Global Arc

You're likely reading this course description online. Next, you'll check your Gmail account, scroll through Instagram, and send a few messages over WhatsApp. The internet permeates our jobs, friendships, finances, politics, family ties and intimate relationships today. How do sociologists analyze activity online, and determine the internet's role in society? We'll develop a toolkit for studying social worlds online, ask which aspects of society have truly changed because of the internet, and return to basic sociological concepts as they play out on the web, as we ask and answer meaningful questions about the sociology of the internet.

This course will examine the ghetto as a social form and as a "concept" in the United States. We intend to explore the phenomenon as it moved from European cities to American communities and became what might be described as a hyper-ghetto today. We intend to pay close attention to both the macro social forces that make a ghetto a place of contempt and the everyday aspects that makes it not only a livable space but one that thrives and survives in a multitude of micro-social ways. We will explore how the social form came to exact such a distinct imprint on our collective imaginations.

Do corporations make us unhealthy? Can you buy a longer life? Do immigrants worsen health in the countries they move to? Will healthcare reform reduce inequality? Does where you live make you sick? Does your race determine the quality of care you receive? Is inequality bad for our health? This course examines the causes of health inequalities. Students will learn about theories and measures of health inequality and engage with debates over contemporary health inequalities like the Flint water crisis, the opioid epidemic, and universal health coverage. This course also covers material from the MCAT sociology and social epidemiology sections.

In this seminar, we will explore sociological understandings of mental health and illness. First, we will discuss how mental illness is defined and measured, and how that changes across time and place depending on what societies construe as deviant behavior. Second, we will examine the social correlates of mental health, especially status characteristics (race, class, gender) and social situations (going to college). Finally, we will engage debates about mental health services, from psychiatric wards to community-based therapeutic practices. Throughout, we will pay special attention to the intersection of inequality and mental health

This course is an introduction to the sociological study of how income and wealth structure opportunities within and across generations. We will discuss research about two distinct topics that are often conflated: economic inequality and social mobility. We will consider associations between these measures, how each has changed over time, and how the US compares to other countries. We will also explore challenges of producing research about these topics. Students will learn to become critical consumers of academic research, public commentary, and social policies related to these subjects.

Inequalities in property, power, and prestige examined for their effects on life chances and lifestyles. Primary focus on socioeconomic classes in modern societies. Special attention to the role of religious, racial, and ethnic factors. Comparisons of different systems of stratification in the world today. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course seeks to provide a sociological account of crime and punishment. Why do people commit crime? How should we respond to crime? How has crime policy changed over the past several decades? What are the consequences of recent crime policy? Through classic and contemporary sociological research, policy analysis, and media coverage, the themes of crime and punishment in contemporary society are explored. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course examines exchange relations in a variety of high-risk and criminal fields, to develop an understanding of how participants navigate their worlds. The weekly readings and lectures will focus on the various ways in which relationships, identities, reputation, and trust, are defined, established, and negotiated, and how this establishes order in the professional and social lives of those involved in high-risk transactions. Readings will be from ethnographic and biographical works on street gangs, drug dealers and traffickers, sex workers, organized crime operations, sports bookies, organ and human traffickers, and others.

This course surveys the history and dynamics of rock music using key concepts and perspectives from sociology. It is divided into three sections. Creating looks at the social worlds within which rock music is produced and disseminated, and the components which contribute to its form. Here we look at two case studies: the emergence of rock n roll in the 1950s and the development of punk in the 1970s. Consuming examines rock fandom as individual identity, as part of youth subcultures, and the uses of music in everyday life. Finally, Communing examines local rock music scenes and aspects of live performance.

This course focuses on the many ways gender differences are created, diminished, and reinforced in society. Students will learn how sexuality and gender categories are socially constructed concepts that vary across the life course (childhood, adolescence, adulthood) and different social settings (media and public discourse, schools, work, family, other countries, the policy arena, and the scientific academy). A variety of theoretical perspectives will be examined including sociobiological, micro- and social-psychological, and social-structural. Two lectures, one preceptorial.