Spring 2026 Courses

Courses are subject to change. Please check for most recent updates here.

Undergraduate Courses

SOCI 1110: Intro Sociology

It seems fitting to begin this course with a quote from “The Promise” by a famous sociologist, written in the early 1960s. It refers to changes which occur in a society and the effect of these changes on the individual. During this past 18 months we have certainly witnessed significant changes in our society, and C. Wright Mills’ “The Sociological Imagination” will provide insight to these changes and their effect on society and the individual.

This course will introduce students to the fundamental concepts and principles of sociology. Topics include the study of cultures, patterns of social values, social institutions, stratification, and social change.

  • 1110- 001 | Albright | TR 11:00-12:15 | FACE | CRN 50849
  • 1110- 002 | Wison | TR 9:30-10:45 | FACE | CRN 50850
  • 1110-003 | Torrez | ONLINE  | CRN 61945
  • 1110-005 | Torrez | ONLINE | CRN 59407 | 2nd Half Course
  • 1110-007 | Torrez | ONLINE | CRN 50854

SOCI 2120: Intro Criminal Justice Systems

Prerequisite: Sociology 1110 [SOC 101], or consent of the instructor. This course focuses on the study of crime, the criminal justice system and crime-related public policy. Discussion of key criminological concepts, the measurement of crime and delinquency, the distribution of crime in society, victimization, public opinion, the criminal justice system, and crime control strategies and policies.

  • 2120-001 | Vigil | MWF 11:00-11:50 | FACE | CRN 79090
  • 2120-002 | Olson | TR 11:00-12:15 | FACE | CRN 82427
  • 2120-003 | Martensen | ONLINE | CRN 50868

SOCI 2210: Sociology of Deviance

This course is designed to provide an overview of the study of deviance and social control from multiple sociological perspectives. The instructor will present how sociologists research deviance and social control and the ethical issues involved in studying human subjects involved in these activities. The course also examines central sociological theories for understanding the causes of deviant behavior.

*Prerequisite required: SOCI 1110: Intro Sociology

  • 2210-001 | Trujillo | TR 9:30-10:45 | FACE | CRN 50873
  • 2210-002 | Trujillo | MWF 3:30-4:45 | FACE | CRN 79167

SOCI 2315: The Dynamics of Prejudice

This course is designed to help students understand how attitudes and beliefs of individuals shape intergroup relations and their impacts on the daily lives of individuals as well as the effects that these beliefs have on the larger social structure of American society. We will examine how profoundly our society and the groups to which we belong, influence us and our beliefs and ultimately how these beliefs shape prejudice in our society. In this course, students are encouraged to challenge ideologies that are considered "common sense" or that are taken for granted and this in turn will allow them to critically engage issues in society such as racism, classism, sexism, and will leave with an understanding on how privilege affects our views on disability, LGBTQ issues, religion and immigration. Rather than investigating these themes in the abstract, students will identify and unpack how these larger structural issues play integral roles in their everyday lives, interactions, and existence. Ultimately, this course aims to address the social inequalities that exists in our society as a result of prejudice and will challenge students to identify and engage in strategies to work towards changing these aspects of society.

  • 2315-002 | Lopez | ONLINE | CRN 80801 | 1st Half Course
  • 2315-003 | Lopez | ONLINE | CRN 82431 | 2nd Half Course

SOCI 305: Environmental Sociology

  • 305-001 | Bateman | TR 12:30-1:45 | FACE | CRN 82428

SOCI 310: Sociology of Aging and the Aged

  • 310-001 | Torrez | TR 12:30-1:45 | FACE | CRN 82429

SOCI 312: Causes of Crime & Delinquency

A survey of criminological theories exploring why some people are more likely to engage in crime than others and why crime rates vary over time and space and across social groups. Attendant policy issues will also be discussed.

*Prerequisite required: SOCI 2120: Intro to Criminal Justice Systems  OR SOCI 2210: Sociology of Deviance

  • 312-001 | Ragan | TR 9:30-10:45 | FACE | CRN 55455
  • 312-003 | Ragan | TR 11:00-12:15 | FACE | CRN 79133

SOCI 325: Couples, Family, & Friendship

An overview of sociological research on the strongest social relationships and primary social groups: those of love, family and friendships.

  • 325-001 | Thomas | TR 12:30-1:45 | FACE | CRN 79127

SOCI 331: Social Movements

  • 331-001 | Goodman | MWF 11:00-11:50 | FACE | CRN 82430

SOCI 347-001: Health & Social Inequalities II

  •  Goodkind | TR 9:30-10:45 | Face | CRN 55450

SOCI 371: Sociological Theory

The study of how theory is constructed and applied by sociologists including traditions from 19th-century sociological founders and contemporary theoretical formulations.

*Prerequisite required: SOCI 1110: Intro Sociology

  • 371-001 | Weddington | TR 9:30-10:45 | FACE | CRN 55449
  • 371-002 | Goodman | MWF 10:00-10:50  | FACE| CRN 55448

SOCI 380: Intro to Research Methods

A survey of the major methods of social research: foundations of social research, research design, sampling and measurement, quantitative and qualitative research methods and data analysis.

*Prerequisite required: SOCI 1110: Intro Sociology

  • 380-001 | Echeverri-Herrera | TR 11:00-12:15 | Face | CRN 55447
  • 380-003 | Goodman | ONLINE | CRN 82432

SOCI 381L-001: Sociological Data Analysis

Introduction to quantitative sociological data analysis using basic statistics (both descriptive and inferential) and to the use of statistical software to analyze empirical data.

*Prerequisite required: SOCI 380: Intro to Research Methods AND Math 1350: Intro Statistics

  • 381L-001 | TBD | TR 11:00-12:15 & W 12:00-12:50 | Face | CRN 55335
  • 381L-002 | Davis | ONLINE | CRN 56380

SOCI 398-001: ST: Sociology of New Mexico

The course will examine the social, economic and cultural changes in New Mexican society from pre-Spanish colonial times to the present.  The process by which New Mexican society has moved from a rural/traditional/self-sufficient society to an urban/modern/capital society will be examined. The social institutions of the family, religion, education and health care services in New Mexico are presented.

  • Torrez | TR 11:00-12:15 | Face | CRN 61730

SOCI 398-004: ST: Health & Social Inequalities Lab

  •  Goodkind | ARRANGED | CRN 55438

SOCI 412-001: Sociology of Police & Social Control

Sociology of Police and Social Control is the study of the relationship between society and law enforcement agencies, including the societal context of policing and how law enforcement impacts society. Discussion will include law enforcement practices, training, and management; the interface of police and communities; historical and contemporary models of policing; and efforts at police reform. 
This course is the study of police as an institution of social control. In this course we will chart the development of professional policing in the United Kingdom and the United States from night watchmen slave patrols to the community policing and the “militarization” of policing. We take a critical analytical lens of policing, noting the complexities in understanding its evolution as an instrument of powerful groups but also as a powerful force in society, in its own right. Guiding our discovery and discussions will be the importance the police play in maintaining and shaping the status quo—whatever it is—by managing, suppressing, and silencing dissenting voices in the public sphere.  
*Prerequisite required: Soc. 312 : Causes of Crime & Delinquency
  • Olson | MWF 10:00-10:50 | FACE | CRN 82434

SOCI 415-001: Inequality and Power

This course focuses on the contemporary dynamics of social inequalities and power in US society. It lays particular emphasis on racial, gender, and economic oppression while outlining how these intersect with other systems and institutions.

  • Ray | Online | CRN 61946

SOCI 416-001: Sociology of Law

For the average citizen, there are few ways to be heard and even fewer to challenge power and authority. The American jury system stands out as the primary avenue through which an individual can confront powerful institutions such as governments and corporations. Through this system, even the most vulnerable and marginalized citizens can challenge even the most powerful entities.

This class aims to illuminate this reality through the lens of prisoner lawsuits.  These lawsuits filed by otherwise voiceless and powerless prisoners challenge the prison industrial complex, which comprises both powerful governmental actors and influential prison contractors.

We will delve into how plaintiff trials and juries play pivotal roles in shaping public policy and fostering societal change.  Juries, also often mocked, maligned and even feared, hold all the power at the end of the journey.  The first task for any trial lawyer or budding trial lawyer is to understand, respect and effectively communicate with potential jurors during jury selection and with the seated jurors throughout the trial.  The jury must be the focus from day one of a prisoner lawsuit. 

Prisoner lawsuits present a virtual minefield of issues, biases, prejudices against prisoners, government, prisons/jails and corporations.  It will be a fascinating journey of exploration as the students, the instructors and guests unravel the social science of trials and juries together and then piece together the stories that will appeal to a jury of 12 ordinary citizens.

  • Olson | Online | CRN 82435

SOCI 418-001: Social Justice in Criminology

This class explores the underlying logics of punishment and retributive justice that are foundational to the U.S. criminal legal system. The class will examine how retributive logics have allowed for social injustices, often along race, class, and gender lines. This special topics course explores various social justice-oriented alternative responses to crime/harm, including restorative justice, community accountability, and transformative justice.

See the flyer for the class here.

  • Martensen | TR 3:30-4:45 | FACE | CRN 79160

SOCI 418-002: Education & Criminal Justice

  • Roman Alfaro | TR 2:00-3:15 | FACE | CRN 79165

SOCI 419-001: Peers, Groups, and Gangs

  • Trujillo | TR 12:30-1:45 | FACE | CRN 80173

SOCI 420-001: Race & Ethnicity

  • Lopez | ONLINE | CRN 82433 | 2nd Half Course

SOCI 424-001: Race, Class, & Crime

This course examines how incarceration and criminalization affect people along racial, ethnic, class, and gender lines. The class will explore historical and modern contexts of mass incarceration and punishment in the racialized U.S. context. This class will discuss contemporary research as it relates to race/ethnicity and criminal legal institutions, including the racialized contexts of modern criminal justice reforms.

  • Truijllo | TR 11:00-12:15 | FACE | CRN 82463

SOCI 488-001: Sociology & Criminology Internship

The Sociology and Criminology Department offers a 3 or 6 credit upper division course that gets you out in the community. If you are interested in getting some practical experience in the community either out of intellectual curiosity or for professional development or both, consider taking the Sociology and Criminology Department’s internship course. The course, taught by Dr. Colin Olson, introduces the civic and professional aspects of internships and helps students develop the skills of an organizational ethnographer. At the end of the semester students write a short ethnographic paper on their internship site.  

  • 3 and 6 credit options
  • 10-20 hours weekly field experience
  • Junior and Senior status
  • Fall/Spring Semesters
  • 1 hour hybrid weekly small group discussion of organizational ethnography
  • Taught by  Dr. Colin Olson
  • For more information, contact Dr. Olson at  colino@unm.edu
  • See more information  here.
  • See the flyer  here.

Restriction: junior or senior standing, permission of instructor, 6 hours upper division SOCI course

  • Olson | M 12:00-12:50 | Face | CRN 61270

Graduate Courses

SOCI 500: Classical Sociological Theory

This seminar locates canonical sociological thinkers, primarily (but not exclusively) Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Max Weber as 19th and early 20th century social scientists. The focus on their texts will situate them as the basis of lasting sociological questions and lessons as well as the roots of contemporary conversations around race, class, and gender that go beyond the disciplinary boundaries of the discipline.

  • Weddington | M 3:30-6:00 | Face | CRN 82439

SOCI 530: Social Science Writing & Publishing

This course emphasizes writing and publishing skills, the publishing process for the social sciences and how to produce constructive peer reviews. Students will prepare one of their existing manuscripts for submission and publication.

  • Wilso | TR 3:30-6:00 | Face | CRN 82437

SOCI 531: Sociology Teaching Seminar 

This course is a professional development seminar that explores the dynamics of teaching undergraduate sociology. Topics include syllabus development, lecture preparation and delivery, interactive learning methods, taxonomies of learning, development of assignments to match learning objectives, and grading approaches. Students will develop a teaching portfolio and will prepare a course to teach on their own

  • Goodman & Olson | T 3:30-6:30 | Face | CRN 82440

SOCI 595: Reproductive Justice

What is reproductive justice? Whom is it for? Why do we need it? This course will provide an overview of reproductive justice as theory and movement. Centering Black, Indigenous, Third World and queer theories, and drawing on ethnography, this course will trouble the discursive hegemony of freedom and agency that has shaped conversations around reproductive politics. Finally, the course will outline how reproductive justice is connected to border and prison abolition, criminalization, health, and racial, class and gender justice.

  • Park | W 1:30-3:00 | Face | CRN 56178

SOCI 595-001: Social Networks

The course will be a blend of a reading/discussion seminar and a hands-on introductory methods workshop. The Discussion and Readings will be on the theoretical approaches behind Social Networks research (Relational Sociology), including work across the social sciences that puts patterns of relationships front and center as the focus. Some readings will be pure theory, most empirical research, but each week will center on a theme/idea that is important to the Networks lens for understanding the social world. Many weeks will include a Methods Hour in-class, which will presume no prior stats/math training, and will start gently. Some of it will be simple pencil-and-paper exercises, sometimes we'll use software, and by the end we'll learn networks tools in R. There will be no required materials to purchase for the course.

  • Thomas | T 3:30-6 | Face | CRN 82438