Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• GRS RN 768: Symbol, Myth, and Rite
  Historical overview of ritual behavior, the role of symbolism in the study of culture, and the narrative quality of worldview and belief. Emphasis on verbal performance and public display events in specific cultural contexts
• GRS RN 770: Topics in Medieval Religious Culture
  Topic for Fall 2013: Christian, Muslim, and Jew: Religion, Community, and Culture in Medieval Spain. Interactions between Muslims, Christians, and Jews in medieval Europe's most religiously diverse region - from the establishment of an Islamic al-Andalus in 711 CE to the final Christian "reconquest" of the peninsula and expulsion of the Jews in 1492 CE. Also offered as GRS HI 807.
• GRS RN 790: Topics in the Materiality of Ancient Mediterranean Religions
  Investigates material traces and contexts of religion in the Greco-Roman world, including iconic, architectural, votive, magical, and other archaeological remains; and draws on theories of space, image, and ritual performance. Topics vary. Also offered as GRS AR 735.
• GRS RN 791: Approaches to Religion I: Classical Approaches
  Surveys in roughly chronological order classic theoretical and methodological works in religious studies. Covers the history of the field, and critically analyzes the ways religion is studied and taught in modern universities.
• GRS RN 792: Approaches to Religion II: Religion and Contemporary Theory
  Surveys contemporary theoretical and methodological works in religious studies. Topics might include the category of experience; ritual; modernism and postmodernism; sexual, racial, and cultural difference; postcolonial theory; historicism; narrative theory; gender and sexuality studies; secularism; and the politics of interpretation.
• GRS RN 793: Professional Development Seminar for Doctoral Students in Religion
  Prepares Religion doctoral students for advanced research, writing, and teaching in the field. Topics include: comprehensive exams, conference presentations, syllabus design, fellowship applications, and job markets.
• GRS SO 701: Advanced Sociological Theory (Classical)
  Primarily for first-year graduate students. Required for master's degree in sociology. Advanced survey and review of classical sociological theory and theorists.
• GRS SO 702: Proseminar: Sociological Methods
  Designed primarily for first-year graduate students. Review of major sociological methods.
• GRS SO 708: Contemporary Sociological Theory
  Covers the basic elements of the major theoretical paradigms in modern sociology, covering topics and problems in the philosophy of social science and current controversies in the field.
• GRS SO 712: Qualitative Methods
  Introduces qualitative methods in sociology, highlighting ethnography and interviews. Strengthens students' evaluation skills, enhances understanding of the logic of qualitative design, and allows students to employ qualitative methods and develop a research proposal.
• GRS SO 716: Macro Organization Theory
  Organization theory aims to explain the origins, persistence, and disappearance of organizations. This seminar introduces the major theoretical approaches and debates in organizational theory. Besides providing a roadmap to the field, it also aims to help generate original research ideas.
• GRS SO 721: Seminar on Social Networks
  Explores the theoretical justifications for the study of social networks using classical and contemporary formulations as well as empirical research. Also covers mainstream methods and computer applications for the visual and quantitative analysis of social networks.
• GRS SO 724: Quantitative Methods in Sociological Analysis
  Introduction to a wide range of standard statistical techniques typically used in the sociological analysis of large-N data. Covers quantitative approaches to sociological research, basic univariate and bivariate analysis, multiple regression, and binary logistic regression.
• GRS SO 742: Urban Inequality
  Presents key theoretical approaches to the study of the city and uses them to investigate features of urban inequality; examines how space is produced and utilized to marginalize at the bottom and seclude at the top of the social structure.
• GRS SO 765: The Sociology of Religion
  Explores the relationship between religion and society, considering religious language, symbols, communities and practices as social phenomena and the social processes at work in congregations and denominations, new religious movements and conversion, religious communal identity and ethnic conflict.
• GRS SO 770: Topics in Sociology
  Topics seminar that takes in-depth look at a social issue. May be repeated for credit as topics change. One topic is offered Fall 2020. Genders, Sexualities, and Youth Cultures. Investigates the social construction of gender and sexuality in adolescence. Engaging critical approaches to youth cultures, the course examines the structural conditions that shape gender and sexuality norms, and the ways youth navigate and redefine their social worlds.
• GRS SO 803: Seminar: Gender Stratification
  Considers how the social production of gender contributes to various forms of gendered inequalities in employment, the family, dating markets, media representation, etc., with a special emphasis on how race, class, sexuality, and disability mediate the process.
• GRS SO 804: Seminar: The Family
  Explores the rise of "modern" families and the plurality of contemporary family forms and processes including gay and lesbian families and new reproductive technologies. Particular attention to social and economic inequalities and their implications for family life. Also offered as GRS AA 804.
• GRS SO 808: Seminar: Ethnic, Race, and Minority Relations
  Formation and position of ethnic minorities in the United States, including cross-group comparisons from England, Africa, and other parts of the world. Readings and field experience.
• GRS SO 818: Medical Sociology
  Sociological factors in physical and mental illness as they operate in the community, hospitals, and interpersonal relations. Current research on selected topics in medical sociology; contributions to sociological theory and their practical application. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Writing-Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Social Inquiry II
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course

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