Professor Jane L. Winer, Dean

Department of Sociology,
Anthropology, and Social Work

Professor D. Paul Johnson, Chairperson.

Professor Emeritus Mayer-Oakes; Professors Curry, Dennis, Goss, Hickerson, Lowe, Peek, and Tsai; Associate Professors Chandler, Dunham, Elbow, Hall, and Roberts; Assistant Professors Koch, Paine, Schneider, and Stombler; Adjunct Faculty: Way.

This department offers study in the following graduate degree programs: SOCIOLOGY and ANTHROPOLOGY, Master of Arts. Both programs are designed to provide broad training for students who wish to enter a Ph.D. program, prepare for undergraduate or community college teaching, or pursue a nonteaching career for which M.A. level training in sociology or anthropology is appropriate and useful.

Both programs emphasize training in basic theory and methods. Both degrees may be pursued through either the thesis or nonthesis plan. Students choosing the thesis plan are required to take 30 hours of course work (including 2 required courses in theory, 2 required courses in methods, and 6 hours of thesis credit). They are also required to complete a thesis that is acceptable to the student's departmental thesis committee and demonstrate proficiency in a computer language. Students choosing the nonthesis plan are required to take 36 hours of course work (including 1 course in theory, 1 course in methods, and 3 hours of SOC 5331). They are also required to complete a paper on a topic related to their professional interests that is acceptable to the student's departmental committee.

The sociology program allows course work specialization in such areas as family, criminology and deviance, social organization and change, minority relations, demography, urban problems, medical sociology, and sociology of religion. Six of the 30 hours required may be taken as a minor outside the department. Selection of a minor requires approval of the graduate committee. In the sociology program, in lieu of a foreign language, each student is required to demonstrate proficiency in computer analysis of data.

The anthropology core curriculum requires courses in the following four basic subfields: archeology, biological anthropology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology. Students in the anthropology program are encouraged to use the minor to develop an area of emphasis either within the department (such as linguistics or sociology) or outside (such as biology, Latin American area studies, or museum science).

For both the thesis and the nonthesis plans in anthropology a final examination is required. In the sociology program the final examination in the thesis plan involves at least one of the various areas listed above. In the nonthesis plan the examination includes course work taken, the work experience outside the department, and the topic of the formal paper.

Decisions on the program of study, specific courses, and thesis topics are made through consultation with the graduate advisor in each program and other faculty members as appropriate on the basis of the individual student's background, interests, and objectives. With departmental approval requirements may be amended for individuals with exceptional qualifications, or additional courses may be required for applicants with inadequate undergraduate preparation.

General admission requirements are those established by the Graduate School. The best preparation is an undergraduate major in the same field, either sociology or anthropology, or equivalent. However, students from other fields are also encouraged to apply. More specific information regarding admission procedures or other aspects of the graduate programs may be obtained from either the sociology or the anthropology graduate advisor.

Courses in Sociology. (SOC)

5303. Seminar in Contemporary Sociological Theory (3:3:0). Study of contemporary approaches to society, including conflict theory, functionalism, symbolic interaction, and ethnomethodology.

5308. Seminar in the Origins of Social Theory (3:3:0). Development of sociological theory in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Topics may vary, but emphasis usually will be on the work of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber.

5311. Seminar in Criminology (3:3:0). Critical review of theory and research on selected topics in criminology.

5312. Seminar in Urban Problems (3:3:0). Extensive analysis of the process and consequences of urbanization, with emphasis upon causation and critiques of proposed solutions.

5313. Seminar in Minority Relations (3:3:0). American and world patterns of interethnic relations are covered with emphasis on recent and current trends.

5315. Seminar in Social Change (3:3:0). Linear and cyclical theories; analysis of the idea of progress, stage theories, dialectical
materialism, and the lag hypothesis.

5316. Seminar in Social Gerontology (3:3:0). Theory and research on aging, covering demographic, sociocultural, economic, individual, and societal factors. Interdisciplinary aspects are stressed.

5325. Seminar in Deviant Behavior (3:3:0). Critical review of current theory and research in deviance.

5327. Seminar in Demography (3:3:0). Theory and skills of population analysis including use of census data in sociological and social science research.

5331. Field Research (3). Individual research project off campus, covering entire term or longer. Research plans must be approved in advance by the student's major advisor. May be repeated for credit with permission.

5332. The Research Organization (3:3:0). Participation in campus-based organized research project. Required at least once of research assistants; open to other students.

5336. Seminar in Family Change (3:3:0). Analysis of how the family institution has changed, in relation to other institutions and society in general. Family is treated as both a dependent and independent variable.

5381. Seminar in Medical Sociology (3:3:0). Theory and research on conceptions of health, illness, and medical care from the sociological perspective.

5382. Seminar in Psychiatric Sociology (3:3:0). An examination of theories of mental illness, the commitment process, mental hospitals, mental health professions, and alternative treatment programs.

5384. Seminar in the Sociology of Religion (3:3:0). Examination of the religious institution focusing on its sociological meaning, organizations, presence as a force in western society, and relationship to other social institutions.

5394. Seminar in Sociological Research Methods (3:3:0). An examination of the research process including problem formation, case selection, data collection, and data organization.

6000. Master's Thesis (V1-6).

7000. Research (V1-12).

Courses in Anthropology. (ANTH)

5300. History of Anthropological Theory (3:3:0). The main currents of theory in anthropology (cultural materialism, historical particularism, structuralism) and the influential theorists (Spencer, Tylor, Boas, Freud, Steward, Levi-Strauss).

5310. Primate Behavior (3:3:0). A survey of the biological and behavioral diversity of nonhuman primates. Emphasizes issues concerning evolution, social organization and conservation of prosimians, anthropoids and hominoids.

5311. Human Origins (3:2:2). A comprehensive examination of hominid evolution with emphasis on current discoveries, interpretations, and theories. Seminar on selected topics.

5312. Human Diversity (3:2:2). Survey of biological variation and the processes producing it in human populations and races; seminar in selected topics. Laboratory emphasizing research approaches to current problems.

5313. Human Skeletal Biology and Forensic Anthropology (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Graduate standing in anthropology, biology, museum science, or consent of instructor. Analysis of human skeletal remains for legal purposes. Methods of identification, techniques of recovery and examination, facial reconstruction, report writing, limits of inference, expert testimony.

5322. Social Anthropology (3:3:0). Seminar in contemporary social anthropology. Selected topics in kinship, social, and political organization; warfare and conflict resolution; and ritual and symbolism.

5323. Topics in Cultural Anthropology (3:3:0). May be repeated for credit.

5341. Method and Theory in Archeology (3:2:2). An intensive survey of the development and present status of method and theory in archeology.

5343. Topics in Anthropological Archeology (3:3:0). Examination of either a currently important methodological topic in archeology or the archaeological knowledge extant from a site or geographic unit. May be repeated for credit. Also offered as a summer field course.

5352. Ethnolinguistics (3:3:0). Survey of the nature of the interrelationships between language and culture.

6000. Master's Thesis (V1-6).

7000. Research (V1-12).