This is the preliminary (or launch) version of the 2024-2025 VCU Bulletin. We may add courses that expose our students to cutting-edge content and transformative learning. We may also add content to the general education program that focuses on racial literacy and a racial literacy graduation requirement, and may receive notification of additional program approvals after the launch. The final edition and full PDF version will include these updates and will be available in August prior to the beginning of the fall semester.
SOCS 291. Issues in Social Science. 1-3 Hours.
Semester course; variable hours. 1-3 credits per semester. Maximum total of 6 credits. An interdisciplinary course structured around social issues pertinent to today's society. See the Schedule of Classes for specific topics to be offered each semester and the semester credit for which each course will be offered.
SOCS 302. Diverse Families and Children in the United States. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Focuses on the diversity of family life in the United States. Students are encouraged to analyze and appreciate the differences that emerge from such factors as socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity (language, religion, national origin). Attention is given to the variations and commonalities in how parents teach, guide and influence children and adolescents.
SOCS 303. Marriage and Family Relationships. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: SOCY 101 or permission of instructor. Marriage and the family in contemporary society. Topics discussed will include the effects of masculine and feminine roles on marital and parent-child relationships, how role problems are resolved, sexual adjustments, financial adjustment, family planning and retirement.
SOCS 330. The Psychology and Sociology of Death. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: PSYC 101 or SOCY 101. An interdisciplinary study of the encounter with death, death and personality, the organizational processing of death and demographic regularities of dying. Sociologists and psychologists jointly teach the course.
SOCS 340. Human Sexuality. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours (delivered online, face-to-face or hybrid). 3 credits. A study of the variety of the forms, sources and consequences of human sexual behaviors and the attitudes, beliefs and values associated with them. The data and its analysis are directed to the significance of sex in human experience.
SOCS 350. The Construction of Culture. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. An examination, using methods from several disciplines, of the ways in which human beings construct the shared meanings that constitute culture.
SOCS 389. AIDS: Myths and Realities. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: SOCY 101. Presents the students with the fundamentals of infectious disease, immunology and virology as they apply to HIV disease. Students will trace the psychosocial impact the HIV pandemic has had on society since the early 1980s, and will explore the future possibilities for those who are HIV infected and/or HIV affected.
SOCS 391. Topics in Social Science. 1-3 Hours.
Semester course; 1-3 lecture hours. 1-3 credits. May be repeated for a maximum total of 6 credits. An interdisciplinary course structured around an in-depth study of selected social issues pertinent to today's society. See the Schedule of Classes for specific topics and credits to be offered each semester.