DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Have you ever wondered why "gay neighborhoods" tend to be mostly white and affluent, or why people tend to associate homophobia with low-income neighborhoods and communities of color? This course will first consider how sexuality--together with race, gender, and class--is built into the urban landscape. Second, it will interrogate popular assumptions about sexual difference, race, and place that serve to reinforce segregation in the twenty-first century. In the first unit, we will consider the relationship between race, sex, and the city in the post-war, Fordist era, where suburbia was king and the heteronormative, white, nuclear family was upheld by stereotypes of urban minorities as sexual others. In the second unit, we will examine cultural "reurbanization" and the shift towards broader social acceptance of a white homonormativity which casts of minorities as homophobic or "backward" in the march toward greater social progress. In each instance, students will consider how these social norms prop up urban political economy. As a first-year seminar, this course will include in class and out of class writing assignments and lots of discussion.

This class will explore the nature of race in an effort to understand exactly what race is. It seeks to understand why race is such a potent force in American society. Close attention will be paid to the relationship between race, power, and social stratification. The course will examine the nature of racial conflict and major efforts to combat racial inequality.

This course is an examination of social inequality in education, including its causes and consequences. The course will focus on the case study of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), a diverse school system in a major urban area. Building on existing sociological theories and concepts regarding educational stratification, as a class we will look at the influences of social inequality and diversity on the practice of education within CPS, including how educational outcomes vary across social student populations. We will also explore the historical development of CPS and the current state of social inequality and diversity within CPS. Social inequality takes on many forms and we will examine the interplay among multiple social statuses including gender, socioeconomic status, immigrant status, and race/ethnicity and explore how inequality impacts the experiences of the diverse student body present within CPS. Finally, we look at current efforts aimed at improving local Chicago public schools and the efficacy of these reform initiatives.

Logic and methods of social research, qualitative and quantitative analysis of social data, and ethical, political, and policy issues in social research. Foundation for further work in social research.

Instructor varies. See Caesar for current description.

Sexuality is fundamental to the cultural, economic, political, and social organization of the United States. This course examines the theoretical and methodological approaches that have been used in sociological studies of sexuality including those that guide sexuality-related analyses of meanings and identities, practices and behaviors, power and politics, and morality and social control. Topics will include sex work, sex tourism, sexual migration, LGBT social movements, relationships, the sexual moment, sexual diversity (including diversity by race, ethnicity, and social class), sexual violence, censorship, and moral panics. The course is divided in three parts. Part I provides some important conceptual foundations for us to understand the various approaches that have been used to study sexuality, as well as the contributions of sociology to the field of sexuality studies. In this section we will discuss the work and influence of Freud, Kinsey, and Foucault, as well as understandings that emerged from social constructionist approaches in sociology and anthropology. In Part II we will discuss the links and tensions between individuals' own interpretations and those that are made available to them within the sociocultural contexts in which they live. Among other topics, we will examine how people use and question existing categories of sexual identity, the connections and disconnections between notions of sexual identity and gender expectations, how sociocultural expectations emerge in the interpretations that people make while having sex, and the ways in which collective identities and sexuality-related social movements are formed. We will also pay close attention to forms of social inequality. Finally, in Part III, we will explore how and why sexuality is a heavily regulated social activity and one that is deeply connected with morality in contemporary society. We will pay close attention to topics such as the emergence of moral panics, the age of consent and the regulation of teen sexuality, sexual violence, and the criminalization of sex work and HIV.

The course provides an in-depth introduction to the analysis and interpretation of data. We'll walk through basic statistical concepts to understand and analyze patterns in data. By the end of the course, students will be able to conduct analysis on data sets and will be ready to undertake a senior thesis, if interested.

What does the global financial crisis of 2008 mean for the future of capitalism? Is it the end of the unregulated, free market approach, or is it the start of an authoritarian political order controlled by billionaires? How the United States became a country riddled with extreme inequality and catastrophic financial crises? To answer these questions we will study key historical developments that led to the crisis of 2008 in three parts. We will begin with the crisis itself and explore why it happened. We will try to determine who should be held responsible, the bankers who gambled on our prosperity or the regulators and economists who turned a blind eye to them. In the second part of the course, we will go back to the 1930s and examine how elites built the Keynesian New Deal state to redistribute wealth with the goal of preventing the recurrence of another Great Depression. In the final part of the course, we will study the demise of the Keynesian state in the turbulent decade of the 1970s, when the US economy was hit with record unemployment and inflation in the face of global oil shocks. We will see how the Federal Reserve took over managing the economy, how this led to financial deregulation, and how a new right-wing coalition of politicians, grassroots activists, and policy advisers instituted the infamous Reagan tax cuts. Studying the history of our present in these three parts will allow us to rethink what the economic sources of power are in contemporary capitalism.

The goal of this course is to give students experience in qualitative research methodologies. Qualitative methods are a primary way that sociologists learn about the larger social world, test and develop theories and hypotheses, and make sense of complex situations and interactions. Qualitative methods allow sociologists to understand the world from the perspective of the individual and gain a better understanding of how the social world operates.

This course explores social constructions and experiences of gender and sexuality in the Middle East. Drawing on the historical, sociological and anthropological research in the region, the course aims to question the stereotypes about the subordination of Muslim women and men to offer a systematic reading and an analytical discussion of the political, economic and cultural structures that inform femininity and masculinity in the region. The course will start with the examination of women in early Islamic sources, then will move on to nationalist and modernization movements in the 19th and 20th centuries. Gender relations, women's and men's lives in contemporary Egypt, Turkey and Iran will be the central part of the course. In this framework, we will pay special attention to Islamist mobilization, family, sexuality, neoliberalism, women's labor, the experiences of LGBT, and finally women's political role.

In this class, we will investigate how gender – as a set of relations, identities and cultural schemas -- shapes politics, including political participation and representation, social policy, and the formation of social movements (e.g., feminist and anti-feminist movements).  We will also investigate how, in turn, political institutions and policies shape gender. Gender is understood as situated in a landscape of complex inequalities, social differences and power differentials related also to race, class, sexuality, religion. We aim to understand gendered politics and policy from both "top down" and "bottom up" perspectives, in the US and other countries. Among the topics we’ll cover are an introduction to theories of gender; the intersection of gender, race and class; the history and present situation of women’s movements; women’s and men’s political representation; social policy and law relevant to work, family, and reproduction; masculinities and political power.

The automobile is a central and ubiquitous object in the day to day life of most Americans and a major icon in the history of American culture.  This course will cross-cut a number of disciplines and schools, and the number of potential topics students might pursue are almost unlimited. Just a few examples include the car as a status symbol in identity and inequality, as an environmental issue in global warming, as an engineering and design problem for electric and driverless cars, as a medical health and safety issue in traffic fatalities, as a contributor to the psychology or "road rage", as products of automakers and related industries and business firms in marketing and advertising, as part of the new "sharing economy" such as Uber and Lyft, as a sport as in NASCAR racing, and as political and urban planning issues from the building of expressways to policing in patrol cars. Each student will pursue in-depth a topic of their choice related to "the car." In addition, the car will be seen as an "icon" in American culture as reflecting certain key values - such as individualism, independence and freedom - and as portrayed in film, literature, music and art.

In this course we will examine one of the most destructive, evil and perplexing phenomena haunting society: genocide - i.e. , the on a large scale organized exclusion and killing of populations defined by race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. In the first section of this course students will be introduced to ideational, rational and psychological explanations of genocide. Causes of genocide can be found at different levels of analysis. We will focus on theories at three different levels. First, we will look at how national and international processes such as modernization and political leadership cause genocide (macro level). Second, we will look at why individuals decide to participate in or condone mass killings (micro level). Third, we will look at what role subnational groups such as religious communities play (meso level). In the second part of this course, we will assess the validity of different explanations through the comparative study of three particular cases: the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide and Rwanda. Students will explore a fourth case on their own. We will end the course with a discussion on foreign intervention.

Application of the methods of case study, interviewing, and participant observation.

In this course, students will develop the necessary skills to conceptualize, plan, and execute interview-based research projects. We will cover topics such as fine-tuning a research idea, formulating research questions, designing a rigorous research plan, navigating the IRB process, recruiting respondents, creating the interview guide, conducting interviews, and analyzing and writing up data. We will also consider reflexivity, ethics, and the complexities of interviewing various populations. Students at all levels of the graduate student process are welcome. However, the course tends to focus on issues that arise at the beginning stages of a second year paper or dissertation proposal. Those students will therefore receive preference in course enrollment.

Formal demography is characterized by its focus on the enduring collectivity of population and careful study of the processes responsible for changes in population size and composition. Of particular interest to the demographer, are the processes of fertility, mortality and migration. In addition to these three basic areas of research, demographers are also  interested in a number of related issues within the broad social science and health research spectrum including marriage, retirement, segregation, disability and land use. At the heart of all of these empirical analyses of populations and related issues is a particular way of looking at the world and a related set of methodological techniques.

This course aims to introduce students to the principal methodological tools used by demographers for studying changes in population size and composition. And, we will use the development of the formal demographic system as a way of thinking about formal systems more broadly. Students in the course will first learn the basic measures of mortality, fertility and migration—population change. Then, we will use these measures to build  life tables, multiple and associated-single decrement life  tables, as well as stable populations, population projections, and the simple event history analysis.  Students will learn to apply these and other demographic methods through a series of weekly problem sets.

This course should be seen as a first step in a never-ending mission for developing one's own pedagogical skills. Students will learn each stage of the collegiate course design and implementation process: creating syllabi, teaching effectively, and evaluating both student and teacher. Assignments throughout the course are designed primarily to help students improve and reflect on their teaching. The final assignment is to create a teaching portfolio that will lay the foundations for what students would use on the academic job market. As part of the course, students gain hands-on teaching experience by the department's 110 course: Introduction to Sociology. TAing for 110 will require students to lead a discussion section every week along with grading essays, midterms, and the final exam. The first two weeks of the course will prepare students to quickly learn and execute their responsibilities.