The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

Introduces students to basic sociological concepts and perspectives, and applies them to a variety of topics including family, work, and the dynamics of class, gender, and racial/ethnic inequalities in the United States and globally.

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Reese, Mike J
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 19/40
• PosTag(s): n/a

Cults, communes, and conspiracies are unusual social and ideological organizations. How should we understand their origins, structure, and functioning? In our First-Year Seminar, we will assess the value of alternative explanatory concepts from the social sciences, such as charismatic leadership, organizational ecology, network structure, status competition, social influence, and belief propagation. We will then interpret cases in comparative perspective, asking, for example, how cults differ from religious sects, how communes differ from political movements, and how organized crime groups differ from legal businesses.

• Days/Times: Th 9:30AM - 12:00PM
• Instructor: Morgan, Stephen L
• Room: Mergenthaler 526
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

We examine how capitalism has unfolded as a system over the past century around the world, with the goal of understanding whether there are realistic alternatives to our current social order. We ask what communism was, and why people fear it; why there is more poverty and inequality in the U.S. than other developed countries; how some developing countries have managed to become rich; and the recent rise of “neoliberalism.”

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Prasad, Monica
• Room: Gilman 313
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/15
• PosTag(s): AGRI-ELECT, CES-FT, CES-PD, CES-LC, CES-TI

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

Humanitarian organizations play life-preserving roles in global conflicts, and have front-row views of disasters ranging from the 2010 Haiti earthquake to the 2011 Fukushima tsunami in Japan. Yet even while they provide vital assistance to millions of people in crisis, such organizations are beset by important paradoxes that hinder their capacity to create sustainable interventions. They work to fill long-lasting needs, but are prone to moving quickly from one site to the next in search of the latest emergency. They strive to be apolitical, yet are invariably influenced by the geopolitical agendas of global powers. How do such contradictions arise, and what is their impact upon millions of aid recipients around the world? Drawing on case studies from South Sudan to Haiti, this course addresses these contradictions by exploring how and why medical aid organizations attempt, and sometimes fail, to reconcile short-term goals, such as immediate life-saving, with long-term missions, such as public health programs and conflict resolution initiatives.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Naveh Benjamin, Ilil
• Room: Gilman 219
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/18
• PosTag(s): INST-IR, MSCH-HUM, CES-ELECT

This course introduces students to medical sociology, which is the application of the sociological perspective to health and health care. Major topics include stress, social epidemiology, and the social organization of health care.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 3:00PM - 3:50PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

This course will introduce students to the application of statistical techniques commonly used in sociological analysis. Topics include measures of central tendency and dispersion, probability theory, confidence intervals, chi-square, anova, and regression analysis. Hands-on computer experience with statistical software and analysis of data from various fields of social research. Special Note: Required for IS GSCD track students.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Reese, Mike J
• Room: BLC 5015
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 9/20
• PosTag(s): n/a

What is a refugee? Since World War II, states that have pledged to offer protection to refugees have frequently been drawn instead to the dictates of nationalism and communitarianism, which prioritize concern for their own citizens, rather than to the needs of forced migrants. As a result, even those migrants that have been formally recognized as refugees according to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention have not been assured of protection, and other migrants have been even less assured. In this course, we will locate the reasons for this reality in the legal, political, and historical underpinnings of political asylum. What is the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee? How has the refugee category been redefined and contested by international bodies since 1951? How are the ambiguities of real-life violence and persecution simplified in asylum adjudication interviews that require clear, factual narratives? What kinds of protections are offered to asylum seekers, whether by UN bodies, NGOs, or host governments, and how have such protections varied geographically and historically? Finally, what protections, if any, are afforded to those migrants who are fleeing not persecution but rather “merely” endemic poverty or climate-induced displacement? The course draws on literature from sociology, history, anthropology, and international refugee law in order to understand the capacity (or lack thereof) of human rights discourses and declarations to contravene state sovereignty in the name of protecting the rightless.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Naveh Benjamin, Ilil
• Room: Gilman 219
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/25
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, INST-IR

Ever since the Chinese Empire fell in 1911, Chinese have tried to think of themselves as modern and to build a modern Chinese state. Among the Western concepts that Chinese appropriated to define and comprehend themselves were the notions of ethnicity, culture, nationality, and race. We will try to answer the following questions: What was the allure of arcane and elusive Western categories on culture, ethnicity, and race for Chinese scientists in the 20th century, and how did these categories come to underpin the rule of the Chinese state over its enormous population since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949? How have the Chinese state’s policies on nationality and ethnicity shaped the minds of American China scholars as they study ethnicity and nationality in China?

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Henning, Stefan
• Room: Mergenthaler 266
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/15
• PosTag(s): INST-CP, INST-GLOBAL, CES-RI

The rapid expansion of digitized data about human behavior has revolutionized social science research. These days companies and governments are creating and collecting data on just about everything we do. We can now observe behavior on a scale and with a level of detail never before imaginable. We can ask questions of whole populations that previously required expensive and time-consuming surveys. In order to take advantage of these new opportunities we need change the way we think about research ethics, study design, statistical inference, and the logic of inquiry. This course provides an introduction to these new approaches as well as a discussion of their risks and limitations. The focus will be on sociological logic of inquiry and how to answer questions about the social world. Coding experience will be helpful, but is not required.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Burdick-Will, Julia
• Room: Mergenthaler 526
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/9
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course will examine the role of housing, or the absence thereof, in shaping quality of life. It will explore the consequences of the places in which we live and how we are housed. Consideration will be given to overcrowding, affordability, accessibility, and past and existing housing policies and their influence on society. Special attention will be given to the problem of homelessness.

• Days/Times: Th 4:30PM - 7:00PM
• Instructor: Greif, Meredith
• Room: Krieger 302
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/25
• PosTag(s): INST-AP, CES-CC, CES-LE

The education system plays an important and multi-faceted role in modern society. Schools socialize students, allocate rewards and status, promote national identities, train future workers, feed into the criminal justice system, and make some people a lot of money. Sometimes these roles work together and sometimes they are in direct conflict with one another. This course will provide a sociological perspective on the education system as a whole by examining the historical process of educational expansion, the role of formal education in society, and how the education system interacts with other social institutions, such as the courts and labor market.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Burdick-Will, Julia
• Room: Krieger 300
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 11/19
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course will introduce students to the application of statistical techniques commonly used in sociological analysis. Topics include measures of central tendency and dispersion, probability theory, confidence intervals, chi-square, anova, and regression analysis. Hands-on computer experience with statistical software and analysis of data from various fields of social research. Special Note: Required for IS GSCD track students.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Reese, Mike J
• Room: BLC 5015
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 6/20
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course introduces students to medical sociology, which is the application of the sociological perspective to health and health care. Major topics include stress, social epidemiology, and the social organization of health care.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 3:00PM - 3:50PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

This course introduces students to medical sociology, which is the application of the sociological perspective to health and health care. Major topics include stress, social epidemiology, and the social organization of health care.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 4:00PM - 4:50PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

In this class, we will examine changes in family/household behaviors and relationships from a demographic perspective. We will investigate how culture, economics, and population characteristics can shape family structures, how the role of families has changed in recent decades, and how families are important in people’s lives. We will study diverse familial forms in the U.S. as well as those in the international context. We will study important (and measurable) events in people’s family lives, such as cohabitation, marriage, divorce, and childbearing. We will study how family roles are changing for fathers, mothers, and grandparents. We will also learn about the health implications of various familial relationships. We will use demographic tools and data to compare families across time periods, across social groups, and (to some extent) across countries. You will be doing your own quantitative analyses. You will develop your skills at interpreting and critiquing demographic data that researchers use to support their arguments about the family. You will also develop your skills at making your own accurate and compelling arguments using demographic data.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Chen, Feinian
• Room: Gilman 119
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 6/19
• PosTag(s): CES-GI, CES-LC, CES-PD

This course introduces students to medical sociology, which is the application of the sociological perspective to health and health care. Major topics include stress, social epidemiology, and the social organization of health care.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 4:00PM - 4:50PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

This course will focus on the social dimensions of climate change. Drawing on global and multi-disciplinary scholarship, we will address such issues as: the relationship between fossil fuels and capitalism; the relationship between social inequality and “vulnerability” to climate change; and the political economy of “adaptation.” The longest section of the course will be devoted to understanding the social and political dimensions of proposed solutions to climate change, including renewable energy transitions, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and geoengineering. Students will write a final research paper on a sociological aspect of climate change.

• Days/Times: W 9:00AM - 11:30AM
• Instructor: Levien, Michael
• Room: Hodson 203
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 10/18
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, INST-CP, MSCH-HUM, CES-LE, CES-TI

The course examines the modern transformation of social life from the prism of coffee and tea. It traces the mass consumption of these two caffeinated beverages from the expansion of Eurocentric capitalism from the long sixteenth century onwards. It shows the changes in the coffee and tea culture from their respective Asian contexts to the age of mass consumption at the turn of the twentieth century. The topics include cash-crop production, plantation and peasant economy, the public sphere, and food heritage and nationalism.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Kuo, Huei-Ying
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/18
• PosTag(s): INST-CP, INST-GLOBAL, INST-IR, CES-FT, CES-LE

This course surveys the relationship between China and its migrants and their descendants from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. It highlights the transnational foundation of modern Chinese nationalism. It also compares the divergent formations of the “Chinese question” in North America and postcolonial Southeast Asia. Key concepts include transnationalism, diaspora, ethnic politics, racism, Orientalism, and “united front” work.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Kuo, Huei-Ying
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/18
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, INST-CP, CES-BM, CES-RI

This introductory course will examine policing and prisons in the United States and beyond, with a focus on racial inequality. It will consist of three parts. First, we will define key concepts in police and prison studies. Then, we will explore the contemporary state of prisons and policing in the United States and look at debates around the rise of “mass incarceration” and aggressive forms of policing in the final third of the 20th century. Third, we will explore policing and prison in other parts of the globe in the contemporary moment, highlighting similarities and differences from the U.S. case. What can studying the instruments of social control in other societies reveal about our own? Students will develop an understanding of major trends, keywords, and debates in the literature on policing and prisons, with particular reference to race and racism.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Schrader, Stuart Laurence
• Room: Croft Hall G02
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/18
• PosTag(s): n/a

Diverging from conventional courses on international development that often center around the golden age of development (1950s-1970s), this course shifts the focus towards the subsequent era—the age of neoliberal globalization, its promises and discontent, and its potential alternatives. Over the last four decades or so, the new global trends of deepening marketization, globalized supply chains, freer trans-border flow of capital, and technological progress have posed new challenges as well as opportunities to developing countries. This course will provide an upper-level undergraduate introduction to the studies and practices of international development in the age of globalization.

• Days/Times: T 4:30PM - 7:00PM
• Instructor: Liu, Mingtang
• Room: Mergenthaler 526
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/18
• PosTag(s): n/a

On 13 October 2022, a middle-aged upper-middle class Chinese man staged a public political protest on an elevated road in Beijing. Peng Lifa, or “Bridge Man,” as he has become known in allusion to Tank Man from the Tiananmen demonstrations in 1989, demanded elections and reforms. How have urban Chinese been able to be so content or even happy despite their lack of political freedom? The class readings will introduce you to different kinds of activists who have confronted the authoritarian state since the late 1990s, among them human rights lawyers, reporters, environmental activists, feminists, religious activists, and labor activists. We will ask whether freedom, an obviously Western notion, is useful as an analytical category to think about China. Does freedom translate across the West/non-West divide?

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Henning, Stefan
• Room: Mergenthaler 266
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 6/15
• PosTag(s): INST-CP, CES-LSO

The course introduces students to the discipline of sociology. You will learn about (a) theoretical approaches in sociology; (b) some of the subject matters that sociologists study, including inequality, capitalism, labor, the state, social control, race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, population dynamics, and health; and (c) sociological methods. Most importantly, you will learn (d) how to see the world as a sociologist. That is, you will become a sociologist.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Remsen Hall 1
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course introduces students to core concepts that define the sociological approach to health, illness and health care. Topics include: health disparities, social context of health and illness, and the Sociology of Medicine.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 4:00PM - 4:50PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Mergenthaler 111
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): PHIL-BIOETH, MSCH-HUM, SPOL-UL

This course will introduce students to the cutting-edge debates on global migration and refugees and give them a first-hand look at the complicated interactions between research, politics, and policy-making. Each week, students will read the work of a featured scholar who will visit the class as a guest lecture, giving students the unique opportunity to directly engage with the scholar. In addition, policy makers, community groups, and activists dealing with migration will visit the class for guest lectures, and students will have the opportunity to learn exactly how, when, and why research is (and is not) applied on the ground. To highlight the global nature of the theme, the course will highlight issues of immigration and emigration, receiving and sending countries, in the global North and South. This course is offered in Washington DC and is available to students accepted to the Spring 2025 Hopkins Semester DC only.

• Days/Times: Th 2:30PM - 5:00PM
• Instructor: Agarwala, Rina
• Room: 555 Penn 
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 16/20
• PosTag(s): INST-IR, INST-GLOBAL

Recent national conversations about racial segregation, inequality and the affordable housing crisis raise many important questions—this course focuses on several of these questions, through the lens of urban sociology and housing policy. There are three main areas we will focus on in the course: 1) Understanding the role of racial segregation, neighborhood and housing effects on children and family life; 2) Research methods for studying urban poverty and neighborhoods; and 3) Programs, policies and initiatives designed to house the poor, alleviate concentrated spatial poverty, and increase residential choice. We will primarily focus on issues related to urban poverty in large cities, comparing the patterns of residential mobility and neighborhood characteristics for white and Black Americans. We will utilize archival data, qualitative interviews, census data, and quasi/experimental data to gather evidence about neighborhoods, housing, and policies, as well as their impacts. We will also explore interactive online applications that facilitate the study of neighborhoods (e.g. American Community Survey, GIS with Social Explorer). A statistics/public policy background is helpful, but not required.

• Days/Times: T 3:00PM - 5:30PM
• Instructor: Deluca, Stefanie
• Room: Mergenthaler 526
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 11/15
• PosTag(s): CES-CC, CES-LE, CES-RI

This course will focus on four classical social theorists whose ideas have greatly influenced how we study and understand society: Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and W.E.B. DuBois. Much of the course is devoted to applying their theories to analyze current social issues, especially those involving social inequality, conflict, cohesion, and change.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Andreas, Joel
• Room: Hodson 315
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 4/25
• PosTag(s): INST-PT, CES-LC, CES-LSO

Race and ethnicity have played a prominent role in American society and continue to do so, as demonstrated by interracial and interethnic gaps in economic and educational achievement, residence, political power, family structure, crime, and health. Using a sociological framework, we will explore the historical significance of race and its development as a social construction, assess the causes and consequences of intergroup inequalities and explore potential solutions.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Greif, Meredith
• Room: Gilman 400
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): INST-AP, CES-CC, CES-RI

This course introduces students to core concepts that define the sociological approach to health, illness and health care. Topics include: health disparities, social context of health and illness, and the Sociology of Medicine.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 3:00PM - 3:50PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Mergenthaler 111
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): PHIL-BIOETH, MSCH-HUM, SPOL-UL

This course examines how American cities have evolved since the United States ratified the radically new vision of race promoted by the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. We will study the changing geography of race and class in American cities and their surrounding suburbs and what that evolution has meant for inequality. We will also consider how this shifting geography of race and class affects current debates in metropolitan policies like gentrification and tax policy. We will look to the future to examine what issues might come about in the coming decades and how we might avoid similar problems to those in history.

• Days/Times: W 4:30PM - 7:00PM
• Instructor: Bader, Michael
• Room: Gilman 186
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 15/20
• PosTag(s): CES-CC, CES-RI

What is the relationship between space and society? In this course, we will challenge the idea that space is a mere container of human interactions and activities. We will learn how top-down decisions about space (e.g., the dismantling of public housing, land dispossession, the formation of refugee camps) contribute to social hierarchies along class, gender, race, and caste lines. We will then consider how bottom-up movements use space to resist oppression and promote social change. We will draw on theoretical and empirical work from the social sciences and urban studies, and explore cases from several regions of the world, spanning the last few decades. Students in the course will also practice broader essential skills in the social sciences, including summarizing academic arguments, connecting empirical observations to theoretical debates, and making clear and concise arguments.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Ilic, Gorana
• Room: Maryland 104
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/18
• PosTag(s): INST-PT, CES-GI, CES-LE, CES-RI

This course introduces students to core concepts that define the sociological approach to health, illness and health care. Topics include: health disparities, social context of health and illness, and the Sociology of Medicine.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 4:00PM - 4:50PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Mergenthaler 111
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): PHIL-BIOETH, MSCH-HUM, SPOL-UL

This course will introduce the main theoretical perspectives, debates, and themes in the field of international development since the mid-20th century. It has three sections. The first section focuses on debates over what conditions and strategies generate capitalist economic growth and on the relationship between capitalist growth, colonialism, enslavement, the construction of social difference, human welfare, and inequality. The second section presents critical assessments of development interventions from various perspectives. The third section considers the role of social movements in shaping development and social change in the 21st century.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Edwards, Zophia
• Room: Hackerman B 17
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 1/12
• PosTag(s): CES-ELECT, INST-CP, INST-IR, INST-ECON

This course will introduce the main theoretical perspectives, debates, and themes in the field of international development since the mid-20th century. It has three sections. The first section focuses on debates over what conditions and strategies generate capitalist economic growth and on the relationship between capitalist growth, colonialism, enslavement, the construction of social difference, human welfare, and inequality. The second section presents critical assessments of development interventions from various perspectives. The third section considers the role of social movements in shaping development and social change in the 21st century.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Edwards, Zophia
• Room: Hackerman B 17
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): CES-ELECT, INST-CP, INST-IR, INST-ECON

This course will introduce the main theoretical perspectives, debates, and themes in the field of international development since the mid-20th century. It has three sections. The first section focuses on debates over what conditions and strategies generate capitalist economic growth and on the relationship between capitalist growth, colonialism, enslavement, the construction of social difference, human welfare, and inequality. The second section presents critical assessments of development interventions from various perspectives. The third section considers the role of social movements in shaping development and social change in the 21st century.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Edwards, Zophia
• Room: Hackerman B 17
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 4/13
• PosTag(s): CES-ELECT, INST-CP, INST-IR, INST-ECON

This course aims to introduce you to key concepts, methods, and tools used in social science research. We begin with an overview of the logic of human inquiry and science, the link between theory and scientific research, and research ethics. Subsequently, we will delve into a few key elements of sociological research, including how to translate concepts into operational measures that are both reliable and valid. We will then cover the importance of sampling and sampling strategies. We will also introduce several modes of conducting empirical research, including experiments, qualitative field research, and survey research, giving attention to the relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach. You will learn how to conduct basic statistical analyses using secondary data towards the end of the semester. Throughout the course, we will cover important skills such as conducting literature reviews, designing research, and refining your ability to read and write social science research. The goal is to enhance your ability to critically assess social science research and to learn how to choose appropriate research methods for specific research questions.

• Days/Times: MWF 4:30PM - 5:20PM
• Instructor: Chen, Feinian
• Room: Krieger 304
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 5/20
• PosTag(s): n/a

Objectives of this course are to achieve an understanding of the social context of disability from the population level to the individual disability experience. Topics will include social versus medical models of disability; the spectrum of ability; the history of disability; civil rights perspectives; life course and aging aspects of disability; and the role of the environment. Attention will be paid both to theoretical understandings of disability and the role of policies.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Hodson 216
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 5/18
• PosTag(s): CES-LSO, MSCH-HUM

The field of medicine has been a key site where race has been constructed, deployed, and contested. Race and racism have played a crucial role in the development of medicine in the United States, from the medicalization of Blackness to different racialized health indicators. Through this course we will ask: How has the field of medicine constructed race? And how have race and racism been challenged within medicine? This is an upper-level, reading intensive seminar course.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Solanki, Durgesh
• Room: Bloomberg 172
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 4/18
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course provides "hands on" research experience applying sociological research tools and a sociological perspective to problems of substance. Qualitative observational and/or interviewing methods will be emphasized. Students will design and carry out a research project and write a research report. Introduction to Social Statistics (230.205) and Research Methods for the Social Sciences (230.202) are prerequisites. This course is restricted to Juniors and Seniors only. Instructor permission required for prerequisite exemptions for all students (majors and non-majors). Sophomores require instructor permission.

• Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Calder, Ryan
• Room: Maryland 309
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/18
• PosTag(s): n/a

Humanitarian organizations play life-preserving roles in global conflicts, and have front-row views of disasters ranging from the 2010 Haiti earthquake to the 2011 Fukushima tsunami in Japan. Yet even while they provide vital assistance to millions of people in crisis, such organizations are beset by important paradoxes that hinder their capacity to create sustainable interventions. They work to fill long-lasting needs, but are prone to moving quickly from one site to the next in search of the latest emergency. They strive to be apolitical, yet are invariably influenced by the geopolitical agendas of global powers. How do such contradictions arise, and what is their impact upon millions of aid recipients around the world? Drawing on case studies from South Sudan to Haiti, this course addresses these contradictions by exploring how and why medical aid organizations attempt, and sometimes fail, to reconcile short-term goals, such as immediate life-saving, with long-term missions, such as public health programs and conflict resolution initiatives.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Naveh Benjamin, Ilil
• Room: Gilman 400
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 9/18
• PosTag(s): CES-ELECT, INST-IR

This course introduces two approaches in the research of economic sociology: the emphasis on macro world-historical social change and the concern over the meso-level institutionalization of markets. Key concepts include division of labor, market, commodification, social and cultural capital, informal economy, migrants and business networks, globalization, and post-globalization.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Kuo, Huei-Ying
• Room: Gilman 400
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 12/18
• PosTag(s): CES-BM, CES-GI, CES-RI, CES-TI, INST-ECON, INST-PT

This course introduces students to core concepts that define the sociological approach to health, illness and health care. Topics include: health disparities, social context of health and illness, and the Sociology of Medicine.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 3:00PM - 3:50PM
• Instructor: Agree, Emily
• Room: Mergenthaler 111
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): PHIL-BIOETH, MSCH-HUM, SPOL-UL

This course will examine the role of housing, or the absence thereof, in shaping quality of life. It will explore the consequences of the places in which we live and how we are housed. Consideration will be given to overcrowding, affordability, accessibility, and past and existing housing policies and their influence on society. Special attention will be given to the problem of homelessness.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Greif, Meredith
• Room: Gilman 400
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 8/20
• PosTag(s): CES-CC, CES-LE, INST-AP

This course explores the complex interplay between race, class, and the politics of decolonization and national independence in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean and Latin America. Through diverse theories, primary sources, and comparative case studies, students will analyze how racialized and exploited groups have challenged systems of imperial and colonial domination while seeking to assert different meanings of freedom. The course moves beyond traditional decolonization narratives that restrict frameworks spatially to the boundaries of the nation-state and temporally to the post-World War II period. By historicizing decolonization struggles and emphasizing the transnational and comparative dimensions of the ideologies and practices of decolonization, we will explore how race and class dynamics within countries intersect with global power relations to shape the politics and processes of decolonization.

• Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Edwards, Zophia
• Room: Shriver Hall Board Room
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): CDS-SSMC, INST-CP, INST-GLOBAL, CES-LE, CES-RI

What is a refugee? Since World War II, states that have pledged to offer protection to refugees have frequently been drawn instead to the dictates of nationalism and communitarianism, which prioritize concern for their own citizens, rather than to the needs of forced migrants. As a result, even those migrants that have been formally recognized as refugees according to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention have not been assured of protection, and other migrants have been even less assured. In this course, we will locate the reasons for this reality in the legal, political, and historical underpinnings of political asylum. What is the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee? How has the refugee category been redefined and contested by international bodies since 1951? How are the ambiguities of real-life violence and persecution simplified in asylum adjudication interviews that require clear, factual narratives? What kinds of protections are offered to asylum seekers, whether by UN bodies, NGOs, or host governments, and how have such protections varied geographically and historically? Finally, what protections, if any, are afforded to those migrants who are fleeing not persecution but rather “merely” endemic poverty or climate-induced displacement? The course draws on literature from sociology, history, anthropology, and international refugee law in order to understand the capacity (or lack thereof) of human rights discourses and declarations to contravene state sovereignty in the name of protecting the rightless.

• Days/Times: Th 11:30AM - 2:00PM
• Instructor: Naveh Benjamin, Ilil
• Room:  
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 15/18
• PosTag(s): CES-BM, CES-LSO, INST-GLOBAL, INST-IR

This seminar examines inter-regional connections and diplomacy in maritime Asia (focusing on the region around the Straits of Malacca, the South and East China Seas, and the Taiwan Straits). In addition to a survey of the application of world-system theories on Asia, the reading materials include the roles of trading diasporas in world history, the maritime silk Road, the Chinese tribute trade system, the British free-trade imperialism, American open-door policy, Japanese pan-Asianism, Cold-war diplomacy, and the Beijing-centric belt-and-road initiatives. The goal is to explore the prospects and limitations of examining inter-Asian connections beyond political states.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Kuo, Huei-Ying
• Room: Gilman 400
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 5/18
• PosTag(s): INST-IR, INST-GLOBAL, CES-BM, CES-CC, CES-FT, CES-PD

How can we develop ways of linking all the different elements of today’s “polycrisis” into a strong account of the contemporary world? One way might be to study what makes profit for capitalism – and what doesn’t. The Spring 2025 Arrighi General Seminar is titled “Value, Price and Profit in the Contemporary World System.” It explores the bridges between Marx’s theory of value and contemporary politics. We’ll begin by reading from Marx himself, then move on to a variety of contemporary case studies that link the dynamics of capitalist profitability to commodity speculation, the development of AI, the green transition, and the rise of right-wing populism. The final section of the course will feature in-person visits from alumni of the Arrighi Center seminars, who are doing cutting-edge research on political economy. Participants in the Arrighi’s Center’s weekly general seminar include faculty and students from a wide range of social science and humanities departments and programs. Undergraduates signing up under 230.376 will participate in both the main General Seminar with faculty and graduate students, followed by a special discussion section for undergraduates.

• Days/Times: F 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Nealon, Chris; Silver, BEVERLY Judith
• Room: Mergenthaler 526
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/8
• PosTag(s): n/a

We will try to get a quick overview of the recent history of patriarchy in China, South Korea, and Japan from the mid-twentieth century to our present and then compare the initiatives of feminists to transform the lives of women throughout these three societies. We will also debate whether or how it makes sense to adapt the Western notions of patriarchy and sexism as well as the Western political program of feminism to the non-Western context of East Asia by reading books by historians, anthropologists, and sociologists.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Henning, Stefan
• Room: Mergenthaler 266
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, INST-CP

This course will introduce the main theoretical perspectives, debates, and themes in the field of international development since the mid-20th century. It has three sections. The first section focuses on debates over what conditions and strategies generate capitalist economic growth and on the relationship between capitalist growth, colonialism, enslavement, the construction of social difference, human welfare, and inequality. The second section presents critical assessments of development interventions from various perspectives. The third section considers the role of social movements in shaping development and social change in the 21st century.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Edwards, Zophia
• Room: Hackerman B 17
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 10/13
• PosTag(s): CES-ELECT, INST-CP, INST-IR, INST-ECON

You will learn about the efforts of ordinary, non-elite Muslims to shape the relation between their communities and the state as well as to (where applicable) the non-Muslim majority through collective organizing over the last forty years. We will read and discuss books by anthropologists, historians, and sociologists studying Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Henning, Stefan
• Room: Mergenthaler 266
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): CES-ELECT, INST-CP, ISLM-ISLMST