THE SOCIAL WORLD

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.

• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Ryan A Hagen
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• 3 points

THE SOCIAL WORLD - DISC

• W 9:10 a.m.-10 a.m.
• W 11:10 a.m.-noon
• W 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• R 11 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
• W 4:15 p.m.-5:05 p.m.
• R 5 p.m.-5:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Eva Chen
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• Instructor: Emily R Mazo
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• Instructor: Martin Barnay
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• Instructor: Timothy J Ittner
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• Instructor: Ixchel T Bosworth
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• Instructor: Anastasia Tsaturyan
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• 0 points

SOCIAL THEORY

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. Required for all sociology majors. Prerequisite: at least one sociology course of the instructor's permission. 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.

• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Ryan A Hagen
  Info
• 4 points

Social Theory- DISC

SOCIAL THEORY- DISC

Prerequisites: SOCI UN3000 Discussion section for Social Theory (SOCI UN3000).

• R 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• W 6:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Instructor: Dominic T Walker
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• Instructor: Bonnie R Siegler
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• 0 points

ORGANIZING INNOVATION

This course examines major innovations in organizations and asks whether innovation itself can be organized. We study a range of forms of organizing (e.g. bureaucratic, post-bureaucratic, and open architecture network forms) in a broad variety of settings: from fast food franchises to the military-entertainment complex, from airline cockpits to Wall Street trading rooms, from engineering firms to mega-churches, from scientific management at the turn of the twentieth century to collaborative filtering and open source programming at the beginning of the twenty-first. Special attention will be paid to the relationship between organizational forms and new digital technologies.

• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: David Stark
  CULPA: 15 Wikipedia h-index: 48 Info
• 4 points

ORGANIZING INNOVATION-DISC

• R 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• R 3:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• F 9:10 a.m.-10 a.m.
• Instructor: Taylor B Alarcon
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• Instructor: Ari B Galper
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• Instructor: Flavien Ganter
  h-index: 2 Info
• 0 points

INEQUALITY, POVERTY & MOBILITY

This is an undergraduate seminar in social stratification. The course focuses on the current American experience with socioeconomic inequality and mobility. The goals of the course are to understand how inequality is conceptualized and measured in the social sciences, to understand the structure of inequality in the contemporary U.S. to learn the principal theories and evidence for long term trends in inequality, to understand the persistence of poverty and the impact of social policies on American rates of poverty, and to understand the forces that both produce and inhibit intergenerational social mobility in the U.S. Given the nature of the subject matter, a minority of the readings will sometimes involve quantitative social science material. The course does not presume that students have advanced training in statistics, and any readings sections that contain mathematical or statistical content will be explained in class in nontechnical terms as needed. In these instances, our focus will not be on the methods, but rather on the conclusions reached by the author concerning the research question that is addressed in the text.

• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Thomas DiPrete
  CULPA: 7 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

HIGHER EDUCATION AND INEQUALITY

Prerequisites: (SOCI UN1000) Higher education in the U.S. is going through a period of rapid change. State support is shrinking, student debt is increasing, full-time faculty are being replaced by adjuncts, and learning outcomes are difficult to measure, at best. This class will try to makes sense of these changes. Among other questions, it will ask whether higher education is a source of social mobility or a means of class reproduction; how the college experience differs by race, class, and type of college attended; how the economics of higher education have led to more expensive college and more student loans; and how we might make college better. We will consider several different points of view on the current state of U.S. higher education: that of students who apply to and attend college, that of colleges and universities, and that of society at large. As part of this course, students will conduct research on their own universities: Columbia College or Barnard College.

• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Teresa Sharpe
  CULPA: 14 Info
• 4 points

Sociology of Human Rights

SOCIOLOGY OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Sociology came to the study of human rights much later than law, philosophy, or political science. In this course, you’ll learn (1) what constitutes a sociology of human rights and (2) what sociology, its classics, and its diverse methods bring to the empirical study and theory of human rights. We’ll explore the history, social institutions and laws, ideas, practices, and theories of human rights. We’ll become familiar with the social actors, social structures, and relationships involved in practices such as violation, claims-making, advocacy, and protection. We’ll consider how social, cultural, political, and economic forces affect human rights issues. We’ll learn about the questions sociologists ask, starting with the most basic (but far from simple) question, “what is a human right?” We’ll tackle key debates in the field, considering – for instance – whether human rights are universal and how human rights relate to cultural norms/values, national sovereignty, and national security. Finally, we’ll apply the concepts we’ve learned to a wide range of issues (ex: how racial, ethnic, gender, and other social inequalities relate to human rights), rights (ex: LGBTQ rights, the rights of laborers, the rights of refugees), and cases (ex: enslavement, the separation of children from their families, circumcision, sterilization, the use of torture). We’ll consider human rights cases in the United States and across the globe, and how events and actions in one place relate to human rights violations in another.

• F 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Rosemary McGunnigle-Gonzales
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• 4 points

Race, Discrimination, and Racial Inequal

Race, Dscrmttion, Rac Inq

This course focuses on race, discrimination, and racial inequalities. The course will address three key questions: (1) What is race as perceived in the U.S. and Europe, and what are the sources of racial inequalities? (2) What does social science research tell us about patterns and trends of racial inequalities? (3) What policies can alleviate racial inequalities? The course will systematically adopt comparative perspectives focusing on the North American and European contexts. We will also address research on race and racial inequality within an interdisciplinary lens particularly building on sociology, economics, and social psychology.

This course is designed for advanced undergraduate students from Columbia University and Science Po (Paris). We aim for a class of 30 students (15 from each partner university). Class will take place once a week (for 2 hours). In addition, the Columbia TA will conduct a discussion section once a week in which Columbia and Sciences Po students will work together in small groups on class projects that will be presented over the course of the semester. The classes will be organized in a hybrid format. In each campus, the professor will teach his/her class in person and the two classes will be connected via Zoom. The Columbia and Science Po professors will thus co-teach a virtually connected class. The professors will closely coordinate and alternate in leading the lecture and discussion parts of each class.

• M 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• 4 points

Race, Discrimination and Racial Inequal

Race & Racial Inequality

• W 10:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
• 0 points

SENIOR SEMINAR

Prerequisites: required methods and theory courses for the major, and the instructors permission. Students wishing to qualify for departmental honors must take W3996y. Students carry out individual research projects and write a senior thesis under the supervision of the instructor and with class discussion. Written and oral progress reports.

• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: James Chu
  h-index: 18 Info
• 3-4 points

Ukrainian Activism & Protest Since 1990

Ukrainian Activism/Protes

Ukrainians’ response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022 has attracted global attention. Ukraine is also known to many for mass protests in Kyiv 2004 and 2013-14. However, fewer people know that Ukraine has a rich history of activism and protest throughout the country, going back decades. This course is designed to help students cultivate a deeper understanding of Ukraine’s nationwide history of activism, from the late Soviet period to present-day. This knowledge will also help us better contextualize and analyze key episodes of resistance, protest and revolution in Ukraine, including the current war. Moreover, via the lens of activism and protest, this course intends to provide students with a more nuanced understanding of regional variation in Ukraine, empowering them to question simplistic narratives about Ukraine as a divided county. The multidisciplinary nature of this course also aims to encourage students to engage with Ukrainian art and cultural objects that relate to social and political themes.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Emma Mateo
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• 4 points

WORKSHP ON WEALTH & INEQUALITY

This Workshop is linked to the Workshop on Wealth - Inequality Meetings. This is meant for graduate students, however, if you are an advanced undergraduate student you can email the professor for permission to enroll.

• R 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Marissa Thompson
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• 1 points

CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

This lecture course fulfills the theory requirement in Columbia’s sociology program. It introduces students to post-War sociology by discussing its major paradigms, from Parson’s functionalism to contemporary post-colonial theory or actor-network theory. Each class discusses how a particular theory constructs social reality by making basic assumptions about the component parts of society, how they relate to each other, and what questions emerge that empirical research needs to answer. To illustrate how paradigms conceive and perceive the empirical world differently, each lecture summarizes how intimate, romantic relationships appear when empirically analyzed from a specific theoretical angle.

• MW 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Andreas Wimmer
  Wikipedia h-index: 41 Info
• 3 points

PROSEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGY

• M 4 p.m.-5 p.m.
• Instructor: Teresa Sharpe
  CULPA: 14 Info
• 1 points

Israel and the Palestinians

The seminar will examine the main political, economic, and social processes that have been shaping contemporary Israel. The underlying assumption in this seminar is that much of these processes have been shaped by the 100-year Israeli-Arab/Palestinian conflict. The first part of the course will accordingly focus on the historical background informing the conflict and leading to the Palestinian refugee problem and establishment of a Jewish, but not Palestinian, state in 1948.  The second part of the seminar focuses on Israel’s occupation of the West Bank (and Gaza) and the settlement project, as well as on USA's role and its impact on the conflict, the occupation, and Israel. These topics did not get much academic attention until recently, but as researchers began to realize that the Occupation and the West Bank settlements are among the most permanent institutions in Israel, they have come under the scrutiny of academic research. 

The third part the seminar will concentrate on the development of the conflict after the establishment of Israel and its effects on sociological processes and institutions in contemporary Israel.  Analyzing patterns of continuity and change in the past seven decades, we will discuss immigration and emigration patterns, as well as issue relating to ethnicity, gender, religion and politics, and the Israeli military.

• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Yinon Cohen
  CULPA: 4 Wikipedia h-index: 33 Info
• 4 points

Queer Theory

This course surveys the relationship between sociology as a discipline and the body of thought, action and critique that coheres under the term queer theory. Many people understand these two projects to be constitutionally at odds. Sociology as a discipline concerns itself with the empirical study of, as Norbert Elias wrote, “the problem of human societies.” How we do this is distinct. Sociologists have a defined set of technical skills that make use of social categories and classifications. We organize individuals by behavior and identity, document diverse cultural milieus, and even attempt to quantify the demographic details of sexual identities, practices and communities. Queer theory, on the other hand, emerged as a field of academic thought in the early 1990’s, at the apex of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The urgency of the political moment demanded new analytical tools for thinking about gender, sexuality, medicine and bodies. Queer theorists took to task the restrictive categories of gender and sexual life that relegated gay men and lesbians to sociological studies of “deviant” people and practices, in favor of rich and pointed critiques of the organization of culture, institutions and politics that renders some people and practices deviant in the first place. Queer theorists document their suspicion of methods, of categories, and of knowledge practices themselves. Social science is often the target of such critiques.

 

So, is there actually a way to do something we might call queer sociology? Or is it, fundamentally, an oxymoron? As what we think of as data becomes “bigger” and ever more categorically precise, what use has sociology for queer theory? How can a body of thought that operates from an anti-categorical impulse inform empirical work that seeks, at least in some part, to identify and observe particular types of people and particular forms of social life? In this course, we will read a set of foundational texts in the queer theoretical tradition alongside sociology that makes use of queer phenomena, frameworks and world-making projects. Expect to cover topics like ephemera, ghosts, messy affect, political lesbianism, perversion and a variety of other things you don’t typically see on a sociology syllabus. Each week, we will survey a select set of orienting ideas from queer theory–the heterosexual matrix, heteronormativity, antidisciplinarity, and homonormativity–and examine the ways in which sociologists of sexuality aim

• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Tey Meadow
  h-index: 8 Info
• 4 points

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

This course emphasizes the perspectives of foundational thinkers on the evolution and dynamics of social life. Readings address key sociological questions; including the configuration of communities, social control, institutions, exchange, interaction, and culture.

• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Ryan A Hagen
  Info
• 4 points

PROSEMINAR I

The Proseminar fulfills two separate goals within the Free-Standing Masters Program in Sociology. The first is to provide exposure, training, and support specific to the needs of Masters students preparing to move on to further graduate training or the job market. The second goal is to provide a forum for scholars and others working in qualitative reserach, public sociology, and the urban environment.

• R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Denise Milstein
  CULPA: 9 h-index: 5 Info
• 1 points

FIELD WORK I

This two-semester sequence supports students through the process of finding a fieldwork site, beginning the field work required to plan for and develop a Masters thesis, and the completion of their Masters thesis.

• F 8 a.m.-9 a.m.
• Instructor: Denise Milstein
  CULPA: 9 h-index: 5 Info
• 1 points

THESIS SEMINAR I

This seminar gives you an opportunity to do original sociological research with the support of a faculty member, a teaching assistant, and your fellow classmates.

• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Denise Milstein
  CULPA: 9 h-index: 5 Info
• 3 points

Intro Social Data Analysis I

Basic techniques for analyzing quantitative social science data. Emphasis on conceptual understanding as well as practical mastery of probability and probability distributions, inference, hypotheses testing, analysis of variance, simple regression, and multiple regression.

• R 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Yao Lu
  h-index: 25 Info
• 4 points

Introductory Social Data Analysis I LAB

INTRO SOC DATA ANLYS I LA

LAB for 'Intro Social Data Analysis I', taught by Prof. Yao Lu. The lab sessions are structured to show students how to use a statistical software package (Stata) to carry out data analysis, and will provide a collaborative environment for working on homework problems. This is a two semester lab (fal land spring), as is the course. Course Description This course is designed for first year doctoral students in Sociology. The class will teach the fundamentals of analyzing quantitative data in a social science context. Students will learn effective ways of presenting informational summaries, how to use statistical inference from samples to populations, the linear regression models that are the foundation of most of the research done in the social sciences, and the proper use of such models. The class will provide students with the analytical tools for effectively communicating the underlying intuitions of statistical models and their practical applications.

• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Mireia Triguero Roura
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• 0 points

THE SOCIOLOGY OF SEXUALITIES

Despite the ubiquity of sexual imagery in contemporary Western popular culture, most people regard sexuality to be an intimate topic that concerns the drives, experiences and pleasures of individuals. In this course, we will examine the social and pluralistic character of sexual desires, meanings, practices and politics. We will begin with some of conceptual foundations that ground contemporary sociological studies of sexuality. We will think together about how knowledge about the social sources of sexuality is produced and some of the methodological, epistemological and ethical quandaries faced by researchers--including the ways our own sexualities, desires, inhibitions and identities frame our work. We will then examine some of the key questions in the sociology of sexualities, including the complexity of classifying sexual identities, practices and populations, the relationship between institutional contexts and sexual behavior, and intersections with the sociology of race, gender, risk, health and regulation. In each of these discussions, students will explore the varied methodological approaches to these topics within sociology, as well as some of the disciplinary and cultural challenges to making sexuality a central object of intellectual inquiry.

• T 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Tey Meadow
  h-index: 8 Info
• 4 points

Historical Approaches in the Social Scie

Historical Aprchs Scl Scn

This course introduces students to historical approaches in sociology and political science (and some economics). In the first part, the course surveys the major theoretical approaches and methodological traditions. Examples of the former are classic comparativist work (e.g. Skocpol’s study of revolutions), historist approaches (such as Sewell’s), or the historical institutionalist tradition (Mahoney, Thelen, Wimmer, etc.). In terms of methodological approaches, we will discuss classical Millean small-N comparisons, Qualitative Comparative Analysis, process tracing, actor-centered modeling, quantitative, large-N works, and causal inference type of research designs. In the second part, major topics in macro-comparative social sciences are examined, from world systems and empire to the origins of democracy.

• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Andreas Wimmer
  Wikipedia h-index: 41 Info
• 4 points

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: THE ORIGINS

Prerequisites: this course is intended for sociology Ph.D. and SMS students. No others without the instructors written permission. Foundational sources and issues in sociological theory: Adam Smith, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Mead, Mauss, others; division of labor, individualism, exchange, class and its vicissitudes, social control, ideas and interests, contending criteria of explanation and interpretation.

• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Joshua Whitford
  h-index: 14 Info
• 3 points

DESIGNS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH

Required of all incoming sociology doctoral students. Prepares students who have already completed an undergraduate major or its equivalent in some social science to evaluate and undertake both systematic descriptions and sound explanations of social structures and processes.

• W 9 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Peter Bearman
  CULPA: 19 Wikipedia h-index: 54 Info
• 4 points

Inequality in High-skilled Labor Markets

Inqulity Hgh-skilled Labr

The course focuses on the U.S. labor market but will also draw research from other settings. The readings are organized by topic and highlight the extent and urgency of the issue and along the lines of gender, race/ethnicity, nativity, and class. Topics include the patterns and trends of inequality among highly-educated workers, and underlying demand and supply-side mechanisms that explain the observed patterns. Attention will be paid to student pathways through higher education to the labor market, including the school-to-work transition process. The course will also cover topics of intergenerational and intragenerational mobility processes among highly-educated workers.

• R 8:10 a.m.-10 a.m.
• Instructor: Yao Lu
  h-index: 25 Info
• 4 points

NEW DIRECTION IN ECON SOCIOLOGY

This is an advanced graduate seminar in Economic Sociology looking at new developments in this field. It addresses the disciplinary division of labor in which economists study value and sociologists study values; and it rejects the pact whereby economists study the economy and sociologists study social relations in which they are embedded.

• R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: David Stark
  CULPA: 15 Wikipedia h-index: 48 Info
• 3 points

SCIENCE,KNOWLEDGE & TECHNOLOGY

How do scientific and technical experts do their work and produce the results that they do? The purpose of this course is to read and critically evaluate the canonical works in the sociology of science, knowledge, and technology and to initiate a research project. The research paper for this course can be tailored to meet the student's long term research or professional interests. The readings are organized chronologically to introduce major works and their authors, present an overview of the development of the field, the diversity of perspectives, turning points, and controversies.

• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Diane Vaughan
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

Networks and Decision-Making

This course is devoted to examining and understanding the limits of what we know about how networks shape decision-making.  There is no field of networks and decision-making as such.  But many network studies implicitly or explicitly examine how or why people make network-related decisions.  And for many questions in inequality, management, health, labor, gender, and countless other topics, either a network perspective that takes decisions into account or a decision-making perspective that considers people’s embeddedness in networks would prove valuable.  We will examine research in not only sociology and organizations but also economics, psychology, and anthropology.  We will study experimental, survey-based, interview-based, and ethnographic work.   We will examine the theoretical, epistemological, and methodological assumptions behind the readings, and explore where the figurative envelope can be pushed conceptually or empirically.  Though we will cover some technical issues, this is not a course on either network methods or choice modeling.  Our focus is ideas.

 

The course assumes basic training in social science methods at the graduate level in sociology, economics, psychology, or a related discipline, and some familiarity with network analysis.  It does not require formal training in network methods.  The course is ultimately experimental in nature.  You will be encouraged to think creatively, to experiment with ideas and methods, and to push your work beyond the comfort zones of traditional disciplinary thinking. Upon completion of the course, you will be able to assess cutting edge research on networks and decision-making critically, and produce a research paper on the topic addressing questions not yet answered in the literature.

• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Mario Small
  Wikipedia Info
• 4 points