Graduate Courses

700 HISTORY OF SOCIAL THOUGHT (3). Prerequisite, graduate standing in sociology or written permission of the instructor. Historic social ideas of Western culture considered against a background of general cultural analysis in terms of systematic theory. Required of all graduate degree candidates in Sociology. 

807 MAJOR SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES (2-3). Examination of selected writing, concepts, and issues of some major sociological theory or theoretical approach. 

800 CURRENT ISSUES IN SOCIAL THEORY (3). An examination of selected recent work of general significance in sociology. Themes vary. 

806 PRINCIPLES OF THEORIZING (3). This course in metatheory analyzes methods of theorizing. It examines the criteria for constructing and evaluating scientific theories developed by philosophers of science and applies them to social theorizing. The hypothetico-deductive model of theorizing is contrasted with other theoretical approaches. 

808 MACROSOCIOLOGICAL THEORY (3). The objective of the course is to illustrate three aspects of macrosociological theory: (1) the conception of macrosociology; (2) the structural approach in sociology; (3) hypothetico-deductive theorizing. A hypothetico-deductive macrostructural theory developed by the instructor is analyzed, and extensive empirical tests of the theory are presented. 

707 MEASUREMENT AND DATA COLLECTION (POLI 207) (3). Provides an introduction to measurement theory and a review of various methods of data-gathering. Gaining experience with a variety of techniques of measurement and preparing a pretested research proposal are required for all students. 

708 STATISTICS FOR SOCIOLOGISTS (3). Provides an introduction to probability theory, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and the algebra of expectations. Emphasis is on elements useful to research sociologists including bivariate regression and correlation. 

709 LINEAR REGRESSION MODELS (HPAA 332) (3). The course presents regression analysis and related techniques. The major topics are: the assumptions of the regression model, dummy variables and interaction terms, outlier diagnostics, multicollinearity, specification error, heteroscedasticity, and autocorrelation. The final section introduces path analysis, recursive models, and nonrecursive systems. 

711 ANALYSIS OF CATEGORICAL DATA (HPAA 335) (1-3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. Introduction to techniques and programs for analyzing categorical variables and nonlinear models. Special attention is given to decomposition of complex contingency tables, discriminant function analysis, Markov chains, and nonmetric multidimensional scaling. 

830 DEMOGRAPHY: THEORY, SUBSTANCE, TECHNIQUES, PART I (3). A basic introduction to the discipline of demography. Materials covered include: population history; data sources; mortality and fertility trends and differentials and techniques of analysis.

831 DEMOGRAPHY: THEORY, SUBSTANCE, TECHNIQUES, PART II (3). A continuation of SOCI 830. Materials covered include: population growth, stable population theory; migration and distribution; population policy; population estimates and projections. 

804 MARX AND MARXISM (2). Brief exposition and evaluation of Marx's theory of human nature, societal change and evolution, class, the state, family, and other institutions. Summary of dependency theory and critical theory. 

801 EVOLUTIONARY THEORY (3). Introduction to the new evolutionary theory and associated research. 

802 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY (3). Introduction to basic theoretical approaches in social psychology, including social learning, social exchange, symbolic interaction, cognitive consistency, and affect control. 

803 HUMAN ECOLOGY (3). Examination of how human populations adapt to their environments. Emphasis on linkages among population, organization, environment, and technology. Research applications of this approach to urban communities and organizations. 

816 INFLUENTIAL WORKS IN DEMOCRACY (POLI 816) (3). The course covers the major traditions of democratic theory from ancient Greece to the present, ethnographies on political organization, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century observations on democracy. 

813 COMPARATIVE WELFARE STATES (POLI 202) (3). This course examines the development, achievements, present crisis, and future of welfare states in advanced industrial democracies. 

840 SOCIAL ATTITUDES (3). Basic theories and methods in attitude research with special attention to attitude dynamics and social relations. 

840 SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND PERSONALITY (3). The generic processes by which individuals become members of a society, with emphasis on the influence of social structure on socialization and the patterning of personality. 

850 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION (3). Prerequisite, SOCI 420 or equivalent. Analysis of major theories of and approaches to the study of social inequality, with attention to how the various theories and approaches are operationalized. Focus on recent research in labor markets and world-wide inequality.

851 SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER (WMST 851) (3). Reviews theory on variation in men's and women's gender roles, with emphasis on industrialized societies and women's roles.

853 JUSTICE AND INEQUALITY: SELECTED TOPICS (Var.). Prerequisite, permission of instructor. Examination of selected issues regarding societal, economic and political inequality and questions of justice in the United States and Western Europe. 

810 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (3). The structure and dynamics of social movements and their societal environment, with special reference to sociopolitical movements of minority and low status groups in industrialized and third world societies. 

860 SOCIOLOGY OF ORGANIZATIONS (3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. Structural features of organizations. Behavior in organizations. Organizational career patterns. Comparative analysis of structure, behavior, and careers in different types of organizations. Interorganization and organization-environment relations. 

861 OCCUPATIONS AND WORK (3). The changing occupational system. Structural types of labor markets. Occupational organization, role sets, power relations, careers, and satisfaction in different types of labor markets and occupations. 

872 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE: SCIENCE AS A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITY (3). This course examines the production of scientific knowledge. The focus is on the processes by which scientific knowledge and technological artifacts are constructed through cultural practices and the organizational of scientific work. 

863 MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY: HEALTH, ILLNESS, AND HEALING (3). This graduate seminar presents a conceptual and substantive overview of some of the most fundamental and salient issues in the field of medical sociology. The focus of the course is on continuity and change in health and health care. The following topics will be examined: social causation of disease; medicalization of social problems; medicine as a profession; treatment systems and organization of care; politics and the changing face of the medical care system. 

760 DATA COLLECTION METHODS (3). Reviews alternative data collection techniques used in surveys concentrating on the impact these techniques have on the quality of survey data. Topics covered include errors associated with nonresponse, interviewing, and data processing.

761 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN (3). Examines the stages of questionnaire design including developmental interviewing, question writing, question evaluation, pretesting, questionnaire ordering and formatting. Reviews the literature on questionnaire construction. Provides hands-on experience in developing questionaires.

762 CASE STUDIES IN SURVEYS (3). A number of external speakers from government and industry will describe various problems they encounter for in surveys. Students will be challenged to develop proposals for addressing the problems, citing the literature as appropriate.

753 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN IN SOCIOLOGY (3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. Statistical aspects of experimental designs with emphasis on applied problems involved in executing a statistically sound design. (On demand.) 

754 SURVEY SAMPLING (3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. The different sampling techniques are discussed. Major emphasis on planning of large-scale sample surveys rather than on statistical theory. (On demand.) 

763 SURVEY COMPUTING (3). Introduces basic statistical concepts and practices emphasizing the analysis of real data. Provides training in the use of the SAS statistical analysis system and the practical problems of stratification, clustering, and weighting in survey analysis.

862 HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS AND OCCUPATIONS (3). Considers various treatment settings, socialization and job performance of health workers, patienthood, the relation between organizational structure and effectiveness, and professional self-regulation. 

836 SOCIAL GERONTOLOGY (3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. The study of the aged in our society.

812 CIVIL SOCIETY (1-3). Under the conditions of globalization, civil society takes on new and different meanings. Course examines what the term means and how it is applied.

870 SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURE (3). Focuses on substantive and theoretical issues in this field and their intellectual origins. Topics include organizations, art, religion, science, class, and politics. Quantitative and qualitative approaches are examined. 

871 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION (3). An introductory, graduate-level survey of the sociology of religion as a field of study, reviewing literature on important theoretical approaches and key problems and issues in the field.

852 ETHNICITY, RACE, AND EDUCATION (Var.). Emerging new theory and research paradigms in the sociology of education are reviewed. The course covers the following: racial and ethnic variation, parenting, contextual variation, peer influence, and school variation.

821 THE LIFE COURSE (3). Provides an intense introduction to the life course as a theoretical orientation and methodology (logic of inquiry). 

854 SEMINAR IN URBAN SOCIOLOGY (3). Theory and research in the study of the location and growth of urban areas, the effect urban areas have upon behavior, and the study of social behavior in different urban subareas. Each member of the seminar completes a project interrelating theory and research. 

822 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF AGING AND THE ADULT LIFE COURSE (3). Overview and critical assessment of sociological theory applied to aging, including explicit theories of aging. The course examines historical development of the field, and considers the nature of theory development. 

832 MIGRATION AND POPULATION DISTRIBUTION (3). Treats migration trends, patterns, and differentials and their effects on population distribution in continental and regional areas. Attention is given to theoretical and methodological problems in the study of population movement. (On demand.) 

833 SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS IN FERTILITY (3). Fertility differentials by social and economic factors, changes therein over time, the manner in which these factors affect fertility, and the implications thereof for fertility-control programs are studied. (On demand.) 

835 MORTALITY: SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES (3). Prerequisite, SOCI 830 or equivalent, or permission of instructor. This advanced seminar covers mortality date and measurement, the inequality of death, trends in morbidity and mortality, and explanations of mortality decline. Social demographic perspectives receive primary emphasis.

960 TRAINING PROGRAM SEMINARS (1). Continuing seminars in selected topics. 

961 READING AND RESEARCH (Var. 1-3) (3 each semester). Registration by permission of the instructor.

962, 963 ADVANCED READING. Library research or field research on a selected topic under guidance of the instructor. 

307 SEMINAR ON POLICY ANALYSIS (3). Common normative, political, and behavior aspects of policy choice in diverse fields; e.g., urban, education, health, welfare, population, and foreign policy. Public policies may modify or replace the market. 

814 SEMINAR IN COMPARATIVE AND HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY (3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. Examination of issues involved in societal comparison, with an emphasis upon comparative and historical analysis of substantive issues at the macro-societal level. Special attention is given to methodological problems. 

811 SEMINAR IN POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY (POLI 811) (3). The relationships between social structure and political decisions. Regimes and social structure; bureaucracies, political associations, and professions; science and politics; closed and open politics; political movements and change. 

715 SEMINAR ON SOCIAL NETWORKS (3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. Theoretical and substantive issues in social network analysis. Focus is on models of social structure. 

855 POVERTY IN AMERICA (3). This graduate seminar will study trends, causes, and consequences of poverty in America, covering the topics of single-mother families, child poverty, low-wage work, immigrant families, and welfare reform and social policy.

843 SEMINAR IN SOCIAL CONTROL AND DEVIANCE (3). Registration by permission of the instructor. The relation of social norms to conforming and deviant behavior. Types of social and personal controls. Theoretical and research problems are reviewed. 

970, 971 READING AND RESEARCH IN METHODOLOGY (3 each semester). Registration by permission of the instructor. Special work on selected problems of research methodology. 

717 STRUCTURAL EQUATIONS WITH LATENT VARIABLES  (3). Prerequisites, Sociology 209 and permission of the instructor. This course examines models sometimes referred to as LISREL models. Topics include: path analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement error, model identification, nonrecursive models, multiple indicators. 

718 LONGITUDINAL AND MULTILEVEL DATA ANALYSIS (3). Prerequisite, SOCI 709, 711, or equivalent. This course provides an introduction to event history analysis or survival analysis, random effects and fixed effects models for longitudinal data, multilevel models for linear and discrete multilevel data, and growth curve models. 

905 SURVEY PRACTICUM (3). Applied workshop in sample survey design and implementation. The student works in a data collection center under the guidance of the instructor. Course focuses on real world problems in data collection and their practical, cost-effective solutions.

720 SYSTEMATIC METHODS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH (3). Course designed to teach methods of data collection and analysis for qualitative research. 

901 FIELD RESEARCH (3 each semester). Registration by permission of the instructor.

950 SEMINAR IN SELECTED TOPICS (3). Course description for particular semester is available in department office. Registration by permission of the instructor. 

842 SEMINAR IN SOCIALIZATION AND GROUP PROCESS (3). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. Analysis of theoretical issues and empirical research relevant to socialization. Special emphasis upon group process effects on the evolution of the social self, the "fit" between personality and role, and other issues. 

820 SEMINAR IN MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY (3). (On demand.) 

980 SEMINAR ON THE TEACHING OF SOCIOLOGY (3). Prerequisite, doctoral candidacy in sociology or permission of the instructor. Examines teacher's role and teaching process; planning a course, constructing syllabi, testing for teaching or grading, evaluating teacher performance, needs of different student populations.

993 MASTER'S THESIS (3 or more). Individual research in a selected field under the direction of a member of the department. 

994 DOCTORAL DISSERTATION (3 or more). Individual research in a selected field under the direction of a member of the department. 

Interdisciplinary Courses for Advanced Undergraduates and Graduates

SOCI 824 AGING AND HEALTH (EPID 6201) (PSYC 9041) (3). Sponsored by UNC-Chapel Hill's campus-wide Institute on Aging. The course provides students in all disciplines with a general background in aging and the problems of older persons.