Fall 2012 Courses
SOCI 001-01: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
MW 3:30 pm-4:45 pm
Professor Bill Daddio
Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and how people interact within these contexts. (American Sociological Association, 2008)
Sociology studies human social interaction and the structure of groups. Sociologists examine systematically the ways people behave and arrange themselves in groups, and why they behave and organize the ways they do. Introduction to Sociology is an entry-level course that examines the basic concepts, theories, applications, and issues of the field of sociology. Using an applied sociology approach, various theories of sociology are used to explain particular social human behavior in practical social settings. You should learn how sociology theory is used to explain a variety of social behaviors, and will understand another perspective with which to examine common social phenomena. You should learn about this discipline from an academic standpoint as well as from the practical perspective that you can use throughout your career.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 001-02: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
TR 12:30 pm-1:45 pm
Professor Christine Schiwietz
This course is designed to introduce students to the field of sociology, the exploration of society and how it operates. Sociology broadens social insights, fosters critical thinking, trains students in methods of gathering and analyzing data, and helps students develop their writing skills. By thinking actively about the issues facing contemporary society, students will learn to examine life situations and the influence of society and groups on people’s lives and the basic processes that shape social life. The course will introduce sociological perspectives (how issues of everyday life and activities) relate to the way society is structured and introduce socialization, culture, social institutions, social stratification, race and ethnicity, gender, politics, education and social change.
Credits 3:
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 001-03: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
WF 9:30 am-10:45 am
Professor Margaret Hall
This Introduction to Sociology course examines basic sociological concepts, theories, and methodologies by focusing on the substantive topics of community and alienation. We look at how different social structures, social institutions, patterns of interaction, and social changes affect opportunities, social conditions, and relationships in groups and societies. Attention is focused on how the social situations of all members of society—including the global community—can be improved.
Credits 3:
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 001-04: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
TR 3:30 pm-4:45 pm
Professor Howard Caro-López
This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the field of sociology. Through a broad overview of the discipline including an introduction to social theory, research methods and the understanding of key sociological concepts and perspectives, students will become familiar with how sociologists view society and social behavior. Sociology lends itself to the use of a ‘sociological imagination’ to understand the relationship between our everyday experiences and larger social phenomena. Students are therefore expected to participate in class discussions and engage in critical thought on the social world to understand and develop their sociological imagination. Students will also be expected to apply the concepts examined during the course to interpret their everyday experiences and connect them the social world. Coursework will consist of lectures, discussions, research essays, mini-research assignments and a few exams.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 001-05: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
TR 2:00 pm-3:15 pm
Professor Christine Schiwietz
This course is designed to introduce students to the field of sociology, the exploration of society and how it operates. Sociology broadens social insights, fosters critical thinking, trains students in methods of gathering and analyzing data, and helps students develop their writing skills. By thinking actively about the issues facing contemporary society, students will learn to examine life situations and the influence of society and groups on people’s lives and the basic processes that shape social life. The course will introduce sociological perspectives (how issues of everyday life and activities) relate to the way society is structured and introduce socialization, culture, social institutions, social stratification, race and ethnicity, gender, politics, education and social change.
Credits 3:
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 126: Lecture-course Title TBA
MW 9:30 pm-10:45 pm
Professor Michael Dyson
SOCI 133-01: RACE, SOCIETY, AND CINEMA
MW 11:00 pm-12:15 pm; Screenings: R 6:30 pm-9:00 pm
Professor Sarah Stiles
This course takes a chronological look at the social impact of race on cinema and vice versa. While all races/ethnicities have dealt with issues of stereotyping and empowerment, the primary focus will be the African American experience. Case studies will include important figures in film ranging from Paul Robeson to Spike Lee. D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation had a significant influence on politics and social values in the early part of the twentieth century. Not as well known, however, is Oscar Micheaux, an African American filmmaker of the time, who produced and directed films with African American actors. The course places classic films in historical context, provides socio-political background, and examines legal implications.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 134-01: WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT
MW 12:30 pm-1:45 pm
Professor Christine Schiwietz
Women’s experiences are shaped by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, and age. This diversity is true not only in our own countries, but globally, and it tremendously influences gender equality and development efforts. We will analyze this global diversity and integrate it with feminist theoretical perspectives on gender and development. Our scholarly journey will explore the evolution of gender and development theories, feminist scholarship, introduce competing theoretical frameworks, and examine new and emerging debates. We will also focus on the implications of theory for policy, social justice and practice in creating a more egalitarian global society and ways in which programs and feminist organizing have been implemented on national and local levels that aim to improve the lives of people in developing nations. This is an exciting course and will give you an intellectual overview of the main issues and topics relevant to the impact of gender, development and globalization.
CBL SOCI 134-02: CBL WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT
MW 12:30 pm-1:45 pm
Professor Christine Schiwietz
The basic aim of CBL courses is two-fold: first, that students’ experiences in community-based work will heighten their engagement with central academic themes and material in the course; second, that the academic course content will facilitate students’ ability to reflect in deep and constructive ways on their experiences working in the community. Together with the Center for Social Justice, Research, Teaching and Service, you identify which DC-area organizations which would be a good match for the topic or issue you are pursuing. This culminates in a project positioned to help you explore how and where to incorporate a service-learning project into this course. SOCI 134-01 Women and Development is offered as a 3 credit, however, if you register for SOCI 134-02: CBL Women and Development, with limited availability capped at 10 students, you are offered the opportunity to extend this class into a 4 Credit CBL, which will appear on your transcript.
SOCI 150-01: SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE IN EVERYDAY LIFE
WF 8:00 am-9:15 am
Professor Margaret Hall
Social Intelligence in Everyday Life reviews and assesses the scope and potential of applied sociology. We examine the usefulness, limits, and possibilities of drawing upon the discipline of sociology to challenge common sense understandings of self and society, as well as to modify day-to-day social routines and practices. Social intelligence is the degree of awareness individuals and groups have about the complexity and predictability of diverse social forms and processes.
Sociological theories used in these analyses emphasize differences among social classes, inequalities in power relations, social institutions, social systems, and contrasting cultural styles and viewpoints. We give particular attention to the influence of increased diversity in the U.S. and the world. We also question the extent to which a learned social intelligence and collective action can ameliorate problematic social conditions and increase social justice.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: SOCI-001
SOCI 152: Seminar title TBA
M 6:30 pm-9:00 pm
Professor Michael Dyson
SOCI 158-01: POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
MW 9:30 am-10:45 am
Professor Howard Caro-López
MW 3:30 pm-4:45 pm
Professor Howard Caro-López
Political Sociology concerns the way in which political and social factors interact to produce the societies in which we live. This course aims to discuss some central empirical and theoretical questions in the field from a historical and comparative perspective. The course will examine the historical origins and theories of the state. The course will also explore the debates over political power, freedom and social inequality. We will then study the impact that social cleavages like class, religion, race and gender have on parties, elections and other political institutions in a number of different countries. We will also analyze large scale historical changes like revolutions, democratization, the impact of colonialism, and globalization on different aspects of social relations. Throughout the course we will also consider some of the main theoretical approaches that are used in the study of political sociology.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 163: EDUCATION AND SOCIETY
MW 5:00 pm-6:15 pm
Professor Dameon V. Alexander
John Dewey once argued that “education is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.” This course will examine and challenge some conventional notions of what we think the purpose of education is. Most may think that education only takes place in schools, and neglect the fact that the process of education is a person forming experience that can occur beyond the walls of schools and universities. The concept of education is much broader. In fact, education can encompass the ways people are socialized into institutions of shared belief systems (e.g. family and religion). Furthermore, in a capitalist society, education is linked to social norms found in business, such as the divisions of labor. Ultimately, inherent in the education system are issues of power and control of knowledge and how knowledge is transmitted, acquired, and used. In this course, we will examine the social aspects of education, not just in America, but also internationally, since the globalization of education has skyrocketed as a result of technological change. We will consider the ways that social inequalities are reproduced through schools; and the ways personal identities are formed and/or validated through education. We will pay particular attention to the way education intersects with the economy and the implications of economic changes on people’s understanding of the process of education.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 171: GLOBALIZATION AND SOCIAL NETWORKING
TR 8:00 am-9:15 am
Professor Arthur Piszczatowski
This course focuses on the changes taking place in power structures internationally, including the dissemination of information and Wiki-leaks (new information networks) and how they are taking power away from states. At the same time we witness the ability of individuals to organize themselves locally and internationally (e.g., “Occupy” movements) in relation to the power-elite which formerly dominated and controlled information; similarly we look at novel forms of mass organizational potential (flash mobs). By considering the empirics of such novel elements of globalization and social networking, we seek to explain them through the perspective of approaches found in contemporary social theory. Using a functionalist, ecological method, we hope by extrapolation to understand the transitions facing modern society, and even develop new models of social change, as in the work of Anthony Giddens. The focus on international cases may give us the ability to analyze the new complexities of power itself, while also considering social movements, conflicts in value-complexes, and changes to our commonly held understandings of “public” and “private,” as these novel versions of modernization and rationalization sweep the planet.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
SOCI 177: INNOVATION AND CHANGE
TR 3:30 pm-4:45 pm
Professor Kertcher
TR 11:00 am-12:15 pm
Professor Sarah Stiles
SOCI-192-02: LAW AND SOCIETY
TR 3:00 pm-4:45 pm
Professor Sarah Stiles
“Law is all over. Law is everywhere.” Indeed, when one stops to think about it there isn’t a facet of our lives that is not impacted in some way by the law. What does this “social fact” mean for us in the early 21st century? “Law & Society” as a discipline examines the law and its interrelationships with psychology, sociology, political science, economics, philosophy, history, literature, and other disciplines. Law & Society differs from the study of law, also known as jurisprudence, which is law-centered and technical (what you get in law school); it differs from sociology in its emphasis on interdisciplinary-practice over theory.
In this course students will read and discuss the origins of law and moral order and the role of law in culture as well as legal institutions, the legal profession, and finally, law and social change. Students will read and discuss classic literature, brief landmark Supreme Court cases, critique films and television programs. The semester concludes with a mock trial where students will play the parts of attorneys, witnesses and the jury.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
SOCI-194-01: CRIMINOLOGY
TR 2:00 pm-3:15 pm
Professor William McDonald
The course is a survey of the nature and extent of crime and delinquency. It covers biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime causation; criminal typologies; legal and social definitions of crime; insanity defenses. Exercises based upon quantitative analysis of crime data are included. (Police, courts, and corrections are dealt with in a separate course, see Sociology of Criminal Justice.) The course has a mid-term and final exam; short quantitative exercises; and a research paper in which a criminological theory is tested with data.
Credits 3:
Prerequisites: None
SOCI-195: SOCIOLOGY OF TERRORISM
MW 5:00 pm-6:15 pm
Professor Bill Daddio
This course focuses on terrorism from a sociology perspective. Sociology of Terrorism takes a deviance and social control approach to the concept, theories, structure, and control of terrorism. A concept of many meanings and applications, the first section of the course will examine the social construct of the concept, terrorism, from several social and cultural perspectives. The second component of the course will examine theories of terrorism from the traditional functional/structural, conflict, and interaction theories. The first is the theoretical approach normally applied by governments, the second is the classic argument used by terrorist groups, while the third theory focuses on the protagonists and the victims. Part three will focus on the current state of terrorism, and part four on the current debate about controlling terrorism. The method is lecture participation, and discussion. The last section will present expected future trends in terrorism.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: SOCI-001
SOCI-201-01: METHODS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
TR 9:30 am-10:45 am
Professor William McDonald
The course has a mid-term and a final exam; a series of brief exercises; and a research paper in which a social theory is tested with quantitative data.
Prerequisite: One sociology course
SOCI-202-01: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
TR 12:30 pm-1:45 pm
Professor Timothy Wickham-Crowley
The writing for the course will consist of a series of short writing assignments, numbering eleven in all. You may skip three (3) of these; thus you will have to write eight (8) of these in all, together contributing 80% of your final grade. Each assignment will be either (1) a short essay (ca. 3 pages) or (2) a series of roughly paragraph-length answers to a series of questions I pose to you.
Required Bookstore Texts: Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, 2d ed. only; From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, eds. Gerth & Mills. Émile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology; Peter Kivisto, Social Theory: Roots and Branches Readings, 4th ed. only (2011). Plus many Blackboard readings.
Prerequisite: SOCI 001: Introduction to Sociology
Restrictions: SOCI majors and minors only; others by instructor’s permission.
MW 9:30 am-10:45 am
Professor Brian McCabe
SOCI-221: CBL: DC: NEIGHBORHOODS, POVERTY & INEQUALITY
MW 11:00 am-12:55 pm
Professor Brian McCabe
This seminar explores the causes and consequences of neighborhood inequality. Using Washington, DC as background for the course, the seminar draws extensively on a burgeoning sociological tradition of neighborhood studies to understand how spatial inequalities shape the life chances of the urban poor. Course themes include: the causes of racial segregation in American cities; the relationship between health and place; disparities in school quality and educational achievement; housing programs and the concentration of poverty; unequal access to transportation; local government and planning efforts to ameliorate inequalities; and the role of the non-profit sector in combatting urban poverty. As a community-based learning seminar, students are required to spend at least four hours each week working at a community-based organization in Washington, DC. The seminar will also include several site visits to community organizations or government offices, as well as classroom visits by local practitioners and city officials.
Credits: 4 (internship)
Prerequisites: None
SOCI-226: CONSUMER CULTURE IN EAST ASIA
MW 8:00 am-9:15 am
Professor Dennis McNamara
Society needs both producers and consumers, people sometimes at work, sometimes at play. Consumption is a pattern of behavior evident in consumer spending. It tells us much of our own identity, and of our institutions. Consumerism is the study of that way of life. It takes us beyond consumption or questions of what we purchase or how much we spend, to more fundamental issues of how and why we consume. Some find consumerism constraining, unjust or immoral, yet others find it liberating. Beyond attitudes or values, the study of consumerism forces attention on equality, distribution, issues of social justice. Resources make a difference between the drudgery of trying to get by with limited means, or the luxury of matching your dreams with reality.
Consumer culture continues to transform Asian societies in tandem with economic growth. This course introduces a Sociology of Consumerism, tracking accommodation in China and South Korea to the demands of modern capitalist markets. Four concepts provide an analytic map for the course: reflexivity (Beck), cultural capital (Bourdieu), commodification (Marx), and enchantment (Weber). This conceptual compass then guides us on a journey across consumption of space, technology, and fashion. Issues of state versus civil society come to the fore as the course turns to case studies of consumer culture in South Korea and China. Both Korea and China stand apart from the Western experience of consumption in the pace of change, the extensive adaptation demanded in blending individualism with communitarian cultures, and the prominent role of the state.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: SOCI-001
SOCI-249: FAMILY AND GENDER IN JAPAN
W 6:30 pm-9:00 pm
Professor Anne Imamura
Family and Gender issues are central concerns in Japanese debates about domestic policy, values and the nation’s ability to develop in the 21st century. This course will move between historical and contemporary definitions of family and gender to introduce the student to institutional structures and ideas of change in contemporary Japan. While focusing on Japan, the course will incorporate theses of gender East and West with the goal of identifying ideas and institutions which can serve as touchstones for a better understanding of Japanese society, and for a reflexive comparison with the US and other societies.
Course Requirements:
Three exams OR two exams and one paper
Participate in two discussion groups and lead one discussion group.
Post to class blogs.
The syllabus is posted on the Registrar’s website and provides detailed information.
No faculty information available This is an independent research tutorial. Student must obtain permission from the department before enrolling.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
