Sociology Minor

To earn a sociology minor, students will need to complete four sociology courses, and choose two courses from a selection of courses including Introduction to Criminal Justice and Family Systems and Practice.

• Sociology and Social Justice: Includes an examination of culture, socialization, social structure, group behavior, and inequalities (of class, race, and gender), as well as identifying and analyzing the pressing problems in our world that requires an understanding of social change that occurs through collective action and social movements. Through an exploration of predominant sociological theories, students are able to contrast those with a biblical worldview that challenges them to articulate how a reformed Christian understanding of creation (and norms) sin, redemption, and consummation may be used to positively affect social interaction, organizations, and institutions.
• The Social Psychology of Persons: We influence and are influenced by culture, social structures, groups, personality, family, and the media, just to name a few. Studying the situational and personal/interpretive factors that influence an individual’s social behavior can reveal new insights about the grace and sin at work in our relationships and social situations. Utilizing a biblical perspective on the social psychology of persons, this class will explore how students can function as faithful Christians within all of these situations.
• Vulnerable Populations: A historical and contemporary analysis of groups considered vulnerable by economic and social standards in American society. Causes, consequences, and implications for society are examined from a biblical view of humankind with an emphasis on social work practice.
• Diversity and Inequality: Students examine the historical and contemporary factors related to diversity and inequality in North America and increase their appreciation for the contributions of diverse groups in culturally-pluralistic societies. The course assumes that human diversity is created good and explores how to discern that goodness after the Fall. Students assess their own biases in light of course material and increase their sensitivity to diversity.
• Introduction to Criminal Justice: Overview of the criminal justice system, including criminal justice research, criminal law, procedure, evidence, criminology, victimology, policing, the courts, and corrections. Students will explore how our views of crime and the criminal justice system have been influenced by government leaders and the media. Students will also seek to apply biblical norms to our analysis of the criminal justice system with suggestions on reform.
• Place, Grace, and Humans in Community: A study of the philosophical foundations of social relationships. Possible topics explored include the relationship between groups of people and their physical environment, the possibility of understanding people from different cultures than our own, and whether we can hold other communities to the standards of our own communities.
• Introduction to Social Work: A survey of the major fields of social work practice and of the problems with which they deal. It will include agency field visits. Overarching this survey will be a concern for the Christian’s individual and collective responsibility for the health and welfare of his neighbor and community.
• Criminology: A theory-based course that studies crime causation, typologies of crime, and crime control. It looks at both historical and modern theories, including those that look to individual, social, and structural causes. It also broadly analyzes the guardianship and enforcement functions of the criminal justice system. Students will be able to identify criminology theories in modern media and engage in theory-building exercises.
• Family System and Practice: This course examines the family system from sociological and practice-oriented viewpoints. Students will evaluate contemporary and traditional views of the family within a Christian perspective. Students will also be introduced to historical and contemporary child and family welfare practice and policy.
• Victimology and Family Violence: The victimology section will look at the various harms suffered due to crime, how victims interact with various agencies and players, public reaction to victims, the victims’ rights movement, and how to better serve the victims of crime through our criminal justice system. Students will also identify and describe the problem, measure its true dimensions, and review evidence and hypotheses of victimologists. In the Family Violence portion, theories on family violence will be analyzed, the consequences of family victimization will be considered, as well as how to recognize child abuse and understand the dynamics of partner violence. Students will analyze legal and enforcement responses, consider how institutional responses can prevent or lessen revictimization, and look to how a Restorative Justice model can alleviate some of the harms of victimization.
• Methods of Social Science Research: An introduction to the research process as applied to the study of problems/issues in social science. Problem selection, research design, measurement, methods of observation and data collection, data analysis and interpretation, and report writing will be emphasized. A module on microcomputer utilization and the application of descriptive statistics is presented for application in student projects.
• Introductory Statistics: An introductory course in statistical techniques and methods and their application to a variety of fields. Topics include data analysis, design of experiments, and statistical inference including confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Exposure to statistical software and a substantive student project are also part of this course.

See the course catalog for more information