Southwestern University
2002-2003 Catalog

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SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT

Division of Social Sciences
Associate Professor Maria R. Lowe, PhD, Chair
Professor Dan C. Hilliard, PhD
Professor Edward L. Kain, PhD
Assistant Professor Mario J. Gonzales, PhD
Assistant Professor Melissa A. Johnson, PhD
Scholar-in-Residence Elizabeth Guillory, MA

At the heart of Sociology and Anthropology lies an interest in understanding the ways in which group membership, cultural context and social hierarchies affect people’s lived experiences and world views. Combining sociology’s focus on contemporary and historical patterns of social interaction with anthropology’s interests in systems of shared and contested cultural meanings, the department’s offerings encourage awareness and understanding of human diversity and cultural variation locally and globally. We are especially interested in examining the ways in which race, class, gender and other social attributes operate within systems of domination and resistance. Coursework within our department will challenge students to examine some of their most basic assumptions about the world and will contribute to a critical understanding of how the social world operates—an essential characteristic of a liberally educated global citizen. As a progressive department, we encourage in our students a commitment to social justice based on an appreciation of social and cultural diversity and an awareness of social inequality. Faculty members’ teaching and research embrace this commitment in a variety of ways, and we encourage students to use the knowledge, skills and perspectives they have gained through courses and other work with us to promote positive social change.
Graduates of the Sociology and Anthropology Department are well prepared to enter leading graduate programs in Anthropology, Sociology, Law, Social Work, Public Health, International Development, Latin American Studies and Public Policy. Recent graduates have found work in community development, public health, marketing and a variety of non-profit organizations. Others have joined the Peace Corps, Americorps, Vista and similar kinds of programs. Our graduates live and work throughout the United States and world.
The department seeks to emphasize how the two disciplines of Sociology and Anthropology complement each other. The department offers majors in both Sociology and Anthropology, as well as minors in both fields.

Sociology

Although it is a diverse field, sociology is united in (1) its acknowledgment that race, gender, and class deeply affect our perceptions and lived experiences, (2) its focus on inter-group comparisons, and (3) recognition of the sociological imagination as the foundation of the discipline. The sociology major is designed to help students critically examine the mutual link between our daily experiences and larger social structures. Though we specialize in social patterns and processes in the United States, we connect these issues to larger transnational phenomena. Our courses focus on topics germane to our current global society: the increasing ideological, financial, and political power of multinational corporations; the rise in the prison industry; the effects of globalization on social relations and communities; the causes and consequences of grassroots protest movements; the increase in the unequal distribution of resources within and across nations; the racialization of inner city poverty; and the changes in meanings and performances of femininities and masculinities.