Sociology
The Department of Sociology offers courses in statistics and social research, social theory, methods in social research, social movements, the American family, sociology and economics, sociology of culture, race and urban America, inequality and public policy, and organizational analysis.
For questions about specific courses, contact the department.
For questions about specific courses, contact the department.
Courses
Identification of the distinctive elements of sociological perspectives on society. Readings confront classical and contemporary approaches with key social issues that include power and authority, culture and communication, poverty and discrimination, social change, and popular uses of sociological concepts.
Course Number
SOCI1000W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 10:10-11:25Tu 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/13054Enrollment
162 of 215Instructor
Gil EyalCourse Number
SOCI1100W001Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 14:10-15:00Section/Call Number
001/18235Enrollment
30 of 30Instructor
Taylor AlarconCourse Number
SOCI1100W002Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Fr 09:10-10:00Section/Call Number
002/18236Enrollment
18 of 30Instructor
Flavien GanterCourse Number
SOCI1100W003Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 14:10-15:00Section/Call Number
003/18237Enrollment
17 of 30Instructor
Anna ThieserCourse Number
SOCI1100W004Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 13:10-14:00Section/Call Number
004/18238Enrollment
30 of 30Instructor
Timothy IttnerCourse Number
SOCI1100W005Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 15:10-16:00Section/Call Number
005/18239Enrollment
16 of 30Instructor
Dominic WalkerCourse Number
SOCI1100W006Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 16:10-17:00Section/Call Number
006/18802Enrollment
26 of 30Instructor
Arnela ColicCourse Number
SOCI1100W007Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 16:10-17:00Section/Call Number
007/18803Enrollment
25 of 30Instructor
Samaya MansourCourse Number
SOCI3000W001Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 13:10-14:25Th 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
001/00185Enrollment
63 of 60Instructor
Andrew AnastasiPrerequisites: SOCI UN3000 Discussion section for Social Theory (SOCI UN3000).
Course Number
SOCI3001W001Points
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 15:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/00186Enrollment
32 of 30Instructor
Andrew AnastasiHanna GoldbergPrerequisites: SOCI UN3000 Discussion section for Social Theory (SOCI UN3000).
Course Number
SOCI3001W002Points
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Fr 10:00-10:50Section/Call Number
002/00187Enrollment
31 of 30Instructor
Eva ChenAndrew AnastasiCourse Number
SOCI3010W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 13:10-14:25We 13:10-14:25Section/Call Number
001/13368Enrollment
69 of 62Instructor
Gerard Torrats-EspinosaPrerequisites: SOCI UN1000 Section Discussion for SOCI UN3010, METHODS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
Course Number
SOCI3011W001Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 16:10-17:00Section/Call Number
001/18804Enrollment
37 of 35Instructor
Ixchel BosworthPrerequisites: SOCI UN1000 Section Discussion for SOCI UN3010, METHODS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
Course Number
SOCI3011W002Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 11:10-12:00Section/Call Number
002/18805Enrollment
31 of 35Instructor
Katerine PerezCourse Number
SOCI3088X001Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
001/00188Enrollment
0 of 6Instructor
Deborah BecherCourse Number
SOCI3088X002Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
002/00189Enrollment
1 of 6Instructor
Elizabeth BernsteinCourse Number
SOCI3088X003Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
003/00190Enrollment
0 of 6Instructor
Maricarmen HernandezCourse Number
SOCI3088X004Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
004/00191Enrollment
1 of 6Instructor
Debra MinkoffCourse Number
SOCI3088X005Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
005/00192Enrollment
0 of 6Instructor
Mignon MooreCourse Number
SOCI3088X006Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
006/00193Enrollment
0 of 6Instructor
Jonathan RiederCourse Number
SOCI3088X007Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
007/00194Enrollment
0 of 6Instructor
Angela SimmsCourse Number
SOCI3088X008Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
008/00195Enrollment
2 of 6Instructor
Amy ZhouCourse Number
SOCI3088X009Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
009/00196Enrollment
3 of 6Instructor
Randa SerhanCourse Number
SOCI3088X010Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
010/00197Enrollment
2 of 6Instructor
Gillian GualtieriCourse Number
SOCI3088X011Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
011/00851Enrollment
1 of 6Instructor
Maati Momplaisir
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the underlying health disparities that exist in the United States more apparent. The traditional biomedical model places the responsibility of these disparities on the choices that an individual makes. The model assumes that one’s smoking, eating and exercising habits are based on personal choice. Therefore, the prevalence of morbidities such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes is the result of an individual’s poor decisions. This course will explore how the conditions under which individuals live, work, play and pray impact their health outcomes. Collectively these conditions are referred to as the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) and often they reveal the systemic inequalities that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. This course will also call upon the need for a paradigm shift from the “Social” Determinants of Health to the “Structural” Determinants of Health. This shift is in recognition that it is the underlying structures (laws, material infrastructure) that impact health outcomes. The development of the SDoH has challenged health care providers to look beyond the biomedical model that stresses an individual’s behavior as the main predictor of adverse health conditions. Instead the SDoH focuses on an “upstream” approach that examines the underlying systemic and racial inequalities that impact communities of color and their health outcomes. An analysis that focuses upstream reveals that government policies and social structure are at the core of health disparities. Through the lens of New York City and its health systems, this course will cover a wide range of topics related to race and health, including: racial inequalities in housing and homelessness, biases in medical institutions, and the unconscious bias that lead providers to have racialized perception of an individual’s pain tolerance. In addition to exposing these inequalities the course will also provide innovative solutions that seek to mitigate these barriers including: home visiting programs, medical respite programs for homeless patients and food as medicine in health care systems. Students will demonstrate their knowledge through individual writing, and class discussion. The course revolves around important readings, lectures, and podcasts that illustrates how one’s class position and the color of one’s skin can influence the access to healthcare one has as well as their experience of it.
Course Number
SOCI3202X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 18:10-19:25Th 18:10-19:25Section/Call Number
001/00198Enrollment
47 of 45Instructor
Maati MomplaisirEmphasizes foundations and development of black communities post-1940, and mechanisms in society that create and maintain racial inequality. Explores notions of identity and culture through lenses of gender, class and sexual orientation, and ideologies that form the foundation of black politics. Primarily lecture with some discussion.
Course Number
SOCI3214X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 14:40-15:55Th 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
001/00199Enrollment
37 of 45Instructor
Mignon MooreCourse Number
SOCI3225W001Points
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 18:10-19:25We 18:10-19:25Section/Call Number
001/00200Enrollment
44 of 45Instructor
Jacquelyn DuranArab New York introduces students to a little-known community with a long history in New York City dating back to the late 1800s. Students will explore where Arab American communities thrive in New York and learn about the history of these neighborhoods. Applying sociological theories of assimilation, we will assess how immigrants from the Arab world have fared over time in New York City.
Course Number
SOCI3236X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 16:10-17:25We 16:10-17:25Section/Call Number
001/00201Enrollment
47 of 45Instructor
Randa SerhanTransnationalism, Citizenship, and Belonging covers the myriad ways that transnationalism is experienced in both South to North and South to South migrations. Transnationalism and its contenders, globalization and nationalism, will be placed within a broader discussion of belonging based on sociological theories of citizenship, politics of exclusion, and boundary-making.
Course Number
SOCI3241W001Points
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 10:10-11:25We 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/00202Enrollment
37 of 45Instructor
Randa SerhanThis course challenges students to read broadly and across disciplines to develop a robust understanding of the social world of the arts, engaging literatures across sub-fields of sociology, art history, cultural studies, law, policy, and economics to develop analytical strategies for understanding the complex landscape of art, artistic practice, and artistic engagement in the social universe.
Course Number
SOCI3242X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 08:40-09:55Th 08:40-09:55Section/Call Number
001/00203Enrollment
39 of 45Instructor
Gillian GualtieriThis course examines the social roots and impacts of environmental contamination and disasters, in order to understand how humans relate to nature in the context of global racial capitalism and the possibilities for creating a more sustainable world. We will also explore how racism is foundational to environmental exploitation and consider why global struggles for racial justice are crucial for protecting both people and the earth, paying particular attention to how environmental health inequalities are linked to race, class, gender, and nation. We will consider key theories, debates, and unresolved questions in the subfield of environmental sociology and discuss future directions for the sociological study of human/environment relations.
Course Number
SOCI3244X001Points
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 14:40-15:55We 14:40-15:55Section/Call Number
001/00204Enrollment
37 of 45Instructor
Maricarmen HernandezExamines the ways sociologists have studied the field of medicine and experiences of health and illness. We cannot understand topics of health and illness by only looking at biological phenomena; we must consider a variety of social, political, economic, and cultural forces. Uses sociological perspectives and methods to understand topics such as: unequal patterns in health and illness; how people make sense of and manage illness; the ways doctors and patients interact with each other; changes in the medical profession, health policies and institutions; social movements around health; and how some behaviors but not others become understood as medical problems. Course is geared towards pre-med students as well as those with general interests in medicine, health and society.
Course Number
SOCI3246W001Points
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 16:10-17:25Th 16:10-17:25Section/Call Number
001/00205Enrollment
41 of 45Instructor
Amy ZhouCourse Number
SOCI3265W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 10:10-11:25Tu 10:10-11:25Section/Call Number
001/13383Enrollment
81 of 100Instructor
Teresa SharpeThis seminar provides an intensive introduction to critical thinking about gender in relation to public health. We begin with an introduction to social scientific approaches to thinking about gender in relation to health, as well as an introduction to public health as a field, and then examine diverse areas in which gendered relations of power – primarily between men and women, but also between cis- and queer individuals – shape health behaviors and health outcomes. Over the course of the semester, we engage with multiple examples of how gendered social processes, in combination with other dimensions of social stratification, shape health at the population level. Through reading, discussion, and critical analysis, the overarching goal is to help students learn to think about gender – and, by extension, about any form of social stratification – in relation to the health of populations, as opposed to individuals.We also examine how public health as a field is itself a domain in which gender is reproduced or contested.
Given the enormous range of outcomes and disparities on which such a class might focus, it is impossible to examine every possible gendered pattern of population health. We will focus on four (sometimes overlapping) broad areas of work in public health: child survival, sexual and reproductive health, violence, and substance use.
Aspiring clinicians should note that our focus is not on gender in the context of health care; although we do touch on health care and gender at points over the course of the semester, our overall orientation is towards health behaviors and the social determinants of health.
Course Number
SOCI3651W001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 08:10-10:00Section/Call Number
001/16803Enrollment
12 of 20Instructor
Jennifer HirschIn this class we will examine the politics, organization, and experience of work. In the first three weeks we will get our bearings and consider some basic (but difficult!) questions about work, including: What counts as work and who counts as a worker? How important are our jobs to our survival in the world, and what makes for a good or bad job? In this section you will start thinking about and analyzing your own work experiences. In weeks four and five we will read what sociology’s founders had to say about work, and consider some of the important shifts to work that accompanied industrialization. Then we will turn to 20th century transformations, including the rise of the service economy and worker-customer relations, changes in forms of managerial control and worker responses to these changes, globalization, and the proliferation of precarious work. Finally, we will turn to examining gender, class and race in labor markets and on the job, paid and unpaid reproductive labor, the construction of selves at work, and the job of fashion modeling. Throughout the course we will examine how the sociology of work is bound up with other key institutions including gender, race, class, and the family.
Course Number
SOCI3661W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 12:10-14:00Section/Call Number
001/14958Enrollment
16 of 15Instructor
Teresa SharpeThis course will create an opportunity for active engagement between students doing sociology and a local organization working for social change by organizing immigrant communities, Make the Road New York. Students will be expected to actively study and/or participate in a project designed by the instructor and organization leaders. The action/research will primarily take the form of interviews (conducting interviews with members and leaders from an organization or campaign) and participant observation (taking part in the activities of the organization/campaign) and analysis of those interviews and observations. To accomplish this collaborative research project, students will take on different roles throughout the course, including that of fieldworker, project coordinator, analysis coordinator, and context researcher. Students will also read, discuss, and write about literature on scholarly-community partnerships and community organizing. Admittance by application and interview only. Preference to Sociology majors. Spanish speakers and writers, juniors, and seniors.
Course Number
SOCI3721W001Points
5 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 10:10-12:00Th 10:10-12:00Section/Call Number
001/00774Enrollment
14 of 15Instructor
Deborah BecherPrerequisites: SOCI BC1003 or equivalent social science course and permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15 students. Drawing examples from popular music, religion, politics, race, and gender, explores the interpretation, production, and reception of cultural texts and meanings. Topics include aesthetic distinction and taste communities, ideology, power, and resistance; the structure and functions of subcultures; popular culture and high culture; and ethnography and interpretation.
Course Number
SOCI3901V001Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 12:10-14:00Section/Call Number
001/00828Enrollment
10 of 12Instructor
Gillian GualtieriCourse Number
SOCI3909W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 16:10-18:00Section/Call Number
001/13058Enrollment
10 of 15Instructor
Diane VaughanThis course considers how gender shapes the action within different organizations, reflecting and reproducing broader social systems of inequality, identity, violence, and power in the United States. We will address current issues centered on the gendered nature of institutions and organizations, including the work/family debate, bodies at work, sexual harassment, service work, sex work, and sexual violence to illuminate the mechanisms by which systems of gender inequality shape the meanings and practices of individuals and groups within and across organizations and institutions.
Course Number
SOCI3924X001Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 12:10-14:00Section/Call Number
001/00207Enrollment
16 of 15Instructor
Gillian GualtieriThe course will focus on a single topic within US law-and-society scholarship: either the profession of lawyering or the criminalization of immigration. We will critically examine existing research, and then create our own. With the support of their peers and instructor, students will design and complete substantial independent research projects. Limited to sociology majors with senior standing (except in exceptional circumstances), and having taken SOCI UN3217 Law and Society is strongly preferred. Fulfills the Research Paper Option for the senior requirement in sociology at Barnard.
Course Number
SOCI3925X002Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
002/00822Enrollment
6 of 12Instructor
Deborah BecherThis seminar will investigate efforts to coordinate, justify, and understand global activism through lenses of internationalism, solidarity, and universal human rights. We will also study transformations in the global institutional landscape – comprising international finance, supranational unions, and non-governmental organizations – which is itself the contradictory outcome of prior cycles of contestation. We will survey historical precedents, analyze contemporary manifestations, and speculate on the future prospects of global activism. Students will explore cases and concepts by reading scholarly literature and by considering the political practices, texts, and media created by movements themselves.
Course Number
SOCI3934X001Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 12:10-14:00Section/Call Number
001/00268Enrollment
14 of 15Instructor
Andrew AnastasiSociology came to the study of human rights much later than law, philosophy, or political science. In this course, you’ll learn (1) what constitutes a sociology of human rights and (2) what sociology, its classics, and its diverse methods bring to the empirical study and theory of human rights. We’ll explore the history, social institutions and laws, ideas, practices, and theories of human rights. We’ll become familiar with the social actors, social structures, and relationships involved in practices such as violation, claims-making, advocacy, and protection. We’ll consider how social, cultural, political, and economic forces affect human rights issues. We’ll learn about the questions sociologists ask, starting with the most basic (but far from simple) question, “what is a human right?” We’ll tackle key debates in the field, considering – for instance – whether human rights are universal and how human rights relate to cultural norms/values, national sovereignty, and national security. Finally, we’ll apply the concepts we’ve learned to a wide range of issues (ex: how racial, ethnic, gender, and other social inequalities relate to human rights), rights (ex: LGBTQ rights, the rights of laborers, the rights of refugees), and cases (ex: enslavement, the separation of children from their families, circumcision, sterilization, the use of torture). We’ll consider human rights cases in the United States and across the globe, and how events and actions in one place relate to human rights violations in another.
Course Number
SOCI3937W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Fr 12:10-14:00Section/Call Number
001/13400Enrollment
20 of 20Instructor
Rosemary McGunnigle-GonzalesWhat is global health? Where do global health disease priorities come from, and how do the ways that we understand disease shape how we respond to it? What happens when good ideas and good intentions go wrong? This course critically examines the politics of global health and its impact on local institutions and people. Drawing on social science research, the course will address three main themes: 1) how global health priorities are defined and constructed, 2) how our understandings of disease influence our response to that disease, and 3) how efforts to respond to disease intersect with people on the ground, sometimes in unexpected ways. We will examine the global health industry from the vantage point of different institutions and actors – international organizations, governments, local healthcare institutions, healthcare workers, and people living with or at risk of various illnesses like HIV/AIDS, malaria, cancer, and Ebola. A primary goal of this course is to help you to develop skills in critical thinking in relation to global health issues and their impact on society. Students will demonstrate their knowledge through individual writing, class discussion, presentations, and a final research project.
Course Number
SOCI3946X001Points
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/00209Enrollment
12 of 15Instructor
Amy ZhouCourse Number
SOCI3960W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 10:10-12:00Section/Call Number
001/14869Enrollment
18 of 20Instructor
Jonathan ColeThis course examines the profession of journalism in modern society.. The social role of the Press has changed with the advent of digital technologies and the democratization of the production, distribution and consumption of authoritative information. The course looks closely at the practice of newsmaking by examining the people and organizations who interact with one another to create and share news content. Newsmaking is viewed as meaningful collective interaction—that is, a behavior that is the sum of the engagement of multiple social actors, each of whom is motivated by assumptions, norms, and aspirations regarding the value of information and the role of the Press in society.
Themes for the course include: (1) how journalists think and work (2) the ways that digital technologies has challenged the Qield of professional journalism and redeQined the role of the “journalist” and “reporter” (3) the evolution of journalism since the Industrial Revolution, with a particular focus on social media and digital transmission of news content (4) the social assumptions and infrastructure that lies behind modern newsmaking (5) the conQlicts, disruptions and tensions that emerge in social organization when new and/or competing technologies are introduced. Substantive topics include, “fake news,” “misinformation,” the challenges of Qirst-hand reporting, the newsroom as an ecosystem, and the rise of social media.
Students will read a variety of texts, including: historical studies of journalism: accounts and memoirs of professional journalists; scientiQic research examining the impact of modern digital media; and news articles and contemporary forms of reportage (tweets, podcasts, etc.).
Course Number
SOCI3966C001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/13339Enrollment
8 of 20Instructor
Sudhir VenkateshCourse Number
SOCI3982W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 10:10-12:00Section/Call Number
001/13077Enrollment
13 of 20Instructor
Yao LuCourse Number
SOCI3996W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/13065Enrollment
12 of 15Instructor
James ChuCourse Number
SOCI3998C001Format
In-PersonPoints
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
001/20808Enrollment
1 of 1Instructor
Adam ReichCourse Number
SOCI3998C002Format
In-PersonPoints
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
002/21077Enrollment
1 of 1Instructor
Tey MeadowCourse Number
SOCI3999C001Points
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
001/00210Enrollment
1 of 3Instructor
Deborah BecherCourse Number
SOCI3999C002Points
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
002/00211Enrollment
0 of 3Instructor
Elizabeth BernsteinCourse Number
SOCI3999C003Points
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
003/00212Enrollment
0 of 3Instructor
Maricarmen HernandezCourse Number
SOCI3999C004Points
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
004/00213Enrollment
0 of 3Instructor
Debra MinkoffCourse Number
SOCI3999C005Points
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
005/00214Enrollment
0 of 3Instructor
Mignon MooreCourse Number
SOCI3999C006Points
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
006/00215Enrollment
0 of 3Instructor
Jonathan RiederCourse Number
SOCI3999C007Points
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
007/00216Enrollment
0 of 3Instructor
Angela SimmsCourse Number
SOCI3999C008Points
6 ptsSpring 2024
Section/Call Number
008/00217Enrollment
0 of 3Instructor
Amy ZhouCourse Number
SOCI4043G001Format
In-PersonPoints
1 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/12644Enrollment
15 of 20Instructor
Marissa ThompsonThis is seminar on the sociology of education intended for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students. The goal of the course is to introduce students to foundational texts, theories, and research in the field of sociology of education. In particular, we will focus on the role of schooling in social stratification and social reproduction in the United States.
This course is organized by broad topic and theme. We will begin with a discussion of the role of schooling in our society. Next, we will discuss inequality in schooling across multiple socio-demographic categories, including social class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion (in addition to inequality at the intersection of multiple social categories). By the end of this course, you should have a strong foundation in research on education’s role in society.
Course Number
SOCI4330G001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/13093Enrollment
21 of 22Instructor
Marissa ThompsonCourse Number
SOCI4336G001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/13097Enrollment
12 of 15Instructor
Adam ReichThe seminar will examine the main political, economic, and social processes that have been shaping contemporary Israel. The underlying assumption in this seminar is that much of these processes have been shaped by the 100-year Israeli-Arab/Palestinian conflict. The first part of the course will accordingly focus on the historical background informing the conflict and leading to the Palestinian refugee problem and establishment of a Jewish, but not Palestinian, state in 1948. The second part of the seminar focuses on Israel’s occupation of the West Bank (and Gaza) and the settlement project, as well as on USA's role and its impact on the conflict, the occupation, and Israel. These topics did not get much academic attention until recently, but as researchers began to realize that the Occupation and the West Bank settlements are among the most permanent institutions in Israel, they have come under the scrutiny of academic research.
The third part the seminar will concentrate on the development of the conflict after the establishment of Israel and its effects on sociological processes and institutions in contemporary Israel. Analyzing patterns of continuity and change in the past seven decades, we will discuss immigration and emigration patterns, as well as issue relating to ethnicity, gender, religion and politics, and the Israeli military.
Course Number
SOCI4801W001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 16:10-18:00Section/Call Number
001/18244Enrollment
17 of 18Instructor
Yinon CohenCourse description: The concept of freedom is analytically complex and has
a long and varied intellectual history. This course will focus on the
concept as it emerged in the modern period (roughly since the seventeenth
century in Europe) and focus in particular on three aspects of freedom.
Though the primary interest of the seminar will be on political and
academic freedom, it will be useful to begin with a very brief discussion
of the most abstract dimension of freedom by asking what notion of freedom
might individual human subjects be said to possess given the determinism
that seems to be everywhere indicated by the comprehensive explanatory
power of modern science.
NOTE: This is a graduate seminar. If undergraduate seniors wish to enroll they
should seek permission from the professors. The fourteen weeks of the
course will consist of a combination of 1) lectures by the instructors
followed by discussions, 2) discussions with guest visitors who are
distinguished scholars in the field and whose work will be pre-circulated
to the seminar, and 3) presentations by students on the readings on the
syllabus.
Requirements: Strictly regular attendance, prior reading of weekly texts,
and a term paper at the end of term of roughly 20-25 pages.
Course Number
SOCI5001G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 10:10-12:00Section/Call Number
001/14872Enrollment
8 of 20Instructor
Jonathan ColeCourse Number
SOCI5052G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 16:10-18:00Section/Call Number
001/12616Enrollment
20 of 25Instructor
Ryan HagenCourse Number
SOCI5063G001Format
In-PersonPoints
1 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Fr 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/12617Enrollment
16 of 25Instructor
Denise MilsteinCourse Number
SOCI5065G001Format
In-PersonPoints
1 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Fr 08:10-10:00Section/Call Number
001/12618Enrollment
15 of 25Instructor
Denise MilsteinCourse Number
SOCI5067G001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/12619Enrollment
17 of 25Instructor
Denise MilsteinCourse Number
SOCI5076G001Format
In-PersonPoints
0 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 10:10-12:00Section/Call Number
001/14969Enrollment
15 of 15Instructor
Mireia Triguero RouraCourse Number
SOCI6001G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 16:10-18:00Section/Call Number
001/13334Enrollment
15 of 13Instructor
Gerard Torrats-EspinosaCourse Number
SOCI6008G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Th 10:10-12:00Section/Call Number
001/12915Enrollment
10 of 15Instructor
James ChuIt took the mass murder of six Asian women in Atlanta on March 16, 2021 to draw national attention to what Asian Americans have been warning about since the wake of Covid-19: a surge in anti-Asian violence and hate. Since the onset of the coronavirus, 1 in 8 Asian American adults experienced a hate incident, and 1 in 7 Asian American women worry all the time about being victimized, reflecting an under-recognized legacy of anti-Asian violence, bigotry, misogyny, and discrimination in the United States that dates back more than 150 years. Drawing on research and readings from the social sciences, this course links the past to the present in order to understand this legacy, and how it continues to affect Asian Americans today.
Course Number
SOCI6068G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 14:10-16:00Section/Call Number
001/12636Enrollment
13 of 15Instructor
Jennifer LeeThe course is designed to introduce PhD students in Sociology to the basic techniques for collecting, interpreting, analyzing, and reporting interview and observational data. The readings and practical exercises we will do together are designed to expand your technical skillset, inspire your thinking, to show you the importance of working collaboratively with intellectual peers, and to give you experiential knowledge of various kinds of fieldwork.
Mostly, though, students will learn how to conduct indictive field-based analyses. There are many versions of this model, including Florian Znaniecki’s “analytic induction,” Barney Glaser and Anselm Straus’ “grounded theory,” John Stuart Mill’s system of inductive logic, the Bayesian approach to inference in statistics, and much of what computationally-intensive researchers refer to as data mining. This course will expose students to ways of thinking about their research shared by many of these different inductive perspectives. Remember, though, that all of these formulations of analytic work are ideal types. The actual field, and actual field workers, are often far more complex.
For that reason, this course focuses not merely on theory, but also, and fundamentally, on practice. While some skills like producing a code book or formulating a hypothesis can be developed through reading and reflection, the field demands more nuanced skillsets that can only be attained by trial and error. How do you get an honest answer to a painful or embarrassing question? How do we know that the researcher interviewed enough people? Or spent enough time in the field? Or asked the right questions? Or did not distort the truth? My hope is that by the end of class you will have done enough fieldwork to have arrived at a good set of answers, and to begin developing the ability to communicate your answers to others.
A note on intellectual parentage: The particular approach to training in this course is based on a qualitative bootcamp developed by Mario Small for Harvard’s Ph.d cohorts. Other methods courses focus on particular technical skills rather than analytic frames, or merely on empirical work itself, rather than secondary literature on method. This is one way to think through analytic training. We will try it out together.
Course Number
SOCI6090G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Tu 10:10-12:00Section/Call Number
001/12621Enrollment
9 of 15Instructor
Tey MeadowCourse Number
SOCI6098G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsCourse Number
SOCI6102G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
We 10:10-12:00Section/Call Number
001/14973Enrollment
5 of 10Instructor
Mario SmallCourse Number
SOCI6103G001Format
In-PersonPoints
4 ptsCourse Number
SOCI6160G001Format
In-PersonPoints
3 ptsSpring 2024
Times/Location
Mo 12:10-14:00Section/Call Number
001/18243Enrollment
2 of 10Instructor
Yinon CohenThis course introduces students to the literature on globalization and the diffusion of culture and institutions. It covers literatures in sociology and political science as well as some anthropology and history. This course will not discuss economic, financial, or migratory globalization in depth. In the first part, we will survey the major theories of the global diffusion of culture and institutions: world polity theory, global field theory, the policy diffusion literature, etc. In the second part, we discuss select topics, such as the role of local power relations in diffusion processes or the consequences of diffusion for patterns of cultural similarity and difference across the world.