SOC 271 - Deviance, Power, and Social Control

Credits: 5
Explores behaviors that breach culturally accepted norms within societies and considers the relations of power in which they are embedded. We examine how responses to deviant attitudes, behaviors, and conditions are determined by those in positions of power and used to label, stigmatize, and criminalize specific groups, as a larger political and economic struggle for power and social control.

Enrollment Requirement: Eligible for ENGL& 101 or instructor consent.

Satisfies Requirement: Social Science
Course Fee: $1.00

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

Identify and apply sociological theories of deviance and conformity.
Dissect and critique specific acts of norm violation as they relate to power and social control.
Describe the relativity of crime and deviance across time and space.
Describe and identify the influences of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, and other social markers as they relate to deviance and social control.
Explain how deviance can be used for social change and group cohesion.

Program Outcomes

Demonstrate how inequality, privilege, and stratification are connected to course-specific content.

College-wide Outcomes

Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.
Responsibility - Responsibility encompasses those behaviors and dispositions necessary for students to be effective members of a community. This outcome is designed to help students recognize the value of a commitment to those responsibilities which will enable them to work successfully individually and with others.