Graduate Courses & Descriptions
Important theoretical and methodological concerns will be discussed with particular attention paid to how these concerns affect substantive areas in sociology.
Faculty will discuss their intellectual biographies and work that is of current interest to them.
This course looks at the intellectual roots and expressions of the foundations of sociological theory in the 19th and early 20th century.
This course examines some of the dominant perspectives and trends of modern social theory.
This course explores the structures of sociological research, analyses, and explanations. Several major types of data collection will be examined and evaluated.
This course is an introduction to the major qualitative methods of social inquiry and the ethical issues raised by qualitative research.
This class examines theoretical issues and past research relating to a particular social topic and then designs and completes a collective research project. Topics vary.
After a review of bivariate regression and cross-tabular analysis, this course provides an extended treatment of the general linear model. Topics include model construction, interpretation of results, partitioning of variance, tests of statistical significance and interactions.
This course extends the applications of the general linear model to topics including path analysis, logistic regression, factor analysis and spatial and cluster analysis.
This course examines the basic techniques used to assemble, analyze, and present demographic information. It also examines U.S. and world demographic trends and the causes and consequences of such demographic change.
This course will critically appraise major theories of social change and examine different methodologies on both the macro- and micro-sociological levels.
This course will use case studies of contemporary social movements to examine collective efforts to promote social or cultural change.
This is an empirical and theoretical inquiry into the causes, consequences, and dynamics of social inequality in modern societies.
This course surveys sociological and related scholarship on women and gender relations.
This course examines major theories of political action and change. Particular attention is paid to policy development.
This course examines the development of poverty and social welfare efforts over time in the United States, with some comparisons to other industrial societies.
This course examines the relationships between the individual and larger social structure and social trends.
This course traces the nature of socialization and development of the individual through the life cycle.
The older adult population and adult development is examined from social and cultural perspectives.
This course explores families, their changing internal structures, and their roles in contemporary societies.
Contemporary communities are examined from a sociological perspective. Both geographic communities and communities of interest are studied.
This course examines the structures and processes that typify contemporary organizations, with particular attention to how organizations change.
This course studies the relationship between religion and society, and explores central topics in the sociology of religion.
This course will explore the complex reciprocal relationship between religion and historical processes of social change.
This course focuses on the relationship between knowledge, expertise and power in societies and how this relationship has consequences for the structure of knowledge and the organization of society.
This course will examine the relationship between social phenomena and cultural expressions, and the various ways sociologists have conceived of those relationships.
This course will serve as an introduction to the sociology of things, most notably the sociology of technology, design, and the built environment.
Formal organizations treated comparatively and systematically as major components of modern social organization are featured.
This course focuses on the structure of paid work in modern society, and its relationship to unpaid work and to self-employment. Special attention is given to the role of skills and knowledge in the structuring of work.
This course explores the construction, meaning, uses, and consequences of racial and ethnic identity in American society over time.
This course examines urbanization and its consequences through social theory and empirical studies of cities across the Global North and Global South.
This course examines the relationship between social life and the natural environment.
This course is a socio-historical look at definitions of forms of deviant behavior and the identification of individuals as deviant.
This course examines modern and traditional theories of criminology and their implications for social control, with emphasis on current work in criminology theory, social planning, and evaluation research.
This course will examine critical factors affecting mortality and morbidity, mental health, health services, community health, cross-cultural differences, aging, and the strategy and conduct of socio-medical research.
The course examines the nature of sociological argumentation in existing scholarly and popular literature and in the students' own writing.
This course examines the use of sociology in determining and selecting alternative social policies.
This is a seminar in which students and faculty will examine in detail particular controversies that are emerging in theoretical approaches to sociology. Topics will vary.
Various topics in the study of modern society.
This seminar will expose participants to comparative approaches in defining issues, topics, or institutions researched by comparative sociologists and cultural anthropologists. Specific topics for consideration will vary.