Events

Fall 2002 Sociology Department Course Offerings

Undergraduate Courses

Graduate Courses

CGS Courses
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Undergraduate Courses

SOC 001-001 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
GEN REQ I: Society

Sociology provides a unique way to look at the world, to see ourselves as part of a web of human relationships. In this introductory course, we will look at the cultural, political, social, and institutional structures that make up the world around us, and the studies and research that allows sociologists to make problematic the things we all take for granted.

MW 11-12 GODLEY

201 - REC - F 11 - 12 STAFF
202 - REC - F 12 - 1 STAFF
203 - REC - W 10 - 11 STAFF
204 - REC - M 12 - 1 STAFF
205 - REC - M 10 - 11 STAFF
NOTE: You MUST take both the lecture and a recitation.
If you need to switch your recitation section, please make sure there is an available slot BEFORE dropping your section, as the SRS system may drop you from the course altogether if you're not registered for both lecture and recitation. As slots become available, you may register for them through Penn In Touch.

SOC 001-301 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
GEN REQ I: Society
General Honors
* Non-Honors Students Need Permission
Freshman Seminar

In this course, we will explore the best founded constructs and perspectives from the social sciences and apply them to an examination of American Society: its structures, its institutions and the forces and sources of stability and changes that shape our social system. We will examine the recent histories and current estates to evolving educational, political, communal, familial and cultural adaptations to evolving circumstances. The new and serious literature on "The Sixties" permits us, meanwhile, to consider the pre'60 forces that gave us that remarkable era and its legacies. An intensive analysis of political, social, economic, cultural and psychological conflicts offers an opportunity to put social sciences perspectives to applied analytical purposes. Our students' autobiographical interest, as Baby Boomers' offspring, can be well served by this experience: the multiple issues joined in the Sixties work as a "critical" or "natural experiment" regarding social change. Syllabus

T 3-6 BERG

SOC 003-001 DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL
GEN REQ I: Society

The study of deviance and social control is a major topic of sociology. The first part of the course examines different types of deviance–crime, mental illness, and juvenile delinquency, different explanations which have been forwarded to explain them–functionalism, labeling theory, and opportunity structures. The second part of the course examines different approaches to social control and the effects of incarceration and decarceration.

TR 10:30 - 12 BOSK

SOC 004-401 THE FAMILY
GEN REQ I: Society
Fulfills College Quantitative Data Analysis
Crosslisted: WSTD004

This course provides an introduction to sociological perspectives on families and public policies aimed at families. The course begins with a brief overview of theoretical perspectives on families and family patterns and change over the last century. The second part of the course focuses on the private family–the one in which we live most of our personal lives. Focusing on the contemporary United States, we will explore variation in families by gender, race and ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation. We will consider: who marries and who doesn't; who cohabits and who doesn't; who divorces and who doesn't; who does the housework and who doesn't. In the last section of the course, we will consider issues involving the public family, in which adults perform tasks that are important to society (i.e. rearing children, caring for the elderly). We will examine how society (i.e. taxpayers) provides for families that cannot provide for themselves (welfare), and how society regulates family behavior (sexuality and teen childbearing). Throughout the course, we will critically examine the data and research on families and the interpretation and presentation of research on families by the media.

TR 3 - 4:30 GAGER

SOC 005-001 AMERICAN SOCIETY
GEN REQ I: Society

With lectures and discussions, we will conduct assessments of the public policies and private initiatives, from the Constitutional Convention in 1789 through 20th Century, in efforts to identify the sources of stabilities and changes in America's evolving institutions and to consider, further, the prospects for a continuing and generally productive balance between the imperatives of "democracy" and of "capitalism".

TR 12 - 1:30 BERG

SOC 006-401 RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS
GEN REQ I: Society
Crosslisted: AFAM006, URBS214

For years we have understood that race is, biologically speaking, an exceedingly complex matter and that preconceived biases much more than biology govern the way people think about it. We discuss race as a social construct. We focus on the social significance of race by examining the reality of racial stratification, the reality of the experience of race, and the rationality of those who study racial dynamics and processes.

TR 12-1:30 ZUBERI

SOC 008-301 POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
GEN REQ I: Society

This course will introduce students to sociological approaches to politics, broadly understood. The class will begin by discussing the nature of power and authority, the rise of the nation-state and the significance of nationalism. Later topics will include social movements, urban political regimes, globalization and transnationalism, citizenship, revolutions, and the rise (and fall?) Of welfare states.

W 2-5 HODOS

SOC 009-301 SOCIETY AT PLAY: CONTEMPORARY LEISURE AND LIFESTYLES
Writing Course

This class is an exploration into various aspects of our modern lifestyles and what these can teach us about who we are, how we live and how we participate in our society. On the personal level, our leisure and lifestyle communicate to others how we see and define ourselves and how we want others to see us. Our tastes and preferences through which we form our individual and group identities express our social class, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and other backgrounds and experiences. At the same time, our personal choices of body decoration, dining, or hobbies expose the subtle logics and meaning s of our contemporary consumer culture. Others like the new Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, Fresh Fields, coffee shops, shopping malls, or tattoo parlors offer themselves as case for analytical scrutiny, as do Disney movies, the Simpsons, or films like Pretty Woman. By developing sensitivities for critically evaluating our own way of life we will learn to articulate and integrate these experiences within a larger arena of consumer culture.

MW 1:30-3 BAJC

SOC 010-001 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
GEN REQ I: Society

The American Dream highlights opportunity for individuals to achieve success based on their own ability and initiative. How well does our society live up to this ideal? Who gets ahead, and who falls behind? Topics include factors that affect life chances in contemporary society: education, social class, race, ethnicity and gender.

TR 10:30 - 12 JACOBS

SOC 041-302 SOCIETY AND HISTORY
Freshman Seminar
DISTRIBUTION I: Society

At the turn of the 21st century attention is focused on the future, but how much about our lives and social world is determined by the past? How does history shape our personal lives, preferences and identities? How does contemporary society -- including its economy, culture, and politics -- reflect the events of the past? In this seminar, we will explore how the past matters to the present by looking at individual biographies and at the group experiences of peoples of different nationalities, races and ethnicities, and religions.

T 1:30 - 4:30 MORAWSKA

SOC 052-301 WAR AND PEACE
Freshman Seminar
DISTRIBUTION I: Society
[This class will meet in the Education Building, Room 120]

An examination of seven theories of the causes of war which will be tested by case analyses of well-documented wars throughout history from the Peloponnesian wars to the Afghanistan war. The concluding section of the course deals with five theories and strategies for the prevention of war. Students apply the theories in preparing a term paper on a specific war. Syllabus

W 2-5 EVAN

SOC 100-001 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
DISTRIBUTION I: Society
Fulfills College Quantitative Data Analysis

This course examines several different sociological methods, including: survey development and administration, content analysis, historical-comparative, participant observation and ethnographic perspectives. It reviews research design, experimental design, evaluation methods, research ethics and the uses of research. Students explore these methods and perspectives in class assignments and exercises. A brief introduction to SPSS (statistical package for the social sciences) is also provided. Syllabus

TR 1:30-3 KOPPEL

SOC 100-002 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
DISTRIBUTION I: Society

TR 12-1:30 HODOS

SOC 103-401 ASIAN AMERICANS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
DISTRIBUTION I: Society
Crosslisted: ASAM001

This class is an introduction to sociological research of Asian Americans in the United States. The class will introduce you to the immigration experiences, socioeconomic attainments, identity, and political movements of Asian Americans. We will also focus on the relative heterogeneity of Asian American ethnic groups and their experiences relative to other race and ethnic groups in the United States. Syllabus

TR 10:30-12 KAO

SOC 122-401 SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER
GEN REQ I: Society
Crosslisted: WSTD122

In this seminar, gender is studied in a global as well as comparative perspective using examples from Germany. Current gender theory emphasizes the division of labor, power, social control, violence, and ideology as structural and interactional bases of inequalities among men and women of different social classes and racial ethnic groups instead as an individual trait or outcome of childhood socialization. Gender is an organizing principle of society and its institutions like culture, economy, politics, and the family. How gender is constructed varies across time and space. What is considered "natural" for a woman (or a man) to do in one society is conceived inappropriate in another. But there are not only differences between societies but also within societies – race and class interact with gender resulting in different norms. Syllabus

TR 9-10:30 ROTH

SOC 125-001 CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
DISTRIBUTION I: Society

An examination of the 19th and early 20th century social thought, with emphasis on the works of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, and G. H. Mead. In addition to careful study of the works themselves, connections will be made to matters of theoretical interest today, for example, postmodernism, globalization, rationalization, and question of agency.

R 1:30-4:30 MORAWSKA

SOC 135-401 LAW AND SOCIETY
DISTRIBUTION I: Society
Crosslisted: AFST135

After introducing students to the major theoretical concepts concerning law and society, significant controversial societal issues that deal with law and the legal systems both domestically and internationally will be examined. Class discussions will focus on issues involving civil liberties, the organization of courts, legislatures, the legal profession and administrative agencies. Although the focus will be on law in the United States, law and society in other countries of Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America will be covered in a comparative context. Readings include research reports, statutes and cases.

MW 4:30-6 FETNI

SOC 137 SOCIOLOGY OF THE MEDIA & POPULAR CULTURE
GEN REQ III: Arts and Letters
Crosslisted: AFAM006, URBS214

This course focuses on the relationship between media, culture and society and provides an overview of mass communication organization, content, audiences, and effects.
The media are discussed in relation to their contexts institutional, economic, social, cultural and historical. The course examines a variety of popular cultural forms (e.g., advertising images, romance novels, news, talk shows) and looks closely at media texts, media production and media consumption as cultural practices. The course also addresses the issues of media representation of minorities and the consequences the images have for the minority and the majority. How do the mass media influence how we think of ourselves and others, and what impact do they have on social/cultural power and stratification? Syllabus

001 - LEC MW 1-2 SAMPER
002 - LEC MW 3-4 SAMPER

201 - REC M 5-6 D MITCHELL
202 - REC F 11-12 S POLILLO
203 - REC W 11-12 D SAMPER
204 - REC W 6-7 V BAJC
205 - REC F 1-2 Y ZHANG
NOTE: You MUST take both the lecture and a recitation.
If you need to switch your recitation section, please make sure there is an available slot BEFORE dropping your section, as the SRS system may drop you from the course altogether if you're not registered for both lecture and recitation. As slots become available, you may register for them through Penn In Touch.

SOC 140-301 SOCIAL CONFLICT
DISTRIBUTION I: Society
General Honors
Non-Honors Students Need Permission

General theory of social conflict, with an emphasis on violent conflict. Specific applications include fights, riots, combat, and gang violence; tribal and modern war; abuse of the weak; domestic conflict; sexual conflict and rape; homicide; social movements and moral crusades; conflict management and social control; state breakdowns and revolutions; ethnic conflict and genocide.

MWF 2-3 COLLINS

SOC 222-001 FIELD METHODS OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
DISTRIBUTION I: Society

An introduction to field methods of social research: participant observation, interviewing, content analysis of documents, and case histories. The social role of the field worker will be analyzed as well as the logic of social research. Emphasis will be placed on learning through first-hand experience in the field. Syllabus

W 2-5 HART

SOC 230-301 URBAN FAMILIES, SCHOOLS, AND NEIGHBORHOODS:
RESEARCH AND SERVICE/LEARNING

This course is intended to provide students carrying out community service in Philadelphia with theoretical perspectives and methodological skills needed to design and develop research projects related to their efforts at affecting social change. Students typically will be associated with the West Philadelphia Consortium but may also be involved with other social action programs. Projects may either explore basic research topics drawing on intervention experiences as a site for study, conducting community surveys, or assessments/evaluations of programs. Students in the course will be required to do relevant to readings related to their community service and will be expected to write a paper on their research project. The seminar will be devoted to developing the research study associated with the project.
Requirements: Students must be involved in community service and want to conduct research related to their project.

T 1:30-4:30 FURSTENBERG

SOC 233-001 CRIMINOLOGY
GEN REQ I: Society

This introductory course examines the multi-disciplinary science of law-making, law-breaking, and law-enforcing. It reviews theories and data predicting where, when, by whom and against whom crimes happen. It also addresses the prevention of different offense types by different kinds of offenders against different kinds of people. Police, courts, prisons, and other institutions are critically examined as both preventing and causing crime. This course meets the general distribution requirement.

TR 3-4:30 LAUFER

SOC 275-401 MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY
Crosslisted: HSOC275

This course is designed to give the student a general introduction to the sociological study of medicine. We will cover the field in four central thematic units: (1) the historical development of the profession of medicine, (2) contemporary issues in health-care delivery, (3) social and cultural factors in the definition of illness, and (4) social and cultural factors in the epidemiology of illness. Throughout the course, our discussions will be designed to understand the uniqueness of the sociological perspective and encourage the application of such a perspective to a variety of current medical issues and dilemmas.

MWF 10-11 SCHNITTKER

SOC 300-301 URBAN CULTURE
DISTRIBUTION I: Society
MAJORS ONLY

The purpose of this course is two-fold. First, we will examine a set of theories and issues relevant to the study of the public culture of cities. How do urban dwellers experience social encounters in a city of virtual strangers? Do cities transform individuals into particularly "urban" kinds of people, raw and rugged, chic and cosmopolitan? How do we specifically use different public spaces of the cities, such as parks and plazas, coffeehouses and restaurants, movie theaters and music clubs, as opportunities for sociability, leisure and play? To what extent do the politics of race, class, gender and power impact how we experience the city in our everyday lives? We will draw on various ethnographic texts to explore a variety of fascinating case studies of urban life, including, among others, the social worlds of bar regulars and winos in Chicago, read-raged drivers in Los Angeles, street vendors in New York, club-hoppers and pill-poppers in London, and sex workers in Bangkok. At the same time, students will be required to pursue an ethnographic project based on a set of local urban sites of their own choosing. Through a number of detailed assignments, students will learn the basic techniques of urban fieldwork and participant-observation and will be expected to produce a final research paper based on their findings as well as the course readings.

W 2-5 GRAZIAN

SOC 300-401 SENIOR RESEARCH SEMINAR
DISTRIBUTION I: Society
MAJORS ONLY
Crosslisted: ASAM300

Research Seminar intended primarily for senior sociology seniors preparing to write theses. Students will refine a research question, consider alternative methodological approaches, conduct a literature review, and write a formal research proposal. Syllabus

T 2-5 KAO

SOC 430-301 LEISURE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE
Crosslisted: COMM496

Ever since God created the six-day work week, humans have been trying to decide how to use leisure. This course focuses on the allocation of time among different social functions, with particular reference to the idea that culture and communication may be considered the content of leisure. Readings range from empirical studies of "time budgets, " to studies of the production and consumption of the arts, entertainment, holidays and tourism. "Culture policy," especially the role of government in the arts, will be considered comparatively and historically.

W 5-8 KATZ

SOC 473-401 COMMUNITY ORGANIZING: HISTORY & THEORY
Crosslisted: URBS473

Much of what counts for social activism in the United States represent the application of passion and good will to social problems. Yet there is an increasingly clear body of knowledge in practice on how people can build and use power through organization to influence the forces that shape their lives, families and communities. The development over the past two decades of an effective community organizing methodology that can be replicated across different social contexts represents a fundamental innovation in American democracy. The clearest expression of this innovation has been the emergence of large-scale national networks of broad-based community organizations, working, sometimes in competition with one another, in almost every major city in the United States.

R 6-9 WHITMAN

Graduate Level Courses

SOC 530-301 CONDUCTING FAMILY RESEARCH

Participants in this seminar will work on projects relating to topics explored in Soc 524. The projects should be papers that lead to publication or ongoing projects that can be funded in the future. The aim of the project is to provide guidance to students working in the Sociology of the Family.

M 2-5 FURSTENBERG

SOC 530-401 SOCIOLOGY OF JEWISH BIOETHICS
Undergraduates Need Permission; Crosslisted: SOCI430

Ethics has been a part of medicine from earliest times, and Jews, like Christians, Muslims, and other religious groups, have debated medical ethical issues internally for centuries. However, modern bioethics is not just a discussion, it is a set of institutions, committees, policies, public opinions, political struggles, and internal disputes. In this course, we will look not so much at the content of Jewish bioethical decision-making , but rather at the institutions and organization that make Jewish bioethical decisions, and the responses and actions of Jews as religious and cultural members of American society.

M 2-5 WOLPE

SOC 530-402 MEDIA, PUBLIC SPHERE, & ALTERNATIVE REALITIES

This seminar looks at the role of the media and public sphere for democratic theory. It addresses how the changing media landscape, in particular the introduction of electronic media, affects the ways in which we thick about democracies as well as how the absence of a public sphere challenges our notion of the political. In addition to a survey of theories (e.g. Frankfort School, Habermas, Benhabib) in this seminar we will look at the use of media in conventional and contentious politics, (i.e. social movements) in a global perspective in a variety of case studies (e.g. Prime Time Activism, Shaping Abortion Discourse, Civic Discourse and Digital Age Communications in the Middle East)

R 3-6 ROTH

SOC 530-403 STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS AND SOCIAL RESPONSES IN URBAN LATIN AMERICA
Crosslisted: URBS506

This seminar will examine recent transformations and structural adjustments in Latin America, along with the social responses that urban populations have improvised to face them. Topics to be analyzed include: the neoliberal economic model, new tax policies, dollarization and devaluation, privatization, social exclusion and inequality, loss of national control, the concentration of poverty, insecurity and urban violence, new social movements, migratory responses, and the emergence of extra-legal forms of social contol.

M 3-6 SANCHEZ

SOC 535-001 QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN SOCIOLOGY I
Registration required for both the Lecture and a Recitation section
Undergraduates Need Permission. College Computing Certificate Course

An introductory statistics course covering descriptive statistics, probability, random variables, estimation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, cross tabulation and sampling.
TR 12-1:30 ALLISON
201 - REC - W 11-12 WANG
202 - REC - W 5 - 6 WANG

SOC 540-301 INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMIC AND NETWORK ANALYSIS

Economic sociology examines the production and exchange of goods and services from the viewpoint of the social relationships in which economic activities are embedded, the social conditions for economic change, and the effects of these arrangements upon social inequality and well-being. Topics include historical theories of capitalism; socialist economies and transitions; the global economy; institutions and cultures underpinning various kinds of market and nonmarket exchanges. Network analysis has been on the forefront of new models of how economic exchange is structured. This course surveys network theories of Harrison White, Burt, Zelizer and others, as well as related analyses of network effects upon careers, power, conflict, and social movements.

W 9-12 COLLINS

SOC 542-401 WORK AND GENDER

This seminar examines the relevance of gender to the organization and experience of paid and unpaid work. Combining materialist and social constructionist approaches, we will consider occupational segregation, the relation of work and family, gender and class solidarity, the construction of gender through work, race and class variation in work experiences, and related topics.

R 2-5 LEIDNER

SOC 550-301 SOCIAL INEQUALITY

This course will study social stratification primarily in contemporary societies. We will examine both the distribution of social rewards as well as process for the allocation of these rewards. Stratification theory and research on social mobility will be considered. Topics include the influence of education, race and gender, and structural and organizational factors on individual success. Acquaintance with stratification theory and quantitative methods would be helpful but not required.

R 2-5 JACOBS

SOC 583-401 SOCIOLOGY OF MEDICINE

Health and illness, and medical care, education, and research are examined in a social, cultural and cross-cultural perspective, with special attention to present-day American society. The course is developed around lectures and class discussion.

T 1:30-4:30 BOSK

SOC 603-401 PROSEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Crosslisted: DEMG603; DEMG707; SOCI707

This course is intended to hone the skills and judgment required in order to conduct independent research in sociology. We will discuss the selection of intellectually strategic research questions and practical research designs. Students will get experience with proposal writing, the process of editing successive drafts of manuscripts, and the oral presentation of work in progress as well as finished research projects. The course is designed to be the context in which master's papers are written. This is a required course for second year graduate students in Sociology.

W 5-8 WATKINS

SOC 604-401 METHODOLOGY OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
Crosslisted: DEMG604

Introduction to research design in Sociology and Demography with an emphasis on design and measurement validities. Topics covered include notions of ‘causation' and temporal processes in various designs, methods of data collection (e.g., sample survey, observation, unstructured interviews, etc.) Research ethics, as well as recent innovations in data collection and sampling. A combination of lectures, critiques of published research reports and readings from Sociology and Demography introduce discussion topics. Syllabus

R 2-5 SOLDO

SOC 607-401 INTRODUCTION TO DEMOGRAPHY
Crosslisted: DEMG607

A nontechnical introduction to fertility, mortality and migration and the interrelations of population with other social and economic factors.

R 2-5 WATKINS

SOC 608-401 PROSEMINAR IN URBAN STUDIES
Crosslisted: HIST608; URBS608

This seminar is required for students in the Urban Studies Graduate Certificate Program. They will be given preference for enrollment, which is limited to 15. The seminar extends over two semesters. In order to obtain credit, students must enroll for both semesters. In the first semester, the seminar will discuss a selection of recent interdisciplinary literature on urban issues and introduce students to some of the Penn faculty concerned with urban-related topics. In the second semester, students will write and present a research paper.

T 6-9 KATZ

SOC 609-401 BASIC DEMOGRAPHIC METHODS
Crosslisted: DEMG609

The course is designed to introduce students to basic concepts of demographic measurement and modeling used to study changes in population size and composition. The course covers basic measures of mortality, fertility and migration; life table construction; multiple decrement life tables; stable population projections; and age patterns of vital events. Students will learn to apply demographic methods through a series of weekly problem sets.

T 2-5 SMITH

SOC 612-301 CATEGORICAL DATA ANALYSIS

This course deals with techniques for analyzing multivariate data in which the dependent variable is a set of categories (a dichotomy or polytomy). Topics will include linear probability models, logit (logistic) regression models, probit models, logit analysis of contingency tables, cumulative logit and probit (for ordinal data), multinomial logit, conditional logit (discrete choice), unobserved heterogeneity, log-linear models, square tables, response-based sampling, and repeated measures.

TR 9-10:30 ALLISON

SOC 619-301 SEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH I

The primary goal of this course is to aid sociology graduate students in the framing, writing and revising of their dissertation proposals, as well as provide a forum for the presentation of their research progress. In the first semester, we will focus on the development of a topic of study and a central set of research questions, with emphasis given to the set of theoretical issues relevant to the selected topic. In the second semester, emphasis will shift to the selection of data and methods necessary for addressing these questions. An additional goal of this course is to assist in the acquisition of professional skills necessary for success in the academic world. In both semesters, attention will be given to a number of practical issues confronting advanced graduate students, including: 1) completing field examinations; 2) submitting manuscripts for conferences, journals and book publishers; 3) preparing a curriculum vitae; 4) job search strategies; and 5) preparing for effective professional presentations. It is expected that third year graduate students in Sociology will enroll in 619 in the Fall semester, followed by 620 in the Spring.

M 2-5 GRAZIAN

SOC 640-401 HEALTH & SOCIAL POLICY
Crosslisted: NURS640

This course examines health care and social policy from a broad perspective meant to engage students in critical thinking about the United States' health care system, global health issues, and public health policy. The course is organized around a framework of social determinants of health. The content of the course is divided about equally between a focus on U.S. health care policies and global health issues. Threats to global health are examined including the emergence of new infectious diseases, the collapse of the health care systems when governments fall, global environmental threats, and the decline in the public health infrastructure. There are no prerequisites but a working knowledge of U.S. health care is helpful.

W 2-4:30 AIKEN

SOC 677-401 INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
Crosslisted: DEMG677; LTAM677

A comprehensive review of theories and research on international migration. The course introduces the basic precepts of neoclassical economics, the new economics of labor migration, segmented labor market theory, world systems theory, social capital theory, and the theory of cumulative causation. Readings examine patterns and processes of global migration during the classic age from 1800-1914 as well as during the postwar period from 1945 to the present. The course concludes with an evaluation of immigration policies in the United States.

W 2-5 MASSEY

SOC 701-401 RESEARCH IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Crosslisted: CRIM

This second year doctoral course is a weekly discussion group designed to help students integrate their coursework from different disciplines around the behavior and operation of crimial law systems. It focuses on preparation for unpublished research reports, and colloquia by leading guest lecturers presenting new research results. Students preparing for dissertation research on the behavior of criminal law will report on their developing research ideas.

M 3-6 SHERMAN

SOC 707-401 SEMINAR IN DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH I
Crosslisted: DEMG707; SOCI603

An advanced training in research through preparation of a research project and seminar discussion of methods and findings.

W 5-8 S. WATKINS

C G S Courses

SOC 001-601 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

There are many different perspectives from which to look at the world and ourselves in it. Sociology is one of them. This course will teach you "sociological imagination" together with basic concepts and major theories used in this discipline. In the process, you will also be introduced to examples of good sociological work.

M 6:30 - 9:10 KULKARNI

SOC 004-601 THE FAMILY

W 5:30 - 8:10 KAPLAN

SOC 011-601 URBAN SOCIOLOGY

The opportunities and problems of urban existence of different class and immigrant/racial groups in industrial and postindustrial America are examined in terms of the major sociological theories of urbanism, from classical formulations of Wirth and Simmel and their modifications by contemporary urban sociologists such as Fischer, urban political economy model, world-system theory and global cities approach, to postmodern conceptualizations of urban life. Course requirements include leading one class discussion (theme selected by student), periodic reports on class readings and discussions, and a term-paper based on an ethnographic mini-fieldwork study of the urban topic (selected by student).

W 6:30 - 9:10 MORAWSKA

SOC 137-601 SOCIOLOGY OF MEDIA AND POP CULTURE

In this course we will look at ways in which sociology and cultural studies have examined popular culture, consumption practices, and mass media. The focus will be on questions of how the world is socially constructed, and presented to us - as well as by us - through various forms of representation. How do media teach us to be a woman, a man, a person of color? What do news, advertisements, rap music, Internet chat rooms, or Disney films have to say about our culture? What are their political and social implications? Popular culture and its mass mediated forms are firmly situated within the processes of globalization that give their meaning, role, and significance new dimensions.

M 5:30-8:10 BAJC

SOC 230-601 LAW AND SOCIAL CHANGE

After a discussion of various general perspectives on social change, this course will examine the interdependent relationship between changes in legal institutions and changes in social institutions. Emphasis will be placed on how and when law can be an instrument for social change, and how and when social change can cause legal change. In the assessment of this relationship, both domestic and international law will be studied. Throughout the course, discussions will include controversial legal issues relevant to social change, such as civil liberties and women and the law.

T 6:30 - 9:10 FETNI

SOC 230-602 IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA
Syllabus

This course examines international migration and immigration as social processes, concentrating on the American experience. The course provides sociological tools to understand why immigration happens, how it occurs and what consequences and outcomes it produces. Comparisons are drawn between different periods of immigration to America, particularly between the great migrations of the turn of the 20th century and the predominantly Latin American and Asian flows of the last thirty years. The course also offers a comparative approach to understand differences and similarities between contemporary immigrants coming from diverse counties and bringing different skills. An important objective is to show how both newcomers and Americans are transformed through the process of immigration.

T 5:30 - 8:10 SANA

SOC 275-601 MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY

Do medical interventions determine how healthy a population is? Drawing upon critical perspectives in contemporary medical sociology, this course argues that the health of a society is not solely a function of medical interventions, but rather a result of social, cultural, and political processes and institutions. This course examines how these processes and institution shape (a) medical institutions, knowledge, and research; (b) doctor-patient interactions; (c) the experience and meaning of health and illness; and (d) the social distribution of health needs and resources among different populations. Students will become familiar with two distinct research perspectives: sociology in medicine and sociology of medicine. Comparative illustrations will be drawn from Western and non-Western societies including North America, south Asia, and others. The class will combine lectures and discussions.

T 5:30-8:10 KEMPNER

SOC 530-640 WORKING-CLASS EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA

In a nation obsessed with social mobility, the issue of class is often frowned upon in American public discourse. In recent decades, however, the economic gap between the working-class and the upper-class has widened. Is the American dream still intact? What is it like to be a member of the working-class today? What is the history of blue-collar workers and their families in the U.S.? This course shall examine historical, sociological, and multi-media materials to better understand the past and contemporary experience of the working-class American at home, in school, in the workforce, and in American political life.

W 6-8:40 GREEN

SOC 530-641 MEDIA AND CULTURE

The course is designed to give students a conceptual framework with which to examine the relationship between media, culture and society and the complex roles the mass media play in the production of cultural and social power and stratification. The course examines the theories and research of mass communication and analyses the media in relation to their cultural, institutional, economic, and social contexts. The course examines a variety of popular cultural forms (e.g., advertising, news, talk shows, fashion, art collecting) and looks closely at media texts, media production and consumption as cultural practices with attention given to issues of class, race and gender.

R 6-8:40

Last Modified: 24-Sep-2003
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