SOC 2442 – Systems of Inequality (3)
This course will examine various types of inequality (race, class, gender) in the US and abroad. We will discuss sociological theories covering various dimensions of inequality, considering key research findings and their implications. We will examine to what extent ascriptive characteristics impact a person's life chances, how social structures are produced and reproduced, and how individuals are able or unable to negotiate these structures.
Instructor: Tara Tober
Meeting time: MW 9-950
SOC 2559 – Gender Death & Dying (3)
Cross-listed with SWAG 2559
This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring ways that gender and sexuality impact death and dying. Aries’ The Hour of Our Death and Seremetakis’ The Last Word will be considered in conversation with Malson and Ussher’s work on anorexia and Crimp’s and Owens’ theorizing representations of AIDS. We eill explore photogratphy’s role in “capturing” the image of death, from 19th century spirit photographs to 20th century documentaries.
Instructor: Claire Raymond
Meeting time: MW 1-150
SOC 3180 – Sociology of Emotions (3)
This course explores the role of emotions in social interaction as well as how societies and cultures shape emotional expression. The objective is to decode the subtle rules of emotional display implicit in many social interactions and excavate the cultural histories of particular emotions such as love, sympathy, shame, anxiety, and sadness. Readings include theoretical and empirical work from both sociologists and social psychologists.
Instructor: Ben Snyder
Meeting time: TR 1230-145
SOC 3290 – Sociology of Childhood (3)
The class introduces the “new social studies of childhood” and the idea that the experience of childhood is a social construction, not a string of biological facts. Topics include: how caring for children varies across time & space, and considering childhood in the context of Western cultural trends - increasing inequality, unequal distribution of overwork, poverty, war, liberty, decreasing privacy, consumerism, sexualization, networked society. Dependent section required.
Instructor: Allison Pugh
Meeting time: TR 1230-145
SOC 3310 – Sociology of Self (3)
What is the difference between individual and self? Do we carry a fixed, unchangeable self inside, or do we have as many selves as the situations in which we commonly find ourselves? Can we go as far as saying that the self comes from the outside, and if so, when do we internalize it? At birth, once and for all? Or repeatedly and in everyday life? We will explore these questions and more as we venture into an exciting field-sociology of the self.
Instructor: Simone Polillo
Meeting time: TR 930-1045
SOC 3559 – Deviance & Moral Order (3)
Society is not only a system for allocating resources, tasks, and rewards. It is also, and principally, a moral order. This course will focus on the problems of morality and moral order from a sociological perspective. Topics include theories of moral order, explanations of deviance, varieties of social control, and in particular possibilities for, and responses to, collective crimes like corruption and genocide. Dependent section required.
Instructor: Jeff Olick
Meeting time: MW 10-1050
SOC 4510 – Topics in the Sociology of Work: Postindustrial work, self and intimacy (3)
How has work changed in the last century, and how do these changes affect our selves and our relationships? Scholars have documented massive transformation in work from mass-production and rewards for loyalty to an emphasis on adaptability and flexibility. Similar changes have happened in the domestic sphere, with the rise of diverse, changeable families. This class considers how the organization of work shapes our selves and our relationships.
Instructor: Allison Pugh
Meeting time: TR 930-1045
SOC 4559 sec. 1– Sociology of Everyday (3)
This course explores concepts and theories of the everyday developed in sociology and related disciplines. Drawing on concrete examples it examines how societies are created and reproduced by the apparently mundane practices of everyday life. Among the topics to be discussed are eating and drinking; leisure and holidays; home and private life; shopping; time; and everyday ethnicity.
Instructor: Katya Makarova
Meeting time: TR 11-1215
SOC 4559 sec. 2 – Community Organizing and the Arts (3)
Cross-listed with ARAD 4559
This course examines the urban, economic, creative and technological contexts of grassroots organizing in the arts. It asks; how can the arts bridge social inequalities, and how do social inequalities shape the art world? As an academic community engagement course, students will collaborate with community partner organizations to conduct original research that is both sociologically meaningful and useful to community partners.
Instructor: Carey Sargent
Meeting time: MW 330-445
