Global Arc

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.

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.