Sociology Course Descriptions

SOC 205: Group Dynamics Seminar, 4 credits

Study, discussion, and practice of the characteristics of group interaction, especially as it affects meeting skills, teamwork, and negotiating skills.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Recognize the necessary behaviors for effective group participation.
2. Know how to use small group environments for problem-solving and decision-making.
3. Be competent in identifying and assessing group functions.
4. Understand the similarities and differences among various types of small groups.
5. Be able to handle inevitable conflict in small group environments.
6. Be able to demonstrate leadership and group member's skills.

SOC 250: Principles of Sociology, 4 credits

This is a principles course introducing the student to the field of Sociology and to what Sociologists commonly refer to as the "sociological perspective." The sociological perspective, and Sociology in general, will provide the student with three important tools: first, the student will gain a basis for understanding how society operates; second, the student will understand the core sociological concepts, methods, and theories; finally, the student will have the ability to understand society from an objective point of view. Topics for this course include sociological theory, groups, family, bureaucracies, social class, power, deviance, interaction, inequality, organization, socialization, minority relations, community, and social change.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Demonstrate the ability to use the sociological perspective.
2. Identify and explain major sociological concepts (i.e. race, class, society, culture).
3. Apply the three major theoretical paradigms in sociology to social situations.
4. Develop the ability to critically analyze trends, policies, and events in society (both at "home" and "abroad").

SOC 299: International Mentoring, 1 credit

Students who have successfully completed a minimum of two terms at Northwood University are eligible to volunteer for the International Mentor Program. The mentor, paired up with a newly arrived international student, offers one-on-one guidance and support in all aspects of adjustment to collegiate life. While this joint venture is designed to help the international student through a smoother transition into a new culture and a new educational system, it also provides unlimited opportunities for mentor and mentoree to discover and experience each other's culture through personal interaction in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Have learned about cultural and ethnic differences through personal interaction, in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
2. Have developed cultural sensitivity and tolerance for value systems different from our own.
3. Have reevaluated the long-standing American tradition of tolerance (under the umbrella of democratic ideal) coexisting side by side with an aversion to differences.
4. Have gained greater awareness in intercultural communications by understanding that the significance of a message is heavily weighed by a person's cultural background.
5. Have acquired the foundation for basic survival skills in the global community and in the global workplace.

SOC 301: World Culture and Customs, 4 credits

Origin and background of peoples, social organizations, culture and customs of people of specific areas of the world, such as Latin Americans, Europeans, et al. 

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Have an increased awareness of cultural differences.
2. Have developed a guide for fitting various countries customs and value systems into a world cultural outline.
3. Be open and tolerant of other values, customs, and lifestyles while maintaining their own cultural integrity.
4. Interpret cultural and custom aspects of our principal trading partners.
5. Be aware of the emergence of a genuine world market for goods and information.
6. Have established their own identity in the world.
7. Be able to prepare properly for trips abroad.
8. Have a better understanding of their own roots and values and a more mature appreciation of those values.

SOC 302: Women In American Culture, 4 credits

This course traces the lives and contributions of women in American Culture from 1776 through the present. The course examines the changing image of women: women as seen by other women, women as seen by men, and individual women as they see themselves. This course gives students the opportunity to learn about a part of history that is often ignored.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Better understand the role of Women in American Culture.
2. Have investigated the culture and attendant values of various women.
3. Have researched through readings, viewings and first hand experience the ideas of the past that affect the present.
4. Possess an enhanced sensitivity to women's issues by observing and interacting with women.
5. Have had the experience of assimilating observations, discussing them, and writing essays on literature assignments.
6. Possess a heightened respect for opinions and lifestyles other than their own.
7. Have discovered the strong influence of time and space on women's issues.
8. Appreciate the impact of art, literature, and music on a populace.
9. Have seen illustrations of unrecognized power concomitant with cultural achievement.
10. Have captured the essence of varieties of various women's experiences through personal interaction and study.

SOC 345: The Culture of Leadership, 4 credits

The study of governance in an organization, understanding and practicing leadership concepts, and applying newly learned skills in leading and negotiating.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Accurately assess their own leadership style, and present and potential leadership behaviors.
2. Express the difference between management and leadership.
3. Design and execute a leadership training module.
4. Analyze an appropriate video as assigned by the instructor in terms of organization, teamwork, and leadership.
5. Analyze the instructor's style of leadership and management.
6. Identify leaders in our world and what makes these people "leaders".
7. Examine the relationship between being "politically correct" and leadership behavior.

SOC 350: Cultural Anthropology, 4 credits

Cultural Anthropology is the study of humans as makers of society. This course is an introduction to basic concepts and techniques developed by cultural anthropologists to help us understand societies with varying degrees of complexity, including our own. Students will be exposed to topics such as language and processes of intercultural communication and conflict, kinship, gender, ethnicity, economics, politics, religion, and social change in a broad comparative framework.
Prerequisite: PSY 250 or SOC 250

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Complete a self evaluation concerning their ethnocentrism and socialization including values, attitudes, and behaviors.
2. Identify ethnocentrism and socialization concerning work habits, religion, and family in a sample of both primitive and modern societies.
3. Recognize social prejudice and discrimination by comparing and contrasting the basis of hatred and war.
4. Compare and contrast theories of cognitive and sociocultural development.
5. List and explain with specific examples key ingredients for effective cross cultural interaction.
6. Review and contrast issues of the Self as a person including individualism and collectivism with a comparison of personhood in China, Japan, and the United States.
7. Explain the developmental model of adolescence, adulthood, and aging across many different cultures.
8. State varying cultural perspectives regarding the United States by at least five other countries representing different continents.
9. Explain gender differences based on socialization across cultures.
10. Describe and contrast how cultures view of medical and psychological health differ.
11. Contrast and explain major themes and theories of culture and behavior including the work of Vygotsky, Piaget, Kohlberg, Erikson, Mead, and Gilligan's critique.

SOC 399: Honors Tutoring, 1 credit

Honors students with cumulative GPAs of 3.25 or higher and with approval by the Academic Dean may receive credit for this no fee course through supervised tutoring of other Northwood students who can benefit from their expertise.