Global Arc

By taking a comparative approach, this course examines the role of social, economic, and political factors in the emergence and transformation of modern cities in the United States and selected areas of Latin America. The class considers the city in its dual image: both as a center of progress and as a redoubt of social problems, especially poverty. Special attention is given to spatial processes that have resulted in the aggregation and desegregation of populations differentiated by social class and race. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

What is the social basis for the production and distribution of carbon emissions, the source of human-induced climate change? Which people, companies, and countries are responsible? On whom do the effects fall? What makes change possible? We examine the institutions that try to govern carbon emissions, with a focus on different types of governments, social movements, and private firms. We consider how these actors are both similar and different across rich and poor countries, and across the global, national, and urban scales. And we debate proposed solutions that rely on the analyses and evidence that we have studied earlier in the course.

Orientation to the systematic study of human groups, institutions, and social interactions. Introduction to theories and research methods used in sociological investigations, and applied to a wide variety of topics, including family, education, work and religion, as well as dynamics of class, gender, race and ethnic inequalities. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course will examine the historic moment in which we are living in order to introduce students to the concept of race and discipline of sociology. Students will learn to study systematically how human groups interact with one another and how social networks and a variety of institutions help shape those interactions and outcomes. How are these interactions and outcomes categorized and understood? Where do different people fit into the social categories we use to make sense of our societies, and why? And how are different actors able to transform those spaces in which to fit?

An introduction to changing patterns of family structure, community life, economic relations, voluntary associations, moral beliefs and values, social and political movements, and other aspects of civil society and politics in the United States. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course provides an introduction to social networks. Topics include the small-world puzzle (six degrees of separation), the strength of weak ties, centrality, data collection, and the spread of diseases and fads. These concepts and others will then be used to understand empirical research on phenomena including finding a job, the spread of HIV/AIDS, collusion in industry, cooperative relationships between firms in the Garment District in New York, and the struggle for power among elite families in 15th-century Florence.

New Jersey's Bruce Springsteen and his E-Street Band chronicle life in the U.S. focusing on a range of topics from loneliness, happiness, and broken dreams, to immigration, racism, teenage pregnancy, and nostalgia. Each lecture will begin with one or more songs in order to focus on what sociology says about the questions they raise. During most weeks, a guest who has lived a life like one of Springsteen's characters will be interviewed in-class. In keeping with Springsteen's commitment to local community and his home state of New Jersey, this class will have an optional Community-Based Learning Initiative (CBLI) precept.

Travel has always been a central aspect of human life. Today, tourism is one of the largest industries in the world. In this course, we will investigate the history, structure and consequences of tourism as a global industry. We will also examine why people travel, how they travel and what they actually do while "on the road." Throughout, we will use tourism as a lens to engage broader sociological ideas and concepts, including modernity and post-modernity, consumption and cultural commodification, the construction of social inequalities, as well as issues of authenticity, identity, and globalization.

Classical and contemporary theories of the relations between religion and society, with emphasis on the dynamics of religious traditions in modern societies: secularization, religion and political legitimation, sources of individual meaning and transcendence, rituals and moral obligations, religious movements, and contemporary trends in American religion. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

An exploration of how creative activities are shaped by larger social configurations. The course first decodes the culture of creativity by examining how society thinks about creativity (and its opposite). How do the varying cultural meanings related to creativity reflect social change? Then it examines the social processes and consequences of innovation from a sociological point of view. Under what social conditions does innovation emerge? How do innovations reshape society and culture? Two lectures, one preceptorial.