Social Change and Development

SCD Major

A MAJOR in Social Change and Development focuses on social processes and social problems. We stress historical, comparative, and theoretical understanding because we believe that to understand the present we must understand the past, and to understand our own lives, and our own society, we must understand the world.

Major Requirements

SUPPORTING COURSES 

Social Change & Development Core prerequisites

We feel that it is very important that students come to our program with some understanding of society and history, especially of a comparative nature. Therefore we require:

ANTHRO-100 Varieties of World Culture

OR

SOCIOL-202 Introduction to Sociology

AND

HISTORY-100 History of the Modern World.

Required skill subjects

Skill subject courses provide you with useful skills for the future. The paramount skill we feel our students need is writing. Therefore all students take

 ENG COMP-105 (Expository Writing),

 

which is prerequisite to the upper level core. Students also take one of the following skill course options:

 

OPTION A: Foreign Language

Two years of a foreign language.

OPTION B: Research Methods. (For social scientific interests.)

COMM SCI-205 Social Science Statistics OR

MATH-260 Introductory Statistics

AND

COMM SCI-301 Foundations of Social Research

OPTION C: Personalized skill subjects. In certain rare cases it may be appropriate to work out an individualized set of skill subjects.

THE UPPER LEVEL CORE

WE HAVE DEVELOPED THE Social Change & Development CORE and its prerequisites through twenty years of thought about how to adapt the university's problem-focused, interdisciplinary mission to the goal of producing graduates with superior preparation in the social sciences. Social Change & Development is not merely a jumble of disciplinary approaches, it is a well- conceived integration that can give you a broader and more sophisticated preparation for future careers or for graduate studies. The Social Change & Development Core stresses the following things.

Skills

We think you should develop some useful skills, hence our skill subject requirements. Our courses also stress written communication, the paramount skill you will need later, and many of them count as writing emphasis courses. In the name of practicality, we also ask you to take two one credit sessions of SOC CD-302 Portfolio, a course meant to help you prepare for what you want to do in the world after college and make your case to those you will need to help you accomplish your goals.

Critical thinking

In our central two upper level core courses (SOC CD-360, SOC CD-361) we constantly stress judging the usefulness of social scientific understandings. Later, on the job, and as a citizen, you will be barraged by pronouncements and generalizations, and must be able to sift and winnow among them. We teach you to ask critical questions.

Perspective

We teach you about, and want to help you develop, "the sociological imagination," an important habit of mind that allows you to place the course of your own life, and the experiences of those around you, in the context of the rapidly changing society and world in which you live. This means developing a sense of understanding about how societies work politically and economically, and a sense about the causes of social change. It also means learning to view the world historically, comparatively, and critically so that you can understand the present and future from a knowledge of the past.

All Students take the following core courses:

• Two sessions of SOC CD-302 Porfolio (one credit each)
• SOC CD-360 Models and Social Change.
• SOC CD-361 Historical Perspectives on Social Change.
• SOC CD-333 Social Change in a Selected Area. (Click for an example of this course.)
• SOC CD-470 Senior Seminar in Social Change & Development.

THE EMPHASIS IN ADDITION TO THE CORE

Each student takes a four upper-level course emphasis that focuses upon a specific topic area. Each emphasis has some lower level requirements or suggested courses. The general Social Change & Development advisor can help you choose an emphasis, and several of the emphases have their own advisors.

American Studies

An emphasis for those interested in modern social problems, social criticism, & social change strategies with respect to American society.

Law and Justice Studies

This emphasis is for students interested in seeking admittance to law school, as well as for those interested in law-related careers, such as paralegal work, that do not require a law degree.

Global Studies

This emphasis focuses on the Third World and problems of development internationally. It may be combined with the International Studies Certificate Program or stand alone as an Social Change & Development emphasis.

Women’s and Gender Studies

This emphasis includes such issues as the position of women in the labor force, women's roles in the family, relationships between women and men, and strategies for social change.

Individualized emphasis

Some students have specific interests; others want a general liberal arts education. The advisor can help these students work out individualized emphases. In all cases a minimum of 12 credits of upper-level work plus the core is required.