SOC-S 100 (4342) - INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGYsoc/pdf/spring2018socdescriptions.pdfperspective that...

SOC-S 100 (4342) - INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

2:30P-3:45P MW Stapleton, O

This course provides a broad introduction to sociology, the study of society and

social behavior. Students will gain an understanding of concepts such as structure

and agency, and tools such as sociological research methods. Using these concepts

and tools students will develop the skills to think critically about how social

contexts inform - and are informed by - individual actions and decisions. This

course explores topics such as power, inequality, race, class, and gender. In

addition to learning about these powerful social forces through the study of theory,

students will discuss them in the light of current events, issues and contexts.


9:30A-10:45A MW Davis, J

How do physical attributes such as skin tone and hair type affect a person's

trajectory? How does implicit bias function in the hiring process? How does race

and ethnicity impact important outcome such as income, mental health, and overall

life satisfaction? Sociology can help answer the above questions and many more.

This course will provide you with an introduction to the field of sociology and

equip students with skills to observe and analyze their social world and develop

their sociological imagination. Throughout the semester this course will discuss

major theories and concepts such as intersectionality, critical theory, and engage in

age old debates such as structure vs. agency. This course will rely heavily on

current events as well as popular media culture to illustrate concepts and

understand real world applications of our sociological theories.


2:30P-3:45P TR Bolton, M

This course provides an introduction to the major themes, concepts, and theories

within Sociology. Topics covered will include methods, race, gender, class, health,

and stratification. For instance, how are incarceration rates a reflection of social

structures? Why do women still face inequalities in the workforce? How do

income and education affect health across the life course? In what ways are

inequalities maintained and perpetuated? In studying these topics, students will be

exposed to new ways of thinking so they can start thinking like sociologists and

develop a “sociological imagination.” Students will be encouraged to develop

critical thinking skills, unpack taken-for-granted assumptions, and better

understand how the social world is not always what it appears to be.


9:30A-10:45A TR Rudel, D

This course provides a broad overview of the discipline of sociology. Students will

be introduced to the sociological perspective as a means for critically interrogating

the world and society around them. We will examine the sorts of questions that

sociologists ask, the theories that inform them, and the methods that they use to

answer them. Substantively, we will focus on a variety of themes including social

order, stratification, inequality, status, family, education, government, gender, sex,

race, class, culture, medicine, and social psychology. Students will learn to analyze

how social forces, structures, and institutions shape these various aspects of

society. On a more personal level, students will also gain new perspectives for

thinking about their own lives in the context of broader society.


1:00P-2:15P MW Von Der Haar, C

Like other social sciences, sociology views social life from its own perspective.

The primary goal of this course is to understand that perspective. It is from this

perspective that students will learn the basic concepts, theories and methods of

sociology. As we consider some of the most important topics in sociology, you

will learn how to think in a different way. You will quickly discover that things

are not always what they seem. This observation, which is commonly known as

the first wisdom of sociology, turns most students into social detectives.

Approaching lessons in this way shows students the value of sociology. Through

assigned readings and class discussions, you will learn how to look behind the

scenes and under the surface to figure out how things really operate in social

life.Topics covered in this introductory course include: social change, social

structure, social inequality, social institutions (family, politics, economy), culture,

and socialization.


11:15A-12:30P TR Calarco, J

The theme of this class is listen and learn. Each week, we will use episodes of

popular podcasts like This American Life, Hidden Brain, and The Sporkful to

explore sociological theories and concepts. We will also learn how sociologists

observe, analyze, and improve the world around them and complete hands-on

projects aimed at putting those skills into action. Specific topics will include

culture and socialization, deviance and social norms, institutions (e.g., family,

education, work, politics), power and inequality (by class, race, gender, and sexual

orientation), social problems, social movements, and social change.


ONLINE Alderson, A

This on-line course has three general objectives: (1) to introduce you to the field of

sociology; (2) to help you to acquire a broad understanding of the social forces that

influence the world in which we live; and (3) to equip you with some of the tools

that will be useful in the future, in your career and as a citizen of your own country

and of the world. My goal in this course is to help you develop an informed

perspective on contemporary U.S. society. However, only part of the course will

directly address the American experience. Our approach to the study of human

society will be comparative and historical. The guiding assumption of the

comparative/historical method is that we can better understand our own society by

learning more about other societies, past and present. Through discussions,

readings, assignments, and mini lectures, we will engage a great deal of

information on a broad range of human societies. As one of the course

requirements, you will also pursue a study of your own family history. These

educational experiences are designed to help you to gain a new understanding of

your own society and to help you develop a number of useful skills.


11:15A-12:30P MW Vina, S

In this course, we will examine key concepts in sociology, the scientific study of

human society. Through topics such as health, gender, race, education, and class

inequality, we will discuss the ways in which individuals shape and are shaped by

society. Additionally, we will discuss skills and common methodologies used in

sociological research.


11:15A-12:30P MW Von Der Haar, C

Like other social sciences, sociology views social life from its own perspective.

The primary goal of this course is to understand that perspective. It is from this

perspective that students will learn the basic concepts, theories and methods of

sociology. As we consider some of the most important topics in sociology, you

will learn how to think in a different way. You will quickly discover that things

are not always what they seem. This observation, which is commonly known as

the first wisdom of sociology, turns most students into social detectives.

Approaching lessons in this way shows students the value of sociology. Through

assigned readings and class discussions, you will learn how to look behind the

scenes and under the surface to figure out how things really operate in social life.

Topics covered in this introductory course include: social change, social structure,

social inequality, social institutions (family, politics, economy), culture, and

socialization.


4:00P-6:15P TR Finlay, B

This course provides students with an introduction into sociological perspectives,

both classical and contemporary. In this class, you will develop a sociological

perspective that will allow you to analyze society. This perspective can reveal the

hidden and/or overlooked social forces that shape our lives. Throughout the

semester we will unpack questions related to social behavior on the micro, meso,

and macro levels: Why does the U.S. incarcerate more people than any other

country in the world? Why do women get paid less than men for the same jobs?

Where do children acquire help-seeking behaviors? Seeking systematic answers to

these types of questions is a large part of what sociologists do. By taking this

course you will develop a more critical perspective of society as well as your own

experiences.

SOC-S 101 (4345) - SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND POLICIES

TOPIC: Medicine in America

1:00P-2:15P MW Hernandez, E

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to sociology using a medical

sociology perspective. Medical sociology, or the sociology of health and illness,

provides a lens to understand how health and illness in the United States are shaped

by broader social factors. Over the course of the semester we will (1) discuss medical

and public health institutions in the U.S. from a historical perspective; (2) learn about

epidemiological and demographic (population-level) approaches to health; (3)

consider complementary and alternative medicine within the dominant Western

medical context; (4) explore the social construction and experience of physical

illness, mental illness, and the medicalization of deviant behavior; (5) investigate the

interaction between patients and their health care providers; and (6) examine the

social determinants of health and health inequality.This course is designed, in part,

to help students prepare for social portions of the Psychological, Social, and

Biological Foundations of Behavior section of the new MCAT Exam.


TOPIC: Food, Film, and Fashion: The Sociology of Tastes

9:30A-10:45A TR Miller, J

Why are you drawn to the music you love, to the food you eat, or to the television

you watch in your free time? From where do our tastes arise and what impact do

they have on our life? What role do power and inequality play in our consumption

of culture? This course will examine the sociological study of cultural

consumption, exploring the ways our tastes produce and are products of our social

location.


TOPIC: Social Unrest in Rural America

2:30P-3:45P TR Knight, S

In the days following the 2016 presidential election political commentators, the

media, and academics explained the outcome of the election as a surprising

mobilization of white working class voters in rural America. Indeed it was not

difficult to find roadside stands along curving highways and country backroads

where you could get your taxes done, obtain a payday loan, and buy your Trump

memorabilia all in one stop. Suddenly it seemed, there was national and even

international interest in the people and places that usually go unnoticed or summed

up as "fly over country." Yet, this is not the first time that rural America has been

in the spotlight. This course will examine the social origins of unrest and

discontent in rural America with a focus primarily from the Kennedy era to the

election of Trump. The course begins with an overview of polls and headlines that

suggest a large rural-urban cultural divide. We then take a close look at how we

define what rural is and the diverse social context that exists within rural places.

We will examine the dramatically different economic development trajectories that

have occurred in rural places since war was declared on poverty in the 1960's. We

then turn our attention to a variety of issues that impact much of rural America,

such as persistent economic distress, shifting demographics, the 'brain drain,' the

opioid epidemic, declining life expectancy, and mass incarceration. We will end

our course with discussions of sources of unity and how to build bridges across

divisions.


TOPIC: The Social Impact of the War on Drugs

5:45P-8:15P TR Summers, N

Did you know that the United States has the highest incarceration rate of any large

country in the world? If we are the land of the free, then why do we lock up a

higher share of our citizens than countries like Russia or Iran? In short, the answer

is the set of policies that began in the 1970s that are often referred to as "the war on

drugs." Politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Ronald Raegan on the right

and Bill Clinton on the left, embraced harsh punishments for drug-related offenses,

including the now-infamous mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. After

fighting the war for more than 30 years, have we won? Are our communities safer?

Have drug usage rates gone down? Has violent crime related to drug distribution

dropped? We will develop answers to many of these questions, and others. In

doing so, we will learn about the social and economic impact these laws have had

on many of our nation's communities, including, especially, low-income

communities in both inner-city and rural areas.


TOPIC: Medicine in America

2:30P-3:45P MW Hernandez, E

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to sociology using a medical

sociology perspective. Medical sociology, or the sociology of health and illness,

provides a lens to understand how health and illness in the United States are shaped

by broader social factors. Over the course of the semester we will (1) discuss medical

and public health institutions in the U.S. from a historical perspective; (2) learn about

epidemiological and demographic (population-level) approaches to health; (3)

consider complementary and alternative medicine within the dominant Western

medical context; (4) explore the social construction and experience of physical

illness, mental illness, and the medicalization of deviant behavior; (5) investigate the

interaction between patients and their health care providers; and (6) examine the

social determinants of health and health inequality.This course is designed, in part,

to help students prepare for social portions of the Psychological, Social, and

Biological Foundations of Behavior section of the new MCAT Exam.

SOC-S 110 (8222) - CHARTS, GRAPHS & TABLES

4:00P-5:15P TR Chen,H

This course aims to introduce students to quantitative data analysis in the social

sciences. You will learn to understand, interpret, collect, and display data about the

social world. The course will focus on three sections: 1) exploring and

understanding data, 2) exploring relationships between variables, and 3) sampling

and inference. The role of charts, graphs, and tables in this course is twofold. First

we will use them to illustrate the topics covered in class. Second, you will learn

how to understand, explain, and generate them. In class, I will show you how to

use Excel to represent charts, graphs, and tables, and students will also work on

practice questions.


9:30A-10:45A TR Halpern-Manners,A

This course provides an introduction to how sociologists collect, interpret, and

display data about the social world. The goal of the course is to provide you with

the tools you need to become better producers and consumers of quantitative

information. The topics covered include the basics of research methods, sampling,

and statistics; the visual presentation of quantitative data; and the design of

informative and easy-to-read tables. These topics will be introduced through a

series of hands-on examples and interactive classroom activities. By the end of the

semester, you will have gained valuable experience working with data and

presenting it an effective and professional manner.


11:15A- 12:30P MW Adem, M

Everyday we are confronted with a host of numbers on everything from opinion

polls to consumer data. This is true whether you are a student in economics,

sociology, psychology or just an apt reader of the New York Times. This course is

designed to make you a critical consumer of numbers. As social scientists, our

knowledge hinges on our ability to collect, summarize, interpret and display data in

appropriate ways. Thus, you will learn about sampling methods, summary

statistics, and graphing tools and other relevant topics. We will use real data to

discuss the chances and pitfalls of statistics. By the end of the semester, you will be

more familiar and comfortable conducting your own data analysis and

understanding other people’s quantitative results.


2:30P-3:45P MW McConnell, W

Every day you are bombarded by wave after wave of information - facts, figures,

and statistics about who you are and what's going on in the world. Maybe a news

anchor says that millennials are the laziest generation, or maybe someone on

Facebook posts a graphic about vaccines and autism, or maybe the President of the

United States says that there was massive voter fraud in the 2016 election. How do

you decide what to believe? The purpose of this course is to help you sift through

'good' and 'bad' information out there in the world. This course has three

overlapping parts. First, we will review quantitative and qualitative social science

research methods. This part of the course will introduce you to how social

scientists theorize, collect, analyze, and present data about the social world.

Second, we will examine social science research related to several contemporary

social problems, including in the areas of politics, social class, race, and gender.

Third, throughout the course, you will be challenged to produce your own data

visualizations. You will gain experience working with data and presenting it in a

clear and professional manner.


2:30P-3:45P TR Greenup, N

The goal of this course is to provide you with the tools you need to become better

consumers and producers of quantitative information. To this end, this course

provides an introduction to how sociologists think about, collect, interpret, and

display data about the social world. The topics covered include the basics of

research methods, sampling, statistics, and the visual presentation of quantitative

data using charts, graphs, and tables. These topics will be introduced using real

data and examples from social scientific research. By the end of the semester, you

will have gained valuable experience working with data and presenting it an

effective and professional manner.

SOC-S 205 (29627) - GENDER AND LEADERSHIP

2:30P-3:45P TR Taylor, C

Why are fewer women than men in leadership positions? This course examines the

disparity using an evidence based-approach, including information from scholarly

and popular works of the press. Explores how students of both genders can become

better leaders. Provides an overview of how social scientists understand gender and

other categories of identity as social.

SOC-S 217 (13007) - SOCIAL INEQUALITY

11:15A- 12:30P TR Hutchison, B

Every day there are signs of inequality around us. But while many people

recognize the presence of inequality in society, it isn’t always clear how and why

certain groups are better off than others. Is inequality just a natural consequence of

many people making individual choices, or is inequality something that is actively

produced and maintained in society? To answer these questions, we will focus on

the relations of power, prestige, and privilege that are involved in processes of

stratification and social inequality. In doing so we will consider a number of

theoretical perspectives—both classical and contemporary—which address the

roles of organizations, neighborhood contexts, and social networks in shaping the

opportunities and life outcomes for various socio-demographic groups. This course

favors a structural view for explaining inequalities in society, but leaves room for

addressing interactional processes that allow inequalities to emerge. While we

focus mainly on the U.S context, we also consider other societies around the globe.

Ultimately, this course is designed to help students understand how inequalities

emerge and persist in today’s world in order to address possible change.

SOC-S 230 (7730) - SOCIETY & THE INDIVIDUAL

4:00P-5:15P MW Benard, S

The objective of this course is to help you understand how the social world shapes

our behavior, and how our behavior shapes the social world. To accomplish this,

the course provides an introduction to the theories, methods, and practice of social

psychology. Social psychology draws on both sociology and psychology, and

addresses questions like: How does the way we think shape our interactions with

other people? How do our interactions shape the way we think? Why does society

work at all, instead of collapsing into anarchy? The answers to these questions are

relevant for understanding politics, law, business, how to get along with your

roommates, and many other parts of life. This course will draw on a variety of

readings and other materials to discuss key concepts in the field, including power,

conformity, influence, stereotypes, relationships, conflict, and identity.

SOC-S 309 (29628) - THE COMMUNITY

9:30A-10:45A MW Garcia, D

How does where you live affect your life? This course focuses on geographic

communities as forms of social organization. We will examine how communities

are defined and how living in different places shapes people’s access to social

networks, economic opportunities, exposure to crime, cultural amenities, and other

resources. Some of the topics that we will address include: racial segregation and

integration (or diversity), gentrification, and community change. We will explore

these issues in urban, suburban, and rural communities. This course is designed to

help you analyze the role of place in ameliorating or reproducing inequalities.

SOC-S 311 (13006) - POLITICS AND SOCIETY

11:15A-12:30P TR Brooks,C

Why is the United States or Denmark like what it is? What is the relationship

between political processes and how citizens live their lives? What have (could)

activists done (do) to change things for the better? Questions of this sort motivate

political sociology, and this spring we will survey the field in some detail. Political

sociology offers a lot because while there is much we think we know, there is also

a lot we don’t. That makes things interesting when we look just how complicated

such seemingly simple things like identity, choice, and society can be.

Among the topics we’ll cover are the following: welfare states and the importance

of policy, particularly within Europe and the U.S.; the politics of family, gender,

and sexuality; social movement activism; elections and public opinion; and the

nature of identity and choice in the political realm, and also in everyday life.

Course requirements include regular attendance, participation, and examinations.

SOC-S 315 (30916) - WORK AND OCCUPATIONS

2:30P-3:45P TR Dias, V

The goal of this course is to provide students with an overview of how sociologists

study the influence of human social life, institutions, and organizations on the

socioeconomic structure of labor markets. Throughout the course, we will discuss

how major social forces impact issues related to power and inequality in the

workplace and the economy. We will focus on how distinct types of economic

organization of the labor market have different effects based on class, gender, and

race. While most of the course will concentrate on the American society, a

comparative perspective will also guide our discussions, which will help explore

these topics in a broader context. This course will give students the tools to think

critically about the complexity of economic, labor, and social relations within a

globalized market economy.

SOC-S 316 (6543) - THE FAMILY

1:00 P-2:15P TR Groggel, A

What is a "family"? How did it originate? How do we decide who counts and

does not count as family? What role does culture play in patterns of family

formation? What attracts us to other people? What are the rituals of dating? Why

do people get married? How do conceptions of privacy and abuse relate to the

family? Family is an important social institution that is a constant feature in both

society and individuals' everyday lives. In this course we use a sociological

perspective to explore topics of love, marriage, gender, parenthood, childhood, sex

and sexuality.

SOC-S 316 (7117) - THE FAMILY

11:15A-12:30A TR Tabor, J

Family is an important organizing feature of both society and individuals' everyday

lives. In this course, we will seek to move beyond our own personal experiences

as members of families to examine families through a sociological lens. We will

examine definitions of family, historical and cultural variation in family roles and

forms, and how cultural, political, and economic processes are related to family.

Further, family forms and processes will be examined as they relate to other

aspects of social life, including gender, social class, race and ethnicity, and sexual

orientation.

SOC-S 320 (11165) - DEVIANT BEHAVIOR & SOCIAL CONTROL

2:30P-3:45P MW Thai,M

What is deviance? Who defines it? Who benefits and loses from its definitions?

Focusing on power and inequality, this course unpacks the social, political, and

economic implications of "deviance" by examining how groups/societies construct,

maintain, and resist social norms and expectations. For instance, we discuss

cultural/social/moral boundaries (e.g. what is "normal?" illness? illegality?); how

socialization (e.g. family, community, culture) and the state (e.g. education,

prisons, asylums) seek to manage deviance; and social change (e.g.

de/criminalization, civil rights movements). *This class is not a typical lecture

class, but based on a participatory education model. In addition to course

assignments (essays and mini-projects), students are required to (a) complete the

diverse array of readings before each class; (b) meaningfully contribute to class

discussions and activities related to the reading; and (c) engage in active listening.

Thus, rather than learning passively, students must take an active role in our

collaborative learning space during every class meeting.

SOC-S 321 (4346) - SEXUAL DIVERSITY

1:00P-2:15P TR Knight, S

How do sociologists view and examine issues of sexuality? This advanced course

will provide a broad overview of the sociology of sexuality, with a particular

emphasis on the diversity in human sexuality. We will broadly investigate how

society shapes people’s behaviors, desires, fantasies, identities, norms, and

attitudes regarding sexuality. The course is divided into three major parts. We will

begin with the conceptual and theoretical foundations that will lay the groundwork

in ensuring that we all have a common language in approaching the sociological

study of sexuality. Then we will use an intersectional framework to understand

how sexualities are shaped by gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and disability.

More simply, we’ll ask: are there important social group differences in the

expression of sexuality? Finally, we consider how society seeks to regulate and

control people’s sexualities in various institutional domains. We’ll examine how

the educational system, the media, the economy, and the law collectively construct

and regulate sexuality as well as how groups have mobilized against such

regulation.

SOC-S 324 (8223) - MENTAL ILLNESS

11:15A-12:30P MW Jackson, P

This course is a survey of theories and research in the sociology of mental health

and mental disorder. The course will emphasize how sociologists view mental

illness, the causes of mental illness, and the social and institutional responses to the

mentally ill. There are three major segments to this course. The first section will

address the primary question of what is mental illness? We focus on types of

mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, mood disorders), the classification of mental

illness (i.e., the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM), and

current prevalence estimates in the U.S. and other nations. We discuss how the

conceptualization of what constitutes mental illness varies both historically and

cross-culturally. Here, the focus is on understanding the major debates in the

field of mental illness. In the second section, we investigate who gets sick,

focusing attention to the patterns of mental illness as well as the dominant

theoretical explanations in the field. This section focuses on comparing and

contrasting medical and social models of mental illness and demonstrating that

these models have different implications for the treatment and policies targeted at

mental illness. Here, we examine the role of social factors in the onset, course, and

outcome of mental disorders. The student should leave this section knowing

exactly what percentage of the American population have been diagnosed

with various mental illnesses. The third section addresses the

deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill during the 1960’s and 1970’s, the

consequences of deinstitutionalization for both the mentally ill and society as a

whole, and possible solutions to the present problems vexing the mental health

system in the United States. We will focus on the problem of stigma and current

mental health services, with special attention to patterns of help-seeking behavior,

treatment techniques, and barriers to effective treatment. Mental health policies in

other countries will be described and discussed during this point in the semester.

An important ethical dilemma is raised in this section of the course; the

student will be encouraged to weigh the pros and cons of the debates covered.

The primary goal of this course is to see mental illness as a social phenomenon, not

just as a medical or psychological problem. Specifically, this means that mental

illness is seen as a consequence of interpersonal, institutional, and cultural factors,

not just the troubles of specific individuals. Toward this end, we will locate mental

illness within a social context, examine the theories and conceptions of mental

health and illness with a critical eye, and assess how mental illness is constructed

by various groups and larger social institutions. The goals of this course will be

pursued through discussion in class of lectures and assigned readings, and

film

SOC-S 325 (8224) - CRIMINOLOGY

9:30A-10:45A TR Sevell,E

This course will not only address issues typically related to crime and criminal

justice, but also question the meaning and definition of crime more broadly.

Instead of assuming crime has a clear and stable meaning, we will view it as a

process - a struggle over who gets to determine who/what is evil and what we

should do about them/it. Rather than concern ourselves with the way the world is

"supposed" to work, we will focus instead on how it actually works. Students will

be introduced to both mainstream and more radical research with the Sociological

and Criminological traditions, and subject matter will include topics diverse as

Graffiti, the War on Drugs, Disney World, and much more. From the labeling of

glass pipe makers as terrorists to the criminalization of Black bodies, this course

will engage students with a range of issues that pervade our strange and complex

social world.

SOC-S 335 (29631) - RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS

5:45P-8:15P TR Okamoto, D

Race and ethnicity are complex issues, as they continually shape our perceptions,

beliefs, interactions, and life chances. In this course, we will discuss the myth of

biological race, how racial categories emerged, and their durability in American

life. In particular, we will focus on how racism and discrimination are manifested

in social institutions and every day interactions, patterns of economic and social

progress for different ethnic and racial groups, and the processes that reinforce

them. At the end of the course, we will explore efforts to alter patterns of racial

and ethnic inequality through social policy and gain insights into what race

relations look like in Brazil. Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate and

understand racial and ethnic relations from a sociological perspective, focus on the

answers to questions such as: Is the dominant racial hierarchy natural and

inevitable? If not, how is racial and ethnic inequality sustained and reproduced? Is

the significance of race declining in U.S. society? Have we entered the post-racial

era? How does contemporary immigration affect race relations? What does the

future of race relations look like? How do other countries address racial

inequality? The purpose of the course is to introduce and expand students'

understanding of race and ethnic relations in American contemporary society.

Some knowledge of historical race relations and immigration will be useful, but is

not required.

SOC-S 338 (29808) - GENDER ROLES

2:30P-3:45P TR Caplan, Z

This is an advanced seminar style course that takes a broad theoretical approach to

understanding gender as a social phenomenon. There is increasing consensus

among sociologists of gender that gender is not primarily an identity or role taught

in childhood and enacted in family relations. Instead, gender is an institutionalized

system of social practices that constitute people as two significantly different

categories, men and women, and organize social relations, and structures of

inequality on the basis of that difference. We will begin with an examination of the

key theoretical works in sociology that address this conceptualization, focusing on

social processes that occur at the macro, interactional, and micro levels. We will

also consider how gender intersects with other axes of inequality, such as class and

race. We will then apply these theoretical approaches as we explore the processes

by which gender difference and inequality are maintained or changed in

contemporary society.

SOC-S 339 (7878) – MEDIA and SOCIETY

4:00P-5:15P MW Von Der Haar, C

This class is designed to increase your knowledge and understanding of the media

in the 21st Century. We begin by asking: What’s News? To answer this question,

we compare the front pages of newspapers worldwide for July 21, 2014. The

headlines for this date clearly show that people in different parts of the world see

different versions of reality. Do we live in different worlds? Or, is the truth a

victim of cultural misunderstandings or even deliberate attempts to manipulate

reality? To answer these questions, we will examine the people, the social

institutions, and the processes that are involved in the creation of media products.

The first part of this course focuses on news—what it is, the people who create it,

the influences upon these individuals, and the routine processes that operate to

exert an influence of their own. We will then look at an intermediate outer circle

of influence upon media—social institutions including the political system and the

economy. In various ways, these institutions can guarantee or limit the freedom of

the media. In the United States, the notion of a free media no longer carries the

same guarantees that it once did. Thus, we will ask: Who ultimately controls

reality—a government that dictates what is said or the owners of media who hire,

pay and can fire those who create media products for them? Finally, we will

consider the outermost circle of influence upon media—ideology. We will once

again consider the idea that media construct reality for the masses, but our focus

will turn from news media to propaganda, public relations, and advertising.

SOC-S 344 (9384) - SOCIOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD

2:30P-3:45P TR Calarco, J

What does it mean to be a kid? What is it like to be a kid? By adopting a

sociological perspective, we will see that the answers to these questions depend on

children's social contexts: who they are and where they live their lives. Using a

variety of reading and discussion materials, we will examine how the meaning of

childhood has varied over time and across cultures, and how children's experiences

vary across different social groups. In doing so, we will recognize that children are

shaped by their social contexts, but that they also play an active role in making

sense of and responding to their social worlds. Finally, we will explore the

challenges and inequalities that children face, and discuss strategies for leveling

the playing field in families, schools, and communities.

SOC-S 370 (7731) - RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIOLOGY

2:30-3:45 TR Halpern-Manners, A

This course is designed to introduce you to the ways that sociologists gather,

present, and evaluate evidence about society. You will gain a working knowledge

of common sociological methods including ethnography, archival research,

surveys, and experiments. Throughout the course, primary emphasis will be placed

on developing your ability to effectively critique and engage with the empirical

research that others have done--skills that should serve you well across a variety of

real-world settings. This objective will be accomplished through a combination of

interactive examples and readings from diverse strands of contemporary social

science research.

SOC-S 370 (7732) - RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIOLOGY

Lab section for S370 Puquirre, W

SOC-S 371 (4347) - STATISTICS FOR SOCIOLOGY

1:00P-2:15P TR Cha, Y

The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to the concepts of

statistical analysis. Statistics are used in a variety of arenas: advertisements,

political speeches, sports, and science. They help us to answer questions such as,

"Did an ad placed on Facebook boost the sales of a product?" "How can you

predict who is going to win the presidential election?" and "Do women earn less

than men?" This course introduces you to the use of quantitative data to answer

questions like these, and teaches statistical principles and analytical skills to help

you to accurately describe and interpret data. No prior knowledge of statistics is

required. We will start with focusing on descriptive statistics, which deals with

techniques for summarizing data in a sample, a small portion of the observations

drawn from the population. We will develop tools for describing a single

variable—that is, some aspect of the social world that varies from case to case or

over time. We will then look at relationships between two or more variables, in

order to understand how one part of the social world shapes or causes another. We

will then learn inferential statistics, which help to accurately make an inference

about a population from a sample. Once we learn about tools for making

inferences, we will learn how to use them to analyze the association between two

or more variables from a sample and make a conclusion about the association at

the population level. The course will also provide some practical experience

working with STATA, a widely used program for statistical analysis. Students will

also have an opportunity to develop their own mini research idea and to address the

question by examining data drawn from a large public dataset and applying the

statistical methods learned in this course. I assume no prior knowledge of

statistics, and the course is not particularly math-intensive. Instead of focusing on

formulas and equations, this course focuses on the conceptual logic of statistical

principals and interpretations of statistical data. However, we will have to work

with a number of basic formulas and graphing techniques to understand underlying

logics and concepts. If you find that you do not have the math skills that you need

for the course, please let us know and we can suggest some resources to help.


Lab for S371 Cheung, B





SOC-X 373 (4363) Internship in Professional Practices

AR Jackson, P

SOC-S 410 (6898) - ADV TPCS: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

TOPIC: Public Sociology

11:15A-12:45P TR Rojas, F

This course is an intensive writing seminar for undergraduates. In this course on

public sociology, we will discuss how ideas move from the academy to the public,

how the media works as a presenter of scholarly ideas, and how to measure

"impact" of ideas.

SOC-S 410 (13003) - ADV TPCS: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

TOPIC: College Life in the US

4:00P-5:15P MW McLeod, J

In this intensive-writing course, we will review recent sociological research on

college life in the US with special emphasis on book-length manuscripts. Possible

selections include Chambliss and Takacs’s How College Works, Arum and Roksa’s

Academically Adrift, and Stevens’s Creating a Class, among others. Class sessions

will emphasize discussion and small group activities over lecture. Students will

work through units concerned with major themes in research on college life (e.g.,

belonging), engage in discussion and research around those themes, and prepare

individual writing assignments reflecting on those activities. Writing assignments

will encourage students to integrate scholarly work, personal experience, and data

on the experiences of students at IU Bloomington. This course is a good option for

students who are self-motivated and who enjoy small-group discussions.

SOC-X 498/S566/S660 (4352) - SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH I

1:20P-3:20P M Benard, S

The Sociological Research Practicum (SRP) is a distinctive feature of graduate

training in sociology at IU. The SRP presents entering graduate students with the

opportunity to become involved in a large, faculty-directed research project,

acquiring research and data collection skills that can be applied in their own work.

The SRP also provides a context in which entering graduate students receive

intensive faculty supervision in the design and execution of original research,

whether this is research leading to the M.A. or another independent research

project.

The 2017-2018 Sociological Research Practicum on Forgiveness, Revenge, and

Social Status in Groups will focus on understanding role of forgiveness and

revenge in social life. The project will investigate why people pursue forgiveness

or revenge by examining how these behaviors enhance or diminish the social status

that individuals are accorded within groups. The project will examine forgiveness

and revenge in the context of common yet distinct social rivalries based on

political party affiliation, sports team fandom, and national identity. The SRP will

use both a survey experiment and a behavioral study conducted in the sociology

lab.

The course will involve students in developing the research instruments survey

instrument, and will prepare graduate students to conduct their own original

research. The instructor and the AIs will work closely with students throughout the

semester as they prepare a draft of a research proposal (i.e., an M.A. proposal or a

proposal for other independent research).

SOC-S 499 (4353) - HONORS THESIS SEMINAR II

1:00P-3:00P W Jackson, P

This course is a continuation of S498 and part of the Sociology 498-499 course

sequence. This sequence is designed to assist students in an independent research

and writing project. In this course, students choose topics of interest while I help

guide those interests. The primary aim of Sociology 498-499 is to to produce a

senior honors thesis that shows that a student has gained valuable research skills in

the craft of sociology. The thesis is something a student can be proud of, both

because it demonstrates your ability as a researcher and writer and because you

have come to a new understanding of a problem that you think is important. A

thesis begins with research that aims at making an original contribution to our

understanding of some aspect of the social world. The original contribution may

take the form of new information or it may involve the development of fresh

insights based on a reanalysis of data that has been collected for a different

purpose; whatever form it takes, it must involve the collection and/or analysis of

data. The final written version of an honors thesis is usually between 25 and 30

pages long (double-spaced). As your instructor for this course, I will be the

primary faculty member directing your honors thesis research. Some students may

present their work at a regional conference and everyone will create posters of their

research to be shown to Sociology faculty, graduate, and other undergraduate

students.

SOC-S 501 (4354) - SOCIOLOGY AS A VOCATION

10:00A-11:30A F Lee,J

Sociology as a Vocation

SOC-S 510 (4607) - INTRO TO SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

1:30P-3:30P T Brooks,C

This course is an advanced introduction to the study of political, economic,

organizational, and comparative-historical sociology – these all fall under our

wide-ranging social organization rubric. This broad scope means that we have an

opportunity to survey some key works and debates in the study of institutions,

stratification, politics, and social change. One goal of this seminar is to provide us

with overview of theory, research, and controversies in these fields. A second is to

identify analytical themes and tools that are increasingly common in work done by

political, historical, economic, and macro-sociologists. Much of the scholarship

we survey looks to countries beyond the United States, historical periods other than

the contemporary era, and multiple levels of analysis. That provides a useful

degree of empirical richness and will give us lots to discuss as well. Among our

topics will be institutional, economic, and network models of organizations;

mechanisms and outcomes of welfare states; the logic of race, gender, and income

inequalities; path-dependency versus historical contingency in national

development; the ubiquity and complexity of political processes; and the challenge

of developing micro-foundations for understanding macro-level outcomes.

SOC-S 554 (4355) - STAT TECHNIQUES IN SOCIOLOGY

9:30A-10:45A TR McManus,P

This is the first semester of the two-course sequence in social statistics required of

graduate students in Sociology. This course takes a systematic approach to the

exposition of the general linear model for continuous dependent variables; the

second semester course covers nonlinear regression models for categorical and

limited dependent variables. In addition to laying the theoretical foundations for

future social science research, this course introduces students to the use of

computerized statistical analysis using the software program Stata. Students are

encouraged to think creatively about how to use statistical methods in their own

research. Students meet twice each week for a 75 minute lecture on statistical

fundamentals, theory, applications, and topics. Students are also required to attend

two-hour lab sessions after each lecture. The labs focus on computing methods and

data analysis techniques. The prerequisite for this course is at least one statistics

course at the level of S250, the undergraduate course required of Sociology majors.

There are no mathematics prerequisites. Students are not expected to have a

background in calculus, but facility with algebra and exposure to the rudiments of

statistical distribution theory and hypothesis testing is expected.

SOC-S 554 (4356) - STAT TECHNIQUES IN SOCIOLOGY

11:15A-1:15P TR Marahrens, H

LAB for S554










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SOC-S 606 (29632) - SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES IN COLLEGE PEDAGOGY

4:00P-6:30P R Pescosolido, B

This is the second course in Sociology’s Preparing Future Faculty Program, which

is designed to continue the preparation of graduate students in Sociology to teach

to a variety of audiences, including students, and to become active members of the

university community. In this course, students will be asked to take a reflective

look at teaching, to become conversant with the larger issues and literature on

college teaching and higher education, and to make connections to these issues

outside their own classroom by engaging with larger debates. At this point in the

graduate student career, students are embarking on long-term professional

activities in which the organization, presentation, and evaluation of information is

central. In this course and with experience in teaching, students will be introduced

to topics such as learning theory, learning and teaching styles, and cognitive

development. Focus will be on assessment of teaching as well as the practice of

teaching, putting both in larger social and historical context. To that end, students

will deal with the challenge to higher education; issues in the balance of teaching,

research and service; and issues of ethics and professional responsibility in

teaching.

SOC-S 652 (8225) - TOPICS IN QUALITATIVE METHODS

TOPIC: Archival Methods

6:00P-8:30P T Rojas, F

This course is for graduate students in sociology and related fields interested in

deepening their knowledge of qualitative research methods, with an emphasis on

archival sources. We will discuss the traditional approach to finding and assessing

archives, the evaluation of document, and the coding of documents by people and

automated coding of documents. We will consider a wide range of documents,

ranging from personal papers to organizational records to online materials.

SOC-S 660 (5903) - ADVANCED TOPICS

TOPIC: Law and Society

5:30P-8:00P W Michelson, E

This seminar is designed as a gateway to the interdisciplinary, growing, and

internationalizing field of law and society. Richard Abel, one of the founders of

this field, has characterized it as the study of “everything about law except the

rules” insofar as it privileges the influence of extrajudicial factors over legal

factors in legal processes and outcomes. Donald Black, another law and society

pioneer, puts these extrajudicial explanations into a whimsical “digestive theory of

law” premised on the observation that “judicial decisions often have less to do with

legal precedent than with what the judge had for breakfast.” Students who

complete this course will acquire a solid grasp of both the law and society canon,

more recent research agendas, and current, unresolved debates. Topics covered run

the gamut, and include (but are not limited to): law as a social equalizer and

reproducer of social inequality (in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, class, etc.);

cultural and organizational efforts to control, subvert, and internalize law and legal

processes; (unequal) access to civil justice; the globalization of law; legal

professions (including issues related to legal education); and criminal justice

challenges, including racial profiling and mass incarceration. Reading materials

will include both books and journal articles. Students will be required to lead class

discussions of assigned materials, submit written summaries of readings, and write

a term paper on an approved topic.

SOC-S 660 (6709) - ADVANCED TOPICS

TOPIC: Sociology of Gender

3:45P-5:45P T Cha, Y

This is an advanced seminar style course that takes a broad theoretical approach to

understanding gender as a social phenomenon. There is increasing consensus

among sociologists of gender that gender is not primarily an identity or role taught

in childhood and enacted in family relations. Instead, gender is an institutionalized

system of social practices that constitute people as two significantly different

categories, men and women, and organize social relations, and structures of

inequality on the basis of that difference. We will begin with an examination of the

key theoretical works in sociology that address this conceptualization, focusing on

social processes that occur at the macro, interactional, and micro levels. We will

also consider how gender intersects with other axes of inequality, such as class and

race. We will then apply these theoretical approaches as we explore the processes

by which gender difference and inequality are maintained or changed in

contemporary society.

SOS-S 700 (32681) - TOPICAL SEMINAR 1

Topic: SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND INEQUALITY

3:30P-6:00P M Alderson, A

This course is intended for students working on a research project in social

stratification and inequality, broadly conceived. When they enroll in the course,

students are expected to have in mind a project in this area that can be revised and

completed over the course of the semester. The product of the course is a paper

suitable for submission to an academic professional journal. The course will be run

as a workshop. We will focus on the practical aspects of doing research, writing up

results, and publishing. Issues related to research design, interpretation, and

writing, as these apply to the specific projects being worked on, will also be

discussed. The research products will be presented to the class at the end of the

semester.










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