Sociology

• CAS SO 411: Seminar: Sociology of the Nonprofit Sector
  Introduction to sociological research on that part of society known as the nonprofit sector, including nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, voluntary associations, and social movements. Focus on some of the literature’s major themes: civil society, social capital, and nongovernmental organizations.
• CAS SO 418: Seminar: Sociology of Medicine
  Focuses on the medical profession, sources of its power and authority, the effects of recent changes in financing and delivery of healthcare. Medical training and decision-making analyzed. Doctor-patient interaction and the use of alternative treatments.
• CAS SO 420: Seminar: Women and Social Change in the Developing World
  Studies women in nonindustrial countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, stressing empirical research, theory, and methodology. Comparisons between regions and with industrial countries. Focus on sex segregation, female labor force participation, migration, fertility, family roles, and women and political power. Also offered as CAS IR 425.
• CAS SO 434: Seminar: Sociology of Mental Illness
  An evaluation of current theories and research on the social sources and consequences of mental illness. Featured topics for discussion include social-psychological perspectives on the definition, diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of mental disorders.
• CAS SO 437: Seminar: Sociology of Culture
  The sociology of culture in the twenty-first century. Focuses on the connection between the mind and culture. Examines the interdependence between culture, society, and individuals, and how belief, faith, knowledge, symbol, ritual, and the like both produce and are products of social organization.
• CAS SO 438: Seminar on International Migration
  Explores the social dynamics of contemporary international migration, ranging from the development of transnational migrant communities to the impact of state policies that strive to regulate migrant labor flows.
• CAS SO 439: Seminar: State Building and Failure in the Developing World
  Considers the political significance of failed and fragile states in the developing world in the post-9/11 era. Students analyze historical patterns of state formation and its relevance in contemporary society. Also offered as CAS PO 425.
• CAS SO 440: Seminar: Political Sociology
  Explores the "deep cultural" level behind the daily conduct of politics. A theoretical framework relying upon Tocqueville and Weber is developed and then applied to unveil the political cultures of the United States, Germany, England, Russia, China, Japan, and Mexico.
• CAS SO 444: Seminar: Sociology of Education
  Explores how learning is executed in different settings and persons are selected to fit in various parts of our culture and how the institution of education contributes to social stability and change. Contemporary educational reforms are reviewed and their effects are analyzed.
• CAS SO 447: Seminar: Global Sociology
  (Meets with CAS IR 447.) Examines different sociological perspectives on global social dynamics and processes.
• CAS SO 448: Culture, Markets, and Inequality
  This seminar examines commerce as a cultural process, focusing on cultural production and consumption practices in fields like fashion, music, and bodily goods and services. Traces the cultural construction and maintenance of gender, race, and class inequalities in markets.
• CAS SO 450: Seminar: Technology and Society
  Technologies in the four areas of knowledge, work, transportation, and biology are discussed in terms of their historical development and social implications. Benefits and costs of technology are examined with reference to current conflicts over use and misuse.
• CAS SO 452: Contemporary Debates in Sexualities Research
  Engages debates about sexual identities, practices, and communities, conceptualizing sexuality as both a social construct and an institution. Students consider how sexualities operate across social contexts, their effects on systems of inequalities, and their intersections with race, class, and gender.
• CAS SO 491: Directed Study
  Individual instruction and supervised study project in sociology for concentrators and nonconcentrators.
• CAS SO 492: Directed Study
  Individual instruction and supervised study project in sociology for concentrators and nonconcentrators.
• CAS SO 541: Modernity Seminar I
  This seminar looks at the phenomenon of modernity from a multidisciplinary point of view. Discussed are the cultural foundations of modernity, specifically and primarily nationalism but also Romanticism, science, and major political ideologies. Also analyzed are modernization and development as studied by the social sciences, modernism, and postmodernism in literary and cultural studies; and the nature of human beings and society in the perspectives of modern philosophy. Also offered as CAS AN 541. Either or both of SO 541 and SO 543 may be taken for credit.
• CAS SO 543: Modernity Seminar II
  This seminar looks at the phenomenon of modernity from a multidisciplinary point of view. Discussed are the cultural foundations of modernity, specifically and primarily nationalism but also Romanticism, science, and major political ideologies. Also analyzed are modernization and development as studied by the social sciences, modernism, and postmodernism in literary and cultural studies; and the nature of man and society in the perspectives of modern philosophy. Also offered as CAS AN 543. Either or both of SO 541 and SO 543 may be taken for credit.

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