The concentration in Sociology (leading to a Bachelor of Arts) provides a foundation in sociological theory and methods and the opportunity to cultivate more specialized knowledge in the discipline’s substantive interests. Students develop that focus through their coursework, taking courses in diverse areas such as social inequality, family and gender, organizations, environmental sociology, race and ethnicity and globalization.  Students refine their interests during the senior seminar and through their completion of a senior thesis or capstone project.

 

Standard program for the A.B. degree

 Ten courses are required to complete the concentration.

Required core:
SOC 0010	Social Forces: An Introduction to Sociology	1
SOC 1010	Classical Sociological Theory	1
SOC 1020	Methods of Social Research	1
SOC 1100	Introductory Statistics for Social Research	1
or APMA 0650	Essential Statistics
or ECON 1620	Introduction to Econometrics
or CLPS 0900	Statistical Methods
SOC 1950	Senior Seminar	1
Five (5) additional courses:		5
a) At least three of the optional courses have to be 1000 level and one of them must be a substantive seminar (1870-1873).
b) Students can choose to take up to two lower level (0100 level) courses.
c) Students can petition to take two courses outside of the discipline (this will be allowed only when the proposed course makes sense given the interests of the student, and there is no equivalent sociology course).
Total Credits		10

Honors

In order to be considered for honors, students must (1) be in good standing with the College, (2) have completed at least half of the concentration coursework, and have earned a majority of “A” grades in the concentration. Honors also require a senior thesis, with a recommendation of Honors by the advisor and reader, that demonstrates an understanding of empirical research.

Organizational Studies Track

Ten courses to complete the concentration

Required Core:
SOC 0010	Social Forces: An Introduction to Sociology	1
SOC 1010	Classical Sociological Theory	1
SOC 1020	Methods of Social Research	1
SOC 1100	Introductory Statistics for Social Research	1
or APMA 0650	Essential Statistics
or ECON 1620	Introduction to Econometrics
or CLPS 0900	Statistical Methods
SOC 1950	Senior Seminar	1
Foundations of Organizational Studies (choose two of the following):		2
SOC 0300	Organizations and Society
SOC 1311	Micro-Organizational Theory: Social Behavior in Organizations
SOC 1315	Macro-Organizational Theory: Organizations in Social Context
Advanced Organizational Studies Course (choose one course). The following are approved EXAMPLES. Please consult Courses@Brown/Concentration Advisor for current offerings.		1
SOC 1070	Introduction to Economic Sociology
SOC 1117	Focus Groups for Market and Social Research
SOC 1118	Context Research for Innovation
SOC 1120	Market and Social Surveys
SOC 1260	Market Research in Public and Private Sectors
SOC 1311	Micro-Organizational Theory: Social Behavior in Organizations (If not used to meet the "Foundations" requirement, above)
SOC 1315	Macro-Organizational Theory: Organizations in Social Context (If not used to meet the "Foundations" requirement, above)
SOC 1871C	Sociology of the Legal Profession
Two (2) additional courses. Each of these courses must be either (a) offered by the Department of Sociology, or (b) drawn from the following list of interdisciplinary "Organization-Relevant Electives:"		2
AMST 1610A	American Advertising: History and Consequences
CLPS 1250	Human Factors
CLPS 1470	Mechanisms of Motivated Decision Making
CLPS 1730	Psychology in Business and Economics
ECON 0110	Principles of Economics
ECON 1760	Financial Institutions
ETHN 1890C	Business, Culture, and Globalization: An Ethnographic Perspective
ENGN 1930S	Land Use and Built Environment: An Entrepreneurial View
HIST 0150A	History of Capitalism
PHIL 1610	Decision Theory: Foundations and Applications
POLS 1150	Prosperity: The Ethics and Economics of Wealth Creation
POLS 1240	Politics, Markets and States in Developing Countries
POLS 1820W	Market Liberalism: Origins, Principles and Contemporary Applications
Total Credits		10

Additional Restrictions to the Organizational Studies Track:

Lower-level Coursework: Students may count no more than two 0100-level courses toward the Organizational Studies and Concentration Elective requirements (combined).

Upper-level Coursework: At least three of the five courses counted toward the Organizational Studies and Concentration Elective requirements (combined) must be at the 1000-level, and at least one must be a substantive seminar (1870-1873).

Interdisciplinary Coursework: Students may petition to count non-Sociology courses beyond the Organization-Relevant Elective list toward the Concentration Elective requirement. This will be allowed only when the proposed course makes sense given the interests of the student, and the Department of Sociology offers no equivalent course. 

“***See the Sociology website http://www.brown.edu/academics/sociology/ for details regarding Honors and Independent Studies”

The Senior Seminar SOC 1950

Sociology requires all concentrators to complete a thesis or capstone project in their senior year. The purpose of the thesis or capstone project is to allow students an opportunity to apply the knowledge they acquired through the concentration curriculum on a topic of their own interests.  (Students in the Organizational Studies track are expected to focus their senior thesis or capstone project on an Organizational Studies topic.) To fulfill this requirement students enroll in SOC 1950 – Senior Seminar. Participation in this seminar allows each cohort of concentrators to discuss their diverse interests and expose students to the wide range of applications of Sociological knowledge.

A senior thesis must ask an original research question, answer it with appropriate evidence, and place that work within relevant scholarly literature in sociology. The thesis is supervised by a faculty member who serves as the primary advisor and one additional faculty member who serves as a reader. By the end of the sixth semester, students must submit a prospectus for the senior thesis (not more than four pages) accompanied by the signature of one faculty member indicating that he or she is willing to serve as the primary advisor on the thesis to the Director of Undergraduate Studies in their concentration. Only a senior thesis qualifies the student for Honors.

A capstone project is an independent, student-initiated project or experience developed during the Senior Seminar (SOC 1950) that connects in a meaningful way to learning in the concentration. A capstone project differs from a thesis in its scholarly content and form, and it depends only on the evaluation of the senior seminar instructor. Whereas the senior thesis follows the form of a conventional research paper, the capstone project allows a wider array of research and creative outputs, including but not limited to video documentaries, photographic exhibitions, and applied or policy-related reports for an off-campus organization. Projects are complemented by a poster presentation, literature review, and report that situates the central subject matter of the project within the context of sociological scholarship.

Independent Study

Students can use no more than one (1) Independent Study course (SOC 1970) to meet the concentration course requirements. This course counts towards a 1000-level substantive requirement and will not serve as a substitute for any of the core concentration requirements.

Honors