Summer 2025 Sociology Courses

SOC 10500: Individual, Group and Society: An Introduction to Sociology (3 Credits)

The language of sociology, the sociological perspective, and basic areas of sociological inquiry. Topics include: culture, socialization, self and society, social stratification and social class, the family, religion, policy, community organization, collective behavior, mass culture, social order and social change.

M/T/W/Th 11:30am-2:25pm
ONLINE MIX
Instructor: Ekim Kilic
June 2 - June 30, 2024

This course fulfills a general education requirement and is REQUIRED for Sociology majors and minors.
This class meets online synchronous Mon., Tues., Wed, and Thur. 11:30am-@2:25pm and will have additional asynchronous work, including assignments like watching films, short writing homework, and completing quizzes.
 

SOC 31157: Anxiety and the Social Self (3 Credits)

M/T/W/Th 11:30am-3:30pm
IN-PERSON
Instructor: Edward Silver, Ph.D
July 7 - August 1 , 2025

How do social performance and social groups provoke, shape, and structure our experience of anxiety? How does anxiety and its management shape our self-understanding as social agents? Has the experience of anxiety changed in relation to changing social conditions? We will explore how anxiety has been defined in clinical terms and contrast contemporary diagnoses with other ways it has been understood historically. We will explore anxiety from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including existentialism, psychoanalysis, and classical social theory. We will also explore contemporary social anxiety in relation to COVID-19, ecological catastrophe, performance on social media, and social class.

SOC 31161: Sociology of Consumer Behavior and Marketing (3 Credits)

M/T/W/Th 2:30-5:25pm
Hybrid Asynchronous
July 7 - August 1, 2025
Instructor: Colin Ashley

An applied course about the principles of consumer behavior and market research. The course focuses on how and why people make purchases and how advertising appeals of a sociological, psychological, and economic nature, including product presentation, pricing, packaging, product endorsements, and responses to competition, influence consumer decisions. Students will learn how to actually do market research, using techniques such as field observation, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires. The class meets in-person Mon., Tues., Wed., and Thur. 2:30-5:25pm with online asynchronous work.

SOC 31193: Sociology of Time and Speed: Dynamic Forms of Social Life (3 Credits)

Why do we experience time differently when we are at play versus at work, when we are in danger versus in an activity we enjoy? This course examines dynamic forms of social life from cultural, economic, political, and psychological perspectives. These conceptions of time include Durkheim's distinction of sacred and profane time, Marx's conception of commodity as externalized/dead labor time, and Virilio's correlation between military and cinematic perception of movement to mutually reinforcing fluidity of social identities and data. We will see how sociology can bring together these multifaceted aspects of social production of time, speed and historicity.

M/T/W/Th 1:30-5:30pm
ONLINE MIX
Instructor: Talha Issevenler, Ph.D.
August 4 - August 22, 2025

Classes meet online synchronous Mon., Tues., and Wed., 1:30-5:30pm with a 20 minute break; additional asynchronous work will take place on Thur.

SOC 31956: Immigration Narratives: Interconnected Stories of Our Pasts, Ourselves and Future Generations (3 Credits)

M/T/W/Th 8:30-11:25am
ONLINE MIX
Instructor: Jennifer Sloan
June 2 - June 30, 2025

What are our stories, and what can we share with future generations? In this course, students will explore and critique federal, state, and local policies, ranging from DACA to everyday paperwork, that impact immigration and migrant experiences in the United States. Students will conduct interview-based research about the migration-related experiences and histories of their families, friends, community members, and others. In undertaking this research, students will understand how individual histories and biographies intersect with longstanding, systemic inequalities. Students will learn about major events in the history of migration to the US, how to design and carry out qualitative research projects, and explore creative ways of sharing these with wider audience. Students' work will contribute towards an open-access textbook on the Sociology of Immigration that will be taught in future classes.

The class meets online synchronous Tues., Wed., and Thur. 8:30-11:25am and has asynchronous work, including listening to podcasts and other assignments.

SOC 37700: Undocumented: Belonging and Immigrant Experience in the United States (3 Credits)

T/W/Th 8:30-11:25am
ONLINE MIX
Instructor: Jennifer Sloan
July 7 - August 1

Explores the lives of undocumented immigrants, students in particular. Considers how the "illegal immigrant" was defined as a problem and varied solutions pursued by governments, civil society, helping professions, advocates, and artists. Then focuses on the lives of undocumented students and how they navigate education, employment, and public spaces.