REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR

Sixty-six credits in the department, including the following:

• SOAN 110: Introduction to Anthropology
• SOAN 111: Introduction to Sociology
• SOAN 240: Methods of Social Research
• SOAN 330: Sociological Thought and Theory
• SOAN 331: Anthropological Thought and Theory
• SOAN 400: Integrative Exercise

In addition, students must complete Mathematics 115 or 215 or earn a score of 4 or 5 on the Math AP Stats exam before taking Sociology/Anthropology 240. Students should plan on taking the theory courses, 330 and 331, and the research methods course, 240 in their junior year. The integrative exercise is spread out over the senior year, with most of the work falling in winter term. A maximum of 12 credits can be applied toward the major from relevant courses in off-campus programs.

In keeping with our philosophy of comparative studies and commitment to understanding human societies other than the one we live in, majors are strongly urged to develop an in depth study of a culture other than their own. This may be done through regular courses, independent study, or on off-campus programs. Early in their junior year, students should discuss ways of integrating such an in-depth study into their work in the major with their advisers.

We cannot emphasize too much how important it is that every student majoring in SOAN gain a deep, integrated understanding of another culture, and, through this experience, also learn about the practical and philosophical obstacles that make achieving such understanding difficult. Doing an intensive study of some other culture is not easy; nor does it guarantee that you will actually understand that culture. But if you don't make the effort, you miss out on two crucial and distinctive aspects of sociology and anthropology: 1) the fight against ethnocentrism through both empathetic and intellectual understanding of other cultures; and 2) the practice of certain techniques for achieving such understanding.

An additional important reason for gaining such in-depth knowledge of other cultures is that you are then in a much better position to understand and critique theory and method in sociology and anthropology. Your own efforts to understand another culture should lead you to appreciate the illumination that theory can shed on features of human society that seem to resist all comprehension. At the same time, the very insight you achieve can point up the strengths and weaknesses of particular theories for answering questions of various types.