Department
of Sociology
476 Fretwell Building
704-687-2252
http://www.socanth.uncc.edu/sociology/maprogram.htm
Degree
M.A., Master of Arts
Director
Dr. Lisa S. Rashotte
Graduate
Faculty
Judy R. Aulette, Associate Professor
Charles J. Brody, Professor and Chair
Yang Cao, Assistant Professor
Scott Fitzgerald, Assistant Professor
Rosemary L. Hopcroft, Associate Professor
Larry M. Lance, Associate Professor
Julie McLaughlin, Assistant Professor
Roslyn Mickelson, Professor
Stephanie Moller, Assistant Professor
Lisa S. Rashotte, Associate Professor
Teresa L. Scheid, Associate Professor
Joseph M. Whitmeyer, Professor
Diane Zablotsky, Associate Professor
Wei Zhao, Assistant Professor
The Master of Arts
in Sociology degree program provides students with skills for analysis of
social phenomena, from contemporary social problems to theoretical issues. Training concentrates on research design,
data analysis, interpretation and application of sociological
Program
of Study
The M.A. curriculum
is designed to meet the needs of students seeking master’s level research
skills for occupations requiring such expertise: in government, marketing,
program planning and evaluation, business, the media, and the non-profit
sector. The curriculum also prepares
students who wish to pursue the Ph.D., whether in sociology or a related
discipline (such as public policy or criminology). Coursework in the program concentrates on
building skills in research design, data analysis and interpretation and
application of sociological
Additional
Admission Requirements
1) An overall undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better
2) An acceptable score on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
3) Demonstrated undergraduate competence in research methods, theory and statistics for social research.
4) Eighteen credit hours of social science undergraduate courses.
Prerequisite
Requirements
Research Methods, Theory, Statistics for Social Research
Degree
Requirements
The program requires 35 semester hours of coursework. To
provide all students with a solid grounding in
Students must earn at least a B in each core course. Students earning a C in one of these courses must repeat the course and earn at least a B the next time it is offered. Students earning a C in two of these courses will be suspended from the program.
Admission
to Candidacy Requirements
Completion of at least 24 hours of required work.
Assistantships
The Department of Sociology offers both teaching assistantships and research assistantships; the latter are dependent upon faculty research funding. Teaching assistants assist faculty with coursework, or teach the undergraduate lab sections in research methods and statistics. They are paid approximately $9,000.00 for nine months of twenty hours per week work during the academic year. The workload and pay for research assistants varies. Assistantships are awarded on the basis of merit and experience.
Internships
While there is no formal system of ongoing internships, agencies do contact the department to find students who would be interested in an internship. Consequently, internships are optional and dependent upon a match between an agency’s needs and a student’s skills and interests.
Core
Courses (must take all four)
SOCY5151 Pro-Seminar: Social Problems and Social Policy (3) (Fall)
SOCY6651 Social Theory (3) (Fall)
SOCY6652 Issues in Social Research (3) (Spring)
SOCY6653 Advanced Quantitative Analysis (3) (Fall)
Additional Courses in Research Methods (must take at least one)
SOCY6136 Qualitative Research Methods (3) (On demand)
SOCY6617 Data Utilization (3) (On demand)
SOCY6630 Investigating Health and Health Services (3) (On demand)
SOCY6640 Evaluation Research for Applied Sociology (3) (On demand)
Outside
Electives
Students may take electives (up to 6 hours) from other departments as long as courses are at the graduate level (5000 or above).
Advising
The Graduate Director advises all graduate students until they select a person to serve as their Committee Chair.
Transfer
Credit
With departmental approval, students may transfer in up to six hours of graduate work for which the applicant received a grade of B or better from another institution, related UNC Charlotte degree program or related post-baccalaureate work.
Committee
The student’s committee shall consist of three faculty members: the Chair and two other individuals who assist with completion of the thesis or research practicum. One member of the committee, not the chair, may be from outside the department.
Thesis
Students formulate a research question or argument and collect empirical evidence to answer that question or support their argument.
Research
Practicum
As an alternative to the traditional thesis, students have the option of a research practicum. This may be combined with an internship. The student works with an organization or agency to complete a research evaluation project for the agency.
Research Opportunities/Experiences
Faculty members are actively engaged in research and students are strongly recommended to work with faculty to develop research expertise. In addition, a number of faculty members have funded research projects or internships on which qualified graduate students are able to work.
Tuition
Waivers
Both out-of-state and in-state tuition assistance is available and is awarded on the basis of merit and experience.
Financial
Assistance
Other than the assistantships and waivers described above, the Department offers the Pearson Fellowship, which is awarded annually to a graduate or undergraduate student who has interests and goals in improving race relations, expanding social justice, and establishing a more peaceful world. The award is made every spring and consists of $500 to be applied to tuition at UNC Charlotte.
Courses in Sociology
SOCY
5090. Topics
in Sociology. (3) Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. Intensive treatment or survey of related topics, depending on
student needs and interests. May be repeated for
credit as topics vary. (On demand)
SOCY 5111. Social Inequality. (3) Distribution of power, privilege and prestige; correlates and consequences of inequality; national and international comparisons. (Yearly)
SOCY 5125. Urban Sociology. (3) Cross cultural analysis of urban development, social structure, ecology, demographic composition, and social problems. (Yearly)
SOCY 5130. Sociology of Health and Illness. (3) The cultural and structural influences on the definition of health and illness; models of illness behaviors; health demography and epidemiology; social influences on the delivery of health care; ethical issues surrounding health and illness; the development of relevant social policy. (Yearly)
SOCY 5131. Family Policy. (3) Critical analysis of four aspects of family policy; the historical and cultural factors that have resulted in specific policies affecting the family; the specification of contemporary family policy at both the national and state level; the intended and actual application of existing family policy; and the implications and impact of policies as they are interpreted and implemented. (On Demand)
SOCY 5134. Families and Aging. (3) Theories explaining the formation and functioning of American families with emphasis on the impact of the aging of society; examination of the current demographic trends and expectations of multigenerational families as well as the future demands and modifications. (On Demand)
SOCY 5135. Sociology of Education. (3) Educational institution; the school class as a social system; the school as a social environment and a complex organization. (Yearly)
SOCY 5150. Older Individual and Society. (3) Review of the theories explaining the formation and functioning of American families with emphasis on the impact of the aging of society. Examination of the current demographic trends and expectations of multigenerational families as well as the future demands and modifications. (Yearly)
SOCY 5151. Pro-seminar: Social Problems and Social Policy. (3) Prerequisite: graduate student in sociology or senior sociology major. Introduction to the discipline of sociology and the UNC Charlotte department; basic skills for graduate school. (Fall)
SOCY 5154. Contemporary Social Theory. (3)
Elements and process of
SOCY 5631. Seminar in Family Violence. (3)
Prerequisite: senior, graduate student or consent of the instructor. Family violence in the context of a changing society and family
system. Principal foci: child abuse, sexual abuse, spouse abuse; other
forms of family violence. Investigation of these topics in
terms of sociocultural influences and internal
dynamics of families. (On demand)
SOCY 5632. Changing American Family. (3) Family theories; family system in relation to other social systems; integration of marital, parental and occupational roles in context of changing socioeconomic influences; traditional versus contemporary family roles; breakdown in stable family functioning. (On demand)
SOCY 6090. Topics in Sociology. (3)
Prerequisite: consent of department. Intensive treatment of a
topic or survey of related topics, depending on student needs and interests.
may be repeated for credit as topics vary. (On demand)
SOCY 6130. Sociology of Aging: Theories and Research. (3) Application of stratification theories and demography are applied to the older population. Issues of race, gender, socio-economic status, age, and geographic distribution are examined to investigate the diversity of the older age group and their access to resources. (Alternate years)
SOCY 6135. Social Context of Schooling. (3)
The political economy of schooling; race, class, and gender effects on
educational processes and outcomes; the school as a complex organization; the
sociology of school reform movements. (Alternate
years)
SOCY 6136. Qualitative Research Methods. (3)
Collection and analysis of qualitative data including use of grounded
SOCY 6137. The Political Economy and School Reform. (3) Prerequisite: SOCY 4135, graduate status, or consent of instructor. Relationship between the business community’s vision for school reform and the school restructuring movement locally and nationally, including social and political processes associated with corporate involvement in defining the problem with schools and shaping solutions, the intersection of education and the economy, and the relationship between schooling and social inequality. (On demand)
SOCY 6138. Social Organization of Health Care.
(3) Focuses on the structures and operations of health care institutions
and providers. The topics covered include the socio-historical development of
the existing health care system, health care occupations and professions,
professional power and autonomy, professional socialization, inter-professional
and provider-patient relations, health care organizations and the delivery of
services, and how social change affects the health care sector. (On demand)
SOCY 6614. Self and Society. (3)
Examination of theoretical constructs and substantive concerns relevant to the
socialization process; comparison of symbolic interactionism,
ethnomethodology, phenomenology; emphasis on social
construction of reality in various “social worlds” (deviant, work, family). (Alternate years)
SOCY 6615. Dilemmas in Organizations. (3)
Examines organizational
SOCY 6616. Stratification and Inequality. (3)
Examination of theories of stratification and the causes, processes and social
consequences of economic and political inequality; assumptions behind,
mechanisms for, and consequences of government and private sector strategies to
address problems associated with inequality.
(Alternate years)
SOCY 6617. Data Utilization. (3)
Methodological and statistical strategies for applied sociological research
within organizational settings; selecting the best strategies consistent with
budgetary, manpower and organizational constraints; interpreting and
communicating research results in ways understandable to and useful for
organizational decision-makers. (Alternate
years)
SOCY 6630. Investigating Health and Health Services.
(3) Prerequisites: SOCY 4130, or graduate standing, or permission of
instructor. Useful to those seeking research careers, to administrators in
health care, and to primary care providers. How to conduct
and evaluate research in health care settings, emphasizing both quantitative and
qualitative methodologies as well as the utilization of secondary data. (Alternate years)
SOCY 6640. Evaluation Research for Applied Sociology.
(3) Prerequisites: SOCY 6652 and introductory statistics. Evaluation research from an applied sociological perspective,
including incorporation of social
SOCY 6651. Social Theory. (3) Analysis of contemporary social theories, with emphasis on their implications for planned change. (Fall)
SOCY 6652. Issues in Social Research. (3)
Examination of epistemology of social research; assumptions and methods of
specific research strategies; ethical and policy issues of applied and academic
research. (Spring)
SOCY 6653. Advanced Quantitative Analysis. (3)
Prerequisites: six hours in Introductory Statistics and/or Research Methods.
Contemporary techniques of data analysis, management and processing applied to
specific topics; measurement models, data reduction strategies, and
multivariate procedures. (Fall)
SOCY 6895. Tutorial in Sociology. (1-4)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Directed reading
and/or research; development of expertise in substantive area. May be repeated for credit. (Fall, Spring,
Summer)
SOCY 6897. Research Practicum. (1-6) Prerequisite: SOCY 6651 and 6652. Preparation of research paper based upon research completed within a community organization or agency. The student will develop a consultant-client relationship with the agency or organization and conduct a research/evaluation project on behalf of the agency or organization (such as a needs assessment, program evaluation, social impact assessment or policy analysis. (Fall, Spring)
SOCY 6996. Thesis. (1-6) Prerequisites: completion of all other coursework and admission to candidacy by Graduate Committee. Applied, academic, or theoretical research project, defended before graduate faculty. May be repeated for credit up to six hours. (Fall, Spring, Summer)
SOCY 7999. Graduate Residence. (1) Continuation of individual thesis project. (Fall, Spring, Summer)