S O C I O L O G Y

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in April, 1998.  Although some courses, students, and faculty members referenced in the story may have changed, it still provides a full and accurate picture of the Sociology department.  For current course information and a faculty listing we encourage you to visit the department's homepage.

Examining the structures that organize society and shape individual behavior

When you look at a bunch of college students, what do you think you are seeing? Is it a number of individuals who are attending college because they are intelligent and intellectually motivated? Or is it a set of people who are inevitably in college because they are middle class or because their stratified educational system routed them into a college-bound track?

If you chose the first answer, you probably haven't taken a sociology course at Trinity. The discipline, notes Associate Professor of Sociology and Department Chair Stephen Valocchi, forces one to look beneath what seems to be obvious and familiar in search of the structures that organize society and shape the way individuals behave. In a manner of speaking, the sociological perspective is a mental step backward to a place where the individual trees can be appreciated in the context of the forest and the greater ecosystem.

Katherine E. Bisbee '98, one of about 15 sociology majors graduating this year, believes sociology is the major most applicable to life. "Everywhere I look I see sociology," she says. "It is how we interact with other people, how we live, and who we are."

Professor of Sociology John D. Brewer likens the discovery of the sociological perspective to "almost a conversion experience" for students. If so, it is one Trinity students are seeking in increasing numbers. Brewer, who joined the faculty in 1971, just two years after the department was founded, notes that enrollment in sociology classes is at an all-time high. Moreover, while the sociology faculty is small, its expertise is broad, enabling the department to offer courses as diverse as "Race, Racism, and Democracy," "Sociology of Law," "Social Perspectives on Health and Gender," and "Soviet and Post-Soviet Society."

The scientific methods
The essence of sociology is the science that converts the workings of human societies and organizations into data that can be evaluated and understood. Sociologists must be able to read various kinds of data with a critical eye and to know what kinds of research methods will be effective in answering specific research questions. Sociology majors at Trinity are required to take the "Research Methods in the Social Sciences" course and lab to learn techniques of data collection and analysis. In the course's computer component, students learn to manipulate their own data with the same statistical analysis software that is commonly used by state and city governments and the insurance industry.

Professor of Sociology Noreen L. Channels, who teaches the course, says the assignments outside the classroom range from on-campus observation and interviewing to data collection in the city. This spring, for example, students in the course participated in the MetroHartford Purchasing Power Index (PPI) Project, a cooperative effort of the Trinity Center for Neighborhoods and the Center for Reflection, Education, and Action. Students visited a variety of grocery stores in the area to record the prices of certain commodities. This data, along with information about the cost of housing, transportation, and other necessities, will ultimately be used to describe the effect of increases in minimum wage, for example, and the differences in purchasing power between people at different occupational levels in Hartford and surrounding towns. Channels says that in addition to learning about how to conduct sociological research, students had the satisfaction of participating in a project with real-life applications.

Community learning
The PPI Project is just one example of how the sociology department takes full advantage of the resources available at the College and of the opportunities afforded by Trinity's urban environment. Often collaborating with the Community Learning Initiative and the Community Service Office, sociology faculty members like to incorporate appropriate community-based learning experiences into their courses.

For example, students in Valocchi's "Race and Ethnicity" course tutor Hartford's racially and ethnically diverse youngsters in various community settings on a weekly basis. In the "Social Problems in America" course, Professor of Sociology Michael P. Sacks requires students to make three visits to homeless shelters with the purpose of interacting with the people there to gain a better understanding of the factors that come into play in homelessness. The "Organizing by Neighborhood" course, taught by Visiting Assistant Professor Alta Lash, combines a seminar classroom component with internships at neighborhood organizations.

In addition, Trinity sociology students have complemented their studies by fulfilling internships at a variety of city locations, including Hartford Hospital, the Institute of Living, and shelters for battered women. Valocchi also notes that the department has hired Lori Waite, an urban sociology specialist, as a new faculty member for the 1998-99 year, further expanding "the possibilities of the urban setting for teaching and research."

Putting it all together
For sociology majors, the senior thesis often serves to pull together the theory, the methodology, and the careful analysis of data, while highlighting the real-life immediacy of research questions. LaFleur F. Small '98 is doing her thesis on the welfare system. One part of the thesis explores the theoretical issues of what the stated purpose of welfare is and what functions it has been thought to actually fulfill. Complementing that component is her field work. Small interviewed people in Hartford to develop several ethnographies that describe real-life consequences of the recent dramatic changes in welfare law. She says, "I want to use these people's lives to shed some light on the theories. And I want to get at their whole life stories and who they are."

Professor Valocchi says that students find sociology compelling because "it demonstrates that the world is not fair." On the other hand, he points out, sociology's unflinching, scientific perspective also enables one to study a situation -- such as homelessness -- and, through research and analysis, offer practical solutions. He says, "I encourage students to ask the follow-up questions of `Why is it important?' and `How does it affect people's lives?'"

For some sociology majors, such questions can be a call to action. After graduation, Christopher R. Gauthier '98 intends to work with children and develop social programs in Boston through a Peace Corps-style program called "City Year." He says that through studying sociology, he learned that there are a lot of things wrong with the world. "For me personally," he says, "I think it would be irresponsible of me not to try to do something about it.

-Leslie Virostek