Goucher College 2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.
Sociology/Anthropology Major
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 Return to: Majors, Minors, Concentrations, and Certifications
The Sociology and Anthropology Program offers a combined major in sociology and anthropology. The major provides students with analytical skills and research techniques for understanding the cultural diversity of human behavior and social organization. Sociologists and anthropologists study the ways in which individuals, through their collective actions, create and change patterns of social relations. Both disciplines emphasize a critical, historical, and comparative perspective in their study of the way of life in contemporary societies. In their search for understanding, sociologists and anthropologists examine a variety of substantive areas, from family life to globalization and political change.
Course offerings are designed to provide: (1) a central component in a general liberal arts education; (2) a sound foundation for graduate study in sociology, anthropology, law, social work, criminal justice, public health, management, or any other profession requiring a sophisticated understanding of social processes and structures; (3) the development of writing, speaking, thinking, and research skills; and (4) courses for students across the college who wish to integrate cultural and social theory and research methodologies into their course of study.
Majors may also elect a health and medicine concentration or a social justice concentration. Specific programs tailored to the student’s interest and career goals are worked out with advisers. Some sociology and anthropology courses are cross-listed under other programs, such as peace studies and women, gender, and sexuality studies.
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All majors must complete a minimum of 38 credits within the program. Required courses include:
Study Abroad Policy:
For a one semester study abroad program, two courses can be counted toward the major with the following two options: 1) two 200-level electives, or 2) one 200-level elective + one 300-level elective (for this option, the student must take SOA 497 and two 300-/400-level courses in SOA at Goucher). For a one-year study abroad program, the two options are: 1) three 200-level electives, or 2) two 200-level electives + one 300-level elective (again, for this option, the student must take SOA 497 and two 300-/400-level courses in SOA at Goucher). All students need to meet with the program coordinator to have their study abroad courses approved for the major requirements. For all majors, these are the courses that cannot be substituted or taken elsewhere: SOA 200 , SOA 201 , SOA 217 , and SOA 497 .
Concentration in Health and Medicine
The concentration in health and medicine is designed for students interested in the many methodological and theoretical approaches sociologists and anthropologists use to study illness, health, health care systems and policy, and the field of medicine. Students seeking applied research and policy careers in public and private health, mental health, and social service organizations and agencies, as well as those who plan to apply to doctoral programs with health, medical sociology, or medical anthropology concentrations will find this concentration of particular interest and utility. Courses examine the phenomena and definitions of health, illness, and disability (both mental and physical), as well as patient experiences of health care, differential access to medical resources and inequality in treatment, medical education, and the structure of the health care system. Students will be offered insight into the organization of health care systems and policies both in the United States and globally and the professions that make up these systems such as medicine, psychology, and social work. Students graduating with a concentration in health and medicine will be well suited to go on in the sociology or anthropology of medicine; to undertake research positions in health services organizations, research organizations and institutes, mental health fields (such as psychology and social work); or to work in the field of public health.
Concentration in Social Justice
The social justice concentration helps focus the student’s coursework around issues of inequality and social justice. The concentration brings sociology and anthropology’s long standing interest in inequality (in realms such as class, race, gender, and culture) together with a consideration of the roles that institutions play in exacerbating or reducing inequality. Students who elect this concentration are strongly encouraged to participate in community-based learning, whether through courses in or outside of the concentration.
Students will take two courses in each of the following two areas:
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Return to: Majors, Minors, Concentrations, and Certifications
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