Department of Sociology

SOCI 30002. Principles of Sociological Research. 100 Units.

Explores how theoretical questions and different types of evidence inform decisions about methodological approach and research design. This course is required for first year Sociology PhD students.

Instructor(s): J. Martin     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Open only to 1st year Sociology PhD students

SOCI 30003. History of Social Theory. 100 Units.

This course provides a general introduction to theory and theoretical thinking in sociology. One meeting per week is dedicated to group discussion of a common text from the canon of sociology. (There will be three of these.) The other meeting will be an individually scheduled meeting (a on-on-one tutorial session) with the professor, discussing theoretical work related to each student's particular sociological interests and chosen by agreement between that student and the professor.

Instructor(s): A. Abbott     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Open only to 1st-year Sociology Phd students

SOCI 30004. Statistical Methods of Research. 100 Units.

This course has two purposes. First, using nationally representative US surveys, we'll examine the early emergence of educational inequality and its evolution during adolescence and adulthood. We'll ask about the importance of social origins (parent social status, race/ethnicity, gender, and language) in predicting labor market outcomes. We'll study the role that education and plays in shaping economic opportunity, beginning in early childhood. We'll ask at what points interventions might effectively advance learning and reduce inequality. Second, we'll gain mastery over some important statistical methods required for answering these and related questions. Indeed, this course provides an introduction to quantitative methods and a foundation for other methods courses in the social sciences. We consider standard topics: graphical and tabular displays of univariate and bivariate distributions, an introduction to statistical inference, and commonly arising applications such as the t‐test, the two‐way contingency table, analysis of variance, and regression. However, all statistical ideas and methods are embedded in case studies including a national survey of adult labor force outcomes, a national survey of elementary school children, and a national survey that follows adolescents through secondary school into early adulthood. Thus, the course will consider all statistical choices and inferences in the context of the broader logic of inquiry with the aim of strengthening our understanding of that logic as well as of the statistical methods.

Instructor(s): S. Raudenbush     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Priority registration for Ugrad Sociology majors and Sociology PhD students. No prior instruction in statistical analysis is required. Others by consent of instructor.
Note(s): Students are expected to attend two lectures and one lab per week. Required of students who are majoring in Sociology. Substitutes for this course are STAT 20000 Elementary Statistics or higher.
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20004

SOCI 30005. Statistical Methods of Research-II. 100 Units.

Social scientists regularly ask questions that can be answered with quantitative data from a population-based sample. For example, how much more income do college graduates earn compared to those who do not attend college? Do men and women with similar levels of training and who work in similar jobs earn different incomes? Why do children who grow up in different family or neighborhood environments perform differently in school? To what extent do individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds hold different types of political attitudes and engage in different types of political behavior? This course explores statistical methods that can be used to answer these and many other questions of interest to social scientists. The main objectives are to provide students with a firm understanding of linear regression and generalized linear models and with the technical skills to implement these methods in practice.

Instructor(s): G. Wodtke     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): SOCI 30004

SOCI 30006. Second-Year Writing Seminar. 100 Units.

Doctoral students in Sociology are required to take this seminar in their second year as they develop their Qualifying Paper (a full draft, at minimum, must be turned in to the department by June 11). In addition to providing a framework for these individual writing projects, the seminar will address norms of professional publishing, including professional peer review, as well as strategies for argumentation and analysis.

Instructor(s): L. Zhao     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Sociology PhD students only

SOCI 30008. Third-Year Dissertation Proposal Seminar. 100 Units.

This course is required for all Sociology PhD students. Most students take this course in their 3rd year, though it may be possible to take the course in year 4. The course intensively involves workshops dissertation projects, and students are expected to produce a defensible proposal by the end.

Instructor(s): K. Schilt     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Restricted to Sociology third year PhD students only; all others with consent of instructor.

SOCI 30103. Social Stratification. 100 Units.

Social stratification is the unequal distribution of the goods that members of a society value - earnings, income, authority, political power, status, prestige etc. This course introduces various sociological perspectives about stratification. We look at major patterns of inequality throughout human history, how they vary across countries, how they are formed and maintained, how they come to be seen as legitimate and desirable, and how they affect the lives of individuals within a society. The readings incorporate classical theoretical statements, contemporary debates, and recent empirical evidence. The information and ideas discussed in this course are critical for students who will go on in sociology and extremely useful for students who want to be informed about current social, economic, and political issues.

Instructor(s): R. Stolzenberg      Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 30103, SOCI 20103

SOCI 30112. Applications of Hierarchical Linear Models. 100 Units.

A number of diverse methodological problems such as correlates of change, analysis of multi-level data, and certain aspects of meta-analysis share a common feature-a hierarchical structure. The hierarchical linear model offers a promising approach to analyzing data in these situations. This course will survey the methodological literature in this area, and demonstrate how the hierarchical linear model can be applied to a range of problems.

Instructor(s): S. Raudenbush     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Applied statistics at a level of multiple regression
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20112, PPHA 44650, EDSO 30112

SOCI 30116. Global-Local Politics. 100 Units.

Globalizing and local forces are generating a new politics in the United States and around the world. This course explores this new politics by mapping its emerging elements: the rise of social issues, ethno-religious and regional attachments, environmentalism, gender and life-style identity issues, new social movements, transformed political parties and organized groups, and new efforts to mobilize individual citizens.

Instructor(s): T. Clark     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): GEOG 20116, HMRT 30116, GEOG 30116, PBPL 27900, SOCI 20116, HMRT 20116, LLSO 20116

SOCI 30120. Urban Policy Analysis. 100 Units.

Cities are sites of challenge and innovation worldwide. Dramatic new policies can be implemented locally and chart new paths for national policies. Five main approaches are compared: Leadership patterns: are business, political, or other kinds of leaders more important--and where, when, and why do these matter? Second do capitalism, or more recently, global markets, make specific leaders irrelevant? Third: leaders like mayors are weaker since citizens, interest groups, and media have grown so powerful. Fourth innovation drives many policy issues. Fifth consumption, entertainment, and the arts engage citizens in new ways. Can all five hold, in some locations? Why should they differentially operate across big and small, rich and poor neighborhoods, cities, and countries? The course introduces you to core urban issues, whether your goal is to conduct research, interpret reports by others, make policy decisions, or watch the tube and discuss these issues as a more informed citizen. Chicago, US and big and small locations internationally are considered; all methods are welcome.

Instructor(s): T. Clark     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GEOG 20120, GEOG 30120, SOCI 20120, PBPL 24800

SOCI 30125. Rational Foundations of Social Theory. 100 Units.

This course introduces conceptual and analytical tools for the micro foundations of macro and intermediate-level social theories, taking as a basis the assumption of rational action. Those tools are then used to construct theories of power, social exchange, collective behavior, socialization, trust, norm, social decision making and justice, business organization, and family organization.

Instructor(s): K. Yamaguchi     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20125

SOCI 30192. The Effects of Schooling. 100 Units.

From at least the Renaissance until some time around the middle of the twentieth century, social class was the pre-eminent, generalized determinant of life chances in European and, eventually, American societies. Social class had great effect on one's social standing; economic well-being; political power; access to knowledge; and even longevity, health, and height. In that time, there was hardly an aspect of life that was not profoundly influenced by social class. In the ensuing period, the effects of social class have receded greatly, and perhaps have even vanished. In their place formal schooling has become the great generalized influence over who gets access to the desiderata of social life, including food, shelter, political power, and medical care. So it is that schooling is sociologically interesting for reasons that go well beyond education. The purpose of this course is to review what is known about the long-term effects of schooling.

Instructor(s): R. Stolzenberg     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): EDSO 20192, SOCI 20192, EDSO 30192

SOCI 30224. Topics in Sociology of Culture. 100 Units.

This class surveys the historical bases and current extension of core readings in the sociology of culture. These works will be investigated not only in their own terms, but their position in central issues revolving around the independence (or lack of same) of cultural production communities; the omnivore/unibrow question; the role of culture in larger (and smaller) political and social environments; the use of hierarchical as opposed to non-hierarchical models of social structure; and the location of meaning.

Instructor(s): T. Clark and J. Martin     Terms Offered: Spring

SOCI 30324. Muslims in the United States. 100 Units.

Muslim migration to the United States and Western Europe proliferated in the last quarter of the 20th Century, and Islam has been a visible (and controversial) presence in these societies ever since. Though internally varied by race, ethnicity, national origins, sect and class positionality, Muslim communities have faced homogenizing narratives rooted in orientalist frameworks. As Islam continues to be a site of conflict in geopolitical struggles, these frameworks have reproduced themselves into the twenty-first century. This course will use an intersectional and critical lens to examine the issues facing Muslims in the United States and Western Europe on both macro and micro levels. One third of the course will cover the interactions between Muslim communities and their "host societies" vis-à-vis the state, mass media, and public opinion. Another third of the course will delve into issues of socioeconomic mobility and cultural assimilation, Finally, the last third will show how these macro concepts influence the everyday lived experiences of Muslims in these contexts. This is a seminar-style, reading-heavy course. Students should be familiar with and capable of deploying the sociological concepts of race, class, gender and intersectionality.

Instructor(s): E. Abdelhadi     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Undergrads must have 3rd or 4th year standing.
Note(s): Subject area: Undergrad: C; Grad: 3
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 38990, CHDV 28999, CRES 38990, CHDV 38990, GNSE 28990, GNSE 38990

SOCI 30233. Race in Contemporary American Society. 100 Units.

This survey course in the sociology of race offers a socio-historical investigation of race in American society. We will examine issues of race, ethnic and immigrant settlement in the United States. Also, we shall explore the classic and contemporary literature on race and inter-group dynamics. Our investigative tools will include an analysis of primary and secondary sources, multimedia materials, photographic images, and journaling. While our survey will be broad, we will treat Chicago and its environs as a case study to comprehend the racial, ethnic, and political challenges in the growth and development of a city.

Instructor(s): S. Hicks-Bartlett     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring. Autumn quarter offered at the Undergraduate level only and Spring offered at the Graduate level only
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 20233, MAPS 30233, SOCI 20233

SOCI 30252. Urban Innovation: Cultural Place Making and Scenescapes. 100 Units.

Activists from Balzac, Jane Jacobs, and others today seek to change the world using the arts. Ignored by most social science theories, these new cultural initiatives and policies are increasing globally. Urban planning and architecture policies, walking and parades, posters and demonstrations, new coffee shops and storefront churches reinforce selective development of specific cities and neighborhoods. These transform our everyday social environments into new types of scenes. They factor into crucial decisions, about where to work, to open a business, to found a political activist group, to live, what political causes to support, and more. The course reviews new case studies and comparative analyses from China to Chicago to Poland that detail these processes. Students are encouraged to explore one type of project.

Instructor(s): T. Clark     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20252, ENST 20252, ARCH 20252

SOCI 30253. Introduction to Spatial Data Science. 100 Units.

Spatial data science consists of a collection of concepts and methods drawn from both statistics and computer science that deal with accessing, manipulating, visualizing, exploring and reasoning about geographical data. The course introduces the types of spatial data relevant in social science inquiry and reviews a range of methods to explore these data. Topics covered include formal spatial data structures, geovisualization and visual analytics, rate smoothing, spatial autocorrelation, cluster detection and spatial data mining. An important aspect of the course is to learn and apply open source GeoDa software.

Instructor(s): Y. Lin     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): STAT 22000 (or equivalent), familiarity with GIS is helpful, but not necessary
Equivalent Course(s): GISC 20500, SOCI 20253, ENST 20253, CEGU 20253, MACS 54000, GISC 30500

SOCI 30258. Maverick Markets: Cultural Economy and Cultural Finance. 100 Units.

What are the cultural dimensions of economic and financial institutions and financial action? What social variables influence and shape 'real' markets and market activities? 'If you are so smart, why aren't you rich?' is a question economists have been asked in the past. Why isn't it easy to make money in financial areas even if one knows what economists know about markets, finance and the economy? And why, on the hand, is it so easy to get rich for some participants? Perhaps the answer is the real markets are complex social and cultural institutions which are quite different form organizations, administrations and the production side of the economy. The course provides an overview over social and cultural variables and patterns that play a role in economic behavior and specifically in financial markets. The readings examine the historical and structural embeddedness of economic action and institutions, the different constructions and interpretations of money, prices, and other dimensions of a market economy, and how a financial economy affects organizations, the art and other areas.

Instructor(s): K. Knorr     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 35405, ANTH 25440, SOCI 20258

SOCI 30263. Human Migration. 100 Units.

At any moment, spatial location is a fixed, essential characteristic of people and the places they inhabit. Over time, individuals and groups of people change places. In the long run, the places themselves move in physical, social, economic and political space. These movements can be characterized by their origins and destinations, as intentional or accidental, forced or voluntary, individual or collective, within political borders (e.g. the farm-to-city migration of the 1940's in the U.S), migration across political boundaries (e.g. "displacement" of pariah ethnicities after World War II), and by other criteria. All of these phenomena are aspects of migration This course reviews contemporary demographic research and theory concerning the nature of migration, and its extent, causes and consequences for individuals and collectivities. The demographic perspective absorbs a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, including those of psychology (e.g. individual decision-making), sociology (collective behavior, stratification, race and ethnicity), economics (rational behavior, macroeconomic conditions), and more.

Instructor(s): R. Stolzenberg     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20263

SOCI 30264. Wealth. 100 Units.

Wealth is the value of a person's accumulated possessions and financial assets. Wealth is more difficult for social researchers to measure than earnings and income, and wealthy people are notoriously uncooperative with efforts to study them and their assets. Further, wealth data conveys less information than income data about the lives of the middle- and lower-classes -- who tend to have little or no wealth at all. However, information about wealth gives fundamentally important insight into the values, attitudes, behavior, consumption patterns, social standing, political power, health, happiness and yet more characteristics of individuals and population subgroups. This course considers the causes and consequences of wealth accumulation for individuals, the social groups to which they belong, and the societies in which they dwell.

Instructor(s): R. Stolzenberg     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20264

SOCI 30283. Introduction to GIS and Spatial Analysis. 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction and overview of how spatial thinking is translated into specific methods to handle geographic information and the statistical analysis of such information. This is not a course to learn a specific GIS software program, but the goal is to learn how to think about spatial aspects of research questions, as they pertain to how the data are collected, organized and transformed, and how these spatial aspects affect statistical methods. The focus is on research questions relevant in the social sciences, which inspires the selection of the particular methods that are covered. Examples include spatial data integration (spatial join), transformations between different spatial scales (overlay), the computation of "spatial" variables (distance, buffer, shortest path), geovisualization, visual analytics, and the assessment of spatial autocorrelation (the lack of independence among spatial variables). The methods will be illustrated by means of open source software such as QGIS and R.

Instructor(s): Crystal Bae     Terms Offered: Spring Summer. Offered 2024–25
Equivalent Course(s): PPHA 38712, SOCI 20283, ENST 28702, CEGU 28702, ARCH 28702, GISC 28702, GISC 38702

SOCI 30298. Schooling and Social Inequality. 100 Units.

How and why do educational outcomes and experiences vary across student populations? What role do schools play in a society's system of stratification? How do schools both contribute to social mobility and to the reproduction of the prevailing social order? This course examines these questions through the lens of social and cultural theory, engaging current academic debates on the causes and consequences of social inequality in educational outcomes. We will engage these debates by studying foundational and emerging theories and examining empirical research on how social inequalities are reproduced or ameliorated through schools. Through close readings of historical, anthropological and sociological case studies of schooling in the U.S, students will develop an understanding of the structural forces and cultural processes that produce inequality in neighborhoods and schools, how they contribute to unequal opportunities, experiences, and achievement outcomes for students along lines of race/ethnicity, class, gender, and immigration status, and how students themselves navigate and interpret this unequal terrain. We will cover such topics as neighborhood and school segregation; peer culture; social networks; elite schooling; the interaction between home, society and educational institutions; and dynamics of assimilation for students from immigrant communities.

Instructor(s): Lisa Rosen     Terms Offered: Autumn. Offered autumn 2024
Note(s): This course is open only to students pursuing the MAPSS Education Certificate. This course is consent-only.
Equivalent Course(s): MAPS 33007, RDIN 33006, EDSO 33006

SOCI 30315. Introduction to Causal Inference. 100 Units.

This course is designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduate students from the social sciences, education, public health science, public policy, social service administration, and statistics who are involved in quantitative research and are interested in studying causality. The goal of this course is to equip students with basic knowledge of and analytic skills in causal inference. Topics for the course will include the potential outcomes framework for causal inference; experimental and observational studies; identification assumptions for causal parameters; potential pitfalls of using ANCOVA to estimate a causal effect; propensity score based methods including matching, stratification, inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighting (IPTW), marginal mean weighting through stratification (MMWS), and doubly robust estimation; the instrumental variable (IV) method; regression discontinuity design (RDD) including sharp RDD and fuzzy RDD; difference in difference (DID) and generalized DID methods for cross-section and panel data, and fixed effects model. Intermediate Statistics or equivalent such as STAT 224/PBHS 324, PP 31301, BUS 41100, or SOC 30005 is a prerequisite. This course is a prerequisite for "Advanced Topics in Causal Inference" and "Mediation, moderation, and spillover effects."

Instructor(s): G. Hong     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Intermediate Statistics or equivalent such as STAT 224/PBHS 324, PP 31301, BUS 41100, or SOC 30005
Note(s): CHDV Distribution: M; M
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 30102, STAT 31900, PBHS 43201, MACS 21000, MACS 51000, CHDV 20102, PLSC 30102

SOCI 30337. Organizational Analysis. 100 Units.

Organizations - NGOs, corporations, social movement organizations, governments, etc. - impact almost every aspect of social life; in addition, organizations have become some of the most significant actors in modern society. The course will provide a grounding in the sociological literature on how organizations function as well as the dynamics that govern both their internal structures and how they interface with society. We will cover rational, ecological, and resource-based approaches, as well as others. We will study organizations in local and global contexts, their role in economic production, their impact on members and non-members, as well as public policy. Throughout, we will engage questions pertaining to where organizations come from, how they function, when they 'succeed' and 'fail', as well as their social consequences. At the completion of the course, students will apply the concepts covered in class to a final project.

Instructor(s): Arroyo, Pedro Alberto     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20585, MACS 20617, MAPS 30617, PBPL 23002, MACS 30617

SOCI 30345. Technologies of the Body. 100 Units.

From models and measures to imaging technologies and genomic sequencing, technologies have profoundly shaped how we know and understand human bodies, health, and disease. Drawing on foundational and contemporary science and technology studies scholarship, this class will interrogate technologies of the body: how they are made, the ways in which they have changed understandings of the human condition, their impact on individual and collective identities, and the interests and values built into their very design. Course readings will examine how technologies render bodies knowable and also construct them in particular ways. We will also focus on how technologies incorporate, and reinforce, ideas about human difference. Students will conduct an independent, quarter-long research project analyzing a biomedical technology of their choice. By the end of this course, students will be able to identify and explain the social, political and economic factors that shape the design and production of biomedical technologies, as well as the impact of these technologies on biomedicine and the social world more broadly. This course provides students with an opportunity to conduct a quarter-long research project, using a biomedical technology as a case study. Students will be introduced to foundational and cutting-edge scholarship in science and technology studies, and will use this scholarship to conduct their independent research.

Instructor(s): Melanie Jeske     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 36080, HLTH 26080, HIPS 26080, KNOW 36080, CHSS 36080

SOCI 30506. Cities, Space, Power: Introduction to urban social science. 100 Units.

This lecture course provides a broad, multidisciplinary introduction to the study of urbanization in the social sciences. The course surveys a broad range of research traditions from across the social sciences, as well as the work of urban planners, architects, and environmental scientists. Topics include: theoretical conceptualizations of the city and urbanization; methods of urban studies; the politics of urban knowledges; the historical geographies of capitalist urbanization; political strategies to shape and reshape the built and unbuilt environment; cities and planetary ecological transformation; post-1970s patterns and pathways of urban restructuring; and struggles for the right to the city.

Instructor(s): N. Brenner     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 20506, CHST 20506, SOCI 20506, CCCT 30506, CEGU 20506, HIPS 20506, ENST 20506, ARCH 20506, CHSS 30506, KNOW 30506, PLSC 30506

SOCI 30508. Working with Found Data: Library/Internet Research. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the methods involved in "research with found data:" that is, found material like manuscripts, books, journals, newspapers, ephemera, and government and institutional documents. (Such materials can be found both in print and on the Internet.) The course covers the essentials of project design, bibliography, location, access, critical reading, source evaluation, knowledge categorization and assembly, and records maintenance. The course is a methodological practicum organized around student projects. The texts are Thomas Mann's Oxford Guide to Library Research and Andrew Abbott's Digital Paper.

Instructor(s): A. Abbott     Terms Offered: Winter. Restricted to MAPSS Student Only.
Note(s): Only offered at the graduate level and restricted to MAPSS Students Only
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20508

SOCI 30519. Spatial Cluster Analysis. 100 Units.

This course provides an overview of methods to identify interesting patterns in geographic data, so-called spatial clusters. Cluster concepts come in many different forms and can generally be differentiated between the search for interesting locations and the grouping of similar locations. The first category consists of the identification of extreme concentrations of locations (events), such as hot spots of crime events, and the location of geographical concentrations of observations with similar values for one or more variables, such as areas with elevated disease incidence. The second group consists of the combination of spatial observations into larger (aggregate) areas such that internal similarity is maximized (regionalization). The methods covered come from the fields of spatial statistics as well as machine learning (unsupervised learning) and operations research. Topics include point pattern analysis, spatial scan statistics, local spatial autocorrelation, dimension reduction, as well as spatially explicit hierarchical, agglomerative and density-based clustering. Applications range from criminology and public health to politics and marketing. An important aspect of the course is the analysis of actual data sets by means of open source software, such as GeoDa, R or Python.

Instructor(s): L. Anselin and P. Amaral     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): STAT 22000 or equivalent; SOCI 20253/30253 (or equivalent) Introduction to Spatial Data Science required.
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 20519, MACS 20519, GISC 20519, DATA 20519, SOCI 20519, GISC 30519, MACS 30519

SOCI 30530. Schooling and Identity. 100 Units.

This course examines the dynamic relations between schooling and identity. We will explore how schools both enable and constrain the identities available to students and the consequences of this for academic achievement. We will examine these relations from multiple disciplinary perspectives, applying psychological, anthropological, sociological, and critical theories to understanding how students not only construct identities for themselves within schools, but also negotiate the identities imposed on them by others. Topics will include the role of peer culture, adult expectations, school practices and enduring social structures in shaping processes of identity formation in students and how these processes influence school engagement and achievement. We will consider how these processes unfold at all levels of schooling, from preschool through college, and for students who navigate a range of social identities, from marginalized to privileged.

Instructor(s): Lisa Rosen     Terms Offered: Winter. Offered winter 2025
Prerequisite(s): Priority registration will be given to MAPSS students seeking the Education and Society certificate.
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20530, EDSO 23002, CHDV 23003, EDSO 33002, RDIN 23002, RDIN 33002

SOCI 30559. Spatial Regression Analysis. 100 Units.

This course covers statistical and econometric methods specifically geared to the problems of spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity in cross-sectional data. The main objective for the course is to gain insight into the scope of spatial regression methods, to be able to apply them in an empirical setting, and to properly interpret the results of spatial regression analysis. While the focus is on spatial aspects, the types of methods covered have general validity in statistical practice. The course covers the specification of spatial regression models in order to incorporate spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity, as well as different estimation methods and specification tests to detect the presence of spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity. Special attention is paid to the application to spatial models of generic statistical paradigms, such as Maximum Likelihood and Generalized Methods of Moments. An import aspect of the course is the application of open source software tools such as various R packages, GeoDa and the Python Package PySal to solve empirical problems.

Instructor(s): L. Anselin     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): An intermediate course in multivariate regression or econometrics. Familiarity with matrix algebra
Equivalent Course(s): GISC 20559, GISC 30559, SOCI 20559, DATA 20559

SOCI 30574. How to Think Sociologically. 100 Units.

This course tackles the "big problem" of low sociological literacy. When faced with the problems of the world, people usually resort to economic, biological, or ideological explanations. They cite self-interest, genetically encoded drives, or some pre-given understanding of how the world works. The price of such simple frameworks is an impoverished view of the world, a lack of understanding and empathy, and a predisposition to orthodoxy or ideology. In this sense, low sociological literacy is a big problem in the world today. This course was developed in the belief that the capacity to think sociologically-that is, to understand people as socially embedded, or shaped by the situations in which they find themselves-can enrich our understanding of the world immeasurably. It can give us analytical purchase on a number of social problems, including poverty; social inequality; racial, class, and gender discrimination; urban segregation; populism and political polarization; and organizational wrongdoing (we'll discuss each of these topics in class). A sociological perspective can also transform how we engage with the world, promoting an ethics of understanding and empathy--as opposed to the ethics apparently prevalent today: judging people and insisting they change.

Instructor(s): M. Garrido     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CHSS 30574, SOCI 20574, HIPS 20574

SOCI 30575. Logic of Social Inquiry. 100 Units.

This course is intended to cultivate deeper thinking about research practice. We will talk about different methods of sociological research, quantitative and qualitative, including surveys, interviews, systematic observation, and archival research. In particular, we will discuss the logic underlying each method, exploring questions such as What kind of data can we get at using this method? How do we know our findings are valid? To what extent are they generalizable? On what basis can we make causal inferences? Is my research ethical? and How does my positionality matter? In addition to research logic, our other focus will be on research design. Here we want to get students to think about the many choices they have to make in pursuing a research project; choices about what aspect of reality to focus on and how to construct a research question in order to get at it, which methods to employ, and which case(s) to investigate. We see this course as a necessary bridge between theory and research, believing that good sociology lies precisely in the ability to bridge this gap. Suffice it to say, it will better prepare students to write an academic paper for their capstone projects. We recommend that sociology majors take the course in their third year.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Priority registration for Sociology 3rd year majors
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20575

SOCI 30576. Social Theory for the Digital Age. 100 Units.

Society rearranges itself, though we don't always know where it is heading. When the postmodern moment had arrived in the 1980s it perplexed social theorists, hence its characterization as simply a "post"-stage of modernity. Digitization is one answer to the question of direction of change in the last decades. In this class, we take the ongoing transformations that we attribute to digital media as a starting point to ask what challenges they provide to social theory that may force us to reconsider some of our most basic concepts and premises. We will understand the term digital age broadly to refer to the rise of algorithms, sensors, (big) data, machine learning, and computational methods, all developments that swirl in and around the Artificial Intelligence scene and intersect with and replace purely human relations. The class gives particular attention to concepts such as action and interaction, embodiment, social situations, subjectivity and autonomy, as wells as society as communication.

Instructor(s): K. Knorr     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20576, CHSS 30576, HIPS 20576

SOCI 30588. Beyond the Culture Wars: Social Movements and the Politics of Education in the U.S. 100 Units.

Passionate conflicts over school curriculum and educational policy are a recurring phenomenon in the history of US schooling. Why are schools such frequent sites of struggle and what is at stake in these conflicts? In this discussion-based seminar, we will consider schools as battlegrounds in the US "culture wars": contests over competing visions of national identity, morality, social order, the fundamental purposes of public education, and the role of the state vis-à-vis the family. Drawing on case studies from history, anthropology, sociology and critical race and gender studies, we will examine both past and contemporary debates over school curriculum and school policy. Topics may include clashes over: the teaching of evolution, sex and sexuality education, busing/desegregation, prayer in schools, multiculturalism, the content of the literary canon, the teaching of reading, mathematics and history, and the closure of underperforming urban schools. Our inquiry will examine how social and political movements have used schools to advance or resist particular agendas and social projects.

Instructor(s): Lisa Rosen     Terms Offered: Spring. Offered spring 2025
Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 23011, SOCI 20588, HIST 27718, CHDV 23011, EDSO 33011, EDSO 23011, HIST 37718, CHDV 33011

SOCI 30594. Sociology of religion in everyday life. 100 Units.

Religion is a non-material social fact that has been one of humankind's most important collective meaning systems. Although this social fact changes, it survives as a meaning system in different societies with different forms, representations, and functions. The survival of religion, even in the face of change, is due to its collective meaning functions, like forming and maintaining a collective conscience and social solidarity (in the Durkheimian approach). In this course, the primary purpose is to investigate religion as a social current and collective fact in the context of the everyday life of ordinary people (even in student's life experiences) and try to achieve these goals: to investigate the religious meanings in everyday life, to get an analytical view of religious phenomena as social facts, to get a sociological viewpoint about regular religious events, to differentiate analytically between positivistic and post-positivistic approaches, to provide concrete examples of religious contexts like Iran for a better understanding of students.

Instructor(s): Z. Khoshk Jan     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20594

SOCI 30595. Topics in Spatial Regression Analysis. 100 Units.

This course covers methodological issues that affect the specification and estimation of spatial regression models. The course is organized as a seminar, with a combination of brief lectures, discussion of recent article and lab exercises. Topics will vary. Examples are spatial specification search, spatial effects in models for discrete dependent variables, spatial effects in count models, semi-parametric spatial models, spatial panel data models, spatial treatment effect analysis, spatial interaction models, endogenous regimes, regularization in spatial models, spatial feature engineering, and endogenous spatial weights. An important aspect of the course is the application of open source software tools, specifically those contained in the Python package PySAL.

Instructor(s): L. Anselin     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): An intermediate course in multivariate regression or econometrics. Familiarity with metrix algebra; SOCi 20559/30559 or equivalent is desired, but not required
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20595, DATA 20595

SOCI 30596. Social Networks: How Networks Shape Integration and Inequality in Diverse Societies. 100 Units.

Social networks are all around us. Our social ties and interpersonal connections both reflect and influence our preferences, attitudes, decisions, and relationships. This makes a relational perspective a core component of many sociological theories and social network analyses a powerful tool for social scientists. This class will provide students with an introduction to social networks analyses and theory. In this class, we will discuss how and why interpersonal networks differ from each other across different social contexts, how such networks have changed over time, and what this means in increasingly diverse societies (when can we expect networks to build bridges between groups and offer opportunities, and when can we instead expect them to exacerbate inequality and reinforce social divides)? Alongside theoretical discussions, this class will also introduce students to quantitative social networks analyses using R. As a part of the methodological component of this course, we will analyze data on several kinds of example networks, with a focus on offline person-to-person connections (such as school friendships and confidant networks). At the completion of the course, students will apply the concepts covered in class to a final project. Prior coding experience is suggested but not required.

Instructor(s): L. Zhao     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Prior coding experience is suggested but not required
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20596

SOCI 30598. Slavery and Emancipation: Caribbean Perspectives. 100 Units.

This graduate-level reading colloquium explores the interpretive problems and perspectives critical to understanding the historical dynamics of slavery and emancipation in the Caribbean. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, over five million African men, women, and children were trafficked to the Caribbean as enslaved captives. During this period, Africans and their descendants, as well as the tens of thousands of slaveholders, indentured laborers, Indigenous peoples, and free people in the region, forged the political, economic, social, and cultural dynamics that arguably made the Caribbean the birthplace of the modern world. Through course readings in foundational and emerging scholarship, we will examine how slavery and emancipation underlined crucial historical transformations and problems in the Caribbean, with attention to their global repercussions. Students will also have the opportunity to draw comparisons with other regions in the Atlantic World. Upper-level undergraduates may enroll with instructor consent.

Instructor(s): Lyons, Deirdre     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 29006, MAPS 33505, SOCI 20598, ANTH 46452, HIST 39006, ANTH 26452

SOCI 30599. The Logic and Methods of Historical Research. 100 Units.

This seminar introduces students to some of the major epistemological and methodological challenges confronting qualitative historical research in the social sciences. It is divided into two parts. The first half tackles key issues regarding the logic and reasoning of historical research, including causality, contingency, temporality, narrativity and the use of comparisons. The second half delves into the practical and minute complexities of historical research methods - particularly archival research and oral histories - and their epistemological roots. This seminar is NOT a substantive introduction to the vast body of work produced under the rubric of comparative historical sociology and historical social sciences, but rather familiarizes students with problems concerning the "logic of historical inquiry" as well as equips students to conduct actual historical research.

Instructor(s): Y. Zhang     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20599

SOCI 30603. The Sociology of Racism. 100 Units.

This course seeks to give students a rigorous introduction to the sociological subfield of the study of race over the last roughly 100 years - with a specific focus on how scholars have theorized racism(s). Moving chronologically, we will begin in the early to mid 20th century with ideas of race relations and race as a social construction, move to ethnic assimilation and racial formation, racial attitudes, and then to racialized social systems and colorblind racism. Alongside this trajectory, we will read critical scholarship that troubles the more mainstream scholarly understandings of racism in each period. We will end by exploring contemporary ways scholars are pushing the subfield forward.

Instructor(s): Cuddy, Maximilian     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 33510, RDIN 23510, SOCI 20603, MAPS 33510

SOCI 30604. Political Religion and Sociology. 100 Units.

In the era of post-secularism (with the reappearance of religion in the public arena), the contemporary world has witnessed the formation and growth of political religion approaches. Political religion has two aspects: a religion that is politicized (with non-political roots) and another with a political identity. Both elements of political religion, both in monotheistic and non-monotheistic religions, have significantly impacted the formation of movements, organizations, and fundamentalist approaches that have faced the modern world with serious challenges (especially in terms of national identity and security). The main problem of the current era of political religion is its characteristics, the roots of its formation and its different representations from a sociological perspective, and how to observe and analyze the representations of political religion even in our daily and ordinary lives.

Instructor(s): Khoshk Jan, Z.     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20604

SOCI 30605. The sociology of revolution in the contemporary world. 100 Units.

The modern world is a complex world of technology, media, the internet, the economy, international relations, etc.. As time goes by, these complexities increase even in human relations. One of the complex and critical issues is the issue of revolution as the most radical form of the relationship between a government and the social-political forces of society. The contemporary world is full of surprises, and one of the most radical surprises is the occurrence of the revolution in an unexpected context. But there is no surprise because, Like the human body, society has warning mechanisms that ignoring by a government can cause it to be overthrown. In this course, we will investigate these alarms and conditions that can lead to revolution or any other challenging social practice by actioners and determine the answers to these critical questions: What are the differences between revolution, movement, coup, and rebellion? How can their occurrence be predicted and analyzed in a society? What is the Colour and Velvet Revolution? What is the approach of social psychology to the revolution?

Instructor(s): Khoshk Jan, Z.     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20605

SOCI 40112. Ethnographic Methods. 100 Units.

This course explores the epistemological and practical questions raised by ethnography as a method -- focusing on the relationships between theory and data, and between researcher and researched. Discussions are based on close readings of ethnographic texts, supplemented by occasional theoretical essays on ethnographic practices. Students also conduct original field research., share and critique each other's field notes on a weekly basis, and produce analytical papers based on their ethnographies.

Instructor(s): O. McRoberts     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Graduate students only

SOCI 40137. Introduction to Science Studies. 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary study of science, medicine, and technology. During the twentieth century, sociologists, historians, philosophers, and anthropologists raised original, interesting, and consequential questions about the sciences. Often their work drew on and responded to each other, and, taken together, their various approaches came to constitute a field, "science studies." The course furnishes an initial guide to this field. Students will not only encounter some of its principal concepts, approaches and findings, but will also get a chance to apply science-studies perspectives themselves by performing a fieldwork project. Among the topics we may examine are: the sociology of scientific knowledge and its applications; actor-network theories of science; constructivism and the history of science; and efforts to apply science studies approaches beyond the sciences themselves.

Instructor(s): Michael Paul Rossi     Terms Offered: Winter. Offered in Winter 2024
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 32305, CHSS 32000, KNOW 31408, HIPS 22001, HIST 44906, HLTH 22001

SOCI 40164. Involved Interviewing: Strategies for Interviewing Hard to Penetrate Communities and Populations. 100 Units.

Imagine that you must interview someone who hails from a background unlike your own; perhaps you need to interview an incarcerated youth, or gather a life history from an ill person. Maybe your task is to conduct fieldwork inside a community that challenges your comfort level. How do we get others to talk to us? How do we get out of our own way and limited training to become fully and comfortably engaged in people and the communities in which they reside? This in-depth investigation into interviewing begins with an assumption that the researcher as interviewer is an integral part of the research process. We turn a critical eye on the interviewer's role in getting others to talk and learn strategies that encourage fertile interviews regardless of the situational context. Weekly reading assignments facilitate students' exploration of what the interview literature can teach us about involved interviewing. Additionally, we critically assess our role as interviewer and what that requires from us. Students participate in evaluating interview scenarios that are designed to explore our assumptions, sharpen our interviewing skills and troubleshoot sticky situations. We investigate a diversity of settings and populations as training ground for leading effective interviews. The final project includes: 1) a plan that demonstrates knowledge of how to design an effective interviewing strategy for unique field settings; 2) instructor's feedback on students' personal journals on the role of.

Instructor(s): S. Hicks-Bartlett     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter. Autumn-restricted to 4th and 3rd year Sociology Majors ONLY. Winter restricted to graduate students ONLY.
Prerequisite(s): Ugrad Level restricted to 4th and 3rd year Sociology Majors ONLY
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20547, MAPS 40164

SOCI 40177. Coding & Analyzing Qualitative Data using MAXQDA. 100 Units.

This focus of this course is on coding and analyzing qualitative data (e.g., interview transcripts, oral histories, focus groups, letters, and diaries, etc). In this hands-on-course students learn how to organize and manage text-based data in preparation for analysis and final report writing of small scale research projects. Students use their own laptop computers to access one of two free, open-source software programs available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. While students with extant interview data can use it for this course, those without existing data will be provided text to code and analyze. This course does not cover commercial CAQDAS, such as AtlasTi, NVivo, The Ethnograph or Hypertext.

Instructor(s): S. Hicks-Bartlett     Terms Offered: Spring Winter. Winter restricted to 4th and 3rd year Sociology Majors only and MAPS students only. Spring restricted to graduate students only.
Prerequisite(s): Ugrad Level restricted to 4th and 3rd year Sociology Majors ONLY
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20548, MAPS 40177

SOCI 40212. Demographic Technique. 100 Units.

Introduction to methods of demographic analysis. Topics include demographic rates, standardization, decomposition of differences, life tables, survival analysis, cohort analysis, birth interval analysis, models of population growth, stable populations, population projection, and demographic data sources.

Instructor(s): L. Luciana and J. Trinitapoli     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): One Introductory statistics course. No Auditing
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 25139, LACS 35139, SOCI 20261

SOCI 40233. Sociology of Immigration. 100 Units.

This graduate seminar seeks to cover the main topics in this vast field. Topics include: determinants of migration, immigrant assimilation, transnationalism, immigration and race, immigration policies, immigration attitudes and public opinion, and illegality. We will also devote some time to immigrant-receiving contexts outside of the U.S. especially Western Europe. The purpose of the class is to encourage graduate students to develop their own immigration research projects. We will pay special attention to research design and methodological issues.

Instructor(s): R. Flores     Terms Offered: Autumn

SOCI 40242. Parametric and Semi-parametric Methods of Categorical Data Anaysis. 100 Units.

This course introduces various regression and related methods and models for the analysis of categorical data with an emphasis on their applications to social‑science research. The course covers various regression models with a categorical dependent variable, including (1) logistic regression, (2) probit regression, (3) multinomial logit regression, (4) ordered logit regression, (5) nested logit regression, (6) bivariate probit regression, and (7) regression models with a latent-class dependent variable. In addition, the course also tries to cover (8) the use of a categorical regression model for the estimation of propensity scores in causal analysis, (9) the use of propensity scores in the statistical decomposition analysis of a categorical outcome variable, and (10) the use of propensity scores in segregation analysis with covariates. The course also provides students with examples of various substantive social‑science applications of the categorical data analysis. The course employs STATA for models without using latent-class variable and employs LEM for models with a latent-class variable. LEM is made available free of charge to students. The course requires as a prerequisite only an introductory-level knowledge of regression analysis. No prior knowledge in the use of STATA and LEM is required.

Instructor(s): K. Yamaguchi     Terms Offered: Spring

SOCI 40244. Climate change, history and Social Theory. 100 Units.

This course considers some of the major approaches to climate change and society that have been elaborated by contemporary social and environmental theorists. Key topics include the legacies of environmental thought in classical social theory; the histories and geographies of environmental crises under capitalism; the conceptualization of "nature" in relation to societal dynamics; the role of capitalism and fossil capital in the production of "metabolic rifts"; questions of periodization and associated debates on the "Anthropocene," the "Capitalocene" and the "Plantationocene"; the interplay between urbanization and climate emergencies; the (geo)politics of decarbonization; insurgent struggles for climate justice; and possible post-carbon futures.

Instructor(s): N. Brenner, F. Albritton Jonsson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Some previous course work in classical and/or contemporary social theory, preferably at the graduate level
Equivalent Course(s): CCCT 40244, CHSS 43204, CEGU 40244, PLSC 40244, HIST 43204

SOCI 40248. Social Network Analysis. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to Social Network Analysis (SNA) as a theoretical and methodological approach to studying the structure of relationships among entities (people, organizations, etc.). By the end of the course, students will be able to apply and interpret the most important measures and methods to study social networks from a social science perspective. Topics of this course include fundamental network measures (density, paths, centrality, etc.) and fundamental concepts (structural holes, homophily, etc.); research design; cohesive subgroups; ego networks; affiliation networks; and statistical models. The course is taught in R. Requirements: At least one prior introductory programming or statistics course in Python or R. If you are unsure, please check with the instructor to see if the course is a good fit.

Instructor(s): Sabrina Nardin     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): MACS 20101, MACS 40101

SOCI 40258. Causal Mediation Analysis. 100 Units.

Causal mediation analysis lies at the very heart of social science. It seeks to uncover not just whether but al so why an exposure affects an outcome by quantifying the processes and mechanisms through which a causal effect operates. That is, it aims to identify causal chains that connect an exposure to an outcome via intermediate variables known as mediators. This class will cover methods for analyzing causal mediation with an emphasis on social science applications. It will use precise notation (potential outcomes) and accessible conceptual diagrams (directed acyclic graphs) to lead students from basic definitions of effects, via minimally necessary identification assumptions, to cutting-edge estimation procedures. It will provide a guide for analyzing causal mediation using modern techniques, including effect decomposition, adjustment for both pre- and post-exposure confounding, analysis of multiple mediators, and estimation via regression modeling, inverse probability weighting, and machine learning methods. The class will address both theory and conceptual material alongside practical implementation using R or Stata.

Instructor(s): G. Wodtke     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Students interested in taking this class are expected to have a solid background in probability, multivariate statistics, linear models, and the basics of causal inference. Knowledge of linear algebra and calculus will be an asset but is not required.

SOCI 40261. Politics and Sociology of Markets. 100 Units.

Course will survey conceptions of market exchange in both micro and macro dimensions. The emphasis will be (mostly) on sociological and normative understandings of markets as forms of order.

Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 43434

SOCI 40262. Non Parliamentary Forms of Democracy. 100 Units.

This course will survey an array of theoretical arguments for democracy outside the electoral arena. In some case, the views will involve complements to electoral democracy, in other cases there will be proposals to substitute other forms of democratic process for elections. Among other traditions, the course will survey Pluralism, Guild Socialism, Labor Republicanism, Economic Democracy and Co-determination, Progressive Regulation and Democratic Experimentalism

Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 46666

SOCI 40263. Weber, Veblen and Genealogies of Global Capitalism. 100 Units.

After quick review or Marxs, this course considers other possibilities. It focuses on critical comparative reading of Thorstein Veblen's theory of the late modern "new order" and Max Weber's comparative sociology, but will also read widely among other authors, including Simmel, Sombart, Mahan, Tolstoy and Gandhi. Questions to engage will include: relations between capital, the state, and military force (between means of production and means of coercion); commerce in Asia before European colonialism and the rise of colonial plantations and monopoly trading companies; types of capital, the rise and spread of joint-stock companies, stock markets, and capitalist corporations; the "new order," decolonization and the nation-state.

Instructor(s): John Kelly
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 43700

SOCI 40264. Education, Culture, and Power. 100 Units.

This course critically examines how power and culture operate within educational systems. This course will presume that education is not simply a neutral good that we must acquire to gain social mobility. Instead, educational systems are sites where power is enacted and where culture is learned (or suppressed). Thus, this course will ask important questions like: What type of education gets you power? What is the normative culture of education (schooling)? Do you need to perform a certain type of culture to accrue educational power? Who has power over educational systems? How is education wielded as a tool of power? Can educational systems be sites of challenging power? To answer these questions, we will read a range of educational scholars, sociologists, historians, anthropologists, and social theorists. We will pay particular attention to the many lines of difference that stratify educational systems, such as: race, indigeneity, gender, sexuality, class, nationality, and disability.

Instructor(s): Cuddy, Maximilian     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): EDSO 21522, EDSO 31522, MAPS 31522

SOCI 40265. In-Depth Interviewing: Talk as Data. 100 Units.

This course is meant for students who have just started, or are soon planning to carry out, a qualitative research study that utilizes in-depth interviewing. This course will take a practical and hands-on approach to doing the work of listening to strangers. In addition to a brief, but rigorous, theoretical introduction to the methodology, this course will mainly be aimed at helping students collect their own rich interview data. This means that we will place the ability to problem solve research hiccups, dilemmas, and contingencies at the front and center. Along the way, our fieldwork will be supplemented by reading accessible guides by experienced qualitative scholars on the mechanics of interviewing. By the course's end, students will be expected to have collected, and begun to analyze, actual data in their research study.

Instructor(s): Cuddy, Maximilian     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): MAPS 40165

SOCI 40267. Introduction to Computational Social Science. 100 Units.

The movement of much of our social lives online has created exciting new opportunities for social science research. This course provides a broad survey of computational methods used to make sense of this data. Students will learn how to collect online data, and analyze this data using contemporary techniques from natural language processing, supervised/unsupervised machine learning, and generative machine learning. Students will also cultivate analytical skills through formal paper presentations, oral exams, and an original research project. The course will be taught in Python. This is an intuitive introduction without prerequisites, although previous experience with probability, statistics, and/or programming will be helpful.

Instructor(s): B. Koch     Terms Offered: Tentatively being offered in Winter or Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20602

SOCI 50092. Sem: Religion and Politics. 100 Units.

In this seminar we will consider meanings of religion and politics, and examine their interactions from a comparative perspective. After digesting alternative theoretical understandings of the relationship between religion, states, and political processes, we will turn to empirical accounts that illuminate historical and local issues at points around the globe. Among other phenomena, students will explore patterns of secularization, religious nationalism, fundamentalisms, and policy-oriented religious social movements.

Instructor(s): O. McRoberts     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): AASR 50092

SOCI 50106. Sem: The Social Process. 100 Units.

This course sets forth a general analysis of the social process, based on the exposition of a processual theoretical system. It begins with desiderata for the theory, then proceeds through the topics of orders, events, locality, lineage, stability, and entity processes to the usual micro and macro analyses of social life.

Instructor(s): A. Abbott     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Open to undergrads by special permission from the instructor

SOCI 50118. Sem: Population. 100 Units.

This course provides a substantive overview of the field of demography -- the study of human populations, past, present and future. We focus on trends and causes and consequences of change in the three the basic components of population change: mortality, fertility, migration. We will also cover a few sub-fields outside the big three, including segregation and population health. By the end of the quarter, students will have been introduced to the major substantive issues, debates, and methods of the field. The course is non-technical but assumes graduate-level literacy in statistics and quantitative reasoning. We will focus on understanding general trends in global population, the inter-related nature of fertility, mortality, migration, and age structure, and how the demographic explanations of social phenomena are critical for understanding political, economic, and cultural changes.

Instructor(s): J. Trinitapoli     Terms Offered: Autumn

SOCI 50126. Public History Practicum I. 100 Units.

In this two-quarter course students will engage in the theory and practice of public history in partnership with organizations doing community-oriented work in a variety of areas. In the winter colloquium, we will read and discuss the theory and practice of public history as well as materials relevant to the projects you will pursue in the spring. In the spring practicum, you will work in groups of 3-5 directly with one of the partner organizations. All of the project-based work will be done collaboratively; working with partners means that there will be hard deadlines. Projects and coursework will be designed to be adaptable to current public health conditions. A showcase presentation of the projects is scheduled for the end of the spring quarter, by which time you will have become acquainted with current scholarship on public history and with experience in its actual practice. The final projects will be part of your portfolio and may be listed on your c.v.

Instructor(s): L. Auslander     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Students must take Public History Practicum I (HIST 47603) and II (HIST 47604) in sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): CHSS 67603, RDIN 47603, HIST 47603, ARTH 47603, ANTH 34611

SOCI 50127. Public History Practicum II. 100 Units.

In this two-quarter course students will engage in the theory and practice of public history in partnership with organizations doing community-oriented work in a variety of areas. In the winter colloquium, we will read and discuss the theory and practice of public history as well as materials relevant to the projects you will pursue in the spring. In the spring practicum, you will work in groups of 3-5 directly with one of the partner organizations. All of the project-based work will be done collaboratively; working with partners means that there will be hard deadlines. Projects and coursework will be designed to be adaptable to current public health conditions. A showcase presentation of the projects is scheduled for the end of the spring quarter, by which time you will have become acquainted with current scholarship on public history and with experience in its actual practice. The final projects will be part of your portfolio and may be listed on your c.v.

Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Students must take Public History Practicum I (HIST 47603) and II (HIST 47604) in sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): CHSS 67604, RDIN 47604, HIST 47604, ARTH 47604, ANTH 34612

SOCI 50132. Sem:Causal Inference in Studies of Educational Interventions. 100 Units.

This course will engage students in evaluating the validity of causal claims made in important educational studies conducted within multiple disciplines. A focus will be on what can be learned about the school as an organization and the work of teaching by evaluating attempts to improve education. Fellows will re-analyze data from such studies, write reports that critically evaluate published study findings, and consider implications for research on educational improvement. This course is required of second year Fellows in the Education Sciences. Otherwise, admission to the seminar requires permission of the instructor. Introductory coursework in applied statistics is a prerequisite; prior study of causal inference is recommended.

Instructor(s): S. Raudenbush, G. Hong     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): EDSO 50132, CHDV 50132

SOCI 50135. A Socilogy of Politics. 100 Units.

This course is interested in the sociological basis of politics. Its focus will not be on the usual topics of political science and political sociology-e.g., leaders, parties, elections, or even social movements-but, rather, on the social structures shaping political subjectivity. Discussion will revolve around the question: What does a distinctly sociological approach to politics look like? We will consider several models over the course of the quarter. Possible readings include Marx, Tocqueville, Arendt, Bourdieu, Thompson, Chatterjee, and Hochschild.

Instructor(s): M. Garrido     Terms Offered: Spring

SOCI 50136. Comparative Socialism Studies. 100 Units.

his seminar interrogates "socialism" as both an important analytical category and a diverse set of objects of social inquiry. We will examine the historical experiences of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union, China, East Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa through multiple comparative lenses. We will consider the common challenges besetting socialist projects around the world, varieties of socialism and their shapers, transnational linkages and system-wide dynamics, and pathways of transitions from socialism to capitalism. Theoretical treatises, historical texts and empirical research from such disciplines as sociology, history, political science, anthropology, heterodox economics and literary/cultural studies will be surveyed for these purposes. Throughout the quarter, we will explore how a comparative inquiry of socialism helps us rethink some of the most foundational concepts in the social sciences, such as capitalism, democracy, development, labor, the state and society.

Instructor(s): Y. Zhang     Terms Offered: Winter

SOCI 50137. Colloquium on Law and Social Science. 100 Units.

This unique workshop brings together social science and law faculty and students to examine new empirical scholarship with implications for law scholarship and legal reform. Rather than being a testing ground for works-in-progress, this workshop is an incubator for legal-reform-oriented scholarship based on social science research. We will encounter a mix of law scholarship and sociology scholarship on several topics, such as poverty and housing, higher education, and criminal system replacement. Students will write reaction papers and research proposals, which will count toward the grade, in addition to class participation.

Instructor(s): S. Fairley, W. Hubbard and R. Vargas     Terms Offered: Spring

SOCI 60001. Workshop: Demography. 100 Units.

This workshop is sponsored by the Committee on Demographic Training in collaboration with the Population Research Center of NORC and the University. Visitors from other campuses as well as Chicago faculty discuss current research activities in population studies. PQ: Must Register for an R

Terms Offered: Spring Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 58900

SOCI 60020. 1st-Year Proseminar Research Questions and Design. 000 Units.

A required, non-credit colloquium for first-year doctoral students in Sociology. The Colloquium addresses how to generate research questions and design projects through the current work of department faculty.

Instructor(s): G. Wodtke     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): 1st-year Sociology PhD students only

SOCI 60021. Wksp. Politics, History and Society. 000 Units.

The Politics, History, and Society workshop provides a home for graduate students and faculty who occupy the interdisciplinary spaces that exist between sociology and political science and/or between sociology and history. All of the papers we workshop are concerned with the institutions and processes of modern political orders, studied comparatively or historically. State formation, civil society, legal structures, social movements, colonialism, empire, and globalization are all frequent themes. Recent and upcoming papers include an ethnographic study of the political culture of indigenous Taiwanese, a case study of criminal conspiracy and corporate regulation in the 1920s and 1930s United States, an analysis of the role of social networks of Sufi Saints in the 18th and 19th century Ottoman Empire, and a multi-national comparison of causes of inter-communal violence. PQ: Students must register for an R

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter