Global Arc

Designed as an extension of SOC 300, this course will be of particular help to students interested in questions of research design. Students will gain greater proficiency in deploying data, in using case studies more effectively in their research, and in writing up the results of a research study.

An introduction to the study of communications media. Topics include: growth and impact of literacy, printing, telecommunications, and broadcasting; communications and the modern state (for example, secrecy, surveillance, intelligence); organization, control, and effects of the media; cross-national differences in communications policy and institutions; impact of computers and electronic communication. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

The course offers a sociological account of production, consumption, distribution, and transfer of assets. Examining different sectors of the economy from corporations and finance to households, immigrants, welfare, and illegal markets, we explore how in all areas of economic life people are creating, maintaining, symbolizing, and transforming meaningful social relations. Economic life, from this perspective, is as social as religion, family, or education. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

What kinds of social forms do we organize ourselves into, what makes these forms endure, and where does change come from? In this course, we will explore classic and contemporary theories of organization with a special focus on technology in organizations. We'll discuss engineering cultures, skilled work, entrepreneurship, innovation, risk and failure in the context of such cases as the dot com boom, the rise of Silicon Valley, and the imprint of office technologies in the workplace. As companies pick up, produce, or respond to technological change, we'll witness and discuss some of the great questions and theories of social organization.

An explanation of the modern city, using New York as an example¿its role as an international center of business, finance, and culture, and as the main gateway to America for an ever-changing array of immigrants and their children. Special attention paid to the city"s ethnic and racial tensions; cleavages between wealth and poverty, celebrity and obscurity; its vibrant neighborhoods; the contested use of space and the ways in which the physical use of space shapes, and is shaped by, the City"s social life. Course concludes with an examination of the impact of the events of 9/11 on NY and the future of large American cities in general.

Environmental sociology has become a lively subfield of the discipline. This is especially true as environmental conditions related to global warming present challenges to individuals and groups working at every level of social organization. This seminar will consider the history of efforts to bring environmental concerns into social theory and research. Our readings and class discussions will focus primarily on some of the most influential ideas that advanced contemporary understandings of our relationships to natural ecosystems, and which have helped create the framework of environmental institutions and laws in the US since the 1830s.

This course uses sociological methods to examine the roles that race, class, and gender play in the making of U.S. educational systems. We will explore the challenges of schooling in an increasingly diverse society, devoting great attention to the complex factors that produce inequities in P-16 education. We will also interrogate many assumptions and themes that dominate contemporary discussions of U.S. education, including merit, school discipline, and college access. The course introduces students to leading approaches to the sociological study of education and offers fresh perspectives on pressing educational issues facing society.

Money seems to represent the ultimate symbol of economic rationality, an impersonal and interchangeable medium of exchange. Money is also feared as morally dangerous, replacing personal bonds with cold greed. This seminar offers a fundamentally different sociological explanation of how money works. Examining different monetary worlds including households, college campuses, law firms, art galleries, sharing economies, and more, we will explore how our multiple moneys are shaped by cultural meanings, moral concerns, and social relations. Our economic lives, from this perspective, are as social as religious, family or education.

This course will introduce core concepts in political and historical sociology through a broad overview of American political history from the revolutionary period to the present. We will focus on large scale processes such as state formation and the rise of capitalism, as well as the ways in which distinctions related to factors such as race, class, and gender have influenced patterns of political contention over time. In doing so, we will address topics including social networks, class formation, political opportunity structures, movement dynamics, civic engagement, public opinion, and state-centered accounts of political behavior.

This course approaches contemporary African issues through the lens of population studies. What theories explain the recent fertility declines observed in so much of the developing world, and why have some African countries failed to adhere to that path? What traits are characteristic of African households today, and how were present-day family relations shaped by pre-colonial norms? Discussions will stress intra- and cross-continental comparative analysis to foster an appreciation for characteristics, trends, and challenges that are uniquely African.