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Graduate – Fall 2024 (TBA)
Since the publication in the 1980s of the seminal essay by Chandra Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes," feminist scholarship has sought to decolonize knowledge by decentering the Global North and rejecting the universalization of Western experiences. Differences in experiences across cultures and nations became a focal point of feminist inquiry. Universal claims engendered suspicion, leading many to reject analysis of larger systems such as "patriarchy." The avoidance of ethnocentrism also became a priority. How do we achieve these goals? In other words, how do we decolonize feminist knowledge?
This course pursues three objectives: first, it seeks to revisit classic texts in the history of political thought in light of the question of gender. Second, the course seeks to make students familiar with different approaches in the history of political thought (contextualism, conceptual history, etc.). Third, it introduces contemporary debates about gender and central political concepts such as justice and democracy.
This is the second class of the quantitative methods field sequence in the PhD. in Politics; it is meant to be taken after POL 572. The class covers causal inference and program evaluation methods at a graduate level, as well as advanced topics in statistics such as nonparametric estimation and partial identification. POL 572 is a prerequisite of this class.
This course provides a broad overview of the field of population studies. Topics covered include: a survey of past and current trends in the growth of the population, analysis of the components of population change (fertility, mortality, migration) and their determinants, the social and economic consequences of population change (environmental, ageing and the welfare state), racial/ethnic and spatial inequality and population policy. The readings cover issues in industrialized as well as low-income countries, with a focus on the U.S. for several topics.
A rigorous first course in regression with applications to social science. Assuming only basic math, the course covers probability, inference from random samples, multiple regression and modern causal inference. Throughout we provide an introduction to programming with the open-source statistical package R and examples from current social science research.
This course explores sociological theory as it shaped the discipline and continues to be important today. Readings come from both the field's 'classics', like Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, and Du Bois and more recent thinkers whose work shaped perspectives like symbolic interactionism, feminist sociology, critical theory, and human ecology. Themes include rising individualism, the growing integration of national societies, and the impact of colonialism, migration, global order and conflict. We also examine different approaches to theorizing and their relationship to empirical research.
Preparation of quantitative research papers based on field experiments, laboratory experiments, survey procedures, and secondary analysis of existing data banks.
This course focuses on the causes, consequences, and responses to urban inequality. The course is organized in four parts. First, we consider how one comes to learn about and understand cities and neighborhoods. Second, we review classic and current ideas about how urbanization affects the way we live and interact with each other. Third, we assess various explanations for urban inequality. Fourth, we focus our attention on central problems and challenges of urban life, from segregation to violence, and consider policy responses.
This course covers selected topics in the sociology of organizations. We first undertake a brief introduction to organizational theories. We then consider empirical applications across an array of domains and sub-fields, including work and labor markets, politics and social movements, education, and social stratification.
This graduate seminar provides students an introduction to the study of social networks. This course approaches networks as an orienting perspective, as a set of methods, and as a topic of empirical investigation. Because the study of networks is interdisciplinary, we read materials from many different fields. Statistical knowledge equivalent to what is provided in SOC 500/SOC 504 is assumed.
Sociologists see social inequality as produced by market exchanges, non-market organization of social groups, and political institutions. This unit aims to (1) develop an understanding of sociological analysis of inequality, and (2) introduce key empirical research in stratification and inequality. Weber's essay provides the classic statement of this approach, elaborated in theories of market networks, cultural transmission of group identities, and forms of citizenship.
Course aims to improve students' abilities to understand and critically evaluate public opinion polls and surveys, particularly as they are used to influence public policy. Course begins with an overview of contrasting perspectives on the role of public opinion in politics, then examines the evolution of public opinion polling in the US and other countries. Class visits a major polling operation to get a firsthand look at procedures used for designing representative samples and conducting surveys by telephone, mail and Internet.
The Research Apprenticeship involves faculty assignment to students that lead to the acquisition of new research skills by the student and/or may lead to a joint research project during that semester or in the future. This may include quantitative or qualitative research methods and/or a substantive area of research (i.e. a survey of a literature). It is required during each semester of the first two years of graduate study (A,B,C,D). SOC 599A and 599C are offered in the fall and SOC 599B and 599D are offered in the spring.
Undergraduate – Fall 2024 (TBA)
Introduction to Sociology looks at the social forces--some strikingly obvious, some hidden yet powerful--that shape our lives and the world around us. Our choices as individuals are almost always enmeshed in deeper social structures, such as perceived racial categories, the geography of job opportunities, and who we know and don't know. Sociology gives us diverse conceptual and methodological tools to help us uncover these social structures and understand how they shape our lives. This course introduces some of sociology's best-known tools and insights they've revealed so far.
Introduction to Sociology looks at the social forces--some strikingly obvious, some hidden yet powerful--that shape our lives and the world around us. Our choices as individuals are almost always enmeshed in deeper social structures, such as perceived racial categories, the geography of job opportunities, and who we know and don't know. Sociology gives us diverse conceptual and methodological tools to help us uncover these social structures and understand how they shape our lives. This course introduces some of sociology's best-known tools and insights they've revealed so far.
This course will introduce you to the conservative tradition in sociology. The course does not deal with conservative movements. Our focus, instead, is on an intellectual tradition: styles of thought and ways of understanding the social world. We will explore this from the late 19th century through today. Our course is centered around five main themes: (1) Conservatism within the classical sociological tradition; (2) a focus on the case of "The Ghetto" and the experiences of Black Americans in urban America; (3) the conservative embrace of and concerns about capitalism; (4) the sociology of the family; (5) religion in social life.
An introduction to the social bases of American politics and the political forces in the shaping of American society. This year's class will focus on racial, gender, and class divisions in contemporary America.
This course will examine different crises confronting cities in the 21st century. Topics will range from informal settlements, to immigration, terrorism, shrinking population, sprawl, rising seas, affordable housing, gentrification, smart cities. The range of cities will include Los Angles, New Orleans, Paris, Logos, Caracas, Havana, New York, Hong Kong, Dubai among others.
This course provides students an introduction to the study of social networks. In the first half of the course we will learn the core theories that describe the structure of networks and the processes through which things, such as information and disease, spread through networks. Then, in the second half of the course, we will see these theories applied in a variety of areas such as online filter bubbles, HIV/AIDS, and social fads.
Bruce Springsteen embodies the contradictions and complexities of U.S. politics. He is a progressive who sings about a demographic that is now a core element of President Donald Trump's base. He chronicles life in the U.S. focusing on a range of topics from loneliness, community, and freedom, to teen pregnancy, street car racing, and immigration. Class sessions will highlight one or more songs and academic literature to learn what sociology can teach about the issues raised by Springsteen's music. The seminar will be an opportunity to interrogate a vision of America - a country riven by politics but that is more then the sum of its politics.
By taking a comparative approach, this course examines the role of social, economic, and political factors in the emergence and transformation of modern cities in the United States and selected areas of Latin America. We consider the city in its dual image: both as a center of progress and as a redoubt of social problems, especially poverty. Attention is given to spatial processes that have resulted in the aggregation and desegregation of populations differentiated by social class and race.
This course seeks to provide a sociological account of crime and punishment. Why do people commit crime? How should we respond to crime? How has crime policy changed over the past several decades? What are the consequences of recent crime policy? By reading classic and contemporary sociological research, policy analysis, and media coverage, we will explore the themes of crime and punishment in contemporary society.
Who succeeds in school, and why? What do schools teach students, in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic? What is the role of schools in modern society? How do schools reproduce, interrupt, or legitimate the social order? In this course, you will apply sociological perspectives to the study of education.
This course will provide a scientifically informed understanding of how population processes shape society and how they are, in turn, shaped by social, economic, policy, and environmental context. Focusing on the four core demographic processes (fertility, nuptiality, mortality, and migration), readings and lectures demonstrate the demographic underpinnings of high-profile issues such as population decline, immigration, childlessness, population aging and social transfer programs, complex families, social inequality, and the impact of climate change. We will read and discuss treatment of these issues in academic outlets and the popular press.
Equal parts art, programming, and statistical reasoning, data visualization is critical for anyone who seeks to analyze data. Data analysis skills have become essential for those pursuing careers in policy evaluation, business consulting, and research in fields like public health, social science, or education. This course introduces students to the powerful R programming language and the basics of creating data-analysis graphics in R.
Technology and society are unthinkable without each other, each provides the means and framework in which the other develops. To explore this dynamic, this course investigates a wide array of questions on the interaction between technology, society, politics, and economics, emphasizing the themes such as innovation and regulation, risk and failure, ethics and expertise. Specific topics covered include nuclear power and disasters, green energy, the development and regulation of the Internet, medical expertise and controversy, intellectual property, the financial crisis, and the electric power grid.
This course is an introduction to the logic and practice of social science research. The goal is to provide methodological training that will enable students to design and execute successful independent research projects. We review a range of approaches used by sociologists to answer research questions, including field experiments, surveys, observation, in-depth interviews, and mixed method research.
This course is an introduction to the logic and practice of social science research. The goal is to provide methodological training that will enable students to design and execute successful independent research projects. We review a range of approaches used by sociologists to answer research questions, including field experiments, surveys, observation, in-depth interviews, and mixed method research.
Most research in sociology is quantitative, and it is important for students to be able to critically evaluate published quantitative research. Ideally, students should also be able to conduct empirical research involving statistical methods. This course provides the foundation for both goals. The course focuses specifically on how to determine, apply, and interpret statistical methods appropriate for answering a sociological research question given a particular set of data. Basic probability theory is introduced as a building block of statistical reasoning, and a variety of commonly-used statistical methods are covered in the course.
Most research in sociology is quantitative, and it is important for students to be able to critically evaluate published quantitative research. Ideally, students should also be able to conduct empirical research involving statistical methods. This course provides the foundation for both goals. The course focuses specifically on how to determine, apply, and interpret statistical methods appropriate for answering a sociological research question given a particular set of data. Basic probability theory is introduced as a building block of statistical reasoning, and a variety of commonly-used statistical methods are covered in the course.
This course takes a close look at the foundational texts and critical concepts in the discipline of sociology, focusing on classical theorists. The primary goal of the class is to help students understand theories of society and the organization of human communities. Key authors include Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Dubois, Burke, Hobbes, Locke, Tocqueville, and Arendt. We will put these authors in their historical contexts, explore how they can be used now to understand the social world, and examine how they might be deployed in empirical research contexts.
Would universal health insurance improve the health of the poor? Do patterns of arrests in US cities show evidence of racial profiling? What accounts for who votes and their choice of candidates? This course will teach students how to address these and other social science questions by analyzing quantitative data. The course introduces basic principles of statistical inference and programming skills for data analysis. The goal is to provide students with the foundation necessary to analyze data in their own research and to become critical consumers of statistical claims made in the news media, in policy reports, and in academic research.
This course offers a friendly and practical introduction to data science for social science. Mathematical notation used in the course will be minimized. The course focuses on learning computing and programming tools for managing and analyzing data, as well as understanding the conceptual foundations behind different approaches to data analysis. By the end of the course, students should be able to summarize and visualize data, evaluate causal claims, use linear regression for data analysis, quantify uncertainty, and work with professional tools such as R and RStudio.
Sexuality is fundamental to the organization of society -- both in the U.S. and across the world. Though sexuality carries important personal significance, the understanding of why and how it influences our lives is inextricably woven into a complex, global fabric. The aim of this course is to unravel this fabric and reveal the deeply globalized nature of sexuality in the modern era and how this shapes understandings of sexuality, the sexual identities available to us, and how the state regulates it -- especially from a global, comparative perspective.
Analyzes the historical construction of race as a concept in American society, how and why this concept was institutionalized publicly and privately in various arenas of U.S. public life at different historical junctures, and the progress that has been made in dismantling racialized institutions since the civil rights era.
Analyzes the historical construction of race as a concept in American society, how and why this concept was institutionalized publicly and privately in various arenas of U.S. public life at different historical junctures, and the progress that has been made in dismantling racialized institutions since the civil rights era.
The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages? Drawing on history, social-scientific research, and reporting, this seminar will attempt to unravel this question. Weekly, we will discuss a topic central to understanding the causes and consequences of, and solutions to, American poverty. We will take field trips, welcome guests, and collaborate on projects to abolish poverty.
Introduction to communications policy and law, covering classical dilemmas and current controversies over the media, including such topics as freedom of the press, libel and privacy, the precarious economics of journalism, communications regulation, power of the giant tech platforms, and disinformation.
This course will examine how institutions develop, vary in design, and shape public policy. Law will be a primary focus because it is central to the development of institutions in modern societies and provides the formal means for expressing and fixing policy. The course will cover a wide range of institutions- social, economic, and political- not only in an American context but also in comparative perspective.
Why do people move across borders, and what happens when they do? Migration has shaped our world for centuries, and today, it is at the center of heated debates in politics, the media, and academic research. In this course, we will explore the forces driving human mobility - like economic opportunity, social networks, conflicts - and what happens when migrants settle in new places. We will take a global view and ask big-picture questions: How do people make decisions about moving? How do policies shape migration flows? How do politics influence these policies?
This course examines economic phenomena from a sociological perspective. We first consider conceptual tools that sociologists have used to understand economic life and connections between economy and society. We then apply these concepts to a rich array of topics including labor markets, worklife, firms, commodification and consumption, credit and finance, social stratification and inequality, and contemporary transformations of capitalism
This course examines economic phenomena from a sociological perspective. We first consider conceptual tools that sociologists have used to understand economic life and connections between economy and society. We then apply these concepts to a rich array of topics including labor markets, worklife, firms, commodification and consumption, credit and finance, social stratification and inequality, and contemporary transformations of capitalism
This class examines the history of urban and suburban housing in the twentieth century US. We will examine the relationship between postwar suburban development as a corollary to the "underdevelopment" of American cities contributing to what scholars have described as the "urban crisis" of the 1960s. Housing choice and location were largely shaped by discriminatory practices in the real estate market, thus, the course explores the consequences of the relationship between public policy and private institutions in shaping the metropolitan area including after the passage of federal anti-housing discrimination legislation in the late 1960s.
This course explores how race, class, and power shape today's market economy. It draws from economic sociology to unpack how race and class hierarchies define economic lives and structures. It attends explicitly to the construction of money and its role in producing economic and financial inequalities. Class discussions and writing assignments address various topical matters, including housing, credit, banking, the financial services industry, wealth management, and social finance.
Examines the cultures of classes within American society and asks to what extent people's identities, relationships, or chances for social mobility are shaped by their class culture. Looks at high and popular culture as well as mass media, paying attention to patterns of cultural consumption ("taste") and asks how these patterns work to reproduce the class structure.
This seminar focuses on the structural and institutional foundations of racial discrimination in the United States. It emphasizes the contributions of sociologists, some of whom will participate as invited guests. The course gives a historical overview followed by an investigation of key legislative actions and economic factors inhibiting racial equality. Subsequent topics include migration and immigration; urban development; and residential segregation. The end of the course reviews resistance movements and policies aimed at addressing systemic racism, including restorative justice and reparations.
This course focuses on the structural and institutional foundations of racial discrimination in the United States. It emphasizes the contributions of sociologists. The course gives a historical overview followed by an investigation of key legislative actions and economic factors inhibiting racial equality. Subsequent topics include migration and immigration; urban development; and residential segregation. The end of the course reviews resistance movements and policies aimed at addressing systemic racism, including restorative justice and reparations.
Why do people love Broadway musicals? How do audiences engage with musicals and their stars? How have fan practices changed since the 1950s alongside economic and artistic changes in New York and on Broadway? In what ways does "fan of" constitute a social identity? How do fans perform their devotion to a show, to particular performers, and to each other? This class examines the social forms co-created by performers and audiences, both during a performance and in the wider culture. Students will practice research methods including archival research, ethnographic observation, in-depth interviewing, and textual and performance analysis.
This seminar, taught at University of Tokyo offers an opportunity to understand contemporary Japanese society through lectures, readings, discussions, and field trips in both urban and rural Japan. In the six weeks, we will cover six important topics in six modules. For each module, we will have a combination of a lecture, a guest lecture, readings, student presentations, and class discussions.
This course seeks to help students understand the basic elements of the ethnographic method and how it can be applied to the analysis of various public policy settings. We will focus on the suitability of ethnography for addressing at least three basic issues: (1) how people on the ground are affected by public policies; (2) the unintended consequences of public policy; (3) the co-production of public services, particularly the interaction between front line bureaucrats and their clients.
This course examines the social impact of driverless cars, a rapidly evolving AI-driven technology poised to transform the way we travel. Through a sociological lens, we will explore how AI-powered automation affects safety, accessibility, employment, urban planning, and the environment, as well as privacy and data security. We will analyze how machine learning, predictive analytics, and autonomous decision-making shape society. Through interdisciplinary readings, discussions, and projects, students will critically assess the role of AI in the future of mobility and its broader social impact.
This seminar introduces the study of gentrification, with a focus on mapping projects using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software. Readings, films, and site visits will situate the topic, as the course examines how racial landscapes of gentrification, culture and politics have been influenced by and helped drive urban change. Tutorials in ArcGIS will allow students to convert observations of urban life into fresh data and work with existing datasets. Learn to read maps critically, undertake multifaceted spatial analysis, and master new cartographic practices associated with emerging scholarship in the Digital and Urban Humanities.
This seminar introduces the study of gentrification, with a focus on mapping projects using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software. Readings, films, and site visits will situate the topic, as the course examines how racial landscapes of gentrification, culture and politics have been influenced by and helped drive urban change. Tutorials in ArcGIS will allow students to convert observations of urban life into fresh data and work with existing datasets. Learn to read maps critically, undertake multifaceted spatial analysis, and master new cartographic practices associated with emerging scholarship in the Digital and Urban Humanities.
This survey course will introduce you to the central issues in K-12 education policy. We will first consider the normative dimensions of education policymaking: What are the substantive and distributional goals of K-12 public education? What does, and should, equality of educational opportunity mean in theory and practice? After introducing a framework for combining values and evidence, we will consider the empirical evidence on a range of policy levers, including policies that address school accountability, teacher quality, school choice, and curricula.
For the first time, most people now live in cities. One in seven humans lives in an urban slum. We analyze the political, economic, and social dynamics that both create and arise from urbanization, informality, and attempts to govern our contemporary urban world. We ask how formal and informal institutions change inequalities of shelter, work, race, and other social identities, across urban space. We investigate the links between the processes of urbanization and climate change, and how they shape the politics of cities. We draw from cases across the globe and the US, along with a range of social science methods and theoretical perspectives.
Does where you live determine your destiny? This seminar will engage students in a rich dialogue about these questions and more, drawing from the best social science evidence to date from the social sciences. In the first half of the course, we will consider research conducted on neighborhood-level (census tract) differences in big cities. In the second half, we will consider research focusing on differences between communities across the entire U.S., including rural America. Student presentations are a significant part of this course.
Does where you live determine your destiny? This seminar will engage students in a rich dialogue about these questions and more, drawing from the best social science evidence to date from the social sciences. In the first half of the course, we will consider research conducted on neighborhood-level (census tract) differences in big cities. In the second half, we will consider research focusing on differences between communities across the entire U.S., including rural America. Student presentations are a significant part of this course.
The course examines the gendered racialization of Asian American women. It identifies and interrogates experiences of everyday violence, looking at their hypersexualization, labor market precarity, intimate partner violence, and poverty. It situates the discussion in the law, family, workplace, and campus community.
This course will analyze and evaluate the social, psychological and cultural underpinnings of long-standing "everyday" experiences common to Asian Americans (e.g., navigating biculturalism, microaggressions and model minority stereotypes) that may impact identity and mental health, as well as the psychosocial causes and consequences of significant current events that impact different Asian groups in the U.S., such as affirmative action.
This seminar explores Ireland's journey towards reproductive justice & its global implications. Through the lenses of sociology, anthropology, political science, & history, students consider the past, present & future of reproduction in Ireland. Key themes include the impact of cultural norms, beliefs and values on abortion access, the intersection of state, church & medicine, the relationship between law & practice, the role of activism and art in social change, and the weight of the past in the present. Excursions will focus on the history of reproduction in Ireland, experiences of Irish women, & reproductive justice activism in Ireland.
This is an advanced Seminar meant to deepen understanding of central themes in American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latino/a Studies.The Seminar concentrates on historical trajectories, social and economic evolution, and cultural contributions to nation making on the part of Asian Americans and Latino/as. We will investigate colonial antecedents and processes of exclusion/stigmatization but also acts of resistance and claims on citizenship that have consistently identified the trajectory of immigrants and their descendants throughout American history.
Sociology has always been engaged in the study of law and, in this course, we will study law with the tools of sociology. In the first half of the course, we will examine how law makes society, focusing on the way that legal ideas create institutions like courts, citizenship and money; social practices like marriage, criminality, free-lancing and inequality; and even identities like race, ethnicity, sex and sexuality. In the second half, we will consider how people interact with legal institutions, voluntarily to achieve their goals and involuntarily to be disciplined by others. We will use both US and international examples.
Sociology as a discipline was not institutionalized until the early 20th century, but sociological thinking predates the discipline by at least a century. In this course, we examine the development of social thought through the writings of sociology's founders as they developed the idea of the social and its relationship to the development of the individual and to economic and political transformation. While the course lingers on Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Simmel, it also explores their intellectual contexts, their interlocutors and their legacies up through the middle of the 20th century.