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Sociology Courses@Barnard 2008-2009
Courses of Interest @ Columbia 2008-2009
Directory of Classes
Recently Offered Sociology Courses @ Barnard
The following courses are offered at Columbia
Instructor's name and times of class
The Sociological Imagination
SOCI V1202x or y; 3 pts.
Identification of the distinctive elements of sociological perspectives on
society. Readings confront classical and contemporary approaches with key social
issues that include power and authority, culture and communication, poverty and
discrimination, social change, and popular uses of sociological concepts.
Evaluation of Evidence
SOCI V1205; 3 pts.
Discussion of the logic and procedures of social science research and standards
for the critical evaluation of that research based on a careful reading and
analysis of significant studies exemplifying the use of different kinds of
social science data and methods (field observations, historical archives,
surveys, and experiments). No mathematical or statistical background is
required.
Statistics in the Social Sciences
SOCI V2212x; 3 pts.
Probability followed by some ways of summarizing data (means, variances,
graphs); a discussion of the normal distribution and its usage for calculating
probabilities. Z tests and t tests are discussed for the one group case and for
the case of comparing two groups. F tests and chi-square tests are introduced
later. The course ends with a discussion of descriptive regression. This course
will provide a useful introduction to statistics and will also help students who
subsequently take research methods courses. Not offered in 2008-2009.
Globalization: Empirical & Theoretical Elements
SOCI V2225x; 3 pts.
The
course will examine how different processes of globalization a) are actually
constituted at different scales and in a range of institutional settings; b)
transform key aspects of major institutions, such as sovereignty and
citizenship, and major processes, such as urbanization, immigration, and
digitization; and c) are in turn shaped by these institutions and processes.
Particular attention will go to analyzing the challenges for theorization and
empirical specification.
Food and Social Order
SOCI V2230x; 3pts
Instrumental in the formation and
transformation of the social order, food is an indicator of collective as well
as individual aspirations and assumptions. We shall look at the production
and consumption of food, both material and symbolic, from the eating in the
Bible to globalization in the 21st century.
Sociology of Health
and Illness
SOCI V2270; 3pts.
The objective of this
course is to use the concepts and methods of sociology to understand health,
illness, and medicine. The course highlights, at the same time, how these
major life areas and experiences raise questions about power, authority, and
knowledge that are central to sociology. Not offered in 2008-2009
The City
SOCI V2300x; 3pts.
Students will use the city as a laboratory
to understand aspects of modern society. This course explores the writings on
the city in order to introduce students to fundamental concepts ion social
science; the majority of writings in this course will be based on American
cities, rooted in the study of the contemporary city.
Not offered in 2008-2009
Israeli Society
SOCI V2310x; 3pts.
The purpose of the course is to acquaint
students with Israeli society. The first part of the course will set the
historical, social, political and demographic background which is essential for
understanding current processes in Israel. The second part of the course will
focus on the main social conflicts and cleavages in contemporary Israel: between
the rich and the poor, between Jewish ethnic groups, between Jews and Arabs, and
between religious and non-religious groups. In each, patterns of continuity and
change in the past sixty years will be analyzed.
Classical Social Theory
SOCI V3100; 3pts.
Theoretical accounts of the rise and transformations of modern society in the
19th and 20th centuries. Theories studied include those of Adam Smith,
Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, Max Weber, Roberto Michels. Selected topics:
individual, society, and polity; economy, class, and status; organization and
ideology; religion and society; moral and instrumental action.
Introduction To Historical
Sociology
SOCI W3190x; 3pts.
How can we understand such major social
forces as nationalism, Islam, and class conflict by combining historical
analysis and sociological theory? Can these two disciplines take us further than
either one alone?
Not offered in 2008-2009
Statistics for Social Research
SOCI V3212; 3pts.
This course will teach
the fundamentals of analyzing numerical data in a social science context.
Students will learn effective ways of presenting informational summaries, the
use of statistical inference from samples to populations, and the linear model
which forms the basis of much social science research. Emphasis will be on
an intuitive understanding of statistical formulae and models, and on their
practical application.
Methods for Social
Research
SOCI V3213; 3pts.
Introductory course in
social scientific research methods. Provides a general overview of the
ways sociologists collect information about social phenomena, focusing on how to
collect data that are reliable and applicable to our research questions.
Crime, Law and Society
SOCI W3218x; 3pts.
This course critically examines the
interplay between crime, law, and the administration of justice in the United
States and how these issues are shaped by larger societal factors. Students will
receive a theoretical and empirical overview of the American legal and criminal
justice system, emphasizing such issues as: the function and purpose of crime
control; the roles of the actors/subjects of the criminal justice system; crime
and violence as cultural and political issues in America; racial disparities in
offending and criminal justice processing; and juvenile justice.
Social Disorganization: Deviance
and Social Control
SOCI W3221y; 3pts.
Enrollment limited to 100. Consult
department for registration procedures. A study of different theoretical
approaches to deviance and an analysis of important empirical research on
various forms of deviant behavior. Crime is considered within the broader
context of social deviance.
Not offered in 2008-2009
Sociology of Education
SOCI V3225y; 3pts.
The social organization of education in the
United States and its effects. Examination of schools as agents of
socialization, the contribution of education to social equality and inequality,
schools as formal and informal organizations, teachers and students, and the
politics of education, including case studies of desegregation,
decentralization, and public versus private schooling.
Not offered in 2008-2009
The Sociology of Everyday Life
SOCI V3238x; 3pts.
Approaches to the study of culture through
reading of the familiar "texts" of everyday life and the practices they reveal.
Topics include food and cuisine, manners, urban topography, work, money, gender,
and popular culture.
The Changing American
Family
SOCI W3264; 3pts.
Examines social forces
contributing to changes in U.S. family formation including declines in marriage,
increases in no marital childbearing, and women's labor force participation.
Analyzes forces affecting growth of "non-traditional" families including
lesbian/gay, multigenerational families. Particular attention given to
urban, suburban, rural contexts of poverty.
Religion and Social Organization
SOCI W3315x;
3pts.
Has the nature of social organization truly
changed in ways that limit the utility of examining religion? How should we
consider religion in the study of social organization? In this course, we will
read current and foundational works in the sociology of religion in order to
address these questions. We will start with current work, which has a narrower
and more empirical focus, and then use this work as a basis to assess the
continued utility of more theoretically ambitious, seminal works within the
sociology of religion.
Not offered in 2008-2009
Revolutions, Social Movements, and
Contentious Politics
SOCI W3480y;
3pts.
Surveys the main sociological approaches to
the study of collective action and revolutions. Discusses models of collective
action, applying them to Western and non-Western cases. Explores different
explanations of revolutions in the context of the French, Russian, and Chinese
revolutions or more modern ones such as the Iranian and Nicaraguan.
Not offered in
2008-2009
Political Sociology
SOCI W3660y;
3pts.
The course studies seminal interpretations
of democratic politics from the perspectives of sociology, comparative politics
and political theory. Theoretical analyses are discussed in the context of
illustrative historical documents and accounts, and extended to contemporary
concerns involving citizenship, culture, identity, representation and war.
Prerequisites: Contemporary Civilization or one course in sociology, or
political science, or European or American history.
Not offered
in 2008-2009
Sociology of
the Arts
SOCI W3331; 3pts.
The
arts and the social forces through which they are made. Explores how patrons and
artistic organizations combine with audiences and informal networks of artists
to provide resources (emotional, intellectual, and material support) necessary
to artistic careers. Examines how social relations and cultural canons around
artists affect the form and content of their art.
Not offered in 2008-2009
Organizing
Innovation
SOCI W3675y; 3pts.
We examine major
innovations in organizations and ask whether innovation itself can be organized.
We study a range of forms of organizing (e.g., bureaucratic, post-bureaucratic,
and open architecture network forms) in a broad variety of settings (e.g.,
established businesses, new startups, non-profits, open source, churches, the
military, and others). We explore the relationship between organizational
forms and new digital technologies.
Seminar On Inequality
and Public Policy
SOCI W3945x;
4pts.
Economic inequality in the United States;
the roles of labor market processes and inheritance with respect to wealth
assimilation; assets and the poor; public policies in regard to income
redistribution; taxation of income, wealth, and bequests; issues in poverty
policy.
Real and
Imagined Communities: Sociology in/and/of the
Novel
SOCI W3955y:
4pts.
Given that both the
novel and sociology are products of and responses to
modern society, this seminar will explore
interconnections between the two. We shall read
sociological texts and novel against each other to
ascertain where and how each connects to the other and
where they part.
Law, Science, and Society
SOCI W3960y 3pts.
This course addresses basic contemporary
social issues from several angles of vision: from the perspective of scientists,
social scientists, legal scholars, and judges. Through the use of case studies,
students will examine the nature of theories, evidence, "facts," proof, and
argument as found in the work of scientists and scholars who have engaged the
substantive issues presented in the course.
Race and Place in Urban America
SOCI W3970x; 4pts.
Analyzing the relationship between
race/ethnicity and spatial inequality, emphasizing the institutions, processes,
and mechanisms that shape the lives of urban dwellers. Surveying major
theoretical approaches and empirical investigations of racial and ethnic
stratification in several urban cities, and their concomitant policy
considerations.
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