Child abuse/neglect as form of family violence. Prevalence, scope, dynamics, responses, and prevention strategies. Individual, familial, and community analyses using ecological perspective and risk/resilience framework.

Theories, research, intervention, and prevention strategies regarding violence against women and the abuse of vulnerable adults in the United States. Issues of gender, race, culture, age, physical ability, SES, and sexual orientation. Includes service learning.

Theories/research on violence in intimate domestic relationships examined through multiple lenses. Overview of interventions in Minnesota, United States, and other societies.

Course on the critical thought of Black intellectual-activists and others enmeshed in the struggles for the radical transformation of U.S. democracy. Introduces the following three leaders and activists--Ella Baker, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X--whose work in the building of the Black freedom movement spanned the period from the 1930s to the late 1960s. Course proposition is that their life and times in the struggle for liberation offer important insights into the transformation of the U.S. political economy from the welfare/warfare state to the neoliberal state. These intellectual-activists, as well as others who translate their radical traditions through Black-Brown and Afro-Asian solidarity projects (e.g. Grace Lee Boggs of Detroit) have responded to racial formation in the U.S. and presented not just visions of liberation but concrete alternatives at the grassroots to usher in a more just, egalitarian, and ethical society.

Analytical overview of three major forms of inequalities in the United Sates today: race, class, gender. Focus on these inequalities as relatively autonomous from one another and as deeply connected/intertwined with one another. Intersectionality key to critical understanding of these social forces. Social change possibilities.

Couple dynamics. Overview of how to develop, maintain, and terminate an intimate relationship. Communication, conflict resolution, power, roles. Programs for marriage preparation, marriage enrichment, and marital therapy.

Psychology/sociology of drug use/abuse. Life-span, epidemiological, familial, cultural data regarding use. Fundamentals of licit/illicit drug use behavior. Variables of gender, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, sexual orientation, disability.

History of and contemporary thinking about public policies and legal remedies directed toward domestic violence and sexual assault. How notions of public/private spheres and social constructions of gender roles, agency, and bodies contribute to attitudes/responses.

This course will address the social and legal origins of crime and crime control with a focus on general theories of deviance/crime and present an overview of forms of social control. We will critically examine criminological, sociological and legal theories that explain the causes of crime and other misdeeds. prereq: Soc majors/minors must register A-F

Family has long been a significant experience in human societies; much of what we understand ourselves to be, arises in family life. But family also varies widely in composition across time and place. We will learn how sociologists study and understand families theoretically, as social institutions, as well as sites and sources of social problems. prereq: 1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F

"I can't breathe." The last words of George Floyd. Words that traumatized a nation, and the world. While the death of George Floyd galvanized peoples worldwide to speak out against discrimination and inequality, well before his death studies suggested that ethnic and racial discrimination and conflict re-occur on an ongoing basis. From the events of the Holocaust - to the genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar - to the torture of Uighurs in China - to the Atlantic slave trade - we explore how identities are formed - and thereafter - how those same identities are deployed - to exclude and marginalize - with targeted precision. Across the world, we examine how racial bias and racial animus contribute to slavery, torture, mass displacement, economic destitution, and genocide. prereq: 1001 recommended; soc majors/minors must register A-F

Young people develop in moments and interactions (Krueger, 1998). Many of their moments occur within families and families come in a wide variety of forms. The American Academy of Family Physicians locates family as, ?a group of individuals with a continuing legal, genetic, and/or emotional relationship. Society relies on the family group to provide for the economic and protective needs of individuals, especially children and the elderly (1984, 2003). The stories, behaviors, dynamics, attitudes, and habits of families shape the identity and experience of young people. To understand and respect young people, and to participate in the creation of environments for healthy youth development, youth workers must learn how to understand and respect the role their families play in their everyday lives. This course introduces students to the social construct of ?family? as it intersects with traditional notions of adolescent development, their own experience, public policy, and youth work practice. Care is taken to honor the rich diversity of family structures found in the United States today, and to notice the impact cultural identity, economic status, education, ethnicity, gender, geography, and other important factors have on the nature of families and the experience of young people inside them. prereq: 1001 or 2101, or instr consent

This course introduces students to a sociological account of the U.S. criminal justice system. We will critically examine the components, dynamics, and effects of policing, criminal courts, community supervision, jails, and prisons. Throughout the course, we focus on sociological understandings of these processes, with particular attention to ethnic, racial, class, and gender inequalities as well as long-term problems associated with the high rate of criminal justice supervision in the U.S. prereq: [SOC 1001] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F

This course introduces students to a sociological account of the U.S. criminal justice system. We will critically examine the components, dynamics, and effects of policing, criminal courts, community supervision, jails, and prisons. Throughout the course, we focus on sociological understandings of these processes, with particular attention to ethnic, racial, class, and gender inequalities as well as long-term problems associated with the high rate of criminal justice supervision in the U.S. Additional special assignments will be discussed with honors participants who seek to earn honors credit toward the end of our first class session. Examples of additional requirements may include: · Honor students will be expected to interview a current Sociology graduate student working on a LCD topic. Following this, each student will individually be expected to do an in-class power-point presentation explaining how the interviewees? research relates with themes presented in the course. Students will also be expected to meet as a group and individually with the professor four times during the course semester. · Sign up and prepare 3-4 discussion questions in advance of at least one class session. · Work with professor and TA on other small leadership tasks (class discussion, paper exchange, tour). · Write two brief (1-page) reflection papers on current news, or a two-page critique of a class reading · Attend a presentation, workshop, or seminar on a related topic for this class and write a 2 page maximum reflective paper. prereq: [SOC 1001] recommended, Sociology majors/minors must register A-F, honors