Sociology

SOCI UN1000 THE SOCIAL WORLD. 4.00 points.

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

SOCI UN1203 The Social Animal in the Digital Age. 3.00 points.

This course re-examines central theories and perspectives in the social sciences from the standpoint of digital technologies. Who are we in the digital age? Is the guiding question for the course. We consider the impact of modern technology on society including, forms of interaction and communication, possibilities for problem solving, and re-configurations of social relationships and forms of authority. The course integrates traditional social science readings with contemporary perspectives emerging from scholars who looking at modern social life. The course is an introductory Sociology offering

SOCI UN2208 CULTURE IN AMERICA. 3.00 points.

An examination of the diverse values, meanings and identities that comprise American pluralism, the moral and political clashes and communities that emerge from them, and the sociological concepts that make sense of them. Part One explores larger macro-themes (American exceptionalism; individualism and community; religion and secularism; pleasure and restraint in post-Puritan America; race, immigration and identity). Part Two explores the interplay between these large themes and cultural polarization in post-Trump America, with special focus on the cultural forces at play in the 2024 presidential election: red states, blues states and cultural sorting; changing conceptions of liberalism and conservatism; class divisions and the global rise of cultural populism; the concept of “epistemic tribes” and media silos; fights over religion and race, sexuality and family; the current war on “wokeness” and the debate on free expression

SOCI UN2240 ECONOMY ＆ SOCIETY. 3.00 points.

An introduction to economic sociology.  Economic sociology is built around the claim that something fundamental is lost when markets are analyzed separately from other social processes.  We will look especially at how an analysis of the interplay of economy and society can help us to understand questions of efficiency, questions of fairness, and questions of democracy.

SOCI UN3000 SOCIAL THEORY. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. Required for all sociology majors. Prerequisite: at least one sociology course of the instructor's permission. Theoretical accounts of the rise and transformations of modern society in the19th and 20th centuries. Theories studied include those of Adam Smith, Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, Max Weber, Roberto Michels. Selected topics: individual, society, and polity; economy, class, and status: organization and ideology; religion and society; moral and instrumental action

SOCI UN3010 METHODS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: SOCI W1000 The Social World or Instructor Permission
Prerequisites: SOCI UN1000 The Social World or Instructor Permission Required for all Sociology majors. Introductory course in social scientific research methods. Provides a general overview of the ways sociologists collect information about social phenomena, focusing on how to collect data that are reliable and applicable to our research questions

SOCI BC3087 INDIVIDUAL SENIOR PROJECTS. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: Meets senior requirement. Instructor permission required. The instructor will supervise the writing of long papers involving some form of sociological research and analysis

SOCI BC3088 INDIVIDUAL SENIOR PROJECTS. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: Meets senior requirement. Instructor permission required.
Prerequisites: Meets senior requirement. Instructor permission required. The instructor will supervise the writing of long papers involving some form of sociological research and analysis

SOCI BC3202 Structural Determinants of Health. 3.00 points.

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

SOCI UN3203 Power, Politics ＆ Society. 4.00 points.

Power, Politics, and Society introduces students to the field of political sociology, a subfield within sociology that is deeply engaged in the study of power in formal and diffuse forms. Using sociological theories and current events from the US and around the world, this course is designed to help students analyze their social worlds, and understand the significance of the old adage, “everything is political.”

SOCI UN3207 MUSIC, RACE ＆ IDENTITY. 3.00 points.

Analysis of the complex relationship among race, art, organizations, economics, social movements and identity. Emphasis is on shifting conceptions of identity and changing roles of race and racism in the spirituals, gospel music, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, rocknroll, soul music, Hip Hop and contemporary popular music

SOCI BC3214 SOC OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE. 3.00 points.

Emphasizes 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

SOCI BC3219 RACE, ETHNICITY ＆ SOCIETY. 3.00 points.

Examines the social construction of race and ethnicity in the United States from colonial period to present. Analyzes how capitalist interests, class differences, gender, immigration, and who “deserves” the full rights and privileges of citizenship, shape boundaries between and within racial and ethnic groups. Also considers how racism affects resource access inequities between racial groups in education, criminal justice, media, and other domains. Explores factors underpinning major social change with an eye toward discerning social conditions necessary to create and sustain just social systems

SOCI UN3225 SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION. 3.00 points.

All of us have spent many years in school and understand that schools impact our lives in important ways. But how exactly does formal schooling shape young people? And how do students make sense of their lives in the context of schools and educational systems more broadly? In this class we will examine education as a central institution in modern society, and we will grapple with an important question: What role does education play in reinforcing or challenging broader patterns of social inequality and mobility? Particular emphasis will be placed on higher education as a critical site in which these processes take shape

SOCI UN3235 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: One introductory course in Sociology suggested.
Prerequisites: One introductory course in Sociology suggested. Social movements and the theories social scientists use to explain them, with emphasis on contemporary American activism. Cases include the Southern civil rights movement, Black Lives Matter, contemporary feminist mobilizations, LGBTQ activism, immigrant rights and more recent forms of grassroots politics

SOCI BC3236 Arab New York. 3.00 points.

Arab 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

SOCI UN3241 Transnationalism, Citizenship, and Belonging. 3.00 points.

Transnationalism, 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

SOCI BC3242 Sociology of Art. 3.00 points.

This 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

SOCI BC3244 Environmental Sociology. 3.00 points.

This 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

SOCI UN3246 MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY. 3.00 points.

Examines 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

SOCI BC3248 Race, Ethnicity, and Education in the US. 4.00 points.

This course explores the sociology and history of race and racism, ethnicity and ethnocentrism, and unequal access to education in the United States through readings, films, audio, and multimedia. Experiences of students in public and private K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and alternative and informal educational settings will be considered. Movements by students and communities to fight discrimination and injustice, demand equal opportunities and resources, and to realize the promise of education as a means of achieving personal and collective liberation will also be examined. Case studies may include: boarding schools for Indigenous children; Reconstruction-era public schools; the settlement house movement; Freedom Schools of the Civil Rights Movement; the Black Panther Party’s educational initiatives; community-controlled schools; Black, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Ethnic Studies programs; urban educational reform, public school closures, and charter schools; the school-to-prison pipeline; standardized testing and advanced placement courses; and more

SOCI BC3249 Social Closure and Inequality. 3.00 points.

This class will examine the social phenomenon of exclusion. Attempts to understand the social behavior of creating insiders and outsiders is a hallmark in Sociology. How does it happen? What purpose does it serve? Who decides who is in and who is out? While some forms of social closure, like segregation, are more well known, there are numerous mechanisms of social exclusion people and groups employ in the social world. Additionally, forms of exclusion do not always come from the top down as a form of domination, but sometimes from the bottom up, with the goal of resource redistribution. We will study these different forms of exclusion along with the theorized aims these forms of closure seek to achieve to get a more comprehensive picture of how social exclusion is used in the social world

SOCI UN3285 ISRAELI SOC ＆ ISR-PLS CONFLICT. 3.00 points.

The purpose of the course is to acquaint students with Israeli society through the lens of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. The underlying assumption in this course is that much of the social, economic, political, and cultural processes in contemporary Israel have been shaped by the 100-year Israeli- Arab/Palestinian conflict

SOCI UN3302 Sociology of Gender. 3 points.

Prerequisites: One introductory course in Sociology suggested.

Examination of factors in gender identity that are both universal (across time, culture, setting) and specific to a social context. Social construction of gender roles in different settings, including family, work, and politics. Attention to the role of social policies in reinforcing norms or facilitating change.

SOCI UN3324 Global Urbanism. 3 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

Using classical texts about cities (do they still work for us?) and on the diverse new literatures on cities and larger subjects with direct urban implications, we ill use a variety of data sets to get a detailed empirical information, and draw on two large ongoing research projects involving major and minor global cities around the world (a total of over 60 cities are covered in detail as of 2008).  Students will need to register for a discussion section as well; details to be announced.

SOCI UN3701 Sociology of Energy. 4 points.

This course explores many of the social forces that determine how energy is produced and what the consequences are. The course will focus in particular on how geographic communities, social identities, and related economics, cultures, and politics shape energy production. 

SOCI UN3721 Social Justice: Connecting Academics to Action. 5.00 points.

This 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

SOCI UN3900 Societal Adaptations to Terrorism. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Junior or Senior standing

Examines how countries have adjusted to the threat of terrorism. How the adaptation reflects the pattern of terrorist attacks, as well as structural and cultural features of the society. Adaptations by individuals, families, and organizational actors.

SOCI UN3901 The Sociology of Culture. 4 points.

Prerequisites: 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.

SOCI BC3907 COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL CHANGE. 4.00 points.

Examines how changes in the economy, racial composition, and class relations affect community life-how it is created, changed and sometimes lost-with a specific focus on the local urban context. Student research projects will address how contemporary forces such as neoliberalization, gentrification and tourism impact a communitys social fabric

SOCI BC3916 CROSSOVER CULTURE. 4.00 points.

The rise of crossover culture: racially segregated markets and genres; organizational environments and the rise of independent labels; the creative process and black-white conflict and connection; the emergence of rock as a white genre; civil rights, Black Power, and the politics of soul; cultural borrowing and the postracial ethos

SOCI BC3919 Transitions to Adulthood. 4 points.

Prerequisites: SOCI W 1000 and SOCI W3010 or permission of instructor. Meets senior requirement.

Adolescence and early adulthood is a critical period in our lives. This research-intensive seminar explores how adolescent transitions are studied, how they compare across different national contexts, and how individual, family, and community factors affect the type and timing of different transitions.

SOCI BC3920 ADV TOPICS GENDER ＆ SEXUALITY. 4.00 points.

This research and writing-intensive seminar is designed for senior majors with a background and interest in the sociology of gender and sexuality. The goal of the seminar is to facilitate completion of the senior requirement (a 25-30 page paper) based on ;hands on; research with original qualitative data. Since the seminar will be restricted to students with prior academic training in the subfield, students will be able to receive intensive research training and guidance through every step of the research process, from choosing a research question to conducting original ethnographic and interview-based research, to analyzing and interpreting ones findings. The final goal of the course will be the production of an original paper of standard journal-article length. Students who choose to pursue their projects over the course of a second semester will have the option of revisiting their articles further for submission and publications

SOCI BC3922 Race, Nation, and American Food Culture. 4 points.

Uses theories of race, ethnicity, and nation to ask questions about boundaries, categories, and distinctions about the American food system. Addresses the following questions: How are race, ethnicity, and national identity shaped by patterns of migration? How do processes like multiculturalism, panethnicity, and blending change the meanings and salience of these terms? How do symbols and systems of authenticity shape meaning-making around ethnoracial and national inequality? What does food have to do with race/ethnicity/nation? How are cultural products, like cuisine, markers of broader systems of inequality? How do these systems of inequality affect access to food, what we eat, the workplace, and racialized bodies? How does food serve as a marker of distinction in terms of race, ethnicity, nation, class, and gender? This course encourages students to read broadly in literatures of race, ethnicity, nation, migration and engage theories and ideas in conversation and debate across literatures to develop analytical strategies for understanding the complex landscape of ethnoracial and national inequality in the United States. By focusing analysis on cultural themes and specifically the case of American food culture, students are encouraged to question the utility and applicability of the abstract theories we encounter as well as the contributions and complications of each theory in relation to the others we discuss through a common language of cultural products, most specifically, the accessible discourse of food in American life.

SOCI BC3924 Gendered Work and Organizations. 4.00 points.

This 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

SOCI BC3925 Adv Topics Law ＆ Society. 4.00 points.

The 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

SOCI BC3927 ADV TPCS IMMIGRATN INEQUAL I. 4.00 points.

Examines processes of immigrant incorporation in the U.S. and other advanced democracies, with a focus on how immigration intersects with categorical inequalities (such as citizenship, social class, race, ethnicity, gender, and religion) in major institutional realms. Under instructor's supervision, students conduct a substantial research project related to course themes

SOCI BC3928 ADVANCED TOPICS: POLITICS ＆ SOCIETY. 4.00 points.

Research and writing intensive seminar on civic and political engagement in contemporary American society, along with critical evaluation of methods used to collect and analyze data on political and social life. Requirements include a final research paper based on independent data collection and analysis. Seminar limited to sociology majors with senior standing (except in exceptional circumstances). Fulfills the Research Paper Option for the senior requirement in sociology at Barnard

SOCI BC3930 ADVANCED TOPICS RACE ＆ ETHNICITY. 4.00 points.

Discusses theories of race and ethnicity, distinctions between prejudice, discrimination, and racism, and the intersectionality paradigm. Under instructors guidance students design a research proposal, conduct their own fieldwork and write a research paper on a sociological question relating to race and/or ethnicity

SOCI BC3931 Seminar for Internships in Social Justice and Human Rights. 4 points.

Corequisites: Students must have an internship related to social justice or human rights during

This class is intended to complement and enhance the internship experience for students working in internships that relate to social justice and human rights during the Spring 2016 semester. This course will meet bi-weekly to provide an academic framing of the issues that students are working on and to provide an opportunity for students to analyze their internship experience.

SOCI BC3932 Climate Change, Global Migration, and Human Rights in the Anthropocene. 4 points.

While the existence of processes of anthropogenic climate change is well established, predictions regarding the future consequences of these processes are far less certain. In no area is the uncertainty regarding near and long term effects as pronounced as in the question of how climate change will affect global migration. This course will address the issue of climate migration in four ways.  First, the course will examine the theoretical and empirical literatures that have elucidated the nature of international migration in general.  Second, the course will consider the phenomena of anthropogenic climate change as it relates to migration.  Third, the course will consider how human rights and other legal regimes do or do not address the humanitarian issues created by anthropogenic climate change.  Fourth, the course will synthesize these topics by considering how migration and climate change has arisen as a humanitarian, political, and economic issue in the Pacific.  Human Rights elective.  

SOCI BC3933 SOCIOLOGY OF THE BODY. 4.00 points.

This seminar examines the ways in which the body is discursively constituted, and itself serves as the substratum for social life. Key questions include: How are distinctions made between normal and pathological bodies, and between the psychic and somatic realms? How do historical forces shape bodily experience? How do bodies that are racialized, gendered, and classed offer resistance to social categorization?

SOCI BC3934 Global Activism. 4.00 points.

This 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

SOCI BC3935 Gender and Organizations. 4 points.

This course examines the sociological features of organizations through a gender lens. We will analyze how gender, race, class, and sexuality matter for individuals and groups within a variety of organizational contexts. The course is grounded in the sociological literatures on gender and organizations.

SOCI BC3939 Housing Equity and the American Dream. 4.00 points.

The American Dream of owning a home has long represented an ideal of American equity. The ideal screams of opportunity and meritocracy: no matter how poor one begins life, as long as they work and save, they can enjoy the security and safety of home. To many, this ideal gives them hope, for they can see possibility for their achievement. To others, the ideal feels like a farce, for they rightly anticipate facing countless barriers to achieving that dream. This course examines challenges, contradictions, and ironies of American housing equity. We study ways in which the ideal of single-family home ownership has directly led to excluding large portions of the population from secure housing. We examine why and how many Americans can be deeply committed to equality and freedom and still perpetuate inequalities in their housing choices. We examine how people at the bottom who understand well the barriers they face still manage to survive, invent, and struggle to achieve dignity and equity in their housing. The course examines core issues of housing equity in America historically and in the present. The course primarily offers a sociological perspective on housing. But we will also read work and bring in perspectives from geography, history, urban planners, and others. In addition, we will also engage with work by journalists, which represents one way that the multi-disciplinary issues of housing are connected in narratives intended for a wider audience than more scholarly products. While we draw on work from various perspectives, we will focus on developing a sociological lens to understand housing

SOCI BC3941 Latin American Lives. 4.00 points.

This seminar explores how broad trends that shape contemporary Latin American societies intertwine with the specificities of people’s multilayered local realities. Through ethnographic narratives of the everyday lives of Latin Americans, we will learn how life histories and narrative accounts offer windows for understanding inequality and persistence in the face of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles of an unequal world. Themes covered include precarious work, migration and displacement, housing, racism and state violence, gender and family, health, environmental devastation, and social movements. Cases are drawn from across the Americas, including: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Nicaragua

SOCI BC3943 Black Americans and Development Politics. 4.00 points.

This seminar explores theories regarding race/racism, gendered racism, capitalism, political economy, and processes related to how governments and markets allocate capital to build and maintain public goods and services and private amenities—from drinking water, to homes, to schools, to grocery and retail stores. Focus is on debates within and across Black communities regarding how Black people should seek individual and collective capacity to realize their citizenship rights and privileges, with particular attention to variation in Black Americans’ interests across the class spectrum. The final two weeks are devoted to Black liberation and reparations movements

SOCI UN3944 Work, Life, Time and Space: From the Factory to the Gig Economy. 4 points.

This 4-credit class will explore experiences and perspectives of work, life, and the often blurred boundary between them. We will focus on how work is situated in, and shaped through, space and time. We will begin with a set of theoretical and historical texts, and then turn to case studies of work and life. The goal is to understand and make sense of how work, and its relationship to home, has evolved historically and how it is experienced today. The theories of space, time, and work which we begin with provide frameworks for making sense of the varied cases we will explore.

The course as a whole will offer a lens for analyzing the world of work, along with the relationship between work and the rest of our lives. It may serve a springboard for you to tackle such questions as: What is the relationship between meaning and money, work time and leisure time? (Or, will I work to live or live to work?) How do historical and relatively fixed work temporalities and geographies compare to new structures of work? (or, what is my Uber driver’s life like, and why is it so different from my grandfather’s experience as a mail carrier?) What do changing structures of work mean for our future, in and beyond work? (or, will robots take all of our jobs? And if so, what should we do about it?)

SOCI BC3946 GLOBAL HEALTH, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY. 4.00 points.

What 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

SOCI BC3947 Black Education. 4.00 points.

This class will examine the development of education for African Americans in the United States. Chattel slavery and its afterlives are marked by questions, debates, and experiments not simply in schooling for Black people, but how to use education for the practice of freedom. Through examining this development, students will learn how the experience of Black people in schools complicates static notions about public vs private schools, demands for school desegregation, and the ongoing role of (mostly) white philanthropy in shaping the development of education for Black youth in the US and around the world

SOCI BC3956 Surveillance. 4.00 points.

Surveillance has become a ubiquitous term that either conjures images of George Orwell’s 1984, the popular series Black Mirror, or is dismissed as an inconvenience and a concern of only those who engage in criminal activity or have something to hide. Using sociological theories of power, biopower, racialization, and identity formation, Surveillance explores the various ways we are monitored by state authorities and corporations and our role in perpetuating the system (un)wittingly

SOCI BC3959 How Race Gets Under Our Skin: The Sociology of Race, Health, and Biomedicine. 4.00 points.

One of the glaring forms of inequalities that persists today is the race-based gap in access to health care, quality of care, and health outcomes. This course examines how institutionalized racism and the structure of health care contributes to the neglect and sometimes abuse of racial and ethnic minorities. Quite literally, how does race affect one’s life chances? This course covers a wide range of topics related to race and health, including: racial inequalities in health outcomes, biases in medical institutions, immigration status and health, racial profiling in medicine, and race in the genomic era

SOCI UN3974 SOCI OF SCHOOLS,TEACH,LEARNING. 4.00 points.

In this class we will examine the school as a central institution in modern society, and we will grapple with an important question in the sociology of education: what role to schools play in reinforcing or challenging broader patters of social inequality? We will pay special attention to the ways in which students class, race/ethnicity and gender shape their educational experiences. We will also look at how schools are organized, how schools construct differences among students, and how schools sort kids into different (and unequal) groups. Finally we will explore the types of interventions - at both the individual and organizational levels - that can mitigate inequality in educational achievement and help low-income students to succeed. One such intervention that has shown promise is tutoring in academic and social and behavioral skills, and interventions that strengthen self-affirmation. A major component of this class is your experience as a tutor. You will be trained as tutors to work with students from local high schools both through in-person tutoring and through tutoring using social networking technologies. Throughout the semester we will combine our academic learning with critical reflection on our experience sin the field. Because you will be working with NYC high school students, we will pay special attention to how NYC high schools are organized and how current issues in education play out in the context of NYC schools

SOCI UN3998 INDIVIDUAL STUDY I. 1.00-6.00 points.

Prerequisites: open only to qualified majors in the department; the director of undergraduate studies permission is required. An opportunity for research under the direction of an individual faculty member. Students intending to write a year-long senior thesis should plan to register for C3996 in the spring semester of their senior year and are strongly advised to consult the undergraduate studies as they plan their programs

SOCI UN3999 INDIVIDUAL STUDY II. 1.00-6.00 points.

Prerequisites: open only to qualified majors in the department; the director of undergraduate studies' permission is required.
Prerequisites: open only to qualified majors in the department; the director of undergraduate studies permission is required. An opportunity for research under the direction of an individual faculty member. Students intending to write a year-long senior thesis should plan to register for C3996 in the spring semester of their senior year and are strongly advised to consult the undergraduate studies as they plan their programs

SOCI GU4028 GENDER AND INEQUALITY IN FAMI. 4 points.

In-depth, critical exploration of  changing expectations and patterns of socialization for women and men in contemporary U. S. families.  Draws from family studies, gender studies, and LGBT studies to understand how gendered forces work to structure relations between and among family members.  Readings highlight socioeconomic, racial and ethnic variations in patterns of behavior, at times critiquing assumptions and paradigms drawn from the experiences of traditional, middle-class nuclear families. Topics include division of household labor in same-sex and different-sex couples, adolescent experiences growing up disadvantaged, what happens to undocumented immigrant children when they reach adulthood, gender inequality in wealthy white families, and ethnic differences in men’s expected roles in families. 

SOCI GU4043 WORKSHP ON WEALTH ＆ INEQUALITY. 1.00 point.

This Workshop is linked to the Workshop on Wealth - Inequality Meetings. This is meant for graduate students, however, if you are an advanced undergraduate student you can email the professor for permission to enroll

SOCI GU4370 Processes of Stratification and Inequality. 3 points.

The nature of opportunity in American society; the measurement of inequality; trends in income and wealth inequality; issues of poverty and poverty policy; international comparisons.

SOCI GU4411 Politics and Society in Central Eastern Europe. 3 points.

The goal of the course is to discuss different approaches to the study of developmental pathways in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in a broad historical perspective drawing on various approaches from political science, sociology and economic history.  Students participating in the seminars will get an overview on the various approaches to explaining divergence in political, social and economic developments between the Eastern and Western parts of Europe, and within the region. The course aims to establish a dialogue between three types of scholarships: one dealing with the pre-regime change developmental pathways in the region, another dealing with factors that could account for persistent post-communist and post- enlargement developmental divergence and a third one that deals with issues of backwardness and core-periphery relations in transnational and global perspective.

 The course starts with a discussion of broad historical perspectives on East-West divergence in Europe. The second bloc deals with the various great transformations in the region: the remaking of states, polities and economies. The third bloc is devoted to the discussion of the transnationalization of states and economies in the region. Finally, the forth bloc deals with hybrid regimes and problems of democratic backsliding in the region.

SOCI GU4600 Mystifications of Social Reality . 4 points.

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were marked by the discovery of a new object of systematic inquiry in addition to Nature and the Individual:  Society.  First Economics, then Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Science developed strikingly new understandings of the actions, beliefs, and institutional arrangements of men and women in society, which were seen as obeying regular laws not derivable from, or reducible to, either the laws of nature or the laws of individual behavior.  But these new disciplines, which came to be called the Social Sciences, were different from their predecessors in one fundamental and centrally important way:  They revealed the study of society, and indeed society itself, to be mystified, ideologically encoded, shaped and distorted by the interests and beliefs of men and women even though those living in society or studying it often were oblivious of this fact.

In this course we shall read in depth a series of texts by authors who explored the ideological mystifications of social reality in their disciplines.  The goal of the course is not merely to inform students of these authors and their ideas but to strengthen the ability of students to understand their own involvement in, indeed complicity in, ideological mystification.

URBS UN3308 INTRO TO URBAN ETHNOGRAPHIES. 3.00 points.

What is ethnography and what makes ethnography “urban”? This course explores how social scientists use ethnography to analyze questions and dilemmas often associated with urban settings. We will combine close readings of ethnographies with field-based inquiry, including our own studies of urban public space. Through both our readings and our field exercises, we will focus on the methods at the heart of ethnography: observation and participant-observation. As we read other scholars’ work, we will ask how the author uses ethnographic tools to explore issues that are suitable for intensive fieldwork. We will assess which kinds of research problems and theoretical perspectives are a good fit with ethnography and the roles that ethnography can play in transdisciplinary research projects. You will apply what you have learned about research to design your own pilot fieldwork. The ethnographies that we read together will examine intersections of housing, race, and class in urban communities. You are welcome to extend this focus to your own fieldwork, but it’s not required to do so. This is a writing-intensive course, and we will devote a considerable portion of class time to workshop your individual projects

URBS UN3315 METROPOLITICS OF RACE ＆ PLACE. 3.00 points.

This class explores how racism and racialized capitalism and politics shape the distribution of material resources among cities and suburbs in metropolitan areas and the racial and ethnic groups residing in them. Readings and discussion focus on the history of metropolitan area expansion and economic development, as well as contemporary social processes shaping racial and ethnic groups’ access to high-quality public goods and private amenities. We address racial and ethnic groups’ evolving political agendas in today’s increasingly market-driven socio-political context, noting the roles of residents; federal, state, and local governments; market institutions and actors; urban planners, activist organizations, foundations, and social scientists, among others. Here is a sample of specific topics: race/ethnicity and who “belongs” in what “place;” inequitable government and market investment across racial and ethnic communities over time and “sedimentation effects” (for example, the “redlining” of Black communities leading to their inability to access loan and credit markets and the resulting wealth gap between Blacks and Whites); gentrification processes; creating sufficient, sustainable tax bases; and suburban sprawl. Assignments will include two short response papers, mid-term and final exams, and another project to be determined

URBS UN3420 INTRODUCTION URBAN SOCIOLOGY. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: Students must attend first class.
Prerequisites: Students must attend first class. Examines the diverse ways in which sociology has defined and studied cities, focusing on the people who live and work in the city, and the transformations U.S. cities are undergoing today. Sociological methods, including ethnography, survey research, quantitative studies, and participant observation will provide perspectives on key urban questions such as street life, race, immigration, globalization, conflict, and redevelopment

URBS UN3545 JUNIOR SEMINAR IN URBAN STUDIES. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: Non-majors admitted by permission of instructor. Students must attend first class. Enrollment limited to 16 students per section. General Education Requirement: Historical Studies.
Prerequisites: Non-majors admitted by permission of instructor. Students must attend first class. Enrollment limited to 16 students per section. Introduction to the historical process and social consequences of urban growth, from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present

URBS UN3546 JUNIOR SEMINAR IN URBAN STUDIES. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: Non-majors admitted by permission of instructor. Students must attend first class. Enrollment limited to 16 students per section.
Prerequisites: Non-majors admitted by permission of instructor. Students must attend first class. Enrollment limited to 16 students per section. Evaluation of current political, economic, social, cultural and physical forces that are shaping urban areas