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