Sociology
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Introduction to Sociology |
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Professor:
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Jussara dos Santos Raxlen
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Course
Number: |
SOC 101 |
CRN Number: |
90269 |
Class cap: |
22 |
Credits: |
4 |
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Schedule/Location:
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Mon Wed 11:50 AM
– 1:10 PM Hegeman 102 |
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Distributional Area: |
SA Social Analysis D+J Difference and Justice |
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Crosslists: |
American & Indigenous Studies |
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Sociology is the systematic study of social life, social
groups, and social relations. The discipline views the individual in context
of the larger society, and sheds light on how social structures constrain and
enable our choices and actions. Sociologists study topics as varied as race,
gender, class, religion, the birth of capitalism, democracy, education, crime
and prisons, the environment, and inequality. At its most basic, the course
will teach students how to read social science texts and evaluate their
arguments. Conceptually, students will learn basic sociological themes and
become familiar with how sociologists ask and answer questions. Most
importantly, students will come away from the course with a new understanding
of how to think sociologically about the world around them, their position in
society, and how their actions both affect and are affected by the social
structures in which we all live. |
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Sociology of Gender |
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Professor:
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Allison McKim
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Course
Number: |
SOC 135 |
CRN Number: |
90271 |
Class cap: |
22 |
Credits: |
4 |
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Schedule/Location:
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Mon Wed 3:30 PM
– 4:50 PM Olin 203 |
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Distributional Area: |
SA Social Analysis D+J Difference and Justice |
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Crosslists: |
American & Indigenous Studies; Gender and Sexuality Studies; Human
Rights |
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The primary goal of this course is to develop a
sociological perspective on gender. We will examine how gender becomes an
organizing principle of social life as well as consider how social structures
and practices construct gender identities. We will investigate how gender is
built into social structures, institutions, and cultures, and how different
groups experience this gendered order. The course is organized according to
different institutional and interactional contexts, including families,
workplaces, schools, the state & politics, sexuality, culture, and identity.
Our discussions will be guided by both theoretical approaches to gender and a
variety of empirical research. A second goal of this course is to become
familiar with various sociological theories of gender difference and
inequality. A third goal is to learn how gender inequality is intertwined
with other axes of power such as race/ethnicity, class, and sexuality and how
to conduct such “intersectional” analysis of social life. In addition,
students will learn to identify and evaluate various forms of sociological
evidence and arguments. |
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The American Family |
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Professor: |
Yuval Elmelech |
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Course Number: |
SOC 147 |
CRN Number: |
90820 |
Class cap: |
22 |
Credits: |
4 |
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Schedule/Location: |
Tue Thurs 3:30 PM – 4:50 PM Reem
Kayden Center 101 |
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Distributional Area: |
SA Social Analysis |
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Crosslists: |
American & Indigenous Studies; Gender and Sexuality
Studies |
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What is a family? How do people choose a partner and why do
they get married? How do couples balance work and family life? How does
parental divorce and remarriage affect children? What explains the rise in
voluntary childlessness? This course explores these and other questions
related to the role of the family in people’s life and in society. Focusing
primarily on family patterns in the United States, the course introduces a
life-course approach to explore various stages of family formation (e.g.
partner selection, cohabitation and marriage, childbearing and parenting,
divorce and remarriage). Shifting our attention to the broader role of the
family in society, we consider the relationships between the family and other
social institutions, and examine primary areas of sociological research that
intersect with family life, such as socialization, gender roles, aging,
immigration, work, social mobility and inequality. |
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Introduction to Research Methods |
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Professor:
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Yuval Elmelech
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Course
Number: |
SOC 205 |
CRN Number: |
90379 |
Class cap: |
15 |
Credits: |
4 |
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Schedule/Location:
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Tue Thurs 11:50 AM
– 1:10 PM Henderson Comp. Center 106 |
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Distributional Area: |
MC Mathematics and Computing |
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Crosslists: |
American & Indigenous Studies; Environmental & Urban Studies;
Environmental Studies; Global & International Studies; Human Rights |
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The aim of this course is to enable students to understand
and use the various research methods developed in the social sciences, with
an emphasis on quantitative methods. The course will be concerned with the
theory and rationale upon which social research is based, as well as the
practical aspects of research and the problems the researcher is likely to
encounter. The course is divided into two parts. In the first, we will learn
how to formulate research questions and hypotheses, how to choose the appropriate
research method for the problem, and how to maximize chances for valid and
reliable findings. In the second part, we will learn how to perform simple
data analysis and how to interpret and present findings in a written report.
For a final paper, students use data from the U.S. General Social Survey
(GSS) to study public attitudes toward issues such as abortion, immigration,
inequality and welfare, affirmative action, gender roles, religion, the
media, and gun laws. By the end of the
semester, students will have the necessary skills for designing and
conducting independent research for term papers and senior projects, as well
as for non-academic enterprises.
Admission by permission of the instructor. |
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Sociology of Education |
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Professor:
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Jomaira Salas Pujols
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Course
Number: |
SOC 276 |
CRN Number: |
90381 |
Class cap: |
22 |
Credits: |
4 |
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Schedule/Location:
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Tue Thurs 1:30 PM
– 2:50 PM Olin Languages Center 210 |
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Distributional Area: |
SA Social Analysis D+J Difference and Justice |
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Crosslists: |
American & Indigenous Studies |
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The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deep inequalities in public
schooling, but were schools ever “great equalizers”? This course uses a
sociological lens to examine the structure of schooling in society. Focusing
on inequality in the American education system, we will explore topics such
as how schools influence academic outcomes, how they engage students’
families and communities, and how they differentially allocate resources
across axes of race, gender, and socioeconomic class. Beyond analyzing
processes of academic learning, the course will also consider how institutional
structures shape students’ sense of self and relationships to schooling.
Finally, we will engage with scholarship that attends to how out-of-school
spaces participate in the informal, and potentially transformative, education
of children and youth. |
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What is the Problem with Work? The
Sociology of Work, Labor, and Occupations |
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Professor:
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Jussara dos Santos Raxlen
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Course
Number: |
SOC 293 |
CRN Number: |
90378 |
Class cap: |
18 |
Credits: |
4 |
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Schedule/Location:
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Tue Thurs 10:10 AM
– 11:30 AM Olin Language Center 208 |
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Distributional Area: |
SA Social Analysis |
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The course’s title already reflects the critical approach
our inquiry about the social organization of work will take. Work is a
fundamental part of everyday life. Work ensures our collective survival and
the individual survival of many. Also, one’s occupation shapes one’s sense of
self and where one stands in society. Thus, understanding the organization
and effects of work is central to sociology because it is a dimension of life
through which history is made and social change happens or fails to
happen. We will explore histories,
theories, and debates in the sociology of work, such as alienation and
deskilling; management relations; human resources; the precariat and “working
poor;” emotional labor; gender and race issues in the workplace; service
work; creative work; labor struggles; unemployment; what some authors call
“cognitive capitalism; and how work relates to the production or reduction of
social inequalities. Our goal will be to answer the course’s leading question
and raise other lines of inquiry to think about the future of work. |
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Race, Space, and Place |
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Professor:
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Jomaira Salas Pujols
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Course
Number: |
SOC 356 |
CRN Number: |
90580 |
Class cap: |
15 |
Credits: |
4 |
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Schedule/Location:
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Tue 3:10
PM – 5:30 PM Olin Language Center 206 |
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Distributional Area: |
SA Social Analysis D+J Difference and Justice |
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Crosslists: |
Africana Studies; American & Indigenous
Studies; Architecture; Environmental Studies; Gender and Sexuality Studies;
Human Rights |
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This seminar explores how race and racism are
constructed through spatial means. Drawing on historical, theoretical, and
ethnographic analyses, we will consider questions such as: What is space and
place? How is racism reproduced through particular kinds of spatial
arrangements? And how do racially marginalized groups subvert power and
engage in placemaking? We will begin by surveying various theoretical debates
about what constitutes “race” and “place.” Next, we will read
foundational sociological accounts of how the built environment has been
leveraged to produce various types of enduring racial inequalities, including
residential segregation, criminalization, and health and education
disparities. Finally, we will explore more contemporary accounts of race,
placemaking, and resistance, paying particular attention to the urban
environment and movements for racial justice. Throughout the course, we will
use an intersectional analysis that considers how other axes of power,
especially anti-Blackness, inform our understanding of race and space. By the
end of the course, students will be able to articulate “place” as an active
player, rather than the background, upon which racism and inequality happen. |
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Professor: |
Allison McKim |
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Course Number: |
SOC 403 |
CRN Number: |
90384 |
Class cap: |
15 |
Credits: |
0 |
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Schedule/Location: |
Mon 12:30
PM – 2:50 PM Olin 306 |
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Distributional Area: |
SA Social Analysis |
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The Senior Colloquium is required of all sociology seniors registered
for SOC 401, the first semester of Senior Project. This one-semester course
will guide you through developing your senior project topic, setting up your
research, and beginning writing. The work you do in this course is work that
you would need to do for the senior project anyway. The Colloquium offers
additional support and structure in the initial stages of this year-long
research project: moving from an initial interest to a researchable question,
choosing an appropriate research method to answer your question, designing
your study (including writing interview questions, selecting sites, finding
sources, etc.), and finding and synthesizing the relevant scholarship on your
topic. As part of this, the course will support students through the process
of submitting to the IRB for research ethics review. Students will discuss
their work in progress, workshop ideas, and offer each other support and
feedback at each of these stages. The goal is for students to benefit from
the process of collaborative learning as they work on the senior project. The
colloquium does not replace individual meetings with your senior project
advisor. All students will be graded
P/D/F, based on their attendance and active participation in the colloquium. |
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