Sociology Offers a Timely Course in Organizations and Society for May Intersession

From "evil" organizations such as Enron to "model" organizations like Google, from global players such as Apple to local business Phone Doctor, from local Five and Dime retail shops in the 1960s to the No. 1 employer of the world, Walmart Inc., very few courses offer an analytic lens to dissect organizations in such great variety and dynamic growth.

SOCI 4063 Organizations in Society, which will be offered for three credits by the Department of Sociology and Criminology during May intersession, May 16-26, provides a critical lens, enabling students to look at those organizations with a unique perspective.

Song Yang, professor of sociology and course instructor, describes the class as "mixing serious academic theories with real-life examples and experiences that are educational and eye-opening."

The course begins by studying the world of work, covering topics such as work history, job satisfaction, work alienations, job rewards and inequalities. Then the class moves to organizational analysis, including topics such as organizations as a research subject, large organizations, evil organizations, organizational networks, and organizations and workers/employees.

Right after discussion of each topic, the class will engage in discussion with a daily theme, such as futures of jobs; professional jobs and professionalization; local and global players such as Walmart, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt; borderline organizations (casinos); specialty organizations (Match, Tinder and Sugar Daddy); and organizational evolutions (from Blockbuster to Netflix, the tale of two companies).

Yang said that while this is an in-person class, students can also elect to take it remotely using the class web page for lecture notes and Blackboard for grades and video streaming through Zoom.

This three-credit hour class has a prerequisite, General Sociology SOCI 2013, or with departmental consent.

However, Song said, "we basically welcome anybody who is interested in the subject. This class discusses basic theories and studies of organizations in modern society, but a great deal of discussion will be on real-life examples."

Have more questions before making a decision? Feel free to contact Yang via email at yangwang@uark.edu.

"I look forward to seeing you in the class," Yang said.