Courses

• CAS SO 206: Introduction to the Sociology of Globalization
  A sociological introduction to globalization. Explores the roles of technology, transnational corporations, and the state. Considers globalization's impacts on the workplace, the environment, and other institutions as well as the emergence of global social movements.
• CAS SO 207: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
  Social definition of race and ethnicity. The adjustment of different ethnic groups and their impact upon U.S. social life. How prejudice and discrimination create class identities and how caste relations have affected patterns of integration during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS SO 209: Crime and Delinquency
  Analysis of criminal and delinquent behavior. Evaluation of current theories and research into causes and sociological implications of these behavior patterns. Examination of criminal justice systems, including police, courts, and corrections.
• CAS SO 210: Confronting Persistent Social Inequalities in American Schools: Educational and Sociological Perspectives
  Examines issues of race, culture, gender, and identity in urban elementary classrooms. Course taught at the Trotter School; transportation provided. Includes a field placement.
• CAS SO 211: Confronting Racial, Cultural, Gender, and Social Identities in Urban Classrooms: Educational and Sociological Perspectives
  Examines the sociological, cultural, and educational factors that contribute to the achievement gap and what it will take to close this gap. Course is taught at the Trotter School; transportation provided. Includes a field placement.
• CAS SO 215: Sociology of Health Care
  Social, cultural, and intercultural factors in health and illness. Training and socialization of medical professionals, roots of medical power and authority, organization and operation of health care facilities. U.S. health care system and its main problems. Comparison of health care systems in the U.S. and in other countries. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS SO 225: Law and Society
  The development of law as an institution of social regulation. Analysis of law and order as pursued in enforcement agencies and courts. The education of lawyers and the ethics of legal practice. Student observations in local criminal courts. Cannot be taken for credit in addition to CAS SO 115. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS SO 240: Sexuality and Social Life
  Introduction to sociological perspectives on sexuality. Historical and comparative analysis of sexuality, with a focus on the social and cultural institutions that shape sexuality in the contemporary U.S.
• CAS SO 241: Sociology of Gender
  An introduction to the social construction of sex and gender with a focus on the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that shape gender relations. Examines gender as a social structure that patterns institutional inequalities and everyday interactions in society.
• CAS SO 242: Globalization and World Poverty
  (Meets with CAS IR 242.) Globalization and world poverty; how and why over 80% of the world remains poor and inequality increases despite economic modernization and democratization. Addresses urbanization, immigration, religion, politics, development politics, foreign aid, women, drugs, environment, food security. Special attention to Latin American, African, and Asian experiences. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS SO 244: Urban Sociology
  An analysis of cities and urban phenomena in preindustrial, industrial, and postindustrial societies with an emphasis on European and U.S. urbanization. A comparison of social scientific "theories" used to explain these same phenomena. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS SO 246: Sociology of Market Transitions
  Focus on East-Central Europe, the former Soviet Union, and China in the context of post-communist economic and political reforms and globalization. Topics include privatization, entrepreneurship, banking, and corruption. Effects on healthcare, education, social inequality, family and household dynamics.
• CAS SO 250: Introduction to the Sociology of Religion
  Explores the role of religion in the organization of meaning within human societies and its contribution to the construction, maintenance, and transformation of the social order. Ways in which religion provides specific sets of solutions to the problems of social order are also explored.
• CAS SO 253: Sociology of Popular Culture
  Sociological perspectives on popular culture and mass media, with a focus on the consumption and production of cultural goods; the effects of popular culture on politics and inequalities; and the mutual interdependence of consumer identities and cultural fields.
• CAS SO 256: Contemporary American Society
  Examines mainly American political and economic culture and patterns of social interaction. The unique dynamic introduced into American society by central tensions at the level of values is defined through comparisons to European societies. Authors include Tocqueville, Weber, Bellah, Lipset, Putnam.
• CAS SO 277: Technology and Society
  Examines technology as a fundamental element of and dynamic force in our society with the aim of providing a balanced understanding of the promise, consequences, and dilemmas brought about by specific technologies and to broaden students' perspectives and sense of social and professional responsibility for decisions related to technology. Combines both a liberal arts and an engineering perspective.
• CAS SO 302: Social Networks
  Examines social networks in the economy, family and community, technology, politics and crime, religious and social movement organizations, and popular culture. Introduces the social network perspective, and its tools of analysis.
• CAS SO 303: Substantive Themes in Sociological Theory
  Critique and application of major sociological theories to key themes and topics. Connections between classical and modern arguments, syntheses of alternative perspectives, and gaps between various perspectives. Themes include the maintenance of social order, power and authority, conflict and change, and sources of alienation.
• CAS SO 304: Formal Organizations
  Formal organizations as social systems. Theory of bureaucracy and administrative functions. The bases of authority, communication systems, and formal and nonformal structures. Organizational development, trends, and relations with the social environment.
• CAS SO 306: Boston's People and Neighborhoods
  A comparison between nineteenth- and twentieth-century neighborhoods, connecting changes in everyday life to larger demographic, economic, physical, and political changes affecting the whole city and immediate suburbs. Includes tours of several Boston neighborhoods and archival research using neighborhood newspapers.

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