Global Arc

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

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 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.

What is gender? Does it still matter in the 21st century? If so, how and why does it matter? And how does this vary around the world? This course will examine how gender shapes our identities (e.g. how we learn gender), how it shapes our interactions with others (e.g. within romantic relationships), and how it shapes and is shaped by institutions (e.g. the media, the workplace and college). We will look not only at how our gender privileges us, but also how we are both subject to and participate in producing gender inequality in our everyday lives. U.S and cross cultural readings and screenings will be used for the class.

An introduction to the sociological study of race and ethnicity which begins by encouraging students to exercise some critical distance from the core concepts of race and ethnicity. Topics will include comparative racism, immigration, the experiences of the second generation, whiteness, the culture of poverty debate, slums and ghettos, and the debate over the "underclass." Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Three main questions will be considered: (1) How "natural" is the family institution? (2) How essential is it? and (3) How well is it working in current American society? Comparative perspective on the analysis of childhood and society, marriage and divorce, and main contemporary trends. Proposed alternatives to the family and future developments. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Equal parts art, programming, and statistical reasoning, data visualization is critical for anyone who seeks to analyze data. Data analysis skills have become essential for those pursuing careers in policy evaluation, business consulting, and research in fields like public health, social science, or education. This course introduces students to the powerful R programming language and the basics of creating data-analysis graphics in R. We use real datasets to explore topics ranging from networks (like trade between counties) to geographical data (like the spatial distribution of insurgent attacks in Afghanistan).