Graduate Sociology Courses
SOCI 5302. Methods of Social Research. 3 Credit Hours (Lecture: 3 Hours, Lab: 0 Hours).
Principles and methods of social research, including research design, methods of observation, questionnaires, interviews, and other sources of social data; qualitative and quantitative techniques of inference; analysis and research report writing. Research studies and projects will be undertaken by the students appropriate for graduate level coursework.
SOCI 5306. Water Policy. 3 Credit Hours (Lecture: 3 Hours, Lab: 0 Hours).
This course offers an interdisciplinary exploration on “water policies" -- that is, the political dimensions of human manipulation of water, wetlands and watersheds. While the substantive focus is water, the course is design to provide a broader introduction to social-scientific theorizing about human-environment relations. A central objective of the course will be examining Texas environmental laws regarding water policy; while employing a range of geographically diverse case studies that examine major topics on water politics, including: large-scale hydro-development and grassroots resistance thereto as a subset of the contentious history of international development policy more broadly the governance of common-pool resources; the emergence of participatory and community-based water management policies; the "neoliberalization" of water resources through privatization, marketization and commodification; and conflict and cooperation in the governance of trans-boundary waters. Our examination is guided analytically themes central to the environmental social sciences, including: power, institutions, political economy, and the social embeddedness of science. Credit for SOCI 4306, WSES 4306, and SOCI 5306 will not be awarded.
SOCI 5312. Environmental Sociology. 3 Credit Hours (Lecture: 3 Hours, Lab: 0 Hours).
Examines relationships and interactions between society and the environment. Also examines how the natural world and its degradation influence the way societies are organized by studying human communities as part of natural ecosystems.
SOCI 5386. Problems in Sociology. 3 Credit Hours (Lecture: 3 Hours, Lab: 0 Hours).
Independent reading, research, and discussion under the supervision of an instructor. May be repeated as topic varies for up to six hours of credit.
SOCI 5390. Special Topics in Sociology. 3 Credit Hours (Lecture: 3 Hours, Lab: 0 Hours).
Selected topics in an identified area of sociology. May be repeated as topics vary.