GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Sociology and Criminology is a student-centered department that critically engages fundamental questions about social actions and policies through course work, research, and practical experience.

DEPARTMENT MISSION

We seek to empower students to think critically about societies. We help to cultivate an understanding of the broader social milieu in which humans are located. We instill analytical skills that students can use to decipher great varieties of information, and understand the processes through which social facts exist, evolve and change.

Overall, we nurture in students an awareness of theory in a comparative perspective, and a desire to analyze information of all kinds with rigor. Through our diverse offerings on local, regional, national, and global social processes, we strive to create more complete human beings with a keen sense of humanity, social justice, and appropriate social policy.

DEPARTMENT DIVERSITY STATEMENT

The Department of Sociology and Criminology is committed to providing an inclusive intellectual community that recognizes, values, and embraces diversity in its many forms. Dimensions of diversity include, but are not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, social class, ability, age, neurodiversity, political viewpoint, nationality, and religious affiliation. Our goal is to cultivate a culture of meaningful engagement and learning that is enhanced by the richness of experiences, backgrounds, and identities constituting the Villanova community and society more broadly.

Our department is committed to affirming values that oppose racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, transphobia, classism, ageism, and hatred based on religious identity both publicly and explicitly. We take very seriously reports, formal or informal, of harassment and discrimination. We will make every effort to ensure that our commitment to social justice that encompasses values of diversity, equity and inclusion are manifest in our policies, programs, and practices. Each member of our community - faculty, staff, and students - shares in the responsibility to create a positive culture and to safeguard equity, inclusion, dignity, respect, and safety for all. We must all strive to be role models and to promote behaviors that remain consistent with our goals.

SOCIOLOGY LEARNING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Goal 1:

Students will demonstrate familiarity with the “sociological imagination.”

Specific Objectives:

1.1 Students will reflexively connect individual experiences with larger social structures and forces.

Goal 2:

Students will understand sociological theory.

Specific Objectives:

2.1 Students will gain a strong grasp of classical and contemporary sociological theories.

2.2 Students will compare and contrast the different theoretical perspectives.

2.3 Students will apply the theories to comprehend key social issues.

Goal 3:

Students will gain facility with sociological methods.

Specific Objectives:

3.1 Students will successfully design a research project.

3.2 Students will critically assess published research.

3.3 Students will develop theoretically informed hypotheses.

3.4 Students will test and analyze data.

3.5 Students will produce a comprehensive paper reporting their own research findings.

3.6 Students will become aware of ethical concerns related to the conduct of research.

Goal 4:

Students will be able to describe how social structures, culture and institutions operate.

Specific Objectives:

4.1 Students will acquire detailed knowledge of important social institutions, policies and cultural frameworks.

4.2 Students will learn how the foregoing social structures can both contribute to and ameliorate observed social inequalities.

Goal 5:

Students will develop and apply a comparative perspective to explain the diversity of human societies.

Specific Objectives:

5.1 Students will be able to evaluate the importance of variation in social processes and outcomes by race, class, gender and other relevant social categories.

5.2 Students will compare and analyze social life across cultures.

5.3 Students will compare and analyze social life across historical periods.

Goal 6:

Students will be able to competently and effectively communicate sociological concepts and their applications.

Specific Objectives:

6.1 Students can convey their sociological knowledge in writing to a range of audiences, including the research community, policy makers and the general public.

6.2 Students can convey their sociological knowledge orally to a range of audiences, including the research community, policy makers and the general public.

CRIMINOLOGY LEARNING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Goal 1:

Students will understand the nature of crime in the United States.

Specific Objectives:

1.1 Students will understand the socio-political nature of defining certain acts as criminal.

1.2 Students will gain familiarity with current and historical trends in crime.

1.3 Students will learn about the important correlates of crime.

Goal 2:

Students will understand criminological theory.

Specific Objectives:

2.1 Students will gain a strong grasp of classical and contemporary criminological theories.

2.2 Students will compare and contrast the different theoretical perspectives.

2.3 Students will apply the theories to comprehend crime and crime control efforts.

Goal 3:

Students will gain facility with criminological research methods.

Specific Objectives:

3.1 Students will successfully design a research project.

3.2 Students will critically assess published research.

3.3 Students will develop theoretically informed hypotheses.

3.4 Students will test and analyze data.

3.5 Students will produce a comprehensive paper reporting their own research findings.

3.6 Students will become aware of ethical concerns related to the conduct of research.

Goal 4:

Students will understand the nature and operation of the criminal justice system and its relation to other social structures, institutions and culture.

Specific Objectives

4.1 Students will acquire detailed knowledge of police, courts and punishment.

4.2 Students will comprehend the influence of race, class, gender and other social categories on how the criminal justice system operates.

4.3 Students will compare and analyze criminal justice systems across cultures and geographies.

4.4 Students will compare and analyze criminal justice systems across historical periods.

Goal 5:

Students will become familiar with the range of criminal justice policies, their effectiveness and their limitations.
Specific Objectives:

5.1 Students will evaluate the importance of variation in criminal justice processes and outcomes by race, class, gender and other relevant social categories.

5.2 Students will compare and analyze criminal justice policies across cultures and geographies.

5.3 Students will compare and analyze criminal justice policies across historical periods.

Goal 6:

Students will be able to competently and effectively communicate criminological concepts and their applications.

Specific Objectives:

6.1 Students can convey their criminological knowledge in writing to a range of audiences, including the research community, policy makers and the general public.

6.2 Students can convey their criminological knowledge orally to a range of audiences, including the research community, policy makers and the general public.