Sociology and Anthropology Degree Requirements
2024 - 2025 Catalog
Sociology and Anthropology major leading to BA degree
A major in sociology and anthropology leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree consists of at least 36 credits, as follows.
1. Introduction: SOAN 101 and 102
2. Theory: SOAN 370 or 371
3. Methods: Two courses chosen from the following: SOAN 208, 210, 211, 218, 219, 222, 238 (HIST 238), 244, 261, 265, 269, 276, 365. With permission, POL 202 may be used to meet this requirement.
4. Emphasis: Completion of one of the two following areas of emphasis:
Anthropology emphasis: take nine additional credits from the electives listed below, two in anthropology and one in sociology
Sociology emphasis: take nine additional credits from the electives listed below, two in sociology and one in anthropology
Anthropology electives: SOAN 181, 186, 206, 207, 208, 210, 211, 215, 229, 230 (HIST 230), 235, 238 (HIST 238), 239 (HIST 239), 240, 243 (ARTH 243), 247, 252, 253 (POV 253), 260, 261, 273 (FILM 273), 277, 280, 285 (REL 285), 286 (ECON 286), 288, 291, 391
Sociology electives: SOAN 180, 205, 208, 212, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221 (REL 221), 225, 228, 245 (POL 245), 246 (POL 246), 250, 251 (POL 251), 256 (HIST 256), 259, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268 (POL 268), 269, 270, 276, 278, 279, 281, 290, 367 (HIST 367), 390
5. Additional Electives: At least 9 additional credits chosen from SOAN courses numbered 200 or above. When approved in advance by the department head, up to three courses numbered at the 200 level or above in cognitive and behavioral science, economics, history, philosophy, politics, religion or other disciplines may be substituted into this requirement.
6. Capstone: SOAN 395 or 396. With permission, one term of SOAN 493 may be used to meet this requirement.
Students who also declare a major in cognitive and behavioral science may request a substitution for a SOAN methods course.
Students who wish to attend graduate school in Anthropology should complete the Anthropology emphasis and consider enrolling in courses dealing with all four fields (an elective course in cultural anthropology, 206, 207 and 252). Those who have a particular interest in Archaeology should select the Anthropology emphasis and should enroll in SOAN 206, 210, and 211.
Students who wish to attend graduate school in Sociology should complete the Sociology emphasis and consider enrolling in SOAN 276 as one of the Sociology emphasis electives.
- Introduction:
- SOAN 101 - Introduction to Anthropology: Investigating Humanity
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite first-year or sophomore class standing This course is an introduction to the four subfields of anthropology: physical/biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology. The course explores how we humans understand each other, what we do, and how we got to where we are today. Topics include human evolution; cultural remains in prehistorical and historical contexts; connections among language and social categories like gender, class, race, and region; and social organization in past and present contexts. Concepts such as culture, cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, and global and local inequalities are discussed.
- SOAN 102 - Introduction to Sociology: Investigating Society
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite first-year or sophomore class standing An introduction to the field of sociology including both micro and macro perspectives, this course exposes students to key topical areas in the discipline and includes readings that show the range of research methodologies in the field today. The sociological meaning of concepts such as social group, nation, state, class, race, and gender, among others, are discussed. Topics may include social inequalities, group processes, collective action, social networks, and the relationship between social organization and the environment.
- Theory:
- SOAN 370 - Theorizing Social Life: Classical Social and Cultural Theory
Credits 3 Prerequisite SOAN 101, SOAN 102, and at least junior class standing Sociologists and anthropologists have traditionally approached their role as students of social and cultural phenomena from two different paradigmatic starting points: a so-called "Galilean" model and an "Aristotelian" model. Practitioners were thought that they could eventually arrive at covering laws as powerful as those of physics or, falling short of this ideal, arrive at significant generalizations about human phenomenon. This class explores the trajectory of this paradigmatic split among some of the founders of sociology and anthropology and how these theorists utilized their chosen paradigms to make sense of social and cultural life. We also explore the assumptions about human nature, society, and culture that informed each of these theorists approaches and the wider historical contexts influenced their thought.
or
- SOAN 371 - Theorizing Social Life: Contemporary Approaches
Credits 3 Prerequisite SOAN 101, SOAN 102, and at least junior class standing This course is an introduction to selected recent theoretical work in anthropology and sociology. Our two disciplines are not the same but they overlap. The best scholars in each discipline tend to read in both. We take such an approach in this course, looking at examples of (and opportunities for) cross-pollination.
- Methods:
- SOAN 208 - Qualitative Methods
Credits 3 Qualitative research methods are widely used to provide rich and detailed understandings of people's experiences, interactions, narratives, and practices within wider sociopolitical and economic contexts. Typical methods include oral histories, interviews, participant observation, and analysis of visual and textual culture. Students will engage in research aligned with community interests. Stages of the project will include topic identification, research design, ethical and legal considerations, choosing an appropriate methodology, data collection, analysis and write-up, and presentation and critique.
- SOAN 210 - Field Methods in Archaeology
FDR SL Lab Science Distribution Credits 4 This course introduces students to archaeological field methods through hands-on experience, readings, and fieldtrips. Students study the cultural and natural processes that lead to the patterns we see in the archaeological record. Using the scientific method and current theoretical motivations in anthropological archaeology, students learn how to develop a research design and to implement it with actual field excavation. We visit several field excavation sites in order to experience, first hand, the range of archaeological field methods and research interests currently undertaken by leading archaeologists. Students use the archaeological data to test hypotheses about the sites under consideration and produce a report of their research, which may take the form of a standard archaeological report, an academic poster, or a conference-style presented paper.
- SOAN 211 - Laboratory Methods in Archaeology
FDR SL Lab Science Distribution Credits 4 This course introduces students to archaeological lab methods through hands-on experience, readings, and fieldtrips. Students process and catalogue archaeological finds ensuring they maintain the archaeological provenience of these materials. Using the scientific method and current theoretical motivations in anthropological archaeology, students learn how to develop and test hypotheses about the site under consideration by analyzing the artifacts they themselves have processed. We visit several archaeology labs in order to experience, first hand, the range of projects and methods currently undertaken by leading archaeologists. Students then use the archaeological data to test their hypotheses and produce a report of their research, which may take the form of a standard archaeological report, an academic poster, or a conference-style presented paper.
- SOAN 218 - Basic Statistics in the Social Sciences
Credits 3 Introductory statistics course designed to help students become good consumers of statistics, but especially geared for students interested in sociology, archeology, and anthropology. Topics include descriptive and inferential statistics, sampling, and regression analysis. Students also get practical experience with cleaning and analyzing real world secondary data.
- SOAN 219 - Applied Bayesian Regression for the Social Sciences
FDR SC Science, Math, CS Distribution Credits 3 This course is an introduction to applied Bayesian regression, emphasizing applications for social scientists. We begin by introducing some philosophical and mathematical bases of Bayesian inference. We then move on to a sustained focus on applied regression, starting with bivariate regression and moving on to regression with multiple predictors, up to and including models with interactions. Along the way, students will be exposed to the use of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) in thinking about causality with observational data. Throughout the course students will carry out numerous analyses of data, learning by doing. Examples are drawn from anthropology, sociology, political science, and related fields.
- SOAN 222 - Data Science Tools for Social Policy
FDR SC Science, Math, CS Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite One of the following: BIOL 201, CBSC 250, DCI 202, ECON 202, POL/INTR 202, MATH 310, SOAN 218, or SOAN 219; or instructor consent Students learn about how we think about and estimate causal effects, and practice important contemporary techniques with real data, culminating in reports analyzing the effects of a policy intervention of their choice. All work will be done in R. No previous experience with R is required, but some basic previous exposure to linear regression will be helpful.
- SOAN 238 - Anthropology of American History
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course explores issues within historic American communities that ethnographers often investigate among living groups, including cultural values, religious ideologies, class structures, kinship networks, gender roles, and interethnic relations. Although the communities of interest in this course ceased to exist generations ago, many of their characteristic dynamics are accessible through such means as archaeology, architectural history, and the study of documents. Case studies include early English settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts; the 18th-century plantation world of Virginia and South Carolina; the post-Revolutionary Maine frontier; and 19th-century California.
(HIST 238)
- SOAN 244 - Personal Networks and Social Capital
FDR SS4 Credits 3 This course will be a hybrid seminar/research lab that covers some of the most important findings and methods in the study of personal networks, with an emphasis on the application of network methods to the study of social capital. In the lab portion of the class, we will learn how to do personal network analysis in R, covering topics like (a) sampling and gathering personal network data; (b) descriptive statistics that allow us to measure and study structural features of people's local social environments; and (c) models for linking those measures of local structure to individual-level predictors and outcomes of interest.
- SOAN 261 - Campus Sex in the Digital Age
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 4 This class explores how the cell phone has impacted hooking up and dating at college, with particular attention to Washington and Lee University as a case study. We discuss the development of campus sexual culture in America and the influence of digital technology on student sociality. Students use open-source digital research tools to analyze data they collect on the mobile apps they use to socialize with each other on campus. As a digital humanities project, students work in groups to post their analyses on the class WordPress site.
- SOAN 265 - Exploring Social Networks
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course will be a hybrid seminar/research lab that covers some of the most important findings and methods in the study of social networks (SNA), with a focus on analyzing sociocentric data (i.e., data about a whole network, as opposed to data about people's personal networks, about which I teach a different course), with an emphasis on the application of network methods to the study of social inequalities. In the lab portion of the class, we will learn how to do network analysis in R, covering topics like (a) basic network descriptive statistics; (b) visualization of networks; and (c) community detection and the identification of subgroups and roles in network data, along with other tools and ideas.
- SOAN 269 - Studying Global Culture with the World Values Survey
FDR SS5 Credits 3 Prerequisite Previous exposure to regression analysis, though regression is reviewed during the first week of the course Analysis of data from the World Values Survey, a major source for studying global culture and cultural change. We read scholarly works that have made use of these data and carry out our own analyses of WVS data as consider questions about religious belief, political values, and social attitudes across the world.
- SOAN 276 - Art & Science of Survey Research
Credits 3 Prerequisite SOAN 102 This course is designed as a group research project in questionnaire construction and survey data analysis. Students prepare a list of hypotheses, select indicators, construct a questionnaire, collect and analyze data, and write research reports. When appropriate, the course may include service-learning components (community-based research projects).
- SOAN 365 - Modeling Social Networks
FDR SC Credits 3 This course focuses on the statistical modeling of social networks. We will learn how to build models to develop and test theories about why any given network has the structure that it does. This generally means predicting who has ties with whom and developing and testing theories about why the pattern of ties in any given network emerges as it does. We will begin with a review of OLS and logistic regression. Our main focus, and student data assignments, will be on exponential random graph models (ERGMs) and on latent space models. We will also briefly cover the basics of models used to study diffusion and influence.
With permission, one of these two courses may be used to meet this requirement:
- POL 202 - Applied Statistics
Credits 3 Not open to students with credit for BUS 202, ECON 202, INTR 202, CBSC 250, or MATH 118. An examination of the principal applications of statistics to allow students to develop a working knowledge and understanding of applied statistics in the social sciences (politics, sociology, and economics), and accounting and business. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis.
- Emphasis:
- Anthropology electives:
- SOAN 181 - FS: First-Year Seminar in Anthropology
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3-4 Prerequisite first-year student class standing First-year seminar.
- SOAN 206 - Archaeology
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 An examination of anthropologically-oriented archaeology. Specific subjects to be considered will include the history of the subdiscipline, theoretical developments, field techniques, substantive contributions for the prehistoric and historic subareas and recent developments in theory and methodology.
- SOAN 207 - Biological Anthropology
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course considers the emergence and evolution of Homo sapiens from fossil, archaeological, and genetic evidence. The class focuses on evolutionary mechanisms; selective pressures for key human biological and behavioral patterns, such as bipedalism, intelligence, altruism, learned behavior, and expressive culture; relations among prehuman species; the human diaspora; and modern human diversity, particularly "racial" variation. The course also examines theories from sociobiology and evolutionary psychology about motivations for modern human behaviors.
- SOAN 208 - Qualitative Methods
Credits 3 Qualitative research methods are widely used to provide rich and detailed understandings of people's experiences, interactions, narratives, and practices within wider sociopolitical and economic contexts. Typical methods include oral histories, interviews, participant observation, and analysis of visual and textual culture. Students will engage in research aligned with community interests. Stages of the project will include topic identification, research design, ethical and legal considerations, choosing an appropriate methodology, data collection, analysis and write-up, and presentation and critique.
- SOAN 210 - Field Methods in Archaeology
FDR SL Lab Science Distribution Credits 4 This course introduces students to archaeological field methods through hands-on experience, readings, and fieldtrips. Students study the cultural and natural processes that lead to the patterns we see in the archaeological record. Using the scientific method and current theoretical motivations in anthropological archaeology, students learn how to develop a research design and to implement it with actual field excavation. We visit several field excavation sites in order to experience, first hand, the range of archaeological field methods and research interests currently undertaken by leading archaeologists. Students use the archaeological data to test hypotheses about the sites under consideration and produce a report of their research, which may take the form of a standard archaeological report, an academic poster, or a conference-style presented paper.
- SOAN 211 - Laboratory Methods in Archaeology
FDR SL Lab Science Distribution Credits 4 This course introduces students to archaeological lab methods through hands-on experience, readings, and fieldtrips. Students process and catalogue archaeological finds ensuring they maintain the archaeological provenience of these materials. Using the scientific method and current theoretical motivations in anthropological archaeology, students learn how to develop and test hypotheses about the site under consideration by analyzing the artifacts they themselves have processed. We visit several archaeology labs in order to experience, first hand, the range of projects and methods currently undertaken by leading archaeologists. Students then use the archaeological data to test their hypotheses and produce a report of their research, which may take the form of a standard archaeological report, an academic poster, or a conference-style presented paper.
- SOAN 215 - Anthropology of Disability
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 To what extent is disability culturally defined? How do understandings of being "dis-" or "differently" abled vary across time and space? In what ways is impairment "not simply lodged in the body, but created by the social and material conditions that 'dis-able' the full participation of those considered atypical" (Ginsburg and Rapp)? This course explores these issues through a trio of lenses: Virginia (c. 1830-1980); the contemporary United States; and case studies from diverse cultures around the world. Virginia offers powerful insight into cultural constructions of disability because it was an epicenter of the eugenics movement. How are perceptions of disability currently changing in the United States and abroad? How do people around the world conceptualize relationships between different abilities, race, gender, sexuality, and spirituality?
- SOAN 229 - Race: Anthropological Perspectives
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 "The fictions of race are a lived reality," explains theorist Katherine McKittrick. Evolutionary, historical, and cross-cultural perspectives show that races - as discrete, internally homogenous biological subdivisions of humanity - don't exist, but persistent beliefs in the reality of race, along with socio-economic and structural forces, impact lived experiences differentially, profoundly, and often devastatingly. This
course surveys dynamics of race from diverse perspectives including prehistoric and modern human variability, classic and contemporary anthropological research, and critical race theory. We draw on intellectual work within and overlapping with anthropological positions - including those of Franz Boas, W.E.B DuBois, Ella Deloria, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Nikole Hannah-Jones - and explore ways in which the creation of race/racism happened historically "on the ground," varied cross-culturally, and persists in healthcare, law, immigration, economic opportunity, and education. We conclude with considerations of calls for justice and determination to foster joy through music, faith, and community. - SOAN 230 - Discovering W&L's Origins Using Historical Archaeology
(SOAN 230)
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Same as HIST 230. This course introduces students to the practice of historical archaeology using W&L's Liberty Hall campus and ongoing excavations there as a case study. With archaeological excavation and documentary research as our primary sources of data. we use the methods of these two disciplines to analyze our data using tools from the digital humanities to present our findings. Critically, we explore the range of questions and answers that these data and methods of analysis make possible. Hands-on experience with data collection and analysis is the focus of this course, with students working together in groups deciding how to interpret their findings to a public audience about the university's early history. The final project varies by term but might include a short video documentary. a museum display, or a web page.
- SOAN 235 - Anthropology of Death
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Death is of course universal - it is appointed for all once to "die" - but cultural understandings of death vary enormously. This course provides an overview of death practices from prehistory to the present. Discussion covers diverse beliefs in the afterlife, the nature of the soul, and proper dispositions of the body. Readings include archaeological studies of funerary practices in European prehistory, ethnographic accounts of belief and behavior in diverse cultures throughout the world, classic anthropological theories of how funerary ceremonies articulate with social relations, and journalistic representations of contemporary American practices - including the rise in cremation, green burials, celebratory funerals, idiosyncratic gravestones, and online memorials.
- SOAN 238 - Anthropology of American History
(HIST 238)
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course explores issues within historic American communities that ethnographers often investigate among living groups, including cultural values, religious ideologies, class structures, kinship networks, gender roles, and interethnic relations. Although the communities of interest in this course ceased to exist generations ago, many of their characteristic dynamics are accessible through such means as archaeology, architectural history, and the study of documents. Case studies include early English settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts; the 18th-century plantation world of Virginia and South Carolina; the post-Revolutionary Maine frontier; and 19th-century California.
- SOAN 239 - Collective Memory: Society, Culture, Identity and Power
(HIST 239)
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Why do some places, events, objects, symbols, and individuals become central to understandings of heritage, while others seem ignored or forgotten? How do people use material objects - including landscapes, monuments and artifacts - in negotiations of memory and history, identity and belonging, or debates about good and evil? This course examines cultural, social, political, and economic processes of shared remembrance through case studies from regional, national, and global contexts. We aim to expand understandings of ways that our own society as well as those distant from us in time and space have selectively incorporated their past into the present with an eye to the future. This exploration of collective, contested memory considers heritage tourism, dark tourism, memorialization as witnessing, ethics of remembrance, and relationships between memorialization and power.
- SOAN 240 - Food, Culture, and Society
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course explores connections among food, culture, and society. Food has been an essential way that individuals and societies define themselves, especially now in our ever globalizing world, as cultural anthropology continues to be a central discipline guiding this field of study. Students review some of the classic symbolic and structural analyses of gastro-politics. We explore relationships between fast-food/globalized taste vs. the Slow Food Movement/localized taste, and delve into socioeconomic and political practices behind the production and consumption of coffee, milk products, and alcoholic beverages. Students investigate relationships among cooking/eating and race, gender, and sexuality, and discuss community food justice. Opportunities to experience the Rockbridge area food scene are integrated into the syllabus.
- SOAN 243 - Imaging Tibet
(ARTH 243)
FDR HA Credits 4 An examination of images and imaging practices of the early 1900s to the present in order to define and analyze the ways in which both Western and Asian (particularly Tibetan and Chinese) artists have imagined Tibet and its people.
- SOAN 247 - Food, Culture, and Politics in Israel
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 In this course, students will explore the political and social histories of food in Israel. They will analyze how specific culinary traditions have become contested symbols of sociopolitical and religious groups. They will also discover how chefs in the region, utilizing culinary diplomacy, cook across ethnic and religious divides to bring peace and understanding. For their projects, students will produce a mini food memoir - a personal and political history of a recipe associated with their family - by utilizing concepts explored in class.
- SOAN 252 - Language, Culture, and Communication
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course surveys anthropological approaches to understanding the intersections among language, culture and society. Topics include non-human communication systems, the origins of human language, and methods of establishing historical relationships among languages. Formal linguistic analysis receives some attention, but the greatest part of the course concerns language in sociocultural contexts. Examples of linguistic phenomena in ethnographic perspective are drawn from people around the world, including the Gullah, the Apache, and the Bedouin of Egypt.
- SOAN 253 - Narrating Our Stories: Culture, Society, and Identity
(POV 253)
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Same as POV 253. Use insights from sociology, anthropology, and the humanities, students uncover how cultural metaphors, socioeconomic inequalities, and global realities inform and shape our identities and experiences. By reading different story-telling formats, we work towards recognizing how the ways we tell our stories impact our ability to see new outcomes and reshape cultural scenarios for ourselves, our families, and our communities. We utilize the Inside-Out Model for class instruction and assignments.
- SOAN 260 - Cults
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 In this course, we will explore the phenomenon of cults (also known as NRMs -- new religious movements). We will look at the development of cults, how they operate, and the experiences of those who participate in them. We will discuss brainwashing, gender, violence, sexuality, child rearing, and the possibility of objectivity on the part of the researcher. Special units include a QAnon expert and Marsha Goluboff Low who spent eighteen years as an Ananda Marga yogic nun.
- SOAN 261 - Campus Sex in the Digital Age
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 4 This class explores how the cell phone has impacted hooking up and dating at college, with particular attention to Washington and Lee University as a case study. We discuss the development of campus sexual culture in America and the influence of digital technology on student sociality. Students use open-source digital research tools to analyze data they collect on the mobile apps they use to socialize with each other on campus. As a digital humanities project, students work in groups to post their analyses on the class WordPress site.
- SOAN 273 - Creating Field Documentary on Human Rights in Ghana
(FILM 273)
FDR HA Credits 3 This interdisciplinary spring term course combines Film Studies and Cultural Anthropology to explore issues of human rights and social justice in Ghana, West Africa. We will work with local grassroots non-governmental organizations who work on issues related to modern-day slavery, women's economic development, disability and development, and children's rights. Student's will work collaboratively with NGO partners to create short documentaries that will be used by the organizations to help educate and advocate for their cause. To this end, students will engage in rigorous cross-cultural engagement, learn techniques for effective storytelling and communication, and develop skills in the use of multi-media technology. In addition to film making activities, coursework will contextualize human rights issues in Ghana by visiting local organizations, exploring cultural sites and considering the role of national and international policy. By the end of the term, we will have immersed ourselves in Ghanaian culture, studied human rights issues from an ethnographic perspective, and completed three short documentaries about local organizations working in Ghana.
- SOAN 277 - Seminar in Medical Anthropology
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Despite radical differences in theory and procedure, the diagnosis and treatment of diseases are human cultural universals. This seminar first examines the beliefs and practices that comprise the medical systems found among a wide variety of non-western peoples. We then investigates the responses of a number of non-western communities to the introduction of western, biomedical practices. We finish by considering such ethical issues as whether or not non-western peoples who supply western doctors and pharmacologists with knowledge of curing agents should be accorded intellectual property rights over this information; in what situations, if any, should western medical personnel impose biomedical treatments on populations; and should anthropologists make use of indigenous peoples as medical trial subjects as was allegedly done by Napoleon Chagnon.
- SOAN 280 - Gender and Sexuality
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This class will investigate gender and sexuality cross-culturally. We will give special consideration to biology, cultural variation, intersectionality, and power. The class will be structured around a collaboration with Project Horizon, a local organization that provides education and programming to address the pervasive problem of domestic and sexual violence. Students will volunteer their time there, as well as produce programming ideas for healthy sexual culture on our campus.
- SOAN 285 - Introduction to American Indian Religions
(REL 285)
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as REL 285. This class introduces students to some of the dominant themes, values, beliefs, and practices found among the religions of North America's Indian peoples. The first part of the course explores the importance of sacred power, landscape, and community in traditional Indian spiritualities and rituals. It then examines some of the changes that have occurred in these traditions as a result of western expansion and dominance from the 18th through early 20th centuries. Lastly, the course considers some of the issues and problems confronting contemporary American Indian religions.
- SOAN 286 - Lakota Land Culture, Economics and History
(ECON 286)
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 4 Prerequisite ECON 100, ECON 101, ECON 180, or ECON 180A Same as ECON 286. This class focuses on the cultural, economic, and historical dimensions of the Lakotas' (Titonwan tawapi ) ties to their lands as expressed in their pre- and post-reservation lifeways. It includes a 10 day field trip to western South Dakota to visit and meet with people in the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations and the Black Hills.
- SOAN 288 - Childhood
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course explores the experience of childhood cross culturally, investigating how different societies conceptualize what it means to be a child. Our readings progress through representations of the lifecycle, starting with a discussion of conception, and moving through issues pertaining to the fetus, infants, children, and adolescents. We discuss socialization, discipline, emotion, education, gender, and sexuality, with special attention given to the effects of war, poverty, social inequality, and disease on children and youth.
- SOAN 291 - Special Topics in Anthropology
Credits 3-4 A discussion of a series of topics of anthropological concern.
- SOAN 391 - Special Topics in Anthropology
Credits 3 Prerequisite Permission of the department required. Topics and prerequisites to be arranged A discussion of a series of topics of anthropological concern. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.
- SOAN 181 - FS: First-Year Seminar in Anthropology
- Sociology electives:
- SOAN 180 - FS: First-Year Seminar in Sociology
Credits 3-4 Prerequisite first-year student class standing This interactive class provides an introduction to social conflict with an emphasis on striving for objectivity while exploring the perspectives of various groups. Concepts of group culture, collective identity, collective memory, and commemoration are closely interrelated with each other and are used as investigative tools when studying social conflict. We are surrounded by diverse elements in our community and beyond, each with unique and sometimes opposing sentiments. We will explore groups that have been on the forefront of controversy such as the police, the military and various ideological groups, with clinical rather than normative intent so as to expand our understanding of the world around us.
- SOAN 205 - Power and Status: An Introduction to Social Influence
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This seminar explores the fundamental sociological concepts of "power" and "status" and how they are related to social influence. Power and status undergird social inequality on both a macro and a micro level. Students view the types, uses, and consequences of power and status differences through a structural social psychological lens, while analyzing leadership in organizational contexts. Students compare the nature of "power" versus "status" and investigate the ways power and status 1) parallel, 2) differ, and 3) interact with one another in theory and in practice of creating, maintaining, and changing our social world. Students are asked to think creatively about what role status and power dynamics have in shaping all aspects of everyday social life, particularly their lives at W&L.
- SOAN 208 - Qualitative Methods
Credits 3 Qualitative research methods are widely used to provide rich and detailed understandings of people's experiences, interactions, narratives, and practices within wider sociopolitical and economic contexts. Typical methods include oral histories, interviews, participant observation, and analysis of visual and textual culture. Students will engage in research aligned with community interests. Stages of the project will include topic identification, research design, ethical and legal considerations, choosing an appropriate methodology, data collection, analysis and write-up, and presentation and critique.
- SOAN 212 - Theories of Social Psychology
Credits 3 An introduction to three major paradigms present in the sociological tradition of social psychology. The course examines social structure and personality, structural social psychology and symbolic interactionist framework. The three paradigmatic approaches are used to understand how macro-level processes influence micro-level social interaction and vice versa.
- SOAN 217 - Economic Sociology
FDR SS4 This course focuses on theories about how economic actors are "embedded" in social structures. It is based on a vision of economics and sociology as complementary disciplines. From economics, it starts with the idea that individuals are purposive actors who try to bring about their preferred outcomes, based on what they know and what they think others are likely to do. From sociology and anthropology, it takes the idea that when individuals interact, they make structures that feed back onto their behavior, and that these are socially and economically consequential. We read and discuss classic and contemporary work about how this works and consider implications for contemporary issues of practical concern.
- SOAN 218 - Basic Statistics in the Social Sciences
Credits 3 Introductory statistics course designed to help students become good consumers of statistics, but especially geared for students interested in sociology, archeology, and anthropology. Topics include descriptive and inferential statistics, sampling, and regression analysis. Students also get practical experience with cleaning and analyzing real world secondary data.
- SOAN 219 - Applied Bayesian Regression for the Social Sciences
FDR SC Science, Math, CS Distribution Credits 3 This course is an introduction to applied Bayesian regression, emphasizing applications for social scientists. We begin by introducing some philosophical and mathematical bases of Bayesian inference. We then move on to a sustained focus on applied regression, starting with bivariate regression and moving on to regression with multiple predictors, up to and including models with interactions. Along the way, students will be exposed to the use of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) in thinking about causality with observational data. Throughout the course students will carry out numerous analyses of data, learning by doing. Examples are drawn from anthropology, sociology, political science, and related fields.
- SOAN 220 - A World of Data: Baseball and Statistics
Credits 4 Prerequisite CBSC 250, ECON 203, POL/INTR 202, SOAN 218, or SOAN 219 An introduction to the world of data and data analysis, emphasizing Bayesian methods. Taking the case of contemporary sports, with a particular focus on baseball, it teaches students how to build models of player performance while also asking important questions about the limitations of such approaches to human activities. What is gained and lost in the world made by measuring human actions in reliable ways? How is our experience in the world--in this case as athletes playing and spectators living sports--affected when we see it in terms of statistics and predictive models? What interests and what concerns make up our lives when we engage the world in this way? What interests and concerns may be obscured? The course offers a rare opportunity to acquire some expertise in producing data-driven knowledge and decisions while also reflecting on what it is like to be a non-expert living in the world shaped by such expertise.
- SOAN 225 - Peoples of Central Europe Through Literature and Film
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 4 This course provides basic information about the citizens of Central European nations of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Beliefs, attitudes, and value systems of the people of Central Europe are examined against the backdrop of major historical events of the 20th century. Core textbook readings are supplemented by feature films, video materials, novels, short stories, plays, and poetry. Class discussions focus on interpreting these works of art in the context of comparative historical-sociological analysis of the Polish, Czech, and Hungarian cultures and societies.
- SOAN 228 - Race and Ethnic Relations
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 An examination of why and how society creates and maintains racial and ethnic boundaries in the US. We discuss some of the crucial questions, which include: What conditions constitute a privileged group and an oppressed group? Why and how do racial/ethnic minority groups, the poor, and women experience discrimination, oppression, and exclusion in social life? Is there any racial discrimination against privileged racial/ethnic groups? How can ordinary people, policymakers, and social scientists contribute to improving race and ethnic relations among different social groups in the US?
- SOAN 245 - European Politics and Society
(POL 245)
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 A comparative analysis of European political systems and social institutions. The course covers the established democracies of western and northern Europe, the new democracies of southern and east-central Europe, and the post-Communist regimes in eastern and southeastern Europe. Mechanisms of European integration are also discussed with attention focused on institutions such as European Union, NATO, OSCE, and Council of Europe.
- SOAN 246 - Post-Communism and New Democracies
(POL 246)
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Same as SOAN 246. A comparative analysis of transition from Communism in the countries of the former Soviet bloc. Cases of successful and unsuccessful transitions to civil society, pluralist democracy, and market economy are examined. The comparative framework includes analysis of transition from non-Communist authoritarianism and democratic consolidation in selected countries of Latin America, the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and South Africa.
- SOAN 250 - Revolutions and Revolutionaries
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 An exploration of the experiences of activists, radicals, and revolutionaries in a wide variety of settings. Throughout history, individuals have organized with others to bring about different forms of social change. What is it like to be on the front lines fighting for social transformation? Why do people risk life and limb to do so? How do activists advance their goals? We examine sociological research, biographical studies, political theory, and historical sources for insights into the lives of those who make social and revolutionary movements possible.
- SOAN 256 - The History of Violence in America
(HIST 256)
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite at least junior class standing Same as HIST 256. An examination of the social origins, evolution, and major forms of extralegal, violent conflict in the United States, including individual and collective violence and conflict related to race, class, gender, politics, and ethnicity, especially emphasizing the 19th and 20th centuries. Major topics include theories of social conflict, slavery and interracial violence, predatory crime, labor strife, and inter-ethnic violence.
- SOAN 259 - Global Urban Sociology
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 The course will explore the complexities of city life in an increasingly globalized world, focusing on three broad topics. First, we will examine the challenges caused by urbanization in both developed and developing societies: how to provide basic services for urban residents, avoid environmental degradation, and mitigate poverty, inequality, and violence. Second, we will discuss the economic role that cities have played during different historical periods. Third, we will consider how urban life may change in the future, looking especially at technology and climate change.
- SOAN 263 - Poverty and Marginality in the Americas
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 In recent decades, some global transformations have increased inequality and marginality in various regions of the world. Neoliberalism has generated both opportunities and challenges to human development In different countries. This course focuses on how the undermining of safety nets, the decline of models of economic growth centered on state intervention, and the internationalization of labor markets have affected societies in Latin America and the United States. Students analyze the structural causes of marginality and how the experience of poverty varies for people in both regions. We rely on anthropological and sociological studies to address key questions. How do disadvantaged individuals and families in the Americas deal with the challenges brought about by deindustrialization, violence, and environmental degradation? How do their communities struggle to sustain public life? What are the processes causing many people to migrate from one region to the other?
- SOAN 265 - Exploring Social Networks
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course will be a hybrid seminar/research lab that covers some of the most important findings and methods in the study of social networks (SNA), with a focus on analyzing sociocentric data (i.e., data about a whole network, as opposed to data about people's personal networks, about which I teach a different course), with an emphasis on the application of network methods to the study of social inequalities. In the lab portion of the class, we will learn how to do network analysis in R, covering topics like (a) basic network descriptive statistics; (b) visualization of networks; and (c) community detection and the identification of subgroups and roles in network data, along with other tools and ideas.
- SOAN 266 - Neighborhoods and Inequality
FDR SS3 Social Science - Group 3 Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite One of the following: BIOL 201, CBSC 250, ECON 202, POL/INTR 202, MATH 118, MATH 310, SOAN 218, or SOAN 222; or instructor consent This course examines the ways in which residential context relates to social and economic inequalities. Drawing on empirical literature from sociology and related fields, we consider both (a) how residential contexts may shape individuals' opportunities and (b) the factors that may shape the persistence or change of concentrated advantage and disadvantage across those residential settings. Half of the course is a traditional seminar and half is a data analysis lab in which we learn tools of spatial data analysis and then apply them in individual student projects on contemporary cities.
- SOAN 267 - Simulating Society
FDR SS5 Credits 3 Prerequisite SOAN 101 or 102 or instructor consent This course is an introduction to computational social science, a rapidly growing field that spans the boundaries of several disciplines. It focuses on complex phenomena such as the spread of rumors, cascades of collective action, dynamics of inter-group violence, housing segregation, and related processes. To analyze such processes, we can make use of agent-based models. In this course, students read and discuss key works in this area of research. They also explore simulations of social processes and develop their own simulations. No programming background is required or expected.
- SOAN 268 - Migration, Identity, and Conflict
(POL 268)
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SOAN 102, POV 101, or POL 105 Same as POL 268. This course focuses on the complex relationship between migration, political institutions, group identities, and inter-group conflict. The course is a hybrid of a seminar and research lab in which students (a) read some of the key social-scientific literature on these subjects, and (b) conduct team-based research making use of existing survey data about the integration of migrant populations into various polities.
- SOAN 269 - Studying Global Culture with the World Values Survey
FDR SS5 Credits 3 Prerequisite Previous exposure to regression analysis, though regression is reviewed during the first week of the course Analysis of data from the World Values Survey, a major source for studying global culture and cultural change. We read scholarly works that have made use of these data and carry out our own analyses of WVS data as consider questions about religious belief, political values, and social attitudes across the world.
- SOAN 270 - Deviance
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 An examination of theories of deviance from a sociological perspective. Particular emphasis is placed on the causes of deviant acts and on the social processes utilized in evaluating these behaviors. Theoretical applications are made to crime and mental illness.
- SOAN 276 - Art & Science of Survey Research
Credits 3 Prerequisite SOAN 102 This course is designed as a group research project in questionnaire construction and survey data analysis. Students prepare a list of hypotheses, select indicators, construct a questionnaire, collect and analyze data, and write research reports. When appropriate, the course may include service-learning components (community-based research projects).
- SOAN 278 - Health and Inequality: An Introduction to Medical Sociology
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This course introduces sociological perspectives of health and illness. Students examine topics such as social organization of medicine; the social construction of illness; class, race and gender inequalities in health; and health care reform. Some of the questions we address: How is the medical profession changing? What are the pros and cons of market-driven medicine? Does class have an enduring impact on health outcomes? Is it true that we are what our friends' eat? Can unconscious racial bias affect the quality of care for people of different ethnicities? What pitfalls have affected the way evidence-based medicine has been carried out?
- SOAN 279 - Conceptions of Race and Health: Black & White=Gray
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 3 This seminar tackles the question of what is "race" and how does it affect health? In the United States, "race" is a concept frequently taken for granted. But what does "race" signify? Does race denote something inherently biological, cultural, or structural about one's ancestry, background, or lifestyle? Is race truly a stable "ascribed" characteristic that has predictive implications for peoples' everyday well-being? By specifically concentrating on the case study of health disparities for African-Americans in the United States, we explore the concept of "race", and how societal conceptions of race affect health policy, people's health outcomes, their access to healthcare, and their relationship to the medical establishment.
- SOAN 281 - Adolescence Under the Microscope
FDR SS4 Social Science - Group 4 Distribution Credits 4 This course focuses on adolescence through the lens of social psychology. Insights from sociology, anthropology, and psychology are employed to explicate the adolescent experience in the United States in contrast to other societies. Topics include: the impact of liminality on adolescent identity in cross-cultural perspective; adolescence as objective reality or cultural fiction; adolescence and peer relations, gender and suicide; and new technologies and virtual adolescence. Each student engages in a research project focusing on adolescence and identity through either interviews or observational techniques. The final project is a group analysis of adolescence as reflected in Facebook.
- SOAN 290 - Special Topics in Sociology
Credits 3-4 A discussion of a series of topics of sociological concern. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.
- SOAN 367 - Seminar: 9/11 & Modern Terrorism
(HIST 367)
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite at least junior class standing Terrorism is a form of collective violence famously illustrated in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington on September 11, 2001. This course provides an intensive interdisciplinary examination of the origins of the 9/11 attacks and the terrorist organization that launched them. The course also addresses the impact of the attacks and the future prospects of mass violence against civilians, as well as the role of the media in covering (and dramatizing) terrorism. Much of the course focuses on the social divisions and conflicts that lead to terrorism and its increasingly lethal nature over time. Topics include old "terrorism" (as seen in Northern Ireland and Algeria), "new terrorism" (such as that associated with Al Qaeda), the logic of terrorist recruitment, and the nature of and spread of weapons of mass destruction.
- SOAN 390 - Special Topics in Sociology
Credits 3-4 A discussion of a series of topics of sociological concern.
- SOAN 180 - FS: First-Year Seminar in Sociology
- At least nine additional credits chosen from:
- Capstone:
- SOAN 395 - Senior Seminar in Quantitative Analysis
Credits 3 Prerequisite SOAN 102 and Methods requirement for the Sociology and Anthropology major In this course students will carry out independent research on anthropological or sociological topics that they identify and develop in consultation with their professor and while working alongside their peers. Projects completed under the auspices of this course will use (or mostly use) quantitative methods, generally the statistical analysis of experimental or observational data. Students will develop a question, select appropriate methods, ground their approach in an appropriate theoretical perspective from their discipline of concentration (anthropology or sociology), carry out, write up, and present their research.
or
- SOAN 396 - Senior Seminar in Qualitative Analysis
Credits 3 Prerequisite SOAN 102 and Methods requirement for the Sociology and Anthropology major In this course students will carry out independent research on anthropological or sociological topics that they identify and develop in consultation with their professor and while working alongside their peers. Projects completed under the auspices of this course will use (or mostly use) qualitative methods, such as interviews, textual analysis, archival research, or field observation, among others. Students will develop a question, select appropriate methods, ground their approach in an appropriate theoretical perspective from their discipline of concentration (anthropology or sociology), carry out, write up, and present their research.
Two courses chosen from the following:
Completion of one of the two following areas of emphasis:
Anthropology emphasis: take nine additional credits from the electives listed below, two in anthropology and one in sociology
Sociology emphasis: take nine additional credits from the electives listed below, two in sociology and one in anthropology
SOAN courses numbered 200 and above. When approved by the department head, up to three courses numbered at the 200 level or above in cognitive and behavioral science/psychology, economics, history, philosophy, politics, religion, or other disciplines may be substituted into this requirement.
With permission, one term of SOAN 493 may be used to meet this requirement.