Sociology (SOCIOL)

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Introduces students who are considering majoring in sociology to the basic topics, concepts, and principles of the study of society. This course is required for the major; 1 or any version of 3 is prerequisite for other sociology classes; students not considering a sociology major are directed to any version of 3 or 3AC.
Introduction to Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2021 8 Week Session, Summer 2019 8 Week Session, Summer 2018 8 Week Session
This course surveys the major theories, concepts, and substantive areas of sociology in ways that are specifically designed for undergraduate students pursuing careers in health and medicine as well as students who intend to major in sociology. In this course, the readings, lectures, and assignments have been chosen with the needs of pre­-health students in mind, consisting of units on social relationships, cultures, institutions, stratification, inequalities, demographics, and social change.
Introduction to Sociology for Pre-Health Majors: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
This course aims to; assist you in developing a clear, persuasive and personal prose style in English, to refine and build upon the close reading techniques you practiced in R1A and to equip you with the skills necessary for writing a research paper_a standard requirement of many upper-division (100-level) courses. Since our readings mostly cover social science, this course also introduces concepts useful for reading texts in these fields.
Sociological Reading & Composition: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session
Comparing the experience of three out of five ethnic groups (e.g. African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicano/Latino, European Americans, and Native Americans) we shall examine historically how each people entered American society and built communities and transformed their cultures in the process. Students will be introduced to the sociological perspective, characteristic methods of research, and such key concepts as culture, community, class, race, social change, and social movements.
Principles of Sociology: American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 8 Week Session
A review of methodological problems in assessing data relating to social life. Topics to be covered include: posing a sociological problem, gaining access to data, measuring, establishing correlation and causal connection among data, and relating data to theoretical context.
Evaluation of Evidence: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course will provide students with a set of skills to understand, evaluate, use, and produce quantitative data about the social world. It is intended specifically for social science majors, and focuses on social science questions. Students will learn to: produce basic graphs, find good-quality and relevant data on the web, manipulate data in a spreadsheet, including producing pivot tables, understand and calculate basic statistical measures of central tendency, variation, and correlation, understand and apply basic concepts of sampling and selection, and recognize an impossible statistic.
The Power of Numbers: Quantitative Data in Social Sciences: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Spring 2008, Spring 2006
The Berkeley Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Berkeley Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester.
Freshman Seminars: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2020
This course explores the role of social research in policymaking and public decisions and develops skills for the communication of research findings and their implications in writing and through data visualization. Students will develop an understanding of various perspectives on the role that data and data analysts play in policymaking, learn how to write for a public audience about data, results, and implications, and learn how to create effective and engaging data visualizations.
Data Science Connector: This course builds on the Foundations of Data Science course by teaching more advanced data visualization skills and techniques, by providing an understanding of how data is used, and by teaching how to communicate about data in writing.
Data Science for Social Impact: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2016
Group studies of selected topics which vary over time.
Directed Group Study: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
Berkeley Connect is a mentoring program, offered through various academic departments, that helps students build intellectual community. Over the course of a semester, enrolled students participate in regular small-group discussions facilitated by a graduate student mentor (following a faculty-directed curriculum), meet with their graduate student mentor for one-on-one academic advising, attend lectures and panel discussions featuring department faculty and alumni, and go on field trips to campus resources. Students are not required to be declared majors in order to participate.
Berkeley Connect: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 First 6 Week Session
Designed primarily to permit the instructors to deal with a topic with which they are especially concerned, more focused than the subject matter of a regular lecture course. Does not count towards the requirements of the Sociology major, but may satisfy other campus requirements.
Special Topics in Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
First half of a year-long course on the history of social thought as a source of present-day problems and hypotheses.
Sociological Theory I: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Second half of a year-long course on the history of social thought as a source of present-day problems and hypotheses.
Sociological Theory II: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2020
Course involves pursuing study in subfields of sociological theory. The course presumes a general background in social theory.
Advanced Study in Social Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024
In the years 2020-22, the world was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet there is a much more devastating disaster on the horizon: the global environmental crisis. Some of its consequences are apparent already, including fire and flooding (and the proliferation of pandemics). This course will consider these two crises – and disasters in general – from the standpoint of knowledge and action. Put differently, how aware are we about looming disasters, how do we assess them, and what do we do about them. That is, the course is about knowledge, risk, and action (or ignorance, denial, and inaction).
The Global Environmental Crisis: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2019, Spring 2019
Problems of research design, measurement, and data collection, processing, and analysis will be considered. Attention will be given to both qualitative and quantitative studies.
Research Design and Sociological Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course will cover more technical issues in quantitative research methods, and will include, according to discretion of instructor, a practicum in data collection and/or analysis. Recommended for students interested in graduate work in sociology or research careers.
Quantitative Sociological Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This course will introduce you to the craft of doing participant-observation. Put simply, in this method we participate in, observe, and theorize about the social world we are studying. You will learn about the methodological challenges and riches of observing people in their social worlds. This kind of “deep hanging out” will allow you to observe, hear, and learn about things that are commonly neglected and missed in other methods — both quantitative and qualitative.
Participant-Observation: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
Scientists regularly gather data through observation. Sociologists can go a step further and ask the objects of their studies about their lives and thoughts. This upper-level course teaches students how to engage in scientific research using question-based data. It involves a mix of classroom and hands-on learning, culminating in an independent research paper.
Advanced Methods: In-depth Interviewing: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
This survey course studies administrative organizations and voluntary associations; major social institutions in industry, government, religion, and education.
Organizations and Social Institutions: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2015 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2013, Spring 2013
In this course, we trace the history of the American family from the 19th-century farm--in which work, medical care, and entertainment went on--to the smaller, more diverse, and subjectively defined family of the 21st century. We also explore ways in which the family acts as a "shock absorber" of many trends including immigration, the increasing social class divide, and especially the growing domination of the marketplace. Finally, we also explore the diversity of family forms associated with social class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Sociology of the Family: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session
In this course, we trace the history of the American family from the 19th-century farm--in which work, medical care, and entertainment went on--to the smaller, more diverse, and subjectively defined family of the 21st century. We also explore ways in which the family acts as a "shock absorber" of many trends including immigration, the increasing social class divide, and especially the growing domination of the marketplace. Finally, we also explore the diversity of family forms associated with social class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Sociology of the Family: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
This course focuses on children and on varied contexts and experiences of growing up; it also highlights the social organization and meanings of age. It explores the idea of childhood as a social construction, including cross-cultural and historical variation in assumptions. Then it highlights the changing political economy and history of childhoods, including children's roles in consumption and production in the world. Lastly, it examines the intersecting dynamics of age, social class, racial ethnicity, gender and sexuality in growing up.
Sociology of Childhood: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2020
Society is ordered by age. Age is not the only ordering dimension of society, but it is a central one. A life course perspective represents a sociological way of understanding how age structures society. Our lives progress through a sequence of socially constructed stages—childhood, adolescence, middle adulthood, and later adulthood. A life course perspective is particularly interested in the rules and norms that govern transitions between these stages.
Sociology of the Life Course: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2010
This course explores the relationships between changes in how Americans are experiencing family life, growing inequality in the U.S., and the social policy "solutions" aimed at families and children. While discussing these trends and changes and their social consequences, we will discuss government responses to these changes, how debates are framed, who debates, and how other industrialized countries consider these questions.
Families, Inequality and Social Policy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Summer 2021 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session
The course will locate the place of religious consciousness in human action and then survey comparatively and historically the role that religion has played in human society. Will include a general theory of the nature of religious experience, religious symbolism, and the basis of religious community.
Sociology of Religion: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
The role of formal education in modern societies. Educational systems in relation to the religious, cultural, economic, and political forces shaping their character.
Sociology of Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2023
The role of formal education in modern societies. Educational systems in relation to the religious, cultural, economic, and political forces shaping their character.
Sociology of Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Summer 2021 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2020
Selected legal rules, principles, and institutions treated from a sociological perspective. Influence of culture and social organization on law; role of law in social change; social aspects of the administration of justice; social knowledge and the law.
Sociology of Law: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2014
The course will provide an overview of the intersections of biology, genetics and society in an examination of the past, present, and possible future effects of such intersections. In particular, the course addresses contemporary controversies, such as the search for the gay gene and the biology of human behavior, the biology of superiority, and the nature-nurture debate, in order to provide students a critical insight into biology’s profound role in shaping our modern way of life.
Biology, Genetics and Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2018
This course covers several topics, including distributive justice in health care, the organization and politics of the health system, the correlates of health (by race, sex, class, income), pandemics (e.g., AIDS, Avian Flu and other influenzas, etc.), and the experience of illness and interactions with doctors and the medical system.
Sociology of Health and Medicine: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2019
This course examines the social forces that promote and sustain illness throughout the globe and contribute to illness outbreaks becoming epidemics and pandemics. Emphasizing the central roles of poverty and politics in shaping health risks, disparities within and across nations are explored. With the understanding that health is, at core, a social justice issue, this course reviews policies and programs that attempt to address health problems, some of which have helped to alleviate suffering and some of which have caused additional harm.
Health in a Global Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
The labor force; social control within and of occupations and professions (professionalization, professional associations vs. labor unions, codes of ethics, legal controls); social structure of the workplace, work experience of the participants, relation of both to community and society.
Sociology of Work: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021
This course provides a broad, inter-disciplinary overview of the U.S. labor movement in the fight for social and economic justice. It will introduce students to critiques of racial capitalism and the power dynamics inherent in paid work, while considering why and how workers form unions in response. One of the primary objectives of this course is to develop a theoretical and analytical understanding of contemporary workers’ experiences of work in the U.S. shaped by race, class, gender, sexuality, immigration status, language, religion, and other social constructs. There will be a special comparative focus on the role of structures and the space for agency and mobilization in the Latinx, Black and Asian American communities.
Work, Justice and the Labor Movement: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
Analysis of sport as social institution, its structure and functions; male-female role contrasts, race and sport; economics of sport; the roles of coach, athlete, fan--their interrelationships and complexities; current turmoil in sport and the ideological struggle which has emerged.
Sport As a Social Institution: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Leadership has many meanings in society. What works well in one context cannot always be applied in another. And contexts have history. What works well in one domain does not necessarily work for all time. In this course we will reflect on the meaning of leadership in society. Our focus will be modern ideas of leadership, and how these ideas evolved, succeeded or failed in moments of social change. We will read in the area of organizational sociology with a focus on interactions, institutions and culture. In addition, we will consider work from political science, management studies and history as we attempt to unravel what leadership looks like across a variety of social domains in different states of change.
Leadership & Social Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2017
This course addresses organizational design strategy formulation and institutional analysis for a variety of organizational entities. The course features a focus on international issues, key debates in organizational design and their implications. By the end of the course, students will be expected to detect, diagnose, and recommend globally savvy solutions for many types of organizational design related issues.
Organizational Strategy and Design: A Sociological Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
This survey course focus on three major themes of the contemporary United States: government, resources, and cities. Stress on the importance of transition from the 1960's. Examination of how each sector is influenced by policy currents, economic trends, and social conflicts.
Economy and Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024
The combined deployment of digital systems, massive data collection and computer code
have reshaped the basic rules of social life: how people communicate, work, exchange and
associate; how they relate to one another, themselves, and the world around them, down to
the most ordinary and intimate aspects; how institutions, both public and private, frame and
pursue their social mission and economic purpose; and how they sort, slot, and know
populations and individuals. This course will analyze the specificity and power of digital
technology as a driver of capital accumulation, a technique of government, an engine of
social difference, and a cultural force with a politics and moral lexicon of its own.
AI, Economy, and Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
This course will examine the social and cultural environment that enables or hinders the innovation process in business. The course starts by reviewing how companies can create and foster innovative cultures and organize for innovation, and reviews differences between countries in innovativeness. It continues by examining the factors which influence whether innovations are or are not adopted. It addresses some social and ethical issues of innovation, examines the social role and context of entrepreneurs, and closes with some case studies.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Social and Cultural Context: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Spring 2009
This course first begins with a brief sketch of the core climate challenges. Then, through a reading of The Human Planet, it undertakes a more holistic, historical approach, which we continue through classic and new work on Black Reconstruction and Indingeous struggles. The historical re-grounding makes up the first half of the class. The second half of the class surveys some of the leading social science, especially sociology, on the climate crisis, building on that broader foundation. We work toward a consideration of whether a climate justice, such as the "Green New Deal," can address the climate emergency.
Sociology of the Climate Emergency: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course will explore the sociology of poverty. It will examine a number of theories on the causes of poverty, then turn to an examination of empirical studies concerning the trends and determinants of poverty, followed by an examination of the everyday life of those who live in the condition of poverty. This course will conclude with a look at social policy toward poverty. The course will focus primarily, although not exclusively, on poverty in the U.S. While there will be some readings concerning rural poverty, the course will have a decidedly urban focus.
Sociology of Poverty: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2021
Introduction to population issues and the field of demography, with emphasis on historical patterns of population growth and change during the industrial era. Topics covered include the demographic transition, resource issues, economic development, the environment, population control, family planning, birth control, family and gender, aging, intergenerational transfers, and international migration.
Sex, Death, and Data: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
A comparative analysis of socio-economic and political change, focusing on the poor countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Offers both a basic descriptive understanding of processes of change in these countries and an introduction to major theoretical perspectives on development and globalization.
Development and Globalization: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2024
This survey course studies recent trends in occupational stratification; social classes in local communities and the nation as related to interest organizations.
Social Inequalities: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course explores the causes and consequences of inequality in the U.S. First, we will discuss theories and concepts scholars use to understand inequality. We then consider several institutions that sustain, reproduce and/or mitigate inequality in the U.S., such as education, labor markets, family structure, and the criminal justice system. Within each topic, we pay attention to the significance of race and ethnicity, social class, and gender.
Social Inequalities: American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020
Course focuses on race and ethnic relations in the United States. Examination of historical experiences, contemporary circumstances and future prospects of racial and ethnic populations with particular attention to trends in relations between the dominant society and the Afro-American, Native-American, Asian-American and Latino sub-cultures. Political and social consequences of racial and ethnic stratification are explored.
Race and Ethnic Relations: The United States Experience: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2022
Course focuses on race and ethnic relations in the United States. Examination of historical experiences, contemporary circumstances, and future prospects of racial and ethnic populations with particular attention to trends in relations between the dominant society and the African American, Native American, Asian American, and Latino subcultures. Political and social consequences of racial and ethnic stratification are explored.
Race and Ethnic Relations: U.S. American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2021
This course surveys and dissects the four "peculiar institutions" that have worked in succession to define and confine African Americans in US society and history from the colonial era to the present: chattel slavery, the Jim Crow regime of caste terrorism in the agrarian South, the urban ghetto in the Northern industrial metropolis, and the organizational nexus formed by the joining of the hyperghetto and the prison after the wave of race riots of the 1960s. We dissect each institution in turn, probing its genesis, structure, functions and contradictions, and how it operates to promote a certain definition of "blackness" and attach consequences to that definition. We draw the lessons of this long sociological journey for the current momen
Four Centuries of Black-White Relations in the United States: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Historical and comparative theories of gender and gender relations. Exploration of key institutions such as family, state, and workplace through which students can understand the social, economic, and cultural factors that create gender and shape what it means to be a man or a woman. Consideration of feminist movements, in a global context, and of relationships of gender to social class, sexuality, age, race/ethnicity, and nationality.
Sociology of Gender: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course considers how sexual identities, communities, desires, and practices are socially, historically, and culturally constructed. We will explore the tension between our sense of self and the larger social structures, cultures, and communities in which we are embedded. We will examine how people make sense of sexual feelings, behaviors, and identities within larger sociocultural contexts, looking at structural dynamics like gender norms, heteronormativity, racial hierarchies, class cultures, scientific knowledge, institutional constraints, and cultural spheres and how these impact individuals’ understanding of their own sexuality, including how collective groups challenge, expand, and transform the boundaries of sexuality.
Sexual Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
The nature, causes, consequences of world urbanization; metropolitan areas; location and types of cities, social and demographic characteristics of urban populations.
Urban Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Overview of the field of environmental justice, analyzing the implications of race, class, labor, and equity on environmental degradation and regulation. Environmental justice movements and struggles within poor and people of color communities in the U.S., including: African Americans, Latino Americans, and Native American Indians. Frameworks and methods for analyzing race, class, and labor. Cases of environmental injustice, community and government responses, and future strategies for achieving environmental and labor justice.
Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2022
Specialized topics in Social Inequalities that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge. The survey course in Social Inequalities, 130, is recommended before taking this course.
Selected Topics in Social Inequality: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2020
This course will explore the social construction and material effects of social problems in the food industry. We will begin with an examination of the social constructionist approach to social phenomena and will specifically explore how sociologists study social problems. We will then apply sociological theories to the study of various aspects of the food industry by examining the treatment and pay of workers, the impacts on health, governmental policies, and environmental issues.
Selected Topics in Social Inequality: Social Problems of the Food Industry: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
The underlying principle of meritocracy is that everyone should have an equal opportunity to put their life plans in action. When structural barriers get in the way of such human flourishing, we think of them as unjust. Being in good health and of sound mind are two core requirements of a life well-lived. Without them, all other attempts at fair play (such as those in the distribution of income and other valued resources) are likely to fail. It makes good sense, therefore, to pay close attention to the relationship between health and wealth. Such a study has important scholarly and policy implications. We will participate in precisely this kind of inquiry during the semester. We will ask: What are the social determinants of health?
Selected Topics in Social Inequality: Health & Wealth: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023
This survey course studies the relationship between society and politics through an analysis of the intersection of economic development, social relations, and the political sphere. Examines how class, race, ethnicity, and gender interact with political culture, ideology, and the state. The course also looks at diverse forms of political behavior, a key aspect of politics.
Politics and Social Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2024
Social movements, the formation and play of public opinion, and the behavior of interest groups.
Social Movements and Political Action: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
Violent and peaceful procedures in the pursuit of national objectives; analysis of attempts to specify the causes of war.
Sociology of War and Conflict: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Fall 1992, Fall 1991
Examination of the role that ethnicity plays in influencing the political behavior of individuals as well as analysis of how the state in multi-ethnic countries interacts with ethnic groups.
Ethnic Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
The course examines the historical and contemporary experiences of Latinxs in the United States. It draws primarily from the social sciences to explore U.S. Latinx experiences and identity across national origin groups, immigrant generations, and colonial time periods. Themes include conceptualizations of Spanish/American settler colonialism, the US Border, panethnicity, racialization and categorization of Latinos, immigration and deportation, social movements, and acculturation.
Latina/o/x Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2021, Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2019 Second 6 Week Session
Study of major changes in modern societies: the sources of these changes; the processes through which they spread; their meaning for individuals and institutions.
Social Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course will seek to explain the formation of modern United States society by inquiring into the processes of social change that have brought us to the present as well as created possibilities for the future. Race, nationalism, and ethnicity--and movements against racism and nationalism and for multiculturalism--are central dimensions of social change in the United States. The course will explore the processes of social change as they affect and are affected by different racial and ethnic groups in the United States.
Social Change: American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2014, Fall 2011
This course will introduce students to the origins and nature of social change in contemporary Latin America. A socio-historical approach will be used to describe the region's development, which will lay the groundwork for understanding the emergence in recent decades of movements promoting social change there. While focusing particularly on Latin America, the course will also provide the theoretical and analytical tools required to comprehend social change elsewhere in the Third World.
Social Change in Latin America: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2017, Spring 2012
The goal of this course is to introduce students to important academic and political debates around immigration, to discuss processes of immigration, integration and exclusion in different national and cultural contexts, and to look at how the question of immigration plays out in different social and political areas.
Contemporary Immigration in Global Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
The goal of this course is to introduce students to important academic and political debates around immigration, to discuss processes of immigration, integration and exclusion in different national and cultural contexts, and to look at how the question of immigration plays out in different social and political areas.
Contemporary Immigration in Global Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2020
We will explore questions about migration and membership in the contemporary world by drawing on empirical and normative perspectives. By “empirical,” we investigate what social science evidence tells us about the drivers of migration or the benefits of citizenship. By “normative,” we think through questions of what a society ought to do: what is the morally right, just, or fair thing to do about issues of migration and citizenship?
Membership and Migration: Empirical and Normative Perspectives: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2020, Fall 2018
In this course, we will examine American policy responses to poverty and inequality and evaluate various theories. We will pay particular attention to the role of pulic opinion, interest groups, race and class relations, social movements, and the state in explaining the American social welfare provision.
Social Policy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2020, Fall 2019
Specialized topics in Politics and Social Change that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge. The survey course in Politics and Social Change, Sociology 140, is recommended before taking this course.
Selected Topics in Sociology of Politics and Social Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
This course explores a wide range of critical scholarship on policing. We begin by
developing a sociological conceptualization of “policing” before proceeding to examine the
emergence of police in the modern period. Focusing on the case of the United States, we
trace the historical development of policing from the colonial era through the contemporary period.
Sociology of Policing: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session
This survey course examines many theoretical approaches to social psychology. The approaches may include: symbolic interactionism, neo-behaviorism, psychodynamic analyses, cognitive theories, interpersonal processes and theories of exchange.
Social Psychology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2014, Summer 2013 Second 6 Week Session
A consideration of forms, causes, and controls of deviant behavior.
Deviance and Social Control: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2020
A consideration of forms, causes, and controls of deviant behavior.
Deviance and Social Control: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session
This survey course studies human meaning systems, particularly as manifested in art, literature, music, and other media. It includes study of the production, reception, and aesthetic experience of cultural forms.
Sociology of Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
This course examines various forms of popular culture including media, subcultures, art, and consumer culture. We will begin the course with an examination of the definition of popular culture and how cultural texts, artifacts, and behavior come to be seen as popular. Then we will focus on sociological theories that will guide our understanding of popular culture.
Popular Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Fall 2008, Summer 2008 First 6 Week Session
A "social network" can be an association of people or of groups of people. It is usually for some kind of exchange, with the network serving as a forum or medium. It can be personal or impersonal. This course will study the relations linking persons, organizations, interest groups, states, etc., analyze the structure of these relations, and review how such structures constrain behavior, and channel social change.
Social Networks: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
This course studies the interaction between society and technologies in a comparative and multicultural perspective. Some topics covered include the relationship between technology and human society; technology, culture and values; technology in the new global economy; development and inequality; electronic democracy; how technology has transformed work and employment; and the challenges of technological progress and the role that society plays in addressing these challenges.
Society and Technology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session
With the advent of virtual communities and online social networks, old questions about the meaning of human social behavior have taken on renewed significance. Using a variety of online social media simultaneously, and drawing upon theoretical literature in a variety of disciplines, this course delves into discourse about community across disciplines. This course will enable students to establish both theoretical and experiential foundations for making decisions and judgments regarding the relations between mediated communication and human community.
Virtual Communities/Social Media: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
Specialized topics in sociology of culture that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge. Possibilities include investigations of new media for cultural expression or social networking, cultures of care giving, and the meaning of consumption patterns. The survey course in sociology of culture, 160, is recommended before taking this course.
Selected Topics in Sociology of Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
This course is designed to interrogate different aspects of cross-cultural communication and cultural differences: family life, social relationships, the workplace, government, education, gender, romance, and religion. Throughout exploring these topics, we will strive to engage in personal self-reflection, hands-on experience, and to understand the connections to larger social structures. The cornerstone of the course is being involved in a cultural subgroup that you are not familiar with in or around the East Bay (e.g. student group, church, volunteer organization, internship, etc.). You will be expected to join this co-culture regularly (weekly or biweekly) throughout the semester and write a final paper on the experience.
Cross-Cultural Communications: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2018, Spring 2018
The course will provide a broad overview of food as culture. The course begins with foundational writings on the cultural implications of food as consumption and social distinction, and the culture of a global food world. The course also examines how food is imbued with gender, race, class, ethnic and sexual meanings and the constitution and creation of identity.
Cultural Perspectives of Food: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2021 3 Week Session, Summer 2020
This course is designed to interrogate different aspects of cross-cultural communication and cultural differences: family life, social relationships, the workplace, government, education, gender, romance, and religion. Throughout exploring these topics, we will strive to engage in personal self-reflection, hands-on experience, and to understand the connections to larger social structures. The cornerstone of the course is being involved in a cultural subgroup that you are not familiar with in or around the East Bay (e.g. student group, church, volunteer organization, internship, etc.). You will be expected to join this co-culture regularly (weekly or biweekly) throughout the term and write a final paper on the experience.
Cross-Cultural Communications: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017
An introduction to institutions, social groups, and values in contemporary Chinese society. Dynamics of social change in a revolutionary and post-revolutionary setting. Trends in the future development of Chinese society.
Contemporary Chinese Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
Specialized topics in area studies in sociology that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge.
Selected Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
This survey course explores difference between the US and European countries in the cultural domain. It starts by discussing American Exceptionalism, focusing on 1) individualism versus collectivism, 2) liberal market ideology versus social democracy, and 3) religiously versus secularism. Subsequent topics are: differences in the mind and psyche, focusing on substance use and abuse, the role of self-fulfillment, and of therapy, as well as moral judgment and the visions of the good life, systems of classification and evaluation, family, abortion and sex, and the cultural integration of immigrants.
Comparative Perspectives on U.S. and European Societies: Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
In this course we will focus first on relevant sociological theories of comparative education, and then apply these theories in their practical context by looking at social issues in education in the United States and selected European countries. Next we will discuss the impact of race, ethnicity, language, social class, and gender. Finally, we will consider sociological perspectives on comtemporary education reform, school change, and alternative education.
Comparative Perspectives on U.S. and European Societies: Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This survey course explores differences between modern societies through systematic comparisons of inequality in the U.S. and European countries. It analyzes central social changes, social problems and institutions in the societies, addressing gender inequality, immigration, and rising inequality.
Comparative Perspectives on U.S. and European Societies: Inequality: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2011
This course introduces comparative political economy with focus on the US, European countries, and the international economic arena. We will compare and conrast different theories of comparative political economy. Then we will focus on the varied economic, political, and social impacts of the EU in comparision to the NAFTA. Lastly, we will focus on challenges of and possible solutions to economic developments.
Comparative Perspectives on U.S. and European Societies: Political Economy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
We break down racial domination into its constituents (stigmatization, discrimination, segregation, ghettoization, violence) and we travel around the world across history to see how they have been assembled in distinctive regimes. Cases studied include global slavery, the Jim Crow South, Nazi Germany, apartheid South Africa, as well as medieval Japan, modern Brazil, Eastern Europe and Western colonies.
Elementary Forms of Racial Domination: International Perspectives: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2012, Fall 2008, Spring 2005
How are families and households organized around the world? Which aspects of household and family vary, and which are constant? What are the relationships between household and family on the one hand and the political, economic, or broad social patterns on the other? This course examines all of these questions, taking historical and contemporary examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Family and Household in Comparative Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2013, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
Global sociology seeks to transcend national boundaries, studying the world as a unit unto itself, populated by organizations, networks, and movements. Global sociology cannot be constructed by sociologists from a single country, but it must be a collaborative effort from different parts of the planet. We will study globalization through a sociological lens by asking distinguished sociologists from around the world to discuss such contemporary issues as immigration, terrorism, disasters, etc.
Global Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2010
This course explores the ways that contemporary American society is different than other societies and different than American society in earlier periods.
American Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Fall 2013, Spring 2013
Specialized topics in comparative perspectives in sociology that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge. One of the survey courses in comparative perspectives in sociology, 180C, 180E, 180I, or 180P, is recommended before taking this course.
Selected Topics in Comparative Perspectives: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2008
This course will focus on the cultural aspects of protest and youth cultures in two cities that were influential in the sixties: Amsterdam and Berkeley. Particular attention will be paid to how American popular culture was perceived in a European context. All readings and discussions in English.
Dutch Culture and Society: Amsterdam and Berkeley in the Sixties: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
The course will cover both traditional and new elite theories, examine contemporary empirical evidence on the rise of the new global plutocracy, and think about the long-term implications of this phenomenon for inequality, culture, and society.
Comparative Perspectives in Sociology: The Global Elite: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session
Advanced study in sociology, with specific topics to be announced at the beginning of each semester.
Seminar and Research in Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Fall 2011
Advanced study in sociology, with specific topics that satisfy the American Cultures requirement, e.g., immigration, to be announced at the beginning of each semester.
Seminar and Research in Sociology: American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Intensive study of individual topic to provide background for honors thesis which is completed during the second semester of the sequence. Group and individual conferences.
Senior Honors Thesis and Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Intensive study of individual topic to provide background for honors thesis which is completed during the second semester of the sequence. Group and individual conferences.
Senior Honors Thesis and Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
This course aims to introduce the structure, rules, and mechanics of formal academic writing in the discipline of sociology. The focus of the course will be on developing the abilities of reading, analyzing, comprehending, and then practicing the ways in which this type of formal, academic, sociological writing operates.
Sociological Writing and Analysis: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017
This seminar is for students who are interested in writing a longer research-based paper. It is designed to improve writing skills, with a focus on empirical sociological research. Students will be required to conduct, write, and present an original research project. The seminar will also have a set of substantive readings, which will help students with specific substantive interests focus their work. The readings will vary by year and instructor, and may cover topics such as immigration, ethnicity, and poverty.
Writing Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Fall 2012, Spring 2012
This course is the UCDC letter-graded core seminar for 4 units that complements the P/NP credited internship course UGIS C196B. Core seminars are designed to enhance the experience of and provide an intellectual framework for the student's internship. UCDC core seminars are taught in sections that cover various tracks such as the Congress, media, bureaucratic organizations and the Executive Branch, international relations, public policy and general un-themed original research.
UCDC Core Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
This course provides a credited internship for all students enrolled in the UCDC and Cal in the Capital Programs. It must be taken in conjunction with the required academic core course C196A. C196B requires that students work 3-4 days per week as interns in settings selected to provide them with exposure to and experienc in government, public policy, international affairs, media, the arts or other areas or relevance to their major fields of study.
UCDC Internship: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
Students work in selected internship programs approved in advance by the faculty coordinator and for which written contracts have been established between the sponsoring organization and the student. Students will be expected to produce two progress reports for their faculty coordinator during the course of the internship, as well as a final paper for the course consisting of at least 35 pages. Other restrictions apply; see faculty adviser.
Special Field Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Supervised experience relevant to specific aspects of sociology in off-campus organizations. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required.
Field Study in Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Group studies of selected topics which vary over time.
Directed Group Study for Undergraduates: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Berkeley Connect is a mentoring program, offered through various academic departments, that helps students build intellectual community. Over the course of a semester, enrolled students participate in regular small-group discussions facilitated by a graduate student mentor (following a faculty-directed curriculum), meet with their graduate student mentor for one-on-one academic advising, attend lectures and panel discussions featuring department faculty and alumni, and go on field trips to campus resources. Students are not required to be declared majors in order to participate.
Berkeley Connect: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2024, Summer 2023, Summer 2022
Enrollment restrictions apply; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
Supervised Independent Study and Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2021
This proseminar is required of all first-year graduate students and is supervised by a regular faculty member. The seminar will familiarize students with faculty and their various research interests and of opportunities available for funding via research and teaching assistantships. It consists of presentations by faculty on their past, present and future research and by representatives of Organized Research Units on their mission, programs of research, and opportunities for assistantships.
Proseminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Social Theory began as an attempt to come to grips with the massive social transformations in Europe beginning around 1500. Modernity was understood in three ways. It concerned the development of a capitalist economy based on the use of science to develop new technology, the emergence of states with bureaucracies allied with military organizations, and the decline of religious authority as the main arbiter of moral values accompanied by the rise of the model of the self-interested purposive actor. Social theory was produced not just to create an understanding of these changes and the problems they caused, but also to be used to propose how society ought to be structured. In this class, we examine how classical thinkers, like Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim among others, proposed how to analyze those changes and in doing so created theories of society.
Classical Social Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This course is a continuation of our required graduate theory course. We separate modern and classical social theory by considering modern social theory to consist of works published after World War II. Modern sociological theory uses classical social theory both as a source and a foil. There have been continuities in social thought whereby more contemporary theorists view themselves as using elements of classical social theory, sometimes in combination and at other times to understand different kinds of phenomena, such as micro-interaction or gender relations. Contemporary theory has also been critical of classical theory. This has caused different theorists to construct entirely new ideas or rely on new sources for their theories. The course considers a wide variety of authors and perspectives to illustrate the current breadth of social thought.
Modern Social Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2009, Spring 2008
Particular theorists or theoretical traditions will be selected for intensive study, according to the interests of the instructor.
Advanced Study in Sociology Theory: Classical Sociological Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
Particular theorists or theoretical traditions will be selected for intensive study, according to the interests of the instructor.
Advanced Study in Sociology Theory: Contemporary Sociological Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022
Particular theorists or theoretical traditions will be selected for intensive study, according to the interests of the instructor.
Advanced Study in Sociology Theory: Systematic Sociological Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2009, Spring 2008, Spring 2001
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Law: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2003, Spring 1999, Spring 1997
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Race and Ethnic Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 1997
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Political Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Organizations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Industrial Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2005, Spring 2000
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Family: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Social Stratification and Class Analysis: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2005, Spring 2001, Fall 1997
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Development: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 1998, Spring 1996
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Religion: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 1999
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Urban Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Social Psychology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2006, Spring 2004, Spring 2000
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Gender: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2004, Spring 2004, Fall 1996
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Health and Medicine: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2006, Spring 2001
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Economy and Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Professions: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Social Movements: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2011
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Society and Environment: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Introductory study of a sociological field, among those listed in the 280 series, including participation in the appropriate undergraduate course in that field. Also includes individual meetings with the faculty sponsor, who may stipulate additional requirements.
Supervised Preparatory Course Work: Society and Technology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2020
A three-semester sequence course introducing logical and analytic techniques commonly employed in social science research. The methodological problems encountered in field work, historical and comparative inquiry, experimental research, and survey analysis. The first semester concentrates on techniques for gathering evidence; the second and third semesters focuses on beginning and intermediate numerical techniques for analyzing evidence.
Methods of Sociological Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
A three-semester sequence course introducing logical and analytic techniques commonly employed in social science research. The methodological problems encountered in field work, historical and comparative inquiry, experimental research, and survey analysis. The first semester concentrates on techniques for gathering evidence; the second and third semesters focuses on beginning and intermediate numerical techniques for analyzing evidence.
Methods of Sociological Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
A three-semester sequence course introducing logical and analytic techniques commonly employed in social science research. The methodological problems encountered in field work, historical and comparative inquiry, experimental research, and survey analysis. The first semester concentrates on techniques for gathering evidence; the second and third semesters focuses on beginning and intermediate numerical techniques for analyzing evidence.
Methods of Sociological Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Selected topics in quantitative/statistical methods of research in the social sciences and particularly in sociology. Possible topics include: analysis of qualitative/categorical data; loglinear models and latent-structure analysis; the analysis of cross-classified data having ordered and unordered categories; measure, models, and graphical displays in the analysis of cross-classified data; correspondence analysis, association analysis, and related methods of data analysis.
Quantitative/Statistical Research Methods in Social Sciences: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 1997, Spring 1996
In this graduate-level research methods course we will revisit and extend many of the issues with
which you have dealt in conducting your MA and possibly other research. Further, some issues
that bear on your (and everyone’s) research will be brought into our discussion. As we revisit,
extend, and broaden the material of methods, students can use their research experience to
interrogate the conflicting ideas of the course, and use various conflicting ideas of the course to
interrogate (and enhance the quality of) their research.
Methods of Sociological Research: Imperative and Emerging Technical and Epistemological Issues: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017
Seminar in advanced sociological research methods. This course serves as an introduction to the particular particle simulation method of agent-based modeling. As such, the course has four aims: 1) expose participants to exemplary agent-based models; 2) teach participants how to code many such models: 3) teach participants how to conduct the additional stages of a serious agent-based mode study, and 4) sensitize participants to the many epistemological and philosophical questions and implications agent-based models might pose.
Adv Sem in Resrch Methods: Agent-Based Modeling-Practical Implementation and Epistemolog: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Spring 2021
Seminar in advanced sociological research methods.
Advanced Seminars in Research Methods: Comparative and Historical Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
This course provides a broad introduction to the empirical and theoretical study of social networks. We will cover classic and contemporary studies, beginning with fundamental definitions and models, and then moving through a range of topics, including models of network formation and structure (homophily, foci, communities); dynamic processes on networks (contagion, influence, and disease models); collaborative networks; personal networks; online networks; and network sampling and data collection. The course material is intended to be of interest to students from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including demography, sociology, statistics, computer science, and related fields.
Social Networks: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Seminar in advanced sociological research methods.
Advanced Seminars in Research Methods: Quantitative/Statistical Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Seminar in advanced sociological research methods.
Advanced Seminars in Research Methods: Participant Observation: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Seminar in advanced sociological research methods.
Advanced Seminars in Research Methods: Interview Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2013
Seminar in advanced sociological research methods.
Advanced Seminars in Research Methods: Experimental Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This is the 1st semester of a two-semester course that provides a rigorous introduction to methods and tools in advanced data analytics for social science doctoral students. The goal of the course is to provide students with a strong foundation of knowledge of core methods, thereby preparing them to contribute to research teams, to conduct their own research, and to enroll in more advanced courses. The course will cover research reproducibility (fall), machine learning (fall), natural language processing (spring), and causal inference (spring). In contrast to other courses currently offered on campus, this course’s intended audience is applied researchers, typically social science doctoral students in their 2nd or 3rd yr of graduate school.
Computational Social Science: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This is the 2nd semester of a two-semester course that provides a rigorous introduction to methods and tools in advanced data analytics for social science doctoral students. The goal of the course is to provide students with a strong foundation of knowledge of core methods, thereby preparing them to contribute to research teams, to conduct their own research, and to enroll in more advanced courses. The course will cover research reproducibility (fall), machine learning (fall), natural language processing (spring), and causal inference (spring). In contrast to other courses currently offered on campus, this course’s intended audience is applied researchers, typically social science doctoral students in their 2nd or 3rd yr of graduate school.
Computational Social Science: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2021, Spring 2018, Spring 2015
This course will take students through the process of developing, carrying out, and writing up a research project. The course is ideal for students working on their MA papers, but it is also appropriate for students who are formulating dissertation prospectuses. We will begin by reading a guide to the logical problems that all research methods, qualitative or quantitative, must address if they are to study social causation.
Research Design: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2020, Fall 2019
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Law: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
This course introduces students to the sociology of poverty by understanding its causes and conditions. Poverty is part of the social stratification system as well as a condition with properties that characterize the individual living with extreme material scarcity. Thus, it involves both the social and the physical world. The course will engage a broad literature on poverty that incorporates research from sociology, economics, and anthropology. We also will consider structure, culture, and agency in creating and maintaining individuals and groups in the condition of poverty.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Sociology of Poverty: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Spring 2021, Fall 2019
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Race and Ethnic Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2021, Spring 2020
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Political Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Spring 2021
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Organizations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2018
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Sociology of Medicine: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2017, Fall 2015
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Sociology of Work: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025
We’re in the midst of a climate emergency, with climate change the most pressing problem. We need to transform our social and economic system to avoid the worst. There's still time to do this, while establishing the conditions for us, and our descendants, to live brilliant, stimulating lives. To move forward, we need to supplement natural science with social science. This course is a survey of key research topics in climate and environmental sociology tuned to the pressing effort to understand the core social (and political, and economic) dimensions of this crisis, and the extent to which these are (or are not) novel dynamics. Put another way: how much continuity, and how much change, is there in the climate emergency?
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Environmental and Climate Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2012, Spring 2012
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Family: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2017, Fall 2015
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Social Stratification and Class Analysis: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2020, Fall 2018
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Development: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2013, Fall 2010
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Religion: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2020, Fall 2018
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Urban Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2013, Spring 2012, Fall 2010
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Social Psychology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2017, Spring 2014
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Gender: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Spring 2017
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2019, Fall 2016
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2016, Fall 2015
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Economy and Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2006, Spring 2001
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
War & Genocide: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2022, Spring 2015
Courses under this number involve pursuing graduate study in substantive sociological subfields. The courses presume familiarity with the fields of study. Consult departmental catalog for current descriptions.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Social Movements: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Spring 2000, Spring 1998
This seminar approaches the sociology of everyday life from a thematic perspective. This course covers topics grouped in six major rubics: the habitus, the public sphere, the private sphere, strategy and tactics, space, and time. We will focus on codes/rules of conduct and etiquette, taste, style, self-presentation, (house) work, emotions, resistance, and the spatial and temporal coordinates of social action. Readings will cover a broad terrain chronologically and geographically.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Sociology of Everyday Life: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2009, Fall 2008, Fall 2007
In this course we address a wide range of social theories and sociological investigations of sexuality as it is conceptualized and experienced in social contexts. Theoretical approaches to sexuality may include psychoanalytic, feminist, Marxist, symbolic-interactionist, and discursive/post-structural approaches to understanding how sexual categories vary over time and across cultures, how people identify with or against them, and how social power works through time.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Sexuality: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2018, Fall 2014
This seminar examines the dynamics of migration, integration, and citizenship, both from the perspective of the receiving society and from the lived experiences of migrants themselves. The seminar focuses on processes of incorporation--economic, social, cultural, and political--but we also look at paradigms that challenge an integrationist reading of migration, in particular transnationalism and models of postnational citizenship.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Immigration and Incorporation: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2019
Sociology now analyzes social organization that transcends national boundaries, not just as linking national societies or as influencing national societies, but as a phenomenon in its own right. This course brings together a selection of literature that looks at transnational social organizations and the distinctive dynamics of global political economy and culture and offers a sociological perspective on what lies behind the vague and confusing label of "globalization."
Sociology of Globalization: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2020, Spring 2019
This course will examine the major theoretical arguments that seek to account for the development of social policy, including arguments about the pwoer of social forces such as business and labor, the role of racial and ethnic division, the influence of ideas, and the organizational features of the state. The course readings examine developments in the United States with some comparision to other countries.
Advanced Study in Substantive Sociological Fields: Sociol Policy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Spring 2010, Spring 2008
The seminar is a forum for intensive attention to writing of seminar members at any stage, from initial planning of the dissertation to the job presentation talk. We will be especially concerned with reflexive issues: the choice of problem and method as a sociological, political, personal, and market issue; the place of the researcher in research; sociology as a discipline and interdiscipline. Problems of organization, scope, theoretical and empirical emphasis will also be addressed.
Dissertation Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2015, Spring 2012
This seminar is a workshop on professional writing for sociologists. We will focus on editing, rewriting, re-editing, and re-rewriting seminar members' papers with the goal of completing a paper appropriate for the professional journals. In addition, we will cover several topics in writing, including psychological inhibition, style, journals, writing for the general public, and the world of book publishing. Class time will be divided into short lectures and workshop periods, during which we will discuss work in-progress and do some collective editing of sample texts.
Professional Writing Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Advanced study in modern sociology. The specific topics will be announced at the beginning of each semester.
Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2022
The purpose of this seminar is to provide participants with an opportunity to present their work-in-progress, be it a potential academic journal submission, dissertation chapter, dissertation prospectus or even a draft interview schedule. Through a process of peer-review, we will work on improving each participant's written work, and to stay abreast of the diverse work being done in the field of the seminar's topic.
Advanced Research Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
The purpose of this seminar is to provide students an opportunity to present their work in progress (dissertation, chapter/prospectus, etc.). Through a process of peer review we will work to improve each student's dissertation work.
Advanced Research Seminar--Dissertation: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
The purpose of this seminar is to provide students an opportunity to present their work in progress (academic journal submission, dissertation chapter/prospectus, etc., or even a draft interview schedule). Through a process of peer review, we will work to improve each student's written work and to stay abreast of the diverse work being done in the field of the seminar's topic.
Advanced Research Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2016 8 Week Session, Spring 2016, Summer 2015 8 Week Session
By arrangement with faculty.
Independent Study for Graduate Students in Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2024, Spring 2024, Summer 2023
By arrangement with faculty. Open to qualified students advanced to candidacy.
Directed Dissertation Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2014
Group studies of selected topics which vary from year to year.
Directed Group Studies for Graduates: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
For students engaged in individual research and study. May not be substituted for available graduate lecture courses or 290.
Individual Study and Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014

Professional Training: Teachers: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021

Professional Training: Teachers: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2014
Individual study for the master's requirements in consultation with the adviser. Units may not be used to meet either unit or residency requirements for the master's degree.
Individual Study for Master's Students: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2016 8 Week Session, Spring 2016, Summer 2015 8 Week Session
Individual study in consultation with the adviser intended to provide an opportunity for qualified students to prepare themselves for the various examinations required of candidates for the Ph.D. May not be used for unit or residence requirements for the doctoral degree.
Individual Study for Doctoral Students: Read More [+]