SOCIOL 101-6 Birthright Citizenship: Race, Law, and Belonging in the United States
This discussion-based seminar is an introduction to the social scientific and historical study of U.S. citizenship. Debates over immigration and citizenship are long-standing in the United States. And today’s politicians continue to raise concerns over who (as in what kind of people) should be granted membership. These are fundamentally questions over who belongs and who is deserving. Some on the right, including the 45th President, seek to abolish birthright citizenship, claiming it is a “magnet for illegal immigration.”
Students will learn the history behind granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States. They explore the history of U.S. citizenship law and learn about the interests and justifications for narrower and more capacious definitions of citizenship. Other than birthright citizenship, what regimes for granting citizenship exist? What are the exceptions to birthright citizenship in the United States? How are decisions about and definitions of rights and membership related to ideas of race? Overall, this course will address how the United States has drawn boundaries of membership in racial terms and explore what this means for envisioning future possibilities.
Sociology is a field of study that examines how people and groups interact, navigate, and make decisions within the structure and constraints of their social world. Often these social processes go unobserved or unacknowledged, and sociologists treat it as their job to shed analytical light on how people experience and participate in society. Through sociological analysis, we can answer questions like: How did Evanston become largely segregated by race? Why is it illegal for people to sell their kidneys? Is suicide contagious? Why would someone pay for Instagram followers?
Sociology is a huge field of study, and includes and enormous variety of topics and methods. Each week, we will focus on a specific area of sociological study (Culture, Gender, Race, Family, Money, Deviance, etc.) with the goal of offering you a general overview of the types of questions sociologists ask and how they answer them. By the end of the quarter, you will be able to think sociologically about your own world, and hopefully develop a budding interest in one or more of the areas we discuss in class.
In this course, we will investigate how social conditions come to be defined as social problems. This course will be divided into two sections. The first section will be an overview of how sociologists have approached the study of social problems including theoretical perspectives (symbolic interactionist, conflict, structural-functionalist and constructionist perspectives). In this section, we will also conceptually examine the roles of policymakers, social advocates, and the media in the process of defining social problems. In the second section of the course, we will use the perspectives and conceptual tools from the first part to analyze contemporary social problems including the effects of the media and social media on children and teenagers. As a class, we will also examine the debates surrounding several social problem case studies to understand how interested parties can define a similar situation as problematic, but do so for very diverse reasons and in doing so suggest very different solutions.
Law is everywhere. Law permits, prohibits, enables, legitimates, protects, and prosecutes. Law shapes our day-to-day lives in countless ways. This course examines the connections and relationships of law and society using an interdisciplinary social science approach. As one of the founders of the Law and Society movement observed, "law is too important to leave to lawyers." Accordingly, this course will borrow from several theoretical, disciplinary, and interdisciplinary perspectives (such as sociology, history, anthropology, political science, critical studies, and psychology) in order to explore the sociology of law and law's role primarily in the American context (but with some attention to international law and global human rights efforts). The thematic topics to be discussed include law and social control; law's role in social change; and law's capacity to reach into complex social relations and intervene in existing normative institutions and organizational structures.
Crime is often seen as a “city problem.” But not all cities are alike and, more than that, not all neighborhoods are alike. In fact, one of sociology’s most enduring findings is that certain social problems—including crime—are highly concentrated within cities. The central question this course seeks to answer is: “Why do some neighborhoods have higher rates of crime than others?” In addressing this question, the course covers a wide range of theories, paying particular attention to ecological, social structural, and cultural aspects of city-life. In addition to covering the main sociological theories in these areas, the course will also focus on several in-depth topics including: street gangs, the underground economy, immigration, and mass incarceration.
This course approaches the study of sociological institutions--often referred to as "the rules of the game"--from a design perspective using in-class exercises and applications. We'll work to understand how these institutions emerge and address existing societal problems, ultimately analyzing the potential of different institutional configurations to encourage or discourage desired outcomes. We focus on both coordination-type dilemmas (e.g. how to parent, which side of the street to drive on, who provides health care) and collective-action dilemmas (e.g. how to police fishermen going over quota, funding of public radio). We end with a study of how institutions persist--possibly beyond their useful lifespan--such as the persistence of the intentionally inefficient 'QWERTY' keyboard, and a conversation about why it's difficult to enact policy change. The course has two overarching goals. This first is to develop a new way of approaching and analyzing social institutions. The second is to build skills in critical analysis though case studies and applications with a local Evanston institution.
We all interact with organizations. You are interacting with an organization right now. Much of everyday life, whether it is school, work, shopping, or eating occurs within the context of organizations. The goal of this course is to teach you to think analytically about the organizations you interact with. Throughout the quarter, we will examine why organizations are the way they are, how scholar’s understandings of organizations have changed over time, and how scholars today think about organizations.
The main emphasis in this course is on how sociological theory informs social research. We will read selections of classical social theory and then look at how various scholars have used that theory to help them analyze some aspect of society. We will keep moving between theoretical statements and applications or refinements of that theory. The course will be a mix of lectures and discussion.
SOCIOL 329-0 Field Research and Methods of Data Collection
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.
Many of the most significant social and cultural changes in modern history have been achieved through sustained collective action—through groups of people coming together around a common set of problems and fighting to change the status quo in ways that alleviate or at least mitigate those problems. These collectives—which we refer to as social movements—are fundamentally communicative in nature. Movements are formed through communication and it is through communication that they achieve much of their strategic objectives. Moreover, movements are inextricably linked to communications channels. As media and communication technologies have transformed, so too have the structures and the practices of social movements. This course explores the complex relationships between communication and social movements, bringing together theories from communication studies, sociology, and political science, as well as tracing historically how social movements have developed new practices of achieving social change.
SOCIOL 376-0 Sociology of Illness: The Normal and Pathological Through the Lens of Genetics
This course surveys a variety of topics in the sociology of illness and social studies of science and threads them together with a common goal: to unpack the entanglements of society with the science of human genetics and biomedical research. Through the readings, students will engage with themes that are central to sociological thought: identity, knowledge, power, categorization, race, politics, etc. albeit in the context of science and illness. By the end of the course students will be able to sharply interrogate how social and political conditions shape the production of claims about the genetic basis of illness and difference. While much of the scholarship we will consider is broadly sociological, some of it is drawn from other fields, and part of the goal of the course is to show what is gained when we think about health, disability, and illness from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students from other disciplines are welcome.
Technology is an integral part of society: from the wheel, to the cotton gin, to the modern computer. Technology is everywhere and humans have always used technology to shape society and vice versa. How do people relate to technology? How has our culture been affected by technology? How has technology itself been shaped by societal norms, and values? This course gives an overview of the growing and important field of the Sociology of Technology. In this course we will explore the different ways that technology has affected our society through a sociological lens. We will examine how physical material combines with culture to create the distinct aspects of our society. Students may not receive credit for this course and for Sociology 392 'Technology, Work, Love, and Life in 2020.
Debates over historical remembrance are everywhere in contemporary society. In the United States alone, recent social movements have sought to tear down statues of white supremacists, make history education more patriotic, change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day, or “Make America Great Again.” This course explores the relationship between history, memory, and society by addressing the following questions: How do societies collectively remember and represent the past? How is our view of the past shaped by social and political forces? What does historical narrative have to do with group identity, political ideology, and social change? Students in this course will gain an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of memory studies. Class discussions will examine a variety of case studies and historical narratives from throughout the world.
SOCIOL 392-0 Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture
This course explores the relationship between gender, sexualities, and popular culture. Students will engage with interdisciplinary theories and empirical case studies covering a variety of themes (representation, performance, production, etc.) and mediums (film, music, television, books, social media, and more). We will explore intersectional positionalities and how popular culture can be a site of oppression and/or resistance. Materials will include a mix of scholarly articles, book excerpts, podcasts, and videos. Students will practice critical thinking and draw connections between theory and everyday life through discussion and written assignments. Throughout the course, students will explore their own topics of interest, culminating in a final research paper.
This course is part of the quantitative methods sequence for graduate students in sociology. The main topic of the course is the theory and practice of linear regression analysis. We will cover multiple ordinary least squares regression, regression assumptions, regression diagnostics, basic path models, data transformations, and issues in causal inference. If time permits, we may discuss other regression-based topics such as fixed and random effects models, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity.
SOCIOL 406-3 Contemporary Theory in Sociological Analysis
Modernity has become a contested term. This class investigates how various thinkers have conceived of what it means to be "modern" or "post-modern," critiques of modernity that have profoundly shaped our images of it, and skeptics who challenge the idea of modernity. It also includes sections that investigate in detail what I call "mechanisms" of modernity: procedures, devices, approaches or strategies that people adopt or promulgate in their efforts to be rational, manage uncertainty and conflict, or attain efficiency in various institutional arenas.
This course is a survey of the modern sociological literature on social stratification and inequality. The course will consider major facts about inequality and how class background, race, and gender effect socioeconomic inequality. We will discuss theoretical and empirical approaches to studying stratification and explore key domains in which stratification is produced, reproduced, and manifested, such as families, schools, the labor market, and neighborhoods. The 2022 version will include discussion of the effects of social networks, criminal justice, and COVID-19 on inequality. The course will focus mostly on the United States and OECD countries.
This seminar is designed to expose students to the realm of sociological research (and research in other disciplines, notably history) that addresses how we think about and memorialize the past. How is history constructed? How are historical events shaped and made socially meaningful? Who are the shapers and who are the shaped?
SOCIOL 476-0 Politics, Society and Inequality in the U.S.
This class explores historical and contemporary perspectives on the evolving interrelationship between politics, society, and inequality in the United States. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive overview or broad survey of the general topic. Rather, it offers a curated look at a selection of important themes, topics, and questions. Are the sources and structures of inequality in the United States cross-nationally distinctive? In what ways does it make sense to say that broad patterns of social and political conflict over economic distribution have shifted historically in response to underlying transformations of the American economy? To the extent that the fruits of American prosperity were more equally distributed among white Americans after the Second World War, compared to any period before or since, what has led to the alarmingly high level of economic inequality and political polarization that is plainly evident in our time? Why has Black protest against racial inequality since the late-1960s (not coincidentally the moment in time when the federal government laid the policy foundations of mass incarceration) largely taken the form of urban rebellion? What do ordinary Americans today think about economic inequality, and why have American elites nevertheless been able to continue amassing ever greater amounts of power and wealth? Among the assigned readings are Piketty’s Capital and Ideology, Levy’s Ages of American Capitalism, Prasad’s Land of Too Much, Hacker and Pierson’s American Amnesia, Phillips-Fein’s Fear City, Hinton’s America on Fire, Kruse and Zelizer’s Fault Lines, McCall’s The Undeserving Rich, and Wessel’s Only the Rich Can Play. (Please note that the list of assigned readings may change before the start of the quarter.) Strong pedagogical emphasis will be placed on learning how to read books closely and critically. In addition to giving presentations on selected books, students will write two book reviews. There are no long writing or research assignments.
SOCIOL 476-0 Professional Writing and Publishing Seminar
This seminar examines the academic writing and publication process in sociology, giving particular emphasis to writing and publishing articles in professional journals. Students analyze the “anatomy” of journal articles, considering the different ways of motivating an article and organizing a review of the literature, as well as the mechanics of good academic writing.
Introduction to the department, faculty, and adjunct faculty. Faculty discuss their research and teaching interests. Mandatory two-quarter weekly seminar for first-year study.
