Study of Culture and Society department web site
The information on this page pertains to program requirements for students who matriculated in the 2022-2023 academic year. View requirements for previous catalog years here.
The Anthropology and Sociology (ANSO) major and the anthropology minor offer a multidimensional perspective on self, culture, society. The courses in both major and minor examine culture and society with a focus on language, meaning, difference, and power. Students are invited to cultivate reflexive, interpretive, and emphatic forms of cultural analysis.
ANSO majors benefit from the related yet distinct emphases of anthropology and sociology to better understand a globalized, multicultural, and often quite fraught world. The program prepares students for a variety of vocations in the global society as well as for graduate study in anthropology, sociology, and for various interdisciplinary areas like women’s and gender and ethnic studies. It also is a good preparation for law school and other professional education and training.
The major offers strong preparation for careers in global human rights, law and public administration, medicine and global public health, activism, social work, advertising and marketing, politics and public policy, business, banking, and consulting, to name just a few. The various courses in the ANSO program examine social groups and processes in a wide diversity of contexts, with an emphasis on critical thinking and social justice.
The program has flexibility built into the core course requirements and combines anthropology courses with sociology courses and allows courses from the program in rhetoric. Students are urged to work with their advisers to assure selection of courses compatible with their educational and career objectives.
| Course | Credits |
| SCSS 001 - Survey of Sociology | 3 |
| SCSA 002 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology | 3 |
| Choose two theory-intensive courses, one in anthropology (SCSA) and one in sociology (SCSS), from the list below: | 6 |
| SCS 110 - Culture, Knowledge, Power | |
| SCSA 081 - Borders and Boundaries | 3 |
| SCSA 170 - Global Political Violence | 3 |
| SCSA 175 - Medical Anthropology | 3 |
| SCSA 180 - Ritual and Myth | 3 |
| SCSS 080 - Social Problems | |
| SCSS 085 - Sociology of Everyday Life | |
| SCSS 135 - Science and Society | |
| SCSS 138 - Constructing Normal | |
| SCSS 151 - Criminology | |
| SCSS 170 - Deviance | |
| SCSS 175 - Social Stratification | |
| SCSS 176 - Documenting Lives | |
| Chose two research design courses. One course from anthropology and one from sociology, from the list below: | 6 |
| SCSA 046 - Anthropology of Religion | |
| SCSA 078 - The Practice of Oral History | |
| SCSA 153 - Documentary Video Challenge | |
| SCSA 156 - Ethnographic Methods | |
| SCSS 042 - Sociological Inquiry | |
| SCSS 156 - Representing Race | |
| SCSS 159 - Methods of Social Research | |
| STAT 050 - Statistics for Social Sciences | |
| Choose one community-engaged learning course from the list below. May not be double-counted as research design or theory intensive. | 3 |
| SCSA 046 - Anthropology of Religion | |
| SCSA 078 - The Practice of Oral History | |
| SCSA 153 - Documentary Video Challenge | |
| SCSA 175 - Medical Anthropology | |
| SCSA 180 - Ritual and Myth | |
| SCSS 076 - Sociology of Childhood | |
| SCSS 146 - Restorative Justice | |
| SCSS 156 - Representing Race | |
| SCSS 179 - Sociology of Education | |
| Choose four additional elective courses in anthropology/sociology. | 12 |
| SCSA 199 - Senior Capstone Seminar | 3 |
| TOTAL | 36 |
Up to 6 hours of rhetoric (SCSR) courses may count towards this major.
No more than nine hours of credit may be counted towards both ANSO and RMSC majors. Students completing the RMSC major must do a capstone course for each major.
A maximum of 9 hours of transfer credit may be used for the ANSO major. Transfer courses may not be used to fulfill the theory-intensive, research design, community-engaged, or capstone requirements.
To graduate with an ANSO major, students must earn grades of "C" or higher in each core course. Students completing the ANSO major may not earn a major sociology.
Students who wish to take courses from related areas must petition and have the substitution approved by the anthropology adviser. Petitions are available from anthropology and sociology faculty. To receive approval for the minor, a non-anthropology course must offer a cross-cultural, global and comparative perspective; examine a geographic area, culture or other subject in a manner amenable to cultural anthropology; or concentrate on or encourage the use of a methodological approach, theoretical framework or substantive problem that is of historical importance and/or complementary to cultural anthropology.
The anthropology minor requires completion of 18 hours of coursework in anthropology, including one entry-level course and an additional 15 hours of anthropology courses. Students may petition for up to 6 of the 18 hours be allowed from related disciplines or concentrations subject to advisor and department approval. Such courses must contain a cross-cultural, global, and comparative perspective; examine a geographic area, culture, or subject in a way similar to cultural anthropology; or focus on a method, theory, or substantive problem of historical importance relevant to cultural anthropology.
A maximum of 9 hours of transfer credit may be applied toward the anthropology minor.
| Required Courses | Credits |
| SCSA 002 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology | 3 |
| Choose five additional five courses in anthropology. | 15 |
| TOTAL | 18 |
The information in this catalog does not constitute a contract between the university and the student. The university reserves the right to make changes in curricula, admission policies and processes, tuition and financial aid, academic standards and guidelines, student services and any other regulations or policies set forth in this catalog without giving prior notice.