study it might facilitate a better understanding of the work lives of women. Students examine the concept of "work force" as a male category which has consigned women to a residual place. Specific topics will include paid and unpaid labor in public and private settings, the division of labor in the home, the gendered wage-gap, global social change and women's work, and the meaning of work in women's lives. 3 credits.
SOCU 399 Sociology of the Family
This course engages a critical, in-depth analysis of the ways in which families are seen by society and the ways in which they see themselves. Topics to be covered include family politics, division of labor, child care, economics, health, leisure, and the politics of the family. 3 credits.
SOCU 401 Field Research Methods
An introduction to field research in naturally-occurring settings. Data collection through participant observation and interviewing with emphasis on the construction of field notes. Ethics of field research, entree to the field site, maintenance of the research relationship, and closure are emphasized through classroom discussion and activity in selected field sites. Analysis of data using the comparative method of grounded theory is introduced. 3 credits.
SOCU 403 Police and Society
(Same as CJCU 403) This course focuses on law enforcement and its interaction with society. Various perspectives will be explored including police subcultures, user of force and authority, selective enforcement and discretion, community reactions and media relations with police, dissent and conflict management. 3 credits.
SOCU 404 Global Family Systems
Students examine the concept of family from the perspective of culture. Every society has families which vary widely in their structure. How is the family related to the structure and function of the larger society? What forms does the family take and why? 3 credits.
SOCU 411 Gangs and Gang Behavior
(Same as CJCU 411) This course addresses theories of gang behavior, modes of law enforcement, and correctional intervention dealing with street gang formation and activities (e.g., Latino, Samoan, Vietnamese, Armenian, Filipino), as well as characteristic differences among Gangbangers, Taggers, and others. 3 credits.
SOCU 412 Victimless Crimes
(Same as CJCU 412) This course examines various criminal offenses that often lack a complaining "victim" in the usual sense that tend to generate intense social debate due to the consensual nature of these crimes (e.g., drug use, prostitution, certain sexual activities, gambling). The societal implications of social control policies will be discussed. 3 credits.
SOCU 415 Sociology of Organizations and Institutions
How and why are organizations created? What are their purposes? How does the need for organizational survival come to supersede whatever human purposes lay at its origins? Course will look at organizations through numerous metaphors: as machines, as organisms, as antipoetic systems, etc. 3 credits.
SOCU 420 Sociology of Deviant Behavior
(Same as CJCU 420/CJCU 520) This course examines why societies label behavior deviant and explores the distinction between behaviors considered "socially unacceptable" and those considered "criminal." Theories of deviance, as well as the amount, distribution and patterns of deviance are considered. Discussions may also include political influence, social change, and selected types of deviant activity. 3 credits.
SOCU 425 Social Change
Human social structures are constantly in a state of flux. This course looks at how and why these changes occur, and the role we all play as actors in this ever-changing drama. Analysis of social and technological change and its consequences for major systems of society. Discussion of the future of social and technological change in post-industrial societies. 3 credits.
SOCU 426 Crime and Delinquency
(Same as CJCU 426) Crime and delinquency are integral parts of human society. This class scrutinizes the causes of crime, crime prevention and control, and the treatment of criminals. Emphasis on the sociological causes, extent, constraint and deterrence of juvenile delinquency and juvenile crime. Topics include bio/psycho/sociogenic causation, youth criminalization, professional versus amateur criminals, violence and sexual crimes, victims and juvenile punishment alternatives. 3 credits.
SOCU 440 Drugs and Society
(Same as CJCU 440) Study of drug use from a sociological perspective. Discussion will include the effects and toxicity of legal drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, as well as illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, and heroine. Course topics include the integration of drugs with everyday life, the prescription drug industry as a social problem, addiction, recovery as the trope of popular culture, drug-testing, HIV/AIDS and intravenous drug use, criminal behavior and drug use, drug legalization debates and other policy issues. 3 credits.
SOCU 450 Social and Political Theory
How is society possible? How does society change? How are political, social and economic power distributed? Critical study of contributions of social and political philosophers and contemporary theorists to these questions. Emergence and evolution of sociology and political science as systematic disciplines. Emphasis on macrostructural theory. Reading of more recent critical theorists, black theorists, feminist theorists and post-moderns. This course may also be offered on line. 3 credits.
SOCU 453 Sociology of Social Conflict, Analysis, and Resolution
Social conflict is evident in the news each day. For many of us it is a part of our personal experiences and daily lives. This course focuses on the analysis of conflict from an interdisciplinary perspective. What is conflict? How do we develop and change our identities, attitudes, emotions, and behavior regarding conflict? How do these processes vary across social groups? To answer these questions, this class will present a variety of ways that third parties and organizations intervene in an attempt to de-escalate conflict. Theories of conflict, methods of conflict management, and an examination of case studies and historical interventions will provide the student with tools for analysis of conflicts in his or her personal life and on the international front. Through simulations, role-playing and skills-training, each student will experience the basic concepts, principles, and methods of conflict resolution. Towards the end of this upper division course, the student should be able to map out and analyze conflict situations, using theoretical concepts and frameworks. 3 credits
SOCU 460 White Collar Crime
(Same as CJCU 460/CJCU 560) This class examines the underlying theories, changing definitions and diverse nature of white-collar crime. These crimes may include offenses perpetrated by "the rich," corporations and businesses, and/or individuals. Topics may include embezzlement, political corruption, employee theft, fraud, "con games," and emergent areas such as computer crime and environmental crime. 3 credits.
SOCU 48O Topics in the Sociology of Health
Health care is presently in crisis, and the solution of that crisis requires that health care and medical systems be re-examined from a critical perspective. These courses examine problems of health and illness in society and the world in relation to structural correlates (economics, social organization, culture) and in respect to how health and illness is experienced by individuals and groups. Courses that treat different topics may be repeated for credit. 3 credits. Some examples are:
Holistic Health
Analysis of the socio-cultural correlates of health and illness with emphasis upon cross-cultural belief systems of etiology, diagnosis, and intervention strategies. Focus of study is upon widely diverse belief systems, including, but not limited to allopathic, homeopathic, Oriental, Aboriginal, and Native American. "Hands-on" in-class activities and field trips, as well as traditional pedagogical approaches.
Women, Health, and Healing
An exploration of the way in which lay, medical, and research assumptions about women have influenced clinical care and scientific inquiry. The course focuses on the health status and health needs of women, including chronic illness, reproductive health and childbirth, occupational health hazards, mental health, AIDS, physical and sexual abuse, and addictive disorders relating to food, alcohol and drugs.
Medical Sociology
An introduction to health and medicine as a social institution. A number of sociological concepts are examined: social epidemiology, comparative definitions of health and healing, the social organization of medical care, ideology of the health professions, the doctor-patient relationship, and the social psychology of the sick role.
Political Economy of Health and Medicine
An examination of health, illness and medical care in the context of the social and political structure of society. The health care delivery system is analyzed at the macrosocial and microsocial levels in visits to key health care sites in Orange County. Topics include the crisis in health care funding, allocation of resources, the ways in which power is distributed in the health care arena and the outcome for the health and well-being of adults and children.
SOCU 482 Gerontology
We live in a rapidly aging society. The elderly are confronted by pressing issues of economic support, social support, chronic illness, and medical care. The course provides an introduction to major issues affecting the aged, to gerontological theories, and to public opinion and public policy regarding aging. In addition, specific topics such as aging and race and gender, Alzheimer's disease, elder abuse, and death and dying will be considered. 3 credits.
SOCU 490/491 Independent Internship/Cooperative Education
Prerequisite: Requires completion of Student Qualification Form and Chapman University College Field site Contract to register. May also need to pass hosting organization screening and background check prior to placement. Students begin supervised fieldwork in a human service agency concentrating on the practical application of skills and techniques in case planning and organizational analysis. This course also provides classroom analysis of the fieldwork practicum focusing upon establishing basic casework and organizational skills and techniques of the social work profession. 3 credits.
SOCU 492 Social Work Field/Practicum
Prerequisite: Requires completion of petition to register. Students begin supervised fieldwork in a human service agency concentrating on the practical application of skills and techniques in case planning and organizational analysis. This course also provides classroom analysis of the fieldwork practicum focusing upon establishing basic casework and organizational skills and techniques of the social work profession. 3 credits.
SOCU 499 Independent Study
Prerequisites: Instructor's approval and approval of petition. Directed reading and/or research designed to meet specific needs of superior upper-division students. 1-3 credits.