DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Sociology emerges from the hunch that there are forces at work beyond our control (and often beyond our awareness) that influence how we think, feel, and act. Sociologists have turned this philosophical speculation into a systematic approach to building and testing theories. Sociological explanations center on the structure and dynamics of social groups (families, friendship networks, organizations, etc.) as enabling and constraining human behavior. In this course, you will learn to think like a sociologist - to use your "sociological imagination" to examine the social nature of a number of issues and behaviors, many of which may at first appear to be the results of strictly individual motives and personal choices. You will get a broad overview of the theories and methods used in sociology and how these are applied across a wide range of important phenomena, including gender, race, inequality, and education.

This course introduces students to the idea that economies are fundamentally made up of social relations, and that social relations are influenced by economic systems. In contrast to free-market economic models which suppose a social and political vacuum where people make rational choices, we will begin with the supposition that family, geography, culture, race, class, gender and sexuality, and age mix and mingle with the way things are produced and consumed, how economies are managed by the state, and how society is molded to fit various economic systems. We will consider how social institutions like property, markets, work, and family evolve alongside different economic arrangements including classic liberalism, liberal-Keynesianism, and neoliberalism. Students should come away from the course with a deeper understanding of the way economy indexes power, who has it and who doesn't, and how economy intersects with social problems like racism and heterosexism.

Most of our waking hours are spent participating in various types of formal organizations - schools, corporations, churches, or (unfortunately) prisons. We generally begin our lives in hospitals, and often end our days in nursing homes. While we want to join some organizations (e.g. Northwestern - go Cats!), we also avoid others like plague (e.g. the DMV). But where do organizations come from? What do they have in common? How to they shape who we get to know, how we get ahead or fall behind? Why do organizations change or fail to change?

We will begin to answer these questions using three main theoretical frameworks - sometimes referred to as "rational," "natural," and "open" systems approaches - that pull together the aspects of organizations in coherent approaches with different emphases and implications. By the end of the quarter, you will be able to think analytically about organizations from these different and sometimes competing perspectives. This should enable you to think about how you might better survive and thrive in our organizational world.

Sociological perspectives developed by classic theorists. Elucidation and testing of sociological principles in contemporary research. Primarily for sociology majors. Open to others with consent of instructor.

Instructor varies. See Caesar for current description.

In many ways, capitalism has been global from the start. With its earliest development in the destructive fires of colonialism and transatlantic slavery, capitalism's very development depended not only upon technological advancement, but upon international trade and finance and both forced and voluntary labor migration across national borders. Yet, since World War II, we have seen a noteworthy transformation in the nature of global capitalism. The rise of multi-lateral trade agreements and increasing power of global institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary fund are just two examples. This course will examine what we traditionally refer to as "globalization" as a historical and multi-scalar phenomenon, one developing in the context of neoliberalism; i.e. the cocktail of deregulation, privatization, and austerity currently stressing social and political norms across the globe. Paying particular attention to the way debt and austerity are used to uphold the power relations established in the long and disparate colonial histories of Asia, Africa, and Latin/North America, students should come away from this course understanding global capitalism as something that has changed at various points in time rather than something that emerged over the latter half of the twentieth century.

This course covers the economic, social, and political causes and consequence of class in America. Specifically, this course examines the effects of class on culture, politics, social interaction, identity, social psychology, and language, and emphasizes ways that social class shapes the background and experiences of current Northwestern students and what their future will hold.

Independent research projects carried out under faculty supervision. Prerequisite for 398-2: B- or better in 398-1.

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

Introduction to the department, faculty, and adjunct faculty. Faculty discuss their research and teaching interests. Mandatory two-quarter weekly seminar for first-year students.