Department of Sociology and Criminology
Associate Professors: Steven Farough, Angela Kaufman-Parks (Chairperson); Assistant Professors: Dhruba Das, Francis Prior.
Mission Statement
Department of Sociology and Criminology seeks to educate students by cultivating the development of sociological and criminological perspectives. These perspectives enable students to link the personal troubles of individuals to broader public issues grounded in history, society, and culture. Our department educates students through a variety of pedagogical practices both inside and outside of the classroom, enhancing critical intelligence (independent thinking), fostering compassionate service, and encouraging students to become informed, deliberative, and engaged citizens.
Drawing on the theoretical and analytical tools of sociology and criminology, students learn to use the results of empirical investigation to look under the surface of social phenomena and to probe the taken-for-granted social world in which they live. Developing the requisite skills to accomplish this also prepares students to compete successfully in the 21st century global economy where critical thinking, writing, and oral communication are at a premium.
The Department of Sociology and Criminology contributes to a liberal arts education within the context of Catholic intellectual traditions by encouraging self-discovery and promoting social justice. The department educates students to understand their world and encourages them to work for social change.
Sociology Learning Goals
The Department of Sociology and Criminology has identified the following specific learning goals for our Sociology majors:
- To develop an understanding of how the discipline of sociology can be taken out into the public for the greater good;
- To better understand how social inequality is based upon divisions of class, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and sexual orientation;
- To develop an understanding of sociological approaches to analyzing and addressing the complex interactions between individuals and societal, historical, and cultural forces;
- To gain specific competencies in social science research as related to the field of sociology;
- To acquire the essential skills necessary for successful careers and post-graduate education.
Criminology Learning Goals
The Department of Sociology and Criminology has identified the following specific learning goals for our Criminology majors:
- To develop an understanding of and appreciation for how the criminal justice system operates;
- To understand how the risks of criminal offending and victimization are based upon divisions in class, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and sexual orientation;
- To develop an understanding of sociological and criminological approaches to analyzing and addressing the complex interactions between individuals and societal, historical, and cultural forces in defining law violating behaviors and our responses to them;
- To gain specific competencies in social science research as related to the fields of criminology and sociology;
- To acquire the essential skills necessary for successful careers and post-graduate education.
Programs of Study
Courses
CRM 130: INTRODUCTION TO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Credits 3This survey level course introduces students to the purpose, structure, and function of the criminal justice system, which represents the government’s official response to crime. Students will learn about the role of the various aspects of the criminal justice system (i.e., law enforcement, courts, and corrections) in responding to and controlling crime. A significant focus of the class will be on critical analysis of criminal justice policy and programs, such as mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, New York City’s stop and frisk campaign, sex offender residency restrictions, mandatory arrest laws for domestic violence, day reporting centers for probationers and parolees, and victimless prosecution of domestic violence cases. The course will also force students to consider the challenges facing the criminal justice system, including an aging prison population, the impact of incarceration on families and communities, the pressure to efficiently process high caseloads, and protecting personal liberties while keeping citizens safe.
CRM 160: CRIMINOLOGY
Credits 3The course examines the patterns, causes, and consequences of crime, and the ways in which the criminal justice system attempts to deal with the crime problem in the United States. Specific substantive topics will include analyses of how laws are created; theories of crime causation; penology; the relationship between crime/criminal justice and social class, race/ethnicity and gender; fear of crime; the social construction of crime in the media; the growth of the prison system; and an assessment of the efficacy of alternative “crime-fighting” strategies, such as community policing.
CRM 215: INTRODUCTION TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Credits 3This course will examine the problem of gender-based violence (GBV) from a theoretical, historical, sociopolitical, sociological, and psychological framework. We will delve into intimate partner violence, sexual assault and rape, stalking and other forms of gender-based violence. We will consider how social identities and experiences of intersectionality and discrimination impact GBV. We will consider whether and how survivors access support infrastructure and how social institutions may present barriers in help seeking.
CRM 235: DRUGS, ALCOHOL, AND SOCIETY
Credits 3This course uses a sociological perspective to examine the use, misuse, and control of alcohol and drugs in society, as well as our legal policies and societal responses toward substance use across time. It will examine how social, cultural, political, and economic forces impact the choice to use alcohol and drugs, criminalize specific substances, and the relationship between laws against substance use and systems of oppression. Demographic characteristics and life experiences that are associated with both alcohol and drug use and abuse and crime will be explored. This course will also analyze the impact of alcohol and drug use and drug policy on various social institutions, including the family and criminal justice and healthcare systems.
CRM 243: JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Credits 3This course examines the history of “juvenile delinquency” as a societal category and as a social problem. While the main focus is on competing theories of delinquent behavior and the relative effectiveness of various policy responses to juvenile crime, the course will also focus extensively on media portrayals of juvenile criminals and the broader topic of the social construction of the juvenile crime problem. Specific topics include decriminalization; deinstitutionalization; court diversion; radical nonintervention; community arbitration; and community-based corrections.
CRM 255: SELECTED TOPICS IN CRIMINOLOGY
Credits 3This course will permit the study of a selected topic within Criminology. The topic may change each time the course is offered.
CRM 260: GANGS AND COMMUNITIES
Credits 3This course examines the existence of gangs in American communities. It provides an overview on the history of gangs in America, the demographic characteristics of gang members across time, and the reasons why and ways in which people join and leave gangs. Emphasis will be placed on the micro- and macro-level impacts of gangs and gang behaviors on individuals, families, and communities. Special topics of discussion will also include youth and females as gang members and the existence of prison gangs.
CRM 272: DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Credits 3This course examines how particular acts, beliefs, and conditions come to be defined as deviant; who confers the label of “deviant” upon whom; and how a deviant identity is managed by those persons successfully labeled “deviant.” The main theoretical approach employed in this course, social constructionism, argues that deviant behavior cannot be understood in isolation from differentials in social power that permit some groups in society to define their lifestyles, beliefs, and status as superior and preferred. Specific topics to be covered include crime and delinquency; mental illness; drug and alcohol addiction; “alternative” lifestyles; the social organization of deviant subcultures; and elite deviance (white-collar crime).
CRM 275: SOCIOLOGY OF LAW
Credits 3This course examines the interrelationship between law and society by focusing on the "law in action" versus the law "on the books." It will offer a broad introduction to the law as a social institution, and it will analyze how the law shapes the form and function of other key social institutions such as the family, the economy, and the state (politics). Specific substantive topics to be covered include theories of legal creation; types of legal systems; theories of social control and punishment; how laws are used to effect social change (the controversy over "judicial activism"); how racial and class inequalities in society affect the creation and administration of law; and how the work of key theorists in the discipline of sociology (primarily Marx, Weber, and Durkheim) have contributed to the field. There will be less emphasis on the content of law (i.e., legal doctrine and case law) than on the study of how laws represent and shape core societal values.
CRM 280: SOCIOLOGY OF PUNISHMENT
Credits 3In liberal-democratic society, what does it mean for governments to use punishment in pursuit of justice? In this course, students will be given the opportunity to put punishment in historical and social context. In doing so, the course provides an inroad to understand not only bureaucratic mechanisms of social control, but also to understanding society and government more broadly. The way societies distribute punishment tells us a great deal about morality, group membership, social inequality, and the maintenance of political sovereignty. This course will draw on classical sociological theories of punishment, as well as contemporary debates on the use and character of punishment in the U.S. Students will also have the opportunity to explore classical theories of government, as well as contemporary social and political theory of punishment.
CRM 301: VICTIM ADVOCACY: WORKING WITH SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE
Credits 3This course is designed to prepare students with the knowledge, theory-driven skills, and understanding of community resources to support survivors of violence in community settings. Topics covered in class reflect credentialing standards for victim advocates. This course prepares students to work with survivors of violence by providing an understanding of the phenomenon of violence more broadly, as well as providing students with a knowledge base that is essential in working with survivors in future careers in fields such as the criminal justice system, human services, health care, education and more. This course will cover the sociopolitical context of violence, the complex and layered impact of victimization and violence on a survivor, the family and community, the role and responsibilities of victim advocates, understanding and applying ethical principles to victim advocacy work, understanding interventions and community services, community utilization processes as well as understanding and demonstrating referral processes, as well as victims’ rights, victims services and compensation and navigating the criminal justice system—all required content knowledge by the National Advocate Credentialing Program (NACP).
CRM 325: Victimology
Credits 3CRM 333: PRISONER REHABILITATION AND REENTRY
Credits 3This course combines classroom and experiential community learning to examine prisoner rehabilitation and reentry programs in the United States. Students will gain an understanding of the reasons for and against prisoner rehabilitation, the various types of rehabilitation services which may be offered, and how rehabilitation and reentry programs have an effect on continuing crime rates in the country. This course also entails a critical analysis of how the availability of rehabilitation programs impacts families, communities, and the safety of society overall. Students should be at least sophomore standing.
CRM 335: FAMILY VIOLENCE
Credits 3This course combines classroom and experiential community learning to examine the phenomenon of family violence in the United States. Students will gain an understanding of the prevalence, risk factors and consequences of child maltreatment, intimate partner violence and elder abuse specifically. This course also entails a critical analysis of how definitions of and responses to family violence impacts individuals, families, communities, and the safety of society overall. Students should be at least sophomore standing.
CRM 485: INTERNSHIP SEMINAR I
Credits 3This seminar provides interns with the opportunity to examine the internship experience along with other student interns. Students also examine related issues: social policy development; program planning, evaluation, and research; the social scientist’s responsibilities for the use of her or his research; the political role of the social scientist; the “value-free” debate among social scientists; applied versus pure sociology; the role of the social scientist within private and public organizations; management of human service agencies; and career options for social scientists.
CRM 486: INTERNSHIP SEMINAR II
Credits 3This seminar provides interns with the opportunity to examine the internship experience along with other student interns. Students also examine related issues: social policy development; program planning, evaluation, and research; the social scientist’s responsibilities for the use of her or his research; the political role of the social scientist; the “value-free” debate among social scientists; applied versus pure sociology; the role of the social scientist within private and public organizations; management of human service agencies; and career options for social scientists.
CRM 495: POLICE ACADEMY SEMINAR
Credits 6This course is a supervised field placement experience for students who have been accepted into an accredited police academy for training to become a city or state law enforcement officer. This course will provide students the opportunity to complete their police academy training while gaining course credit toward their Criminology degree. Students will meet weekly with a faculty supervisor from the Department of Sociology and Criminology to discuss progress toward police academy graduation. Students will likewise gain additional knowledge about the field of policing through assigned readings and written assignments created by the faculty supervisor. These additional faculty-assigned materials will allow students to contextualize the role of police officers in social, political, historical, and cultural terms. Coursework will also allow for the analysis of how the institution of policing and police officers’ interactions with individuals are impacted by social inequality and division, and experiences of advantage and disadvantage based on varying social identities. This course may be taken to fulfill the Criminology major degree requirements in place of CRM 485: Internship Seminar I and CRM 486: Internship Seminar II.
SOC 121: PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY
Credits 3This course consists of an introduction to how the academic discipline of sociology studies the social world and how it can be used outside of higher education to raise awareness about public issues, inform social policy, and be used in a range of occupations. The student will become acquainted with the approaches, methods, and findings of contemporary sociology and the ongoing process of understanding social interaction, groups, problems, and sociocultural systems. Topics covered may include socialization, social inequality, deviance, the corporation and occupational roles, the community, interrelationships, change of institutions, and other related subjects. This course counts in the Foundations Program as a social science in the Social and Historical Pillar.
SOC 122: SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Credits 3This course is an introduction to the discipline of sociology, the study of social interaction and institutions as it relates to contemporary American social problems. The course will focus on several sociological perspectives that are used to analyze such problems as poverty, homelessness, racism, sexism, addiction, crime, delinquency, ageism, and health care.
SOC 206: THE SOCIOLOGY OF URBAN LIFE
Credits 3This course examines the patterns, causes, and consequences of urbanization and suburbanization. While the major focus will be on the development of cities, metropolitan areas, and megalopolitan regions within the United States, a major goal of the course is to understand the increasingly critical role that economic globalization plays in creating uneven development and decline within and among cities and metropolitan regions throughout the world. Specific topics to be investigated include: urban renewal and redevelopment; residential segregation; gentrification; conflicts over land use; urban planning; and the problems of concentrated poverty and crime in central cities.
SOC 216: RACIAL AND ETHNIC RELATIONS
Credits 3This course explores how race and ethnicity structure social relations and identities in the United States. Students will become familiar with the history of race and ethnicity in the U.S. and why it continues to be a central aspect of social life. The course will also focus on a variety of debates regarding the persistence of institutionalized racism and white privilege in the post-Civil Rights era. The process of how class, gender, and sexuality structure various racial and ethnic groups will be explored as well. Current issues on race and ethnicity addressed in this class include racial profiling, immigration, increasing diversity in the U.S., affirmative action, Ebonics, reverse discrimination, post-September 11th forms of discrimination, and unequal access to employment, housing, and mortgages by race.
SOC 218: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Credits 3The course will analyze the internal dynamics and external environments of social movements as mechanisms of social change. It will examine several case studies of American social movements, focusing on their rise and fall and their impact on institutions.
SOC 223: FAMILY IN SOCIETY
Credits 3This course examines the history of the family in the U.S. and how its form and roles have changed across time. Emphasis will be placed on the diverse ways in which families are defined and formed, as well as how particular families’ abilities to function in society are impacted by how the family is defined at social, cultural, and institutional levels. Specific topics will include mate selection, sexuality, marriage and cohabitation, blended families, work and family life, divorce, and childbearing and childrearing.
SOC 224: GENDER ISSUES IN SOCIETY
Credits 3This course addresses gender inequalities, practices, and identities from a sociological perspective. This means that gender differences and inequalities are socially produced and vary across history and cultures. In this course, students will become familiar with more recent sociological research that argues gender is a central institution in social life, organizing “men” and “women” into specific social practices and positions within the social structure. This course will also explore how gender inequality and differences interact with race, class, and sexuality. Specific areas of study include the changing roles of masculinity and femininity in work, family, sexuality, health, religion, education, and marriage.
SOC 232: SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN SOCIETY
Credits 3The purpose of this course is to focus on social inequality in the United States. Topics to be covered include the dimensions of stratification, theories of social stratification, social class, social mobility, occupational prestige, status attainment, poverty, wealth, and racial and sexual inequality in the United States.
SOC 234: SOCIAL POLICY
Credits 3This course examines the nature, purposes, and effectiveness of social policy in America. It looks at the relationship of society and politics, as well as the processes of creation and implementation of social reforms. The role of government, the corporate sector, social science, the media, and the public in shaping social policy is examined. The course presents an assessment of the successes and failures of American social programs having to do with children and their families, income support, the elderly, health care, education, energy, and the environment. The skills and topics provided centrally address one of the major tenets of public sociology: how it informs the public about social policy outcomes and how the discipline can shape social policy for the greater good.
SOC 250: PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY
Credits 3This course introduces students to how the discipline of sociology can be used in the real world for the purpose of contributing to the greater good. Public Sociology therefore links the formal study of sociological phenomena conducted in higher education and professional social science research to various audiences in the public. Student will learn (1) how sociologists raise awareness about sociological research; (2) how sociological studies can help people engage in social activism and responsible citizenship; (3) how sociological analysis can inform social and public policy; and (4) how sociology can be used in nonprofit, social service, and private enterprise work. Public sociology demonstrates how sociology leads to meaningful careers and participation in our social order. All work will take place on campus.
SOC 255: SELECTED TOPICS IN SOCIOLOGY
Credits 3This course will permit the study of a selected topic within Sociology. The topic may change each time the course is offered.
SOC 300: STATISTICS
Credits 3An introduction to the logic and techniques of statistical analysis in sociology. The focus of the course is on exploratory analysis, including measures of central tendency, dispersion, and hypothesis testing using linear regression including both bivariate and multivariate. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) will be used.
SOC 315: MASCULINITIES
Credits 3This course explores the lives of men in the United States from a broader social and historical context. It also examines the extent to which masculinity is rooted in biology and culture. Masculinities will also survey contemporary issues facing men such as the relationship between masculinity and the Great Recession; the significant change of gender roles in family and work; the influences of class, race and sexuality on masculinity; the development of social movements centered on men’s issues; the relationship between masculinity and major social institutions such as education, government, and military; the interdependent connection between masculinities and femininities; the question of power, privilege and masculinity; and violence against women and bullying.
SOC 350: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
Credits 3This course will examine the works of the three major classical theorists in sociology (i.e., Durkheim, Marx, and Weber), the theoretical contributions of symbolic interactionists such as Goffman and Geertz, and several major contemporary social theories, including post-structuralism and feminism.
SOC 385: INDEPENDENT STUDY
Credits 3Individually supervised study of a sociologically relevant topic. Offered only to Senior Sociology majors who have demonstrated an ability for independent research.
SOC 390: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS
Credits 3This course is designed to introduce students to the analysis of sociological and criminological data using the three main methods in the discipline: qualitative, comparative-historical, and quantitative. Specific topics will include: how to select research methods appropriate to the problem under investigation; the relationship between theory and research; how to conduct a literature review; ethical issues involved in conducting social research. Students will get “hands-on” experience using each of the three main research methods by designing and conducting small-scale research projects.
SOC 475: SENIOR SEMINAR
Credits 3In this seminar, students will work closely with the instructor – and with each other – to review and synthesize the content of their previous sociology courses to create a major research paper in the tradition of public sociology: taking the disciplinary skills of sociology outside of higher education into the public for the purpose of contributing to the greater good. The course will also incorporate professional development skills, such as resume building, recommended interview etiquette, and how students might present their sociological research to potential employers or graduate programs. This course is a capstone for and required for sociology majors.