• SOC 506-000: Applied Regression
• SOC 513-000: Perspectives on Mental Health
• SOC 523-000: Social Change
• SOC 527-000: Gender and Global Health
  (same as WS 585-000)
• SOC 540-000: Basic Theoretical Problems
• SOC 553-000: Evaluations in Social Interaction
  (same as PSYC 534)
• SOC 590R-000: Second Year Research Paper
• SOC 714-00P: Communities & Crime
  

Content:  Applied Regression Analysis 506 is a graduate-level course in the theory and application of regression models as they pertain to social science data. Topics include simple linear and multiple regression, dummy variable techniques, model reduction and diagnostics, violation of classic assumptions, nonlinear and dynamic models, and simultaneous equations. The course will provide the necessary foundation in statistical theory and estimation procedures underlying multivariate regression analysis and give students data analysis tools, which will allow them to undertake their own research using these techniques. In addition, a thorough grounding in the basics of statistical theory will facilitate students' understanding and interpretation of regression-based social science research literatures.

Texts:  Gujarati, Damodar N. Basic Econometrics, 4th Edition. ISBN: 9780071276252. (Best bought used online.)

Content:  This course entertains two broad questions within which numerous models, theories, and empirical studies are employed.   First, what is the nature and burden of mental illnesses as well as mental health?  Second, what are the causes of mental illnesses and mental health? This course employs a biopsychosocial causal model of health.  It therefore examines mental health in terms of its proximal (biological), medial (psychological), and its distal (sociological) causes.  Moreover, emerging research and perspectives on the integration of levels of causes will be explored.  This course is intended to train students to be theoretical and interdisciplinary scholars of mental health.

Texts: No required texts.

Particulars:

1. A journal-style research/review paper.
2. Professional-style presentation.
3. Regular, active participation.
   

Content:  This seminar in macrosociology will cover key themes in the literature and a variety of substantive topics by examining classic studies of social change, recent analyses of major trends in the U.S., and selected studies of globalization.

Text:

1. Fischer, Claude & Hout, Michael. A Century of Difference: How America Changed in the Last One Hundred Years. ISBN: 9780871543684.
2. Lechner, Frank & Boli, John. Origins and Consequences. ISBN: 9780631226772.
3. Lipset, Seymour M. It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States.  ISBN: 9780393322545.
4. Milanovic, Branko. Worlds Apart. ISBN: 9780691130514.
5. Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation. ISBN: 9780807056431.
6. Putnam, Robert & Campbell, David. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. ISBN: 9781416566717.
7. Roy, William G. Socializing Capital: The Rise of the Large Industrial Corporation in America.  ISBN: 9780691010342.
8. De Tocqueville, Alexis. Ancien Regime and the French Revolution. ISBN: 9780141441641.

Particulars:  Presentations, essay, paper.

Content:  This course investigates, through indepth discussion, film, and texts, theories, evidence, and interventions related to gender and health, with a focus on the poor settings.  Students are exposed to some of the major theoretical developments in sociology and population studies that have advanced an understanding of the institutional bases of gender inequality, and of the power dynamics within families and households, that influence women’s well being in these settings.  The theoretical and empirical underpinnings of existing social policies and interventions intended to improve the position of women in LDC’s are emphasized, and case studies of the health-related consequences of these policies and interventions are discussed.  By the end of the course, students will have developed the ability to evaluate critically and to identify the relationships between theories, policies, and social interventions related to gender and health.

Texts:  No required texts.

Particulars:  Regular class attendance and participation (15%); leadership of one discussion (15%); weekly reaction journal (20%); annotated bibliography (20%); term paper (30%).

Content:  This course examines basic theoretical problems in sociology through an analysis of the work of classical theorists and some of their contemporary successors.  It addresses questions about social action and social order, the structure of modern societies, and the moral and political implications of theoretical analysis.

Texts:

1. Durkheim, Emile & Bellah, Robert N. (Editor). On Morality and Society: Selected Writings. ISBN: 9780226173368.
2. Weber, Max & Gerth, Hans H. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. ISBN:9780195004625.
3. Smith, Adam, Heilbroner, R. L. & Malone, Lawrence J. (Editor). The Essential Adam Smith. ISBN: 9780393955309.
4. Levine, Donald N. Visions of the Sociological Tradition. ISBN: 9780226475479.
5. Simmel, Georg & Levine, Donald N. (Editor). Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms. ISBN: 9780226757766.
6. Mead, George Herbert & Strauss, Anselm L. (Editor). George Herbert Mead on Social Psychology. ISBN: 9780226516653.
7. Marx, Karl, Engels, Friedrich & Tucker, Robert C. The Marx-Engels Reader. 2nd Edition. ISBN: 9780393090406.
   

Particulars:  Presentations, essay, paper.

Content:  How do people perceive and evaluate others and themselves?  How are these evaluations linked to emotions?  How do evaluations of outcomes and procedures stimulate action?  This course first addresses a critical process underlying interaction and other types of evaluations: social cognition.  The second part of the course notes how such physiological and cognitive factors affect emotional experiences and expressions, which have consequences for interaction.  Both cognitions and emotions are fundamental features of justice processes, which constitute the third part of the class. Questions will focus on the antecedents and consequences of both distributive, procedural, and interactional justice in social interaction.

Texts:

1. Selected readings available on eReserves
2. Fiske, Susan & Taylor, Shelley. Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture. ISBN: 9780073405520. (Currently out of print, but copies available from Amazon.com.)  
   

Particulars:  Presentation on readings, one essay exam, research paper, paper critiques.  (Note: in lieu of the research paper, students may take two additional essay exams.)

Content:  This seminar has two broad goals.  First, it instructs students in the conceptual and pragmatic issues associated with empirical research. It does so by focusing on such fundamental issues as the construction of literature reviews, the translation of theoretical concerns into empirical projects, and the design and implementation of empirical studies.  Second, it assists students in bringing their own empirical research to completion.  As a result, enrolled students are expected to enter the semester with an identified research project; moreover, they are expected to make substantial progress on these projects, especially given the feedback and dialogue that will occur throughout the semester.

Texts:  Online reserves.

Particulars:  In-class presentations of ongoing research efforts; demonstrated progress on research paper by end of semester.

Content:  This graduate seminar will focus on the role of communities as important geographic and social contexts for crime, violence, and delinquency.  We will examine the growing literature on the social organization of neighborhoods as facilitators of and/or protectors against crime and violence.  Core debates in this literature center on two overarching themes.  The first concerns the varied methodologies employed to study communities and crime.  We will explore the differences between both qualitative and quantitative approaches, definitional concerns including the modifiable areal unit problem, individualistic and ecological fallacies, and issues of endogeneity, causality, and direction of effect.  The second theme centers on the range of theoretical approaches applied to the problem of communities and crime.  Such concepts as social disorganization, cultural transmission, social capital, collective efficacy, coercive mobility, and social control amongst others will be considered.  Some attention will be directed at the causes and consequences of mass incarceration for communities. These larger themes will be emphasized in readings and discussion throughout the semester.

Texts:

1. Anderson, Elijah. Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City. ISBN: 0393320782.
2. Bursik, Robert J., Jr. & Grasmick, Harold G. Neighborhoods and Crime: The Dimensions of Effective Community Control. ISBN: 0669246328.
3. Clear, Todd R. Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse. ISBN: 9780195387209.
4. Harding, David J. Living the Drama: Community, Conflict, and Culture among Inner-City Boys. ISBN: 9780226316659.
5. St. Jean, Peter K. B. 2007. Pockets of Crime: Broken Windows, Collective Efficacy, and the Criminal Point of View. ISBN: 9780226774992.

Particulars:  (Tentative) reaction papers, term paper, seminar leadership, active participation in discussion.