Sociology

Courses Taught

• SOC 103 Introduction to Sociology
  Study of basic structures and dynamics of human societies, focusing on the development of principles and concepts used in sociological analysis and research. Topics include culture, socialization, social institutions, stratification, and social change. No prerequisite. Meets three hours per week and has extra assignments.
• SOC 239 Health, Medicine and Society
  What is health, and how have science and medicine, as social institutions, helped us to frame health in terms of places, people & politics? In what ways do our communities—from family to nation-state—help or hinder our life course and affect our access to medicine and medical technologies? How has science reproduced frameworks of discrimination via colonialism, racism, sexism, and ableism? Can we, as global citizens, cultivate a ‘One Health’ approach to these challenges? Taking a richly multi-disciplinary lens by drawing on the lessons of history, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies, this class attempts to answer such questions through a biopolitical and necropolitical theoretical framework. Our readings and research will focus on the intertwined histories and contemporary realities of colonialism and medicine; pandemics and prophylaxis; politics and public health; gender, ableism and the body; medical technologies and artificial intelligence; and the medicalization of disease and death. This class will be largely discussion-based, with student presentations and an essay-based midterm and final. This course will count as an elective in the Sociology, Public Policy, and Public Health Policy majors and the Sociology and Peace & Justice Studies minors. Prerequisites: SOC 101, 102 or 103; or HS 120; or permission of the instructor. SOC 239 and PP 239 are cross-listed.
• SOC 247 Environment, Society & Justice
  What are the major issues facing humanity today? What are the major issues facing the environment? Are these challenges the same? In this course, we will begin to think through the ways in which the problems of humanity—violence, precarity, discrimination, denial, to name just a few—are also at the root of major environmental concerns. Underlying much of our contemporary relationship to the ‘environment’ is a capitalist framework. Thus, we will look at the exploitative nature of colonial resource extraction; the structure of environmental racism and unequal resource access; the increasingly unnatural disasters we face; the emotional and political foundations of climate change denial; and the role of corporations and money in fueling environmental degradation and catastrophe. We will conclude the semester with a discussion of social movements, resiliency, and post-humanism. This course will be largely discussion-based and interactive, and will count as an elective in the Sociology and Environmental Studies majors and minors and the Peace & Justice Studies minor. This course will count as an elective in the Public Health Policy major. SOC 247 and PP 247 are cross-listed.
• SOC 400 Sociology Seminar
  The capstone seminar is the culmination of the major degree program, seeking to help students become advocates for positive social change with knowledge and empathy. The capstone will help students integrate and synthesize the lessons learned in their many elective, methods, and theory courses. Students will review sociological research methods; ethical research design; and theoretical frameworks and paradigms in order to create a strong independent research project based on primary data collection and analysis. Each student's research will also be showcased via the interactive websites they design, which will in turn form the foundation for future employment and graduate program applications. Prerequisites: SOC 296 (with C or above), 298, 299; and senior status.