11101

SOC 101   Introduction to Sociology

Allison McKim

. . W . F

11:50  - 1:10 pm

OLIN 203

SSCI

Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies   The purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to the sociological perspective. The goal is to illustrate the ways in which different social forces that impinge on our daily life affect our society. The approach of the course is that of inquiry, the driving force of the discipline, and will touch on topics such as: theory and key concepts (socialization, culture, power), difference (race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality), institutions (state, media, citizenship), and social change (public sphere, civil society, civic engagement, social movement). Class size: 22

 

11615

SOC 138   Introduction to Urban Sociology

David Madden

. T . Th .

11:50  - 1:10 pm

OLIN 203

SSCI

Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies  How do cities grow, develop and decay? How and why are cities segregated, gentrified and stratified? What happens in the urban public realm? An introduction to urban sociology, this course will address these questions and many more. Through ethnographies, comparative studies, theoretical works, fiction, films and other sources, the class will explore the social organization of cities and the nature of the urban experience. No prerequisites necessary. Class size: 22

 

11186

SOC / HIST 214   Contemporary Immigration

Joel Perlmann

. T . Th .

4:40  - 6:00 pm

OLIN 202

SSCI

Cross-listed:  American Studies, Human Rights, Social Policy   This course will include a backward glance at American immigration in the period 1930 through 1965, but it focuses primarily on the contemporary immigration (1965-2010) that began arriving after immigration law was changed in the later year. Major themes include similarities and contrasts to earlier periods of American immigration, who comes and why; the immigrants’ economic impact on American society (including the economic impact on the native-born poor); how the children of the immigrants have fared; whiteness, multiculturalism and assimilation; and finally immigration policy and politics. This is the second part of a year-long course which deals with both past and present; either half may be taken separately.

Class size: 22

 

11105

SOC 239   Israeli Society

Yuval Elmelech

. T . Th .

10:10  - 11:30 am

ALBEE 106

SSCI/DIFF

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights, Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies  This course provides students with an overview of Israeli society with an emphasis on the key social cleavages that Israel is currently confronting. These tensions coincide with cultural and ideological discursive debates that dominate the Israeli media and the political arena. Through a critical analysis of academic literature, daily news reports, and popular films, this course will explore the sources and consequences of these conflicts and their manifestations. Topics include (but are not limited to) tensions between religious and secular groups, “hawks” and “doves,” immigrants and the native-born, women and men, Jews and non-Jews (Muslims, Christians, and Druze), Zionists and Post-Zionists, the rich and the poor, Jews of Middle Eastern origin (Sephardic) and those whose families came from Europe (Ashkenazi), and Israelis and Diaspora Jews. We will also study the intersection of these categorical distinctions and discuss such links as those that exist between religiosity (or lack thereof) and political views, nationality and poverty, ethnic origin and educational attainment. Class size: 22

 

11102

SOC 247   The American Family

Yuval Elmelech

. T . Th .

1:30  - 2:50 pm

OLIN 303

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Social Policy   Why do people date and marry? How do we choose our partners? What explains the rise in childlessness? Do parents love their children equally? What causes thefeminization of poverty? What effect does divorce have upon the success of children later in life? This course uses sociological literature to study these questions. Focusing primarily on family patterns in the United States, the course examines the processes of partner selection, the configuration of gender and family roles, and the interrelationships among family and household members. Topics include explanations of religious and racial/ethnic inter-marriage; household and work roles; divorce and remarriage; parenthood and single parenthood; aging and family transfers.   Class size: 22

 

11104

SOC 261   Marxist Sociology

David Madden

M . W . .

3:10  - 4:30 pm

RKC 115

SSCI

Cross-listed: Human Rights  This class will examine what is living and what is dead in the tradition of Marxist sociology. The first part of the course will be an in-depth reading of texts by Karl Marx, moving from his earlier work in politics and philosophy to his later critique of political economy. The second part of the course will look at the prospects of critical sociology in today's world and the connection between sociology and the utopian imagination. Prerequisites: it is required that students have some prior experience with sociology, political studies or philosophy.  Class size: 22

 

11206

SOC 263   Drugs and Society

Allison McKim

. T . Th .

10:10  - 11:30 am

OLINLC 115

SSCI

This course examines the social organization and history of drug control and trade.  In addition, it asks how social processes shape drug usage and the cultures that develop around it.   It focuses primarily on illegal drugs in America, but will also consider legal drugs and touch on the international politics of drugs.  We move beyond the idea that the social effects of drugs are determined by a drug’s pharmacology in human bodies.  In the class, you will learn to think sociologically about drug use as a historically situated social practice, examine how institutions develop categories and ideas about drugs, and grapple with the social consequences of policies about drugs.  The course begins by considering the social organization of drug use and intoxication.  We examine the relationship between drugs and crime as well as how people make drug consumption meaningful.  The course then examines how drug use and sale relate to larger cultural, political, and economic contexts.  Here we reflect on questions about the race, class, and gender politics of criminalization.  We consider the various social responses to drug use, examining the development of the idea of addiction and the history of drug control and treatment.  Here we examine how therapeutic, criminal, and self-help approaches to drug users embed models of human nature and autonomy.  In the course you will grapple with the development and consequences of the “war on drugs,” and look at how drug control intersects with other forms of social control.   Class size: 22

 

11103

SOC 332   Seminar on Social Problems

Yuval Elmelech

. . W . .

10:10  - 12:30 pm

OLIN 306

SSCI/DIFF

Cross listed: American Studies, Human Rights, Social Policy   We often read alarming stories about segregated and failing schools, the proliferation of poor immigrant children, the weakening of the American family, and numerous other problems in contemporary American society. While these accounts provide a sensational and superficial treatment of various social problems, what do researchers really know about the causes of and solutions for these problems? This course provides a critical survey and analysis of the varied social and structural factors that facilitate and help perpetuate social problems in the U.S. Topics include: schools and education; wealth and poverty; lifestyle preferences; violence and abuse; social mobility; teenage childbearing; racial segregation; immigration and assimilation; gender inequality; work and socioeconomic attainment. The course will also provide framework for developing the skill of academic writing, and the appropriate use of theories, research questions and hypotheses. In particular, this seminar will serve social science majors and other advanced students who are developing their research and writing skills for term papers and senior projects. Class size: 15

 

11207

SOC 352   Gender and Deviance

Allison McKim

. . . Th .

1:30  - 3:50 pm

OLIN 305

SSCI/DIFF

Cross-listed: Gender & Sexuality Studies.  This seminar uses gender as a lens to approach the sociological field of “deviance and social control.”  It will develop your understanding of different theoretical approaches to deviance and to gender.  The course considers the relationship between gender and definitions of what is normal, sick, and criminal and investigates how norms about masculinity and femininity can produce specifically gendered types of deviance.  We will learn about the role of gender in why and how people break rules, looking at both criminal and non-criminal deviance.  We will then explore how social institutions construct and enact forms of regulation, punishment, or treatment.  The course asks how responses to rule-breaking relate to the social organization of gender and sexuality.  To help answer these questions, the course will continually ask how these processes intersect with race and class inequality.  The course looks at both formal and informal responses to deviance, and considers their role in gender, class, and race inequality more broadly.  The last half of the course examines major areas of gendered deviance, such as sex work, sexual violence, and the medicalization of deviance.  Throughout, the course considers the ways that gendered social control both limits and creates possibilities for action and how individuals use gender to make rule-breaking meaningful. Class size: 15