Graduate Courses
SOA G275 Gender, Sexuality, and Culture 3 SH
This course examines the construction of sexuality in wester social sciences, its deconstruction by critics, and differential communities. Because the greatest challenges to western social scientific construction of sexuality come from the margins of the dominant culture, the course will pay close attention to nonheterosexual and nonwestern formulations of identity, experience, and lifestyle. The work of Freud, Ellis, Kinsey, Margaret Mead, Levi-Strauss, and Foucault, feminist theorists, and others will be critically read; the focus will be on the experiences of people of color in the United States and in a range of other countries.
SOA G280 Seminar 3 SH
Discusses selected topics in the field of anthropology.
SOC G200 Foundations of Social Theory 1 3 SH
Studies the classic theorists including Durkheim, Weber, Marx, and others.
SOC G201 Foundations of Social Theory 2 3 SH
This course reviews the dominant theoretical traditions in contemporary sociology, examining the key assumptions, terminology, weaknesses, and strengths of the pluralist, managerialist, neo-Marxist, feminist, and post-modern paradigms. The course strives to not only expose students to the "giants" in the field, but more importantly, to give students the intellectual tools to situate entire theoretical traditions vis-a-vis one another. The goals of the course is to introduce students to various schools of thought, as well as to teach students "how to think" sociologically and theoretically—that is to go beyond simplistic and descriptive accounts of social phenomenon to offer more systematic and insightful explanations.
SOC G202 Feminist Theory 3 SH
Considers major development in feminist theory since the rise of the contemporary women's movement. First looks at early socialist feminist and radical feminist theory and critiques of them, psychoanalytical feminist theory, postmodern feminism and its critics, and theories about exclusion and difference among women, particulary by women of color. Gender, sexuality, and power are central catetories of analysis.
SOC G203 Contemporary Sociological Theory 3 SH
Analyzes major contemporary theories, focusing on such themes as the relationship of criticism to theory, the dynamics of exchange and production in post-national economies, the socialization of "rational choice", the theoretical significance of postmodernity and difference, the relation of the historical to the social dimension of social organization, the interaction of power and discourse, the operations of gender within theory, and the significance of class, race, and gender to models of the global political economy.
SOC G204 Ethnographic Theory 3 SH
Examines ethnography, an approach mostly utilized in a "field setting" outside the university and its library. Calls for researchers to become directly involved or immersed in the everyday lives of individuals and/or groups in order to examine and explain the ways they subjectively perceive, feel, and give meaning to their world. The course's main objective is to teach you the practicalities, realities, joys, and limitations of ethnography through the examination of some writings on ethnographies and a couple of actual ethnographies.
SOC G205 Theories in Law, Policy and Society 3 SH
This course contrasts several major schools of thought about the relationships between law, public policy and social experience. The differing assumptions about the law in legal realism, social choice theory, law and economics, Marxism, critical legal studies, functionalism, conflict theory and natural law will be examined in order to reveal their theoretical bases and their policy-making implications. Each school will be presented with attention to how its scholars claim to know what they know, how its theories are created, tested, and evaluated, the range of issues that are regarded as fit to study, and how research agendas are set.
SOC G206 Theories of Political Economy 3 SH
Explores the basic philosophical, psychological, political, and economic underpinnings of contemporary public policy, with an emphasis on the United States. Considers the core philosophical and political theories of conservative, liberal, and radical political economy and examines the economic structures consistent with these competing theories.
SOC G210 Statistical Methods for Sociology 3 SH
Introduces statistical methods relevant to sociology. Topics include tabular analysis, nonparametric statistics, analysis of variance, regression analysis, path analysis, measures of association, estimation, and univariate and multivariate hypothesis testing. A knowledge of elementary statistical theory is presumed.
SOC G211 Introduction to Research Methods 3 SH
Surveys methods of social research including field study and participant observation techniques, survey techniques, interviewing and questionnaire construction, sampling procedures, experimental design, content analysis, and use of available data. An examination of the roots and consequences of violent behavior in society and the individual.
SOC G212 Feminist Methodologies 3 SH
Feminist scholarship has challenged and reworked basic assumptions about the social world and the research that describes it. This requires three basic approaches: Rethinking, Reflecting, and Rewriting. To do this we need to examine the ways of knowing common to the social sciences and the ways in which new paradigms have or have not been integrated into the cannons. Students are expected to do a close reading of the texts assigned and come prepared with questions and notes for the class meetings. In addition, one class presentation and one paper will be required.
SOC G213 Quantitative Research Methods 3 SH
Presents quantitative techniques of analysis. Students are expected to conduct individual research projects.
SOC G220 Seminar in Qualitative Analysis 3 SH
Studies qualitative techniques of analysis. Examines social-structure process and meaning in interacting groups. Students study a face-to-face group by means of participant observation using symbolic interaction concepts.
SOC G230 Political Ecology of Global Capitalism 3 SH
Analyzes the political economy of international capitalism, really existing state socialism, and the global environment. Topics of theoretical focus include philosophies of nature; laws of capital accumulation and ecological degradation; technology and the division of labor, combined and uneven development, imperialism, and ecological crises in the Third World; the relationship between economic and ecological crises; environmental policy, democracy, and the state; ecological racism, sexism, and classism; and the crisis of social movements in the U.S.
SOC G231 Sociology of Violence 3 SH
An examination of the roots and consequences of violent behavior in society and the individual. Topics vary from quarter to quarter, but will include serial murder, massacres, hate crimes, workplace murder, group violence including cults, and mass media portrayals of violence.
SOC G232 Political Economy of Global Capitalism 3 SH
Constitutes the required core course in the political economy concentration and serves as a theoretical introduction to neo-Marxian political economy. Subjects of particular focus include historical materialism; the labor theory of value and elementary laws of capital accumulation; class, gender, race, and the division of labor; imperialism and underdevelopment; the state; political, economic, and social crisis theory; and debates concerning the restructuring of global capitalism.
SOC G235 Urban Sociology 3 SH
Discusses theories of the development of urban life. Compares preindustrial and industrialized urban areas. Presents methods for the study of urban social structure and change, and evaluates contemporary metropolitan action programs.
SOC G236 The Family 3 SH
Analyzes social structure and social functions of the family as a social institution. Includes comparative and historical examination of relations between the family, gender, and other institutions in society.
SOC G237 Women, Men, and Social Change 3 SH
The Industrial Revolution and the corresponding changes in the labor force and patterns of domestic life have altered the sexual division of labor. In post-industrial society new institutional forms are recasting personal relations. Examines these forces of social change and their impact on gender roles.
SOC G238 Sociology of Education 3 SH
Analyzes the structure and function of educational institutions, and presents student, faculty, and administrative perspectives. Emphasizes the role of education in process of socialization, social mobility, social change, and social control.
SOC G240 Sociology of Deviant Behavior 3 SH
Analyzes theories of deviance (anomie, differential association, control, conflict and labeling). Examines their basic assumptions, focus, key concepts, general propositions, empirical support, strengths and weaknesses, and implications for social policy.
SOC G241 Sociology of Law 3 SH
Discusses the relationship among law, ethics, and social policy, with emphasis on such issues as family violence, the management of AIDS, state regulation of public morality, and health maintenance and the provision of medical care. The course has an applied focus and emphasizes student participation and initiatives.
SOC G242 Family Violence 3 SH
Discusses physical abuse and sexual abuse of children, spousal violence and elder abuse, with emphasis on social policy and legal intervention.
SOC G245 Formal Organizations: Administration and Structure 3 SH
Introduces and critically examines different theoretical approaches in an attempt to understand and explain how organizations work. Also examines the implications of organizational goals, structure, and control on society as a whole and organizational members in particular.
SOC G247 Economic Sociology 3 SH
This course will review recent writings in economic sociology. Economic sociologists see social activity as embedded in social networks, institutional structures, history and culture, while classical economics tends to view economic actors as behaving rationally in relative social isolation. This scholarship traces its intellectual roots to Marx, Weber, Durkeheim, Simmel, Schumpeter and Polanyi, while mainstream economists employ the lessons of Adam Smith, Ricardo, Mill, Marshall, Keynes and Samuelson.
SOC G248 Race, Gender, Class: Feminist Views 3 SH
Analyzes the intersection of race, class, and gender in women's lives and their meaning for equality and feminism. Work by and about men will be included. An interdisciplinary approach will focus on the socially constructed nature of these concepts, how they shape social life, and create meaning. Difference has become a central category for understanding our multicultural social life, underscoring inquality, stratification, and divergent life changes and experiences in the United States. The course examines struggles to analyze gender, race, ethnicity and class simultaneously and to grapple with issues material including theory, autobiography, sociological data and analysis, and popular culture.
SOC G249 Seminar in Cultural Studies 3 SH
This seminar focuses on issues having to do with the problematic connection between the social practices of representation (the relation of writing to idea) and practices of appropriation (the relation of knowing to reading). These two practices, at the heart of theoretical debates about the subject matter of Cultural Studies, will be discussed in the context of recent critical formulations of praxis, power, social formation, and self-reflection. The overall project of the seminar is to investigate the historiographical and sociological aspects of interdisciplinary convergences among the humanities and social sciences.
SOC G250 Seminar in Urban Social Policies 3 SH
Offers an overview of the contemporary urban policy issues in the United States. It examines the relationship between economic and political forces and how these forces determine which of urban social issues will get priority over the others. The course uses case studies of specific urban social policies that were implemented in different cities, and discusses the possibilities for their nationwide implementation.
SOC G251 Community Analysis 3 SH
Course explores various approaches to the study of community with a particular emphasis on the politics of development and on neighborhoods. Also, it examines the importance of race, class, and ethnicity on emergence of new local social movements. Students are expected to do their own research project on specific community issues.
SOC G252 Social Stratification 3 SH
Places theories of inequality between groups in historical perspective, from classical to modern industrial times. Discusses and evaluates sociological research in social stratification with regard to different social and cultural groups. Emphasis on American Society.
SOC G254 Social Movements 3 SH
This course focuses on the women's movement that began in the late 1960s and then considers various political and theoretical developments in the more than twenty years since then. The goal is to consider the changes and reappraisals from the original social movement to more diverse and decenterd movements, many based on identity, with the goal of constructing a fuller understanding of the range of oppositional theories, practices, and possibilities in contemporary American society.
SOC G256, SOC G257, SOC G258, SOC G259 Contemporary Issues in Sociology 3 SH each
Discuss contemporary issues in sociology. Include supervised readings and written reports on special problems.
SOC G262 Children in America: Sociological and Policy Perspective 3 SH
This course presents an introduction to the study of children, their problems, and various policy options to resolve these problems. While based on a sociological foundation, this course will move toward an interdisciplinary perspective in exploring such issues as education, family violence, health care, and juvenile justice, among others. The course will be guided by the principles of social action advocacy in the children's public policy arena.
SOC G263 Social Psychology of Stratification 3 SH
This course will explore the social psychological dimensions of structured social inequality. After an overview of the "social psychologies" embedded in the classical social theorists, we will explore the literature on sociological social psychology (as opposed to its psychological cousin), identifying key theoretical frameworks and focusing particular attention on "social structure and personality" (a.k.a. "social structure and attitudes"). Then, building on this theoretical foundation, we will explore relevant literatures on various "subjective" responses to stratification, including the self-concept, stratum (e.g., race, class, gender) identification and consciousness, the process of legitimation, stratification beliefs (a.k.a. stratification ideology), racial attitudes, and links between these phenomena and various policy attitudes and preferences (e.g., support for affirmative action, wealth redistribution, etc.). Finally, in addition to understanding these phenomena as "responses" to stratification/inequality, we will explore the ways in which such responses may contribute to (1) the maintenance and reproduction of the status quo (i.e., social reproduction), and (2) social change.
SOC G272 Globalization: Social and Political Theoretical Debates
3 SH
Overview of contemporary theoretical debates over the social, political, and cultural dimensions of globalization and transnationalism. Course examines challenges and effects of globalization on the core concerns of political sociology; the future of democracy, the nation state, the welfare state, and civil society, including transnational social movements such as global feminism.
SOC G273 Gender and Social Policy 3 SH
Provides an introduction to gender and social policy with particular attention to intersections of inequalities based on class, race, and sexuality. The focus is on (equality) policies in employment, including "family friendly" measures and antidiscrimination policies. Policies covered also include those focused on child-care, poverty, reproduction, and sexuality. The intersections of family, economy, sexuality, and state are examined from a variety of perspectives, including cross-national, comparative analysis.
SOC G274 Introduction to Cultural Studies 3 SH
This course introduces cultural studies as an interdisciplinary investigation of how modes and formations of difference among cultural practices are represented sociologically and historically in the social sciences and humanities. It is intended to elucidate debates among the various critical disciplines of the "human sciences" in regard to recent changes in the meaning and use of the term "culture" in history, sociology, literature, cinema studies, and politics. The form of this inquiry is critical. By this is meant (1) that theory and method are conceived of qualitatively and as moments of conceptualization and self-reflection; and (2) that the course draws on various literatures that now operate critically and self-critically at the intersection of the various academic fields, including dialectics, structuralism and its critical variants, feminist theory, and writings on post-colonialism.
SOC G290 Intergroup Relations 3 SH
Examines the relations between various racial, national, cultural, and religious groups with emphasis on historical development. Pays particular attention to American society with its specific problems of adjustment and assimilation.
SOC G291 American Society 3 SH
Introduces students to the basic research literature on social stratification, social mobility, and inequality in the United States.
SOC G292 Graduate Seminar on Growth with Equity 3 SH
SOC G293 Public Policy Seminar 3 SH
SOC G294 Urban Policy 3 SH
SOC G401 Directed Study in Sociology 1 SH
Comprises reading and research directed by a faculty member.
SOC G402 Directed Study in Sociology 2 SH
Comprises reading and research directed by a faculty member.
SOC G403 Directed Study in Sociology 3 SH
Comprises reading and research directed by a faculty member.
SOC G404 Directed Study in Sociology 4 SH
Comprises reading and research directed by a faculty member.
SOC G669 Master's Full-time Research 0 SH
SOC G673 Master's Paper in Sociology 3 SH
Comprises empirical or library research meeting the criteria for publication in a professional journal. Supervised by members of the department.
SOC G699 Master's Continuation 0 SH
SOC U701 Tutorial in Teaching 3 SH
Discusses issues and problems in teaching. This is a required course for all doctoral candidates and should be taken during a quarter when the student has major responsibility from designing and executing a course in either sociology or anthropology. Open to doctoral candidates only.