2023-2024 Academic Catalog

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Sociology (SOCY)

SOCY 5000 -  Professional Seminar: Sociological Inquiry  (3 Credits)  

Introduces sociology graduate students to sociology as a discipline and profession. Conveys practical skills and knowledge useful to the pursuit of a graduate degree. Introduces students to sociology graduate faculty members and their research interests. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5016 -  Social Theory  (3 Credits)  

An overview of major theories across the social behavioral sciences examining social order, integration, conflict, and change. The course emphasizes a cross disciplinary approach, highlighting works of historical and contemporary relevance. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5020 -  Race, Culture and Immigration  (3 Credits)  

In this course, we will consider the social and legal construction of race and immigration. We will also explore how immigrants have been racialized both historically and in the current moment. In addition, we will consider the role of culture in shaping the immigrant experience and immigrant outcomes. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Cross-listed with SOCY 4020, ETST 4020 and ETST 5020. Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5022 -  Federal Data for Health Research & Policy  (1-3 Credits)  

Students will develop the knowledge and skills required to effectively use a variety of federal and statistical data sets for health research and policy analysis. Each week is devoted to one or two federal statistical datasets--data collection methods; why they are collected and what health issues they are designed to address; what population they represent and at what geographic scale. Most critically, students will be able to distinguish between questions that can be addressed with a public version of the data and questions that require restricted versions of the data that are protected by federal law and guidelines. Students will read, discuss and present research from various perspectives (Demography, Economics, Geography, Public Health, Sociology) using these data sources and apply their knowledge of data analysis from a variety of perspectives. Students will learn how to gain access to restricted data, how to protect individual anonymity with best practice disclosure avoidance techniques and will develop a research proposal for confidential research access. Note: Familiarity with SAS (preferable) or other statistical software such as SPSS or Stata and statistics or data analysis is recommended. Restriction: Restricted to degree-granting graduate programs. Cross-listed with ECON 6022, HBSC 6022, and GEOG 5022. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to degree-granting graduate programs

SOCY 5024 -  Seminar: Research Methods I  (3 Credits)  

Problems and procedures in research design, data collection and processing. Note: Required for M.A. graduate students in sociology. Prereq: Graduate standing. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5050 -  Health Disparities  (3 Credits)  

This course focuses on social, economic, and political factors that shape the uneven distribution of health and illness in the United States. Social determinants of health are explored, including socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, neighborhood environments, social relationships, and gender. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Cross-listed with SOCY 4050. Tern offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

SOCY 5110 -  Sociology of Health Care  (3 Credits)  

Examines U.S. health care institutions and issues such as rising costs, the effects of class, racial and gender inequality, professionalization and monopolization of roles, construction of illness and health, managed care, for-profit health care, and ethics of health care decisions. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Cross-listed with SOCY 4110. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5183 -  Seminar: Quantitative Data Analysis  (3 Credits)  

A research-oriented seminar stressing the utilization of social data already collected in the test or generation of sociological theory. Note: Required for M.A. graduate students in sociology. Prereq: Graduate standing. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5193 -  Seminar: Qualitative Data Analysis  (3 Credits)  

Develops skills for designing studies, collecting and analyzing data, and evaluating qualitative research. Concentrates on ethnography, in-depth interviewing, and content analysis. Students read examples of qualitative research and about the process of qualitative research, as well as conducting independent research. Note: Required for M.A. graduate students in sociology. Prereq: graduate standing. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5220 -  Population Change and Analysis  (3 Credits)  

Concepts of population change, methods of analysis, and applications to contemporary social issues. Topics include age and sex distributions, fertility, mortality, and migration, and the social causes and consequences of these phenomena. Cross-listed with SOCY 4220. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5270 -  Socl Meanings of Reproduction  (3 Credits)  

Reproduction involves more than biological processes, assuming symbolic, political, and ideological meanings. This course examines contested meanings of reproduction, including how people experience reproduction, controversies over who should reproduce (and under what circumstances), and how public policy mediates these conflicts. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Cross-listed with SOCY 4270, WGST 4270 and WGST 5270. Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5290 -  Aging, Society and Social Policy  (3 Credits)  

A sociological examination of central issues (e.g., work, retirement, family support, health) pertaining to the aging population. Heterogeneity in aging, as shaped by gender, race, ethnicity and social class is addressed, as well as policies pertaining to the adult population. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Cross-listed with SOCY 4290. Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5440 -  Poverty and Social Inequality  (3 Credits)  

Investigates the distribution of wealth, income, and economic power in the United States with a focus on social institutions and factors that shape inequality. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Cross-listed with SOCY 4440. Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5460 -  Hate Groups and Group Violence  (3 Credits)  

Social sciences help us understand the phenomena of hate groups and group violence and contribute toward their elimination. Examples are examined using theoretical perspectives on different levels of analysis and within different areas of research. Cross-listed with SOCY 4460. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5475 -  Self and Identity  (3 Credits)  

A course in social psychology focusing on individuals in social interaction. Focuses of self-conception, identity, presentation of self, and self and emotion management. Examines major theories and research in social psychology. Prereq: Graduate standing. Cross-listed with SOCY 4475. Term offered: summer. Max Hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Summer.

SOCY 5550 -  Seminar: Sociology of the Family  (3 Credits)  

An intensive review and analysis of the family as a social institution. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5590 -  Crime, Justice, and the City  (3 Credits)  

In this course, we will ask why inequality, crime, and police are unevenly spread across cities. We will examine why crime varies by neighborhood, whether place-based policing is racially biased, and why prisons are filled with people from just a few zip codes. We will study racial and economic segregation, gentrification, white flight, and suburbanization in the context of criminal justice. Spatial analysis is a growing field combining geography, sociology, and criminology. We will study it by reading cutting-edge researchers who use mapping, interviews, statistical analysis, and ethnography. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-degree majors. Cross-listed with SOCY 4590. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

SOCY 5610 -  Sociology of Religion  (3 Credits)  

This course introduces students to the nature and functions of religion in society, emphasizing western religions in the U.S. Students will develop and apply an understanding of classic and modern sociological theories of religion to current events and disciplinary developments. Cross-listed with SOCY 4610, RLST 4020, RLST 5020. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5640 -  Sociology of Childhood and Adolescence  (3 Credits)  

An in-depth overview of the theories and research regarding the life course understanding of infancy, childhood and adolescence. Children's lives and cultures in relation to adults and their transition from childhood to adolescence are studied. Cross-listed with SOCY 4640. Prereq: Graduate standing. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5650 -  Sociology of Adulthood and Aging  (3 Credits)  

Examination of the adult life course—post-adolescence to death, focusing on key social transitions of adulthood (e.g., independence from parents, marriage, retirement), and historical, institutional, and social factors that create variation in their timing, meaning, and individuals’ role experiences. Cross-listed with SOCY 4650. Prereq: Graduate standing. Term offered: spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5660 -  Seminar: Social Psychology  (3 Credits)  

Sociological approaches to the study of the self, role theory, persons in situations, identifications, socialization, and other characteristics of persons in society. Prereq: Graduate standing. Term offered: summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Summer.

SOCY 5690 -  Crime and Inequality Over the Life Course  (3 Credits)  

Life-course perspective on inequality and crime. Studies transitions, trajectories and turning points as key features of the life course. Considers how inequalities and criminal behavior are shaped by timing of experiences, historical and geographic contexts, others' lives, and human agency. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Cross-listed with SOCY 4690. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

SOCY 5740 -  Courts & Society  (3 Credits)  

Courts are a centerpiece of modern legal systems that mediate social relationships and people’s relationship to the state. This course explores the connection between courts and democratic society by considering the operation and evolution of courts in the U.S. Cross-listed with SOCY 4740. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5750 -  Seminar: Criminology  (3 Credits)  

An intensive review and analysis of the literature and research dealing with sociology of crime in modern society. Prereq: Graduate standing. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5770 -  Advanced Topics in Sociology  (1-3 Credits)  

Advanced study of special topics in sociology to be selected by the instructor. Note: May be repeated for credit when topics vary. Cross-listed with SOCY 4770. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA). Repeatable. Max hours: 9 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Repeatable. Max Credits: 9.

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors or undergraduate students in the Sociology Bachelor's to Master's program (SOCI-BA-BMA)

SOCY 5780 -  Violence in Relationships  (3 Credits)  

Course focuses on the study of violence among individuals involved in intimate relationships; factors in society such as norms, laws and institutions that are related to creating violence among intimates; and social policies, prevention, intervention and treatment programs. Prereq: Graduate standing. Cross-listed with SOCY 4780, WGST 4780 and WGST 5780. Term offered: fall. Max Hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5840 -  Independent Study: SOCY  (1-3 Credits)  

Department consent required. Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS Graduate Academic Services Coordinator for approval. Term offered: spring. Repeatable. Max hours: 3 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Repeatable. Max Credits: 3.

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Spring.

SOCY 5939 -  Internship  (1-6 Credits)  

Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS Graduate Academic Services Coordinator for approval. Prereq: Graduate standing. Term offered: fall. Repeatable. Max hours: 9 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Repeatable. Max Credits: 9.

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Typically Offered: Fall.

SOCY 5955 -  Master's Thesis  (1-6 Credits)  

Department consent required. Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS Graduate Academic Services Coordinator for approval. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max hours: 6 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Additional Information: Report as Full Time.

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

SOCY 5964 -  Master's Report  (1-3 Credits)  

Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS Graduate Academic Services Coordinator for approval. Department consent required. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max hours: 6 Credits.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.

Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors

Additional Information: Report as Full Time.

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

SOCY 5995 -  Global Study Topics  (3-6 Credits)  

This course is reserved for CU Denver faculty-led study abroad experiences. The course topic will vary based on the location and course content. Students register through the Office of Global Education. Department consent required. Repeatable. Max hours: 12 Credits

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Repeatable. Max Credits: 12.