SOCI 5501 – Racism
Professor Noel Cazenave; T 3:30-6:30
Racism Theory offers students an opportunity to critically examine contemporary theories of racism and to learn more about systemic racism theory and other theories that, within the tradition of African American social thought, examine racism directly and explicitly. These theories and their critiques provide insights into the organization, dynamics, and persistence of racism as a central and enduring phenomenon around which the United States and other modern societies are organized and evolve. Students are encouraged to use the course as a resource in the conceptualization of theses and dissertations in the area of racism studies.
SOCI 5833 – Gender, Politics and the State
Professor Nancy Naples; M 3:30-6:20
This course explores the intersection of gender, sexuality and race in the construction of law and social policies in comparative and international perspective. We will examine key debates within feminist, queer, critical race, indigenous, and postcolonial theories of the state and discuss links between local resistance, social movement activism, immigration, cultural citizenship, international politics, neoliberal discourse, and globalization. The goal is to foreground an internationally diverse and broad interdisciplinary approach to the topic that brings diverse experiences and contexts into the frame.
SOCI 5895 – Investigation of Special Topics
001: Urban Sociology: Power, Space, and Sustainability
Professor Jeremy Pais; MW 4:40-5:55
This course offers an advanced sociological investigation into the production of urban space and the structural forces that shape human settlement. Far from a neutral backdrop, the city is analyzed as a contested site where institutions, markets, and communities intersect to produce distinct social outcomes. We will examine the evolution of urbanization from its historical roots to the contemporary “Age of Extremes,” with a specific focus on the political economy of urban development and the existential challenges of environmental sustainability.
The course is organized around four critical thematic areas:
- The Sociology of Place: Re-evaluating the “Community Question” and how the spatial layout of cities facilitates or hinders social interaction and collective identity.
- Spatial Inequalities: A rigorous study of the mechanisms behind racial residential segregation, urban poverty, and the stratification of the American metropolis.
- Political Economy of Development: Analyzing how globalization, deindustrialization, and housing markets drive urban form and utopian “New Urbanism” projects.
- Environment & Sustainable Urbanism: Examining the socio-spatial dialectic of climate change, the political economy of green development, and the uneven distribution of environmental hazards.
* The course will run concurrently with SOCI / URBN 2901.
002: Sociology of Health
Professor Ryan Talbert; Th 12:30-3:20
This course is a graduate level seminar on the sociology of health. The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. As such, the sociology of health is a large and important subfield within the discipline of sociology but with important links to public health, medicine, social epidemiology, and health psychology. This course will cover four primary areas: (1) theories, arguments, and methods of the sociology of health; (2) the organization of medicine and healthcare; (3) the social distribution of health, illness, and access to care; and (4) the promotion of health equity. This course will pay special attention to intersections of race/ethnicity, class, and gender as well as other contexts (e.g., neighborhoods, social relationships, and life course transitions) that are important factors in mental and physical health. Throughout the course, we will learn theories, concepts, and terminology in medical sociology and the sociology of mental health through student-led presentations, critical engagement of the research literature, and interactive discussions.
SOCI 6231 – Qualitative Research II
Professor Salvador Vidal-Ortiz; M 12:20-3:20
This course deepens knowledge in the implementation and analysis of sociological qualitative research; it also engages contemporary debates in qualitative methodology. As the second of a two-semester sequence designed to train students in qualitative methods, this course builds on previous conceptualization, design, and data collection, connecting those to data analysis and to theory. Whether conducting fieldwork, interviewing, or analysis of archival research, the course will engage research ethics discussions, proper fieldwork documentation, and clarifying the relationship of research questions to techniques of data collection; it also incorporates less explored research areas such as community-based research/applied research and participatory action research. Students will have opportunities to evaluate and receive feedback -through peer review- the application of qualitative methods on their individual research projects. The end goal is to learn to interpret data, analyze it, and present it in written form: either a conference presentation, a draft of an article or book chapter; in some cases, it may be a proposal for conducting future research.