Summer Sessions | Courses | Sociology

All of us have spent many years in school and understand that schools impact our lives in important ways. But how exactly does formal schooling shape young people? And how do students make sense of their lives in the context of schools and educational systems more broadly? In this class we will examine education as a central institution in modern society, and we will grapple with an important question: What role does education play in reinforcing or challenging broader patterns of social inequality and mobility? Particular emphasis will be placed on higher education as a critical site in which these processes take shape.

This course critically examines the interplay between crime, law, and the administration of justice in the United States and how these issues are shaped by larger societal factors. Students will receive a theoretical and empirical overview of the American legal and criminal justice system, emphasizing such issues as: the function and purpose of crime control; the roles of the actors/subjects of the criminal justice system; crime and violence as cultural and political issues in America; racial disparities in offending and criminal justice processing; and juvenile justice.

Discussion of the logic and procedures of social science research and standards for the critical evaluation of that research based on a careful reading and analysis of significant studies exemplifying the use of different kinds of social science data and methods (field observations, historical archives, surveys, and experiments). No mathematical or statistical background is required.

This course is required for all sociology majors, but open to all students. Theoretical accounts of the rise and transformations of modern society in the19th and 20th centuries. Theories studied include those of Adam Smith, Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, Max Weber, Roberto Michels. Selected topics: individual, society, and polity; economy, class, and status: organization and ideology; religion and society; moral and instrumental action.

Identification of the distinctive elements of sociological perspectives on society. Readings confront classical and contemporary approaches with key social issues that include power and authority, culture and communication, poverty and discrimination, social change, and popular uses of sociological concepts.

Description Identification of the distinctive elements of sociological perspectives on society. Readings confront classical and contemporary approaches with key social issues that include power and authority, culture and communication, poverty and discrimination, social change, and popular uses of sociological concepts.

This course examines the evolution of immigration policy, the migration process, and the assimilation of immigrants and their children into American society. Key topics include theories of assimilation, second-generation social mobility, new immigrant destinations, undocumented immigrants and the changing American color line

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to what sociologists study and how they study it. We will discuss the major institutions of society, discussing how they influence our lives and how our own actions help make those institutions. We will talk about class, race, education, religion, the family, gender, sexuality, culture, politics, spatial dynamics, health, social networks, and much more. The aim of this course is to provide with a broad empirical understanding of our social world, and to introduce you to a wide range of theories used to make sense of it. The approach prioritizes breadth over depth. The aim is to change how you look at and understand the world around you.