CULTURE IN AMERICA
An examination of the diverse values, meanings and identities that comprise American pluralism, the moral and political clashes and communities that emerge from them, and the sociological concepts that make sense of them. Part One explores larger macro-themes (American exceptionalism; individualism and community; religion and secularism; pleasure and restraint in post-Puritan America; race, immigration and identity). Part Two explores the interplay between these large themes and cultural polarization in post-Trump America, with special focus on the cultural forces at play in the 2024 presidential election: red states, blues states and cultural sorting; changing conceptions of liberalism and conservatism; class divisions and the global rise of cultural populism; the concept of “epistemic tribes” and media silos; fights over religion and race, sexuality and family; the current war on “wokeness” and the debate on free expression.
- TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
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Instructor:
Jonathan Rieder
CULPA: 17
Info
- 3 points
METHODS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
Prerequisites: SOCI UN1000 The Social World or Instructor Permission Required for all Sociology majors. Introductory course in social scientific research methods. Provides a general overview of the ways sociologists collect information about social phenomena, focusing on how to collect data that are reliable and applicable to our research questions.
INDIVIDUAL SENIOR PROJECTS
Prerequisites: Meets senior requirement. Instructor permission required. The instructor will supervise the writing of long papers involving some form of sociological research and analysis.
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Instructor:
Deborah Becher
CULPA: 8
h-index: 4
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Instructor:
Elizabeth Bernstein
CULPA: 27 Info -
Instructor:
Maricarmen Hernandez
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Instructor:
Debra Minkoff
CULPA: 6 h-index: 17 Info -
Instructor:
Mignon R Moore
CULPA: 9 h-index: 17 Info -
Instructor:
Jonathan Rieder
CULPA: 17
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Instructor:
Angela Simms
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Instructor:
Amy Zhou
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Instructor:
Randa B Serhan
CULPA: 2 Info - 4 points
Power, Politics & Society-DISC
POWER, POLITICS & SOCIETY
Discussion section for SOCI UN3203: Power, Politics, and Society
- W 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Siobhan M Pokorney
Info - 0 points
Power, Politics & Society
POWER, POLITICS & SOCIETY
Power, Politics, and Society
introduces students to the field of political sociology, a subfield within sociology that is deeply engaged in the study of power in formal and diffuse forms. Using sociological theories and current events from the US and around the world, this course is designed to help students analyze their social worlds, and understand the significance of the old adage, “everything is political.”
- MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Randa B Serhan
CULPA: 2 Info - 4 points
RACE, ETHNICITY & SOCIETY
Examines the social construction of race and ethnicity in the United States from colonial period to present. Analyzes how capitalist interests, class differences, gender, immigration, and who “deserves” the full rights and privileges of citizenship, shape boundaries between and within racial and ethnic groups. Also considers how racism affects resource access inequities between racial groups in education, criminal justice, media, and other domains. Explores factors underpinning major social change with an eye toward discerning social conditions necessary to create and sustain just social systems.
- TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Angela Simms
Info - 3 points
SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
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.
- MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Dominic T Walker
Info - 3 points
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Prerequisites: One introductory course in Sociology suggested. Social movements and the theories social scientists use to explain them, with emphasis on contemporary American activism. Cases include the Southern civil rights movement, Black Lives Matter, contemporary feminist mobilizations, LGBTQ activism, immigrant rights and more recent forms of grassroots politics.
- TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
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Instructor:
Debra Minkoff
CULPA: 6 h-index: 17 Info - 4 points
Environmental Sociology
ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
This course examines the social roots and impacts of environmental contamination and disasters, in order to understand how humans relate to nature in the context of global racial capitalism and the possibilities for creating a more sustainable world. We will also explore how racism is foundational to environmental exploitation and consider why global struggles for racial justice are crucial for protecting both people and the earth, paying particular attention to how environmental health inequalities are linked to race, class, gender, and nation. We will consider key theories, debates, and unresolved questions in the subfield of environmental sociology and discuss future directions for the sociological study of human/environment relations.
- MW 6:10 p.m.-7:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Maricarmen Hernandez
Info - 3 points
COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Examines how changes in the economy, racial composition, and class relations affect community life-how it is created, changed and sometimes lost-with a specific focus on the local urban context. Student research projects will address how contemporary forces such as neoliberalization, gentrification and tourism impact a communitys social fabric.
- R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Dominic T Walker
Info - 4 points
CROSSOVER CULTURE
The rise of crossover culture: racially segregated markets and genres; organizational environments and the rise of independent labels; the creative process and black-white conflict and connection; the emergence of rock as a white genre; civil rights, Black Power, and the politics of soul; cultural borrowing and the postracial ethos.
- T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Jonathan Rieder
CULPA: 17
Info
- 4 points
ADV TOPICS GENDER & SEXUALITY
This research and writing-intensive seminar is designed for senior majors with a background and interest in the sociology of gender and sexuality. The goal of the seminar is to facilitate completion of the senior requirement (a 25-30 page paper) based on ;hands on; research with original qualitative data. Since the seminar will be restricted to students with prior academic training in the subfield, students will be able to receive intensive research training and guidance through every step of the research process, from choosing a research question to conducting original ethnographic and interview-based research, to analyzing and interpreting ones findings. The final goal of the course will be the production of an original paper of standard journal-article length. Students who choose to pursue their projects over the course of a second semester will have the option of revisiting their articles further for submission and publications.
- W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Elizabeth Bernstein
CULPA: 27 Info - 4 points
ADVANCED TOPICS: POLITICS & SOCIETY
ADV TOPICS POLITICS & SOC
Research and writing intensive seminar on civic and political engagement in contemporary American society, along with critical evaluation of methods used to collect and analyze data on political and social life. Requirements include a final research paper based on independent data collection and analysis. Seminar limited to sociology majors with senior standing (except in exceptional circumstances). Fulfills the Research Paper Option for the senior requirement in sociology at Barnard.
- W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Debra Minkoff
CULPA: 6 h-index: 17 Info - 4 points
Housing Equity and the American Dream
HOUSING EQUITY AMERICAN D
The American Dream of owning a home has long represented an ideal of American equity. The ideal screams of opportunity and meritocracy: no matter how poor one begins life, as long as they work and save, they can enjoy the security and safety of home. To many, this ideal gives them hope, for they can see possibility for their achievement. To others, the ideal feels like a farce, for they rightly anticipate facing countless barriers to achieving that dream.
This course examines challenges, contradictions, and ironies of American housing equity. We study ways in which the ideal of single-family home ownership has directly led to excluding large portions of the population from secure housing. We examine why and how many Americans can be deeply committed to equality and freedom and still perpetuate inequalities in their housing choices. We examine how people at the bottom who understand well the barriers they face still manage to survive, invent, and struggle to achieve dignity and equity in their housing.
The course examines core issues of housing equity in America historically and in the present. The course primarily offers a sociological perspective on housing. But we will also read work and bring in perspectives from geography, history, urban planners, and others. In addition, we will also engage with work by journalists, which represents one way that the multi-disciplinary issues of housing are connected in narratives intended for a wider audience than more scholarly products. While we draw on work from various perspectives, we will focus on developing a sociological lens to understand housing.
- T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Deborah Becher
CULPA: 8
h-index: 4
Info
- 4 points
GLOBAL HEALTH, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY
GLOBAL HEALTH, SOCIETY
What is global health? Where do global health disease priorities come from, and how do the ways that we understand disease shape how we respond to it? What happens when good ideas and good intentions go wrong? This course critically examines the politics of global health and its impact on local institutions and people. Drawing on social science research, the course will address three main themes: 1) how global health priorities are defined and constructed, 2) how our understandings of disease influence our response to that disease, and 3) how efforts to respond to disease intersect with people on the ground, sometimes in unexpected ways. We will examine the global health industry from the vantage point of different institutions and actors – international organizations, governments, local healthcare institutions, healthcare workers, and people living with or at risk of various illnesses like HIV/AIDS, malaria, cancer, and Ebola. A primary goal of this course is to help you to develop skills in critical thinking in relation to global health issues and their impact on society. Students will demonstrate their knowledge through individual writing, class discussion, presentations, and a final research project.
Surveillance
SURVEILLANCE
Surveillance has become a ubiquitous term that either conjures images of George Orwell’s
1984
, the popular series
Black Mirror,
or is dismissed as an inconvenience and a concern of only those who engage in criminal activity or have something to hide. Using sociological theories of power, biopower, racialization, and identity formation,
Surveillance
explores the various ways we are monitored by state authorities and corporations and our role in perpetuating the system (un)wittingly.
- M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Randa B Serhan
CULPA: 2 Info - 4 points
How Race Gets Under Our Skin: The Sociol
RACE, HEALTH, AND BIOMEDI
One of the glaring forms of inequalities that persists today is the race-based gap in access to health care, quality of care, and health outcomes. This course examines how institutionalized racism and the structure of health care contributes to the neglect and sometimes abuse of racial and ethnic minorities. Quite literally, how does race affect one’s life chances? This course covers a wide range of topics related to race and health, including: racial inequalities in health outcomes, biases in medical institutions, immigration status and health, racial profiling in medicine, and race in the genomic era.
- R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Domonique M Reed
Info - 4 points
INDIVIDUAL STUDY I
Prerequisites: open only to qualified majors in the department; the director of undergraduate studies permission is required. An opportunity for research under the direction of an individual faculty member. Students intending to write a year-long senior thesis should plan to register for C3996 in the spring semester of their senior year and are strongly advised to consult the undergraduate studies as they plan their programs.
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Instructor:
Deborah Becher
CULPA: 8
h-index: 4
Info
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Instructor:
Elizabeth Bernstein
CULPA: 27 Info -
Instructor:
Maricarmen Hernandez
Info -
Instructor:
Debra Minkoff
CULPA: 6 h-index: 17 Info -
Instructor:
Mignon R Moore
CULPA: 9 h-index: 17 Info -
Instructor:
Jonathan Rieder
CULPA: 17
Info
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Instructor:
Angela Simms
Info -
Instructor:
Amy Zhou
Info - 1-6 points