Social forces constrain and empower us, bond us together and push us apart. Sociology explores the workings of societies large and small: nations, organizations, communities, families, and other groups. How do societies shape action and identity, and why are social pressures so hard to defy? How do societies distribute wealth and power, and why do inequalities so often coalesce around race, ethnicity, class, and gender? How do established practices persist, and when do movements arise to challenge them? Examining such themes across a range of issues and topics, this course provides a springboard for future study throughout the social sciences.

An introduction to the discipline of sociology examining the individual in society. Explores the social development of the person, the development of interpersonal relationships, and the problems of integrating the individual and social system. For each area, the personal and structural factors that bear upon the issue are investigated. The objective is to deepen understanding of the behavior of people in a social context.    

A study of self in contemporary society. We examine the structural and situational forces that shape the self and their impact on personal development, orientations to the world, and interpersonal behavior; we investigate the development of the self as a way of being in the world that makes everyday doings and, ultimately society, possible. Enrollment limited to 19 first year students. Instructor permission required.

The course examines the main theories in the Sociology of race, racism and discrimination. It focuses on how race patterns the experiences of ethno-racial groups and simultaneously defines the contours of systemic racism and inequality. It teaches students how to lead and participate in critical discussions, collaborate on the analysis of data, write research-based policy proposals with a client orientation, and engage with current issues surrounding the sociology of race, discrimination and racism. While the focus is primarily sociological, the course takes a multivalent approach to examine how racial inequality persists in a presumably “post-racial” society.

Whiteness is a socially and historically constructed concept that is used to grant or deny privileges, opportunities and rights. This course gives students an opportunity for a comparative exploration of how whiteness is defined, structured and applied in different global contexts. Using materials from film, music, literature and scholarly texts, we will examine both the fluidity and rigidity of whiteness over time and across continents. By the end of the semester, students will have a thorough understanding of how societies have used and continue to use the status of whiteness to grant or withhold rights and resources.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to America’s criminal court system as the engine of mass incarceration. We examine America’s criminal court system from different perspectives and include consideration of police, jails and prisons in the United States. This class includes a "humanities-style" lab where students will curate an archive of mass incarceration that centers the experiences of punishment through the eyes of incarcerated people and their families. Students will work closely with scholars, archivists and digital humanities professionals from the John Hay library to complete this final project.

This course explores the creation, maintenance, and crossing of international borders. We will examine a particular collection of borders that includes a range of structural, managerial, and geographical variation. Through a combination of scholarly articles, ethnographic accounts, films and research on GOs and NGOs, we will study legal and illegal crossings, border communities, and border patrol organizations that seek to protect the integrity of national boundaries. (Note: While many of the texts focus on the Mediterranean, due to the instructor’s area of expertise, students will be required to investigate and share research on other areas of the world.) By the end of this course, you will have a comprehensive understanding of how international borders are created, how they are maintained, and how people and organizations navigate them.

The Directed Research Practicum is a one semester course taken in conjunction with an on- or off-campus research internship. The course consists of a directed reading of methodological texts and research articles selected by the student and the faculty director that are directly relevant to the methodological issues/challenges encountered in the internship. The student and faculty director will meet weekly to review the readings. The practicum may include written assignments, literature reviews, and data analysis exercises. Faculty directors need not be involved with the actual internship work, unless the student is working on the faculty member’s research project.