Undergraduate Course Descriptions
The serves as both the official undergraduate and the graduate catalog of LSU and should be consulted for course decisions. Below you can see a list of undergraduate courses offered by the Department of Sociology.
SOCL 2001: Introductory Sociology (3)
This is an Integrative Learning Core (ILC) course that awards general education credit.
Credit will not be given for this course and . Major subject areas and principles of sociology.
SOCL 2002 HONORS: Introductory Sociology (3)
This is an Integrative Learning Core (ILC) course that awards general education credit.
Same as with a special honors emphasis for qualified students. Credit will not be given for
this course and .
SOCL 2010: Louisiana in a Global Context (3)
This is an Integrative Learning Core (ILC) course that awards general education credit.
Introduces students to the history, people and culture of Louisiana through academic
learning and hands on experience.
SOCL 2201: Introduction to Statistical Analysis (4)
Prereq.: or or equivalent. Open to sociology majors; open to others with permission of instructor.
3 hrs. lecture; 2 hrs. lab Descriptive statistics; inferential statistical methods
including confidence interval estimation and hypothesis testing for one and two population
means and proportions; one-way analysis of variance; simple linear regression and
correlation; analysis of categorical data.
SOCL 2211: Methods of Sociological Research (3)
Prereq.: and or equivalent. Open to sociology majors; open to others with permission of instructor.
Scientific methods and their application in sociological research, including problem
selection, research design, measurement, data sources and evaluation of data.
SOCL 2255: Sociology of Sport (3)
Application of sociological principles, theories, and methods to the understanding
of sport.
SOCL 2301: Introduction to Crime Studies (3)
This is an Integrative Learning Core (ILC) course that awards general education credit.Fundamentals of the causes, correlates, consequences, and controls of crime in society,
including definitional and methodological issues.
SOCL 2371: Aspects of Federal, State, & Local Law Enforcement (3) Survey of federal, state & local law enforcement agencies origins, powers, and career expectations.
SOCL 2411: Industrial Sociology (3)
Social organization in industry; relation of industry to community and society.
SOCL 2501: Current Social Problems (3)
This is an Integrative Learning Core (ILC) course that awards general education credit.
Sociological analysis of major social problems in contemporary society; focus on both
the institutional and personal causes and consequences.
SOCL 2505: Marriage and Family (3)
This is an Integrative Learning Core (ILC) course that awards general education credit. Current issues and trends regarding marriage and family.
SOCL 2511: Race Relations (3)
This is an Integrative Learning Core (ILC) course that awards general education credit.
Also offered as . Examines relations among persons of different racial groups in an interdisciplinary
setting that includes sociological, psychological, political, anthropological and
historical viewpoints.
SOCL 3101: Sociological Theory (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Open to sociology majors; open to others with permission of instructor. Dominant
theorists and schools of thought in sociology.
SOCL 3371: Sociology of the Criminal Justice System (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. The criminal justice system and its organizational components.
SOCL 3401: Sociology of Culture (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Current theoretical perspectives, methodological issues and empirical work in the
sociological study of culture.
SOCL 3501: Sociology of Deviance (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Sociological theories of deviant behavior; sup-porting research on mental illness,
crime, sexual deviance, drug abuse and suicide.
SOCL 3505: Poverty in the United States (3)
Prereq.: or or equivalent. Definition of poverty, its meaning, measurement, causes, correlates and consequences;
strategies for its amelioration and elimination.
SOCL 3510: Criminal Violence (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. An in-depth study of criminal violence, including its forms, myths and facts regarding
victims and offenders, and the causes, consequences and control of violence.
SOCL 3601: Social Interaction (3)
Prereq.: or or equivalent. Human behavior as social interaction.
SOCL 3701 Death and Dying in the US (3)
Understanding death and dying as it relates to individuals and society in the US.
SOCL 3900: Sociology Internship (1-3)
Prereq.: 75 hours of course work completed, 2.50 overall GPA, written consent of department
head and supervising faculty member. May be taken for a max. of 3 hrs. of credit. Faculty supervised field study/research
with an agency or organization whose mission is considered relevant to the student's
curriculum.
SOCL 3901: Directed Reading and Research in Sociology (1-3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. May be taken for a max. of 3 sem. hrs. credit. Student registers with a faculty
member before registration to select the area of reading or research. Topic must not
substitute for regularly offered courses unless reading goes beyond a standard course's
offerings.
SOCL 3905 HONORS: Senior Thesis Research (3)
Prereq.: . Open to seniors who are candidates for a bachelor's degree with honors in sociology.
Supervised research and preparation of a senior thesis.
SOCL 3911: Research Practicum in Sociology (1-3)
Prereq.: and . May be taken for a max. of 3 sem. hrs. credit. Student registers with a faculty
member and, in consultation, selects a research problem. Supervised research experience
in sociology, including design, execution and reporting.
SOCL 4091: Topics in Sociology (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. May be taken for a max. of 9 sem. hrs. of credit when topics vary. Recent topics
have included:
- Corrections
- Environmental Sociology
- Racial Inequality
- Social Construction of Whiteness
- Sociology of Disaster
- Sociology of Mental Health
SOCL 4321: The Community (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Classical and contemporary perspectives on the community; theoretical and methodological
issues associated with community studies.
SOCL 4331: Social Stratification (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Class and rank structure in society; determinants of social class, mobility, and
changes in class position of both individuals and groups; attitudinal and behavioral
consequences of class position.
SOCL 4401: The Family (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. The family as a social institution.
SOCL 4402: Modeling Communication Within Marital and Family Relationships (3)
See CMST 4118.
SOCL 4421: Political Sociology (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Social structure and politics.
SOCL 4431: Sociology of Education (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Theoretical approaches to understanding the roles of the institution of education,
socialization processes, the linkages between education and stratification and educational
change.
SOCL 4441: Sociology of Religion (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Nature of religion; societal and cultural factors in religion; role
of religion in social change and in contemporary society.
SOCL 4451: Sociology of Medicine (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Sociological analysis of the structure and function of health agencies and occupations;
social and cultural factors in the cause and treatment of illness.
SOCL 4452: Sociology of Mental Health (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent.This course will provide a broad overview of the sociology of mental health.
SOCL 4461: Criminology (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Crime, the criminal justice system and penology.
SOCL 4462: Sociology of Youth and Crime (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. The sociological study of adolescent deviance and crime; the socio-demographic correlates
and social psychological causes of youthful offending and the juvenile justice system.
SOCL 4463: Gender and Crime (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Examination of gender as a socially, culturally and historically situated accomplishment
and its relationship to criminal offending and victimization.
SOCL 4464: Rural Crime (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Focuses on the nature, extent, causes, consequences and control of crime in rural
America; topics include violence, property crime, fear of crime and agricultural and
wildlife crime.
SOCL 4465: Drugs and Society (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. An exploration of the net of social relations in which drugs, drug users, drug dealers
and drug laws are embedded; involves critical analysis of popular claims about drugs
and the development of a sociological understanding of substance use and abuse in
the modern U.S.
SOCL 4466: Crime Mapping (3)
Also offered as . Fundamentals of crime mapping and crime analysis with spatial data using Geographic
Information Systems (GIS)
SOCL 4467: Crime GIS (3)
See .
SOCL 4468: Sociology of Gangs (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. The sociological study of gangs in modern society.
SOCL 4469: Policing and Race in the US (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Explores the relationship between policing and race in the United States.
SOCL 4471: Sociology of Law (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Law and social change; evolution of legal institutions; group conflict and law;
influence of legal controls and sanctions on human behavior.
SOCL 4521: Sociology of Gender (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Gender differences in families, education, the workplace and the state; understanding
the social, economic and cultural factors that shape the lives of men and women; theoretical
analysis of how different women and men experience the social world.
SOCL 4522 Sexuality and Society (3)
Sociological examination of theoretical and methodological approaches to studying
sexuality and related topics.
SOCL 4531: The Aged in Contemporary Society (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Social, demographic, psychological, cultural and health factors related to the aging
process in contemporary society.
SOCL 4551: Global Society (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Presents central concepts and major perspectives on international development, globalization
and world poverty and income inequality.
SOCL 4561: Magic and Technology (3)
Analysis of the knowledge, practices and social interactions of humans and non-humans,
including animals, spirits, cyborgs, and robots.
SOCL 4571 Racial Inequality (3)
Explores racial and ethnic inequality in the US.
SOCL 4621: Small Groups (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Analysis of groups, their structure and functions.
SOCL 4701: Population (3)
Prereq.: or equivalent. Processes that influence size and composition of human populations; determinants
and consequences of demographic trends.