Spring 2025 Advising Guide

• Thinking about what to do with your degree in sociology or anthropology? Try testing your professional interests with either Intro to Social Work, Urban Planning or Archaeological Field Methods
• *New course alert*: Dr. Clydesdale is offering a brand new course examining sports through a sociological lens (SOC 370 – see below for course description)

IMPORTANT LINKS

Academic Advisement Information & Tips to prepare for registration

Spring 2025 Course Descriptions

General Sociology Major Overview and Requirements

General Anthropology Major Overview and Requirements

This student and faculty mentor will specify the learning assistant’s duties in a contract to be completed before the start of the spring semester. Must be taken as a full-unit and will count as a 300-level Sociology elective as SOC 397. SOC 302 is scheduled for Monday/Thursday 11:00am-12:20pm with a required lab scheduled for Thursdays 3:30-4:50pm.

For more information on Learning Assistant Responsibilities and to apply, please fill out the form at the link  here.

Each semester the department offers at least one mentored research course with a faculty member. Working in small groups, students gain valuable research experience while assisting a faculty member with their ongoing research projects. For Spring 2025, Dr. George Leader is recruiting a student research team:

ANT 390 Research Course in Anthropology with Dr. Leader (leaderg@tcnj.edu)

In this research course, a group of student researchers will work with Dr. Leader on several of on-going research projects (both local and abroad) using both anthropological and archaeological methods. The goal of this course is to learn methods used in anthropology (cultural) as well as archaeology. Members of this research team will have the opportunity to collect and analyze data from real archaeological assemblages and conduct background research on historic peoples associated with those artifacts and locations.

Class meeting time: M/Th 9:30-10:50am.

[if you are interested in participating but can’t meet at the scheduled time, let Dr. Leader know. There may be flexibility in scheduling.]

To apply for consideration for this research course, please fill out this google application form.

Spring 2025 Course Descriptions

ANT 110 / Intro to Cultural Anthropology

A survey of the major concepts of social-cultural anthropology.  Cross-cultural comparison will be a central concern of the course, as will the process of cultural change.

ANT 112 / Intro to Archaeology

How do anthropologists learn about people and the worlds in which they live when they can’t talk with those people or observe their day-to-day activities?  Archaeology is the sub-discipline of anthropology that explores what it means to be human by examining the material things that people made, modified, and left behind.  Students in this course will learn to explain how archaeologists use the material remains of human activities to understand past human relationships, behaviors, and beliefs.  Simultaneously, they will grow to appreciate how interpretations and presentations of the past affect people living today.

ANT 171 / Contemporary Japan (crosslisted with JPN 171)

This course is a survey of social and cultural trends in contemporary Japan. Our main texts will be scholarly readings from the social sciences, but we will include films as another lens through which to consider significant phenomena, institutions, and directions in Japan today. We will investigate and discuss topics such as gender and family, language, race and ethnicity, religion, sports, food, and popular culture. Throughout the course, students will be asked to engage critically with course materials and, in so doing, to develop a more complex and nuanced perspective on social and cultural trends in contemporary Japan.

ANT 341 / Environmental Anthropology      

This course reviews classic perspectives in cultural ecology, but focuses on the more recent scholarship, especially scholarship that addresses human ecology, political ecology and urban ethnography to give the student perspective on how the environment is experienced in multiple cultural contexts, and how the environment affects different cultures in various ways.

ANT 361 / Human Osteology & Forensic Anthropology

The study of the human skeleton can reveal human origins as well as support the recovery, analysis, and identification of human skeletal remains in a medicolegal context. Students in this course will be introduced to the macro- and micro-anatomy of bone, techniques for identifying and siding individual bones, and methods used to develop a biological profile from human skeletal remains. The course also examines the role of forensic anthropologists in aspects of medicolegal death investigation that include personal identification, analysis of skeletal trauma, mass disasters, and human rights violations.

ANT 363 / Archaeological Field Methods

Field techniques in archaeology are designed to allow a methodological extraction of material remains in order to document data as thoroughly as possible during the destructive process of excavation.  This course is focused on understanding and applying the basic procedures and techniques used in archaeological excavation and recording.  The first part of the course will cover field techniques from surveying, mapping, field walking, photography, and excavation.  Here, we will study and analyze the methods applied at a number of sites of different contexts from around the world. Secondly, the course will address post-excavation analysis and curation of artifacts.  Proper documentation protocol, conservation, and preparation for museum storage will be discussed and practiced.  Finally, the archaeological techniques will be applied in an excavation during the third part of the class.  Here we will have hands-on experience excavating a real historical archaeology site.

ANT 390 / Research Course in Anthropology

A small group of students work closely with a faculty member on his/her ongoing research.  Students will learn to use the data collection and analysis methods used for the project and be offered opportunities to present the findings on campus or at a regional professional meeting. See description above for the Spring 2025 research course with Dr. Leader.

ANT 398 / 499 Senior Capstone Experience in Anthropology (crosslisted with SOC 398/499) – see description below. Enrollment with department consent

SOC 101 / Intro to Sociology

Sociology explores the intersection of biography and history.  Students learn the basic foundations of sociology, including its development as a field of inquiry, early sociological theory, and methodology.  The course also analyzes social organization, addressing culture, structure, socialization, and social control. Students investigate how culture, class, race, sex, family, medicine, business, religion, education, and government affect our lives.  Special attention is paid to the impact of society on self.

SOC 205 / Social Work & Human Service Professions

Are you drawn to collaborating with others to improve their lives in a meaningful way? This dynamic course is designed especially for students interested in any human services profession, particularly social work, but also fields such as public health, medical social services, counseling & therapy, rehabilitation, educational support, government, and non-profit management. Together we examine the theory and practice of social work and human services within the larger social welfare system in America. Our exploration probes: a) the complex array of problems that challenge the social functioning of individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities, (b) the various approaches, policies, and interventions employed to enhance or restore social functioning, (c) the unique values, knowledge, and skills required for effective professional practice, and (d) the multiple, varied, and rewarding career opportunities. Critical investigation of America’s structural and systemic social problems is a primary focus, including poverty and socio-economic inequality, health disparities, racism, sexism, and other forms of social injustice. The instructor emphasizes interactive and experiential learning, including small group discussions, career exploration with visiting social work professionals, and completion of a 30-hour, community-based, field experience at a site selected by the student.

SOC 281 / Sociology of Race in the US (crosslisted with AAS 281)

This course provides a sociological perspective on race and ethnicity in the United States. A sociological approach to this topic begins with the understanding that racial and ethnic categories including white are not objective measures of biological difference. Rather, these are socially created categories and are the result of historical struggles over economic resources, political access, and cultural identity. Indeed, categories of race and ethnicity are socially created to establish distinctions among human beings and to justify the unequal distribution of wealth, resources, power, privilege and prestige among members of society. The meanings assigned to categories of race, however, change over time and space. Crosslisted with AAS 281.

SOC 301 / Development of Socio-Cultural Theory

SOC 101 or ANT 110 is a pre-requisite (with a B- or better required of Sociology majors/minor)

The response of social theorists to the consequences of the industrial revolution and the issues of capitalism, secularism, modern consciousness, and the socio-critical enterprise, as seen through the work of such theorists as Marx, Durkheim, and Weber.  Contemporary development of these theories will also be discussed.

SOC 302 / Quantitative Research Methods

SOC 101 (B- or better), & STA 115 (B- or better) or STA 215 (C+ or better) are prerequisites. SOC302 and a required 80-minute lab class are co-requisites.

The course is designed to familiarize students with quantitative research methodology, methods of quantitative data collection, and analysis of quantitative data used in sociology.  In addition, students will learn one of the most widely used statistical software packages in the social sciences (SPSS) and conduct independent research using one of the most widely used sources of quantitative social data, the General Social Survey (GSS).  One additional 80-minute lab session is required as a co-component to this course.

SOC 335 / Love, Relationships, and Family  

Families represent one of the building blocks of social organization, but their structure and function has become increasingly dynamic.  How do young adults select romantic partners to form durable unions?  Are durable unions that involve ‘marriage’ different from those that don’t?  What is the relationship between marriage and parenting?  How do all of these issues vary in a society with increasing diversity in race, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, and religion?  This course examines these issues and many more to develop a stronger understanding of how intimate relationships shape and reproduce society.

SOC 355 / Introduction to Urban Planning (crosslisted with POL 370)

A general introduction to the theory, issues, problems, and practical realities of city planning in the United States. Also discusses urban planners; the role they play in the urban environment; and how their roles have changed in response to changing political, economic, cultural, and environmental factors.

SOC 360 / Social Movements & Community Activism

(SOC 101 or ANT 110 is a prerequisite)

Social movement activism, whether it is on a local, national, or international level, is about people coming together to achieve common goals. Activists face a variety of tasks: recruiting participants, mobilizing resources, assessing the political and social climate and conditions, planning strategies and organizing collective action. To be successful, they must find ways to sustain mobilization during setbacks, address problems of repression and internal disputes, overcome obstacles to mobilization and productively deal with the media. Therefore, the objective of this course is to introduce students to the field of social movements; particular emphasis is placed on the application of theoretical ideas to case studies in order to enhance our knowledge of community organizing and collective mobilization for social change.

SOC 370 / Sport and US Culture

In the United States, sport is an intense focus of attention. Sport serves as a source of identity, brings economic gain and loss, and is linked to patriotism and cultural ideals. Sport ignites passions, fills time, and shapes how we understand gender, race, class, and even our American identity. While sport is a source of joy to many people, it also reflects and contributes to social disparities. This course examines sport as an important aspect of historical and contemporary US culture and offers an analytic perspective on the myths and ideologies connected to sport and US culture. During the course, we will investigate sport in relation to numerous issues and statuses, and gain skills in the application of historical and sociological perspectives.

SOC 397 / Learning Assistantship in Sociology

Learning Assistants learn about the teaching of Sociology.  Students gain a deeper understanding of the particular course content area, gain insight into curriculum goals and methods of achieving them, and develop instructional skills in the areas of: providing written feedback, creating and/or delivering learning activities, and constructing learning tools.  Specific duties for the Learning Assistant are detailed in a contract that is developed and signed by both the student and faculty sponsor. [See above for Fall 2024 opportunity with Dr. Elizabeth Borland]

SOC 398 / Sociology Capstone Internship

Capstone internship constituting a culminating experience for sociology majors. Course draws on skills and knowledge of sociology courses as well as knowledge gained from the liberal arts broadly construed to be applied to reflect deeply and examine experiences and the social world at the internship site. Must be taken as a bundle with SOC 499 Senior Seminar in Sociology (of the same section number) to fulfill the capstone requirements of the sociology major.  (0.5 course unit; Corequisite: SOC 499; Prerequisites: SOC 301 and 302)

SOC 499 / Senior Capstone Seminar

SOC 301 and SOC 302 are prerequisites with a grade of C or better.

Senior seminar constituting a culminating experience for sociology majors. Course draws on skills and knowledge of sociology courses as well as knowledge gained from the liberal arts broadly construed. Must be taken as a bundle with SOC 398 Sociology Capstone Internship (of the same section number) to fulfill the capstone requirements of the sociology major. (0.5 course unit; Prerequisites: SOC 301 and 302; Corequisite: SOC 398)