2008 Summer Undergraduate Course List

2008 Fall Undergraduate Course List

Undergraduate Courses and Syllabi

230.101 (S) lntroductory Sociology

This course covers the basic concepts of sociology and applies these concepts to the analysis of human societies.
Staff/ 3 credits

230.106 (S,W) Freshman Seminar:  Education in the                           Media

Several weeks will be spent systematically collecting major newspapers' coverage of schools for analysis of the contents of these articles using sociological tools and perspectives.
Plank/ 3 credits

230.109 (S,W) Freshman Seminar: Hot Topics In   

                              Education

This course examines current school reform initiatives, and controversies  surrounding them, through a sociological lens.

Alexander/ 3 credits

230.112 (S) Freshman Seminar On Race And Education

                         In the U.S.

          The goal of this course is to explore the issues of race

and ethnicity in American education.  Through lectures, films,   discussion, students will become familiar with various

sociological lens through which the educational issues facing    Blacks, Asians, Latinos, and American Indians are analysed.

Bennett/ 3 credits

230.114 (S) Labor and Globalization

           Themes include the impact of global processes such as immigration

           and capital mobility on the nature of work and employment in

           different parts of the world, and how local protest has shaped global

           social change.

           Silver/3 credits

230.150 (S) Issues in International Development

This course introduces students to problems of inequality in wealth and welfare from a global, comparative, and historical perspective. The causes and consequences of inequalities among countries, as well as gender, class, ethnic, and regional stratification, are examined. Major theoretical perspectives on international development and global social change are studied and applied to an analysis of contemporary social issues.
Agarwala/ 3 credits

230.199 (S) Criminal Justice and Corrections

An overview of the criminal justice system including court watching and riding with a police officer. Class includes guest visits, field trips, and term projects.
Harris/ 3 credits

230.201 (S) The Hip Hop Generation: Power, Identity

                          and Social Change

            Hip-Hop is used to frame the critical analysis of power,

            identity, and social change in America. Through music, film,

            and text, students will explore the topics of (dis)advantage,

            race, gender/sexuality, and resistance.

            Gosa/3 credits

230.202 (S) Research Methods for the Social Sciences

The purpose of this course is to provide a sound introduction to the overall process of research and the specific research methods most frequently used by sociologists and other social scientists. The major topics covered include (1) scientific inquiry and the role of theory in research, (2) causation, (3) conceptualization and operationalization, (4) research design-including experiments, survey research, field research, and comparative research.
Hao/ 3 credits

230.203 (S) Introduction to Latin American Societies

           This course is designed as an introduction to Latin America's

           societies for beginners, providing a survey of Latin America

           through its historical, economic, social, and political dimensions.

           We will analyze the pre-Columbian civilizations and the legacy of

           colonialism to understand the origins of the multiethnic societies

           and then focus on the contemporary development. For the first

           part of the semester we are going to analyze the process

           chronologically, the second part the course is organized

           thematically. We focus on class structure, race, ethnicity and

           social movements. This course will offer background information

           to build a solid foundation for further specialization in a region

           or a theme.

           von der Heydt/ 3 credits

230.205 (S,Q) Introduction to Social Statistics

This course will introduce students to the application of statistical techniques commonly used in sociological analysis. Topics include measures of central tendency and dispersion, probability theory, confidence intervals, chi-square, ANOVA, and regression analysis. Hands-on computer experience with statistical software and analysis of data from various fields of social research. 
McDonald/ 4 credits

230.208 (S) Contemporary Perspectives in Race                                 Relations

This course surveys various current approaches to questions of American race, racism, and race relations. Its central objective is to provide an overview of the historical, political, economic, and cultural factors which have contributed to the race relations climate observed in the present day. The course also addresses sociological theorizing and research on racial issues.
McDonald/ 3 credits

230.212 (S,W) Race, Ethnicity, And Education In The                               United States  

The goal of this course is to explore issues of race and ethnic minorities, such as school and residential segregation, academic tracking, language isolation, and peer group influences to understand their effects on learning opportunities.  Students will be asked to think about the ways in which disadvantages faced by racial and ethnic minorities are alleviated or reproduced in schools

Bennett/ 3 credits

230.213 (S,W) Social Theory

This course provides an introduction to classical sociological theories (with an emphasis on Marx, Weber, and Durkheim). Contemporary theoretical perspectives on social inequality, conflict, and social change are also explored. Emphasis is placed on understanding the theoretical constructs as well as on applying them in the analysis of current social issues. 
Andreas/ 3 credits

230.225 (S) Population, Health and Development

This course will cover the major world population changes in the past century as well as the contemporary situation and projections for this century. Topics include rapid population growth, the historical and continuing decline of death and birth rates, the mortality transition, increases in contraceptive use, population aging, urbanization, population and the environment and the demographic effects of HIV/AIDS.

Becker/3 credits

230.290 (S) Gender and Contemporary Society

         In this introductory course we will explore questions such as:

         What does gender mean? Why study gender and how is

         gender studied?  In what ways does gender play a role in

         families, schools, workplaces, the media, and in global context?

         Jayaram/ 3 credits

230.300  Contemporary Economic Sociology of Latin                      America

This course will analyze the economic and social structures of Latin America from WWII onwards, giving emphasis to the actual problems of globalization.  This course will offer a structural approach to the most recent stages of development, taking into account the internal and external factors.  It will encompass the era of populism, military dictatorships, the period of democratization, and the present era of globalization.

von der Heydt/ 3 credits

230.302 (S) Class, Stratification and Personalty

An intensive examination of the research literature, much of it based on survey research carried out by the instructor and his international collaborators, on the relationships of social class and social stratification with personality.  The course will examine the links between people's positions in the class structure and the stratification hierarchy and their and more approximate conditions of life, particularly their job conditions, and how these conditions, in turn, affect (and are affected by) such basic dimensions of personality as intellectural flexibility, orientations to self and society, and feelings of well-being or distress.  The research has been conducted principally in the United States, Japan, Poland when it was socialist, Poland and Ukraine during their transitions from socialsim to nascent capitalism, and (in the instructor's current research) China during its very different transformation.

Kohn/ 3 credits

230.303 (S) Sociology of Disability

           This course introduces students to themes within the

           sociology of disability by critiquing traditional notions

           of disability, and exploring how societal institutions influence

           the classification, significance, and experiences of disability.

           Villenas/ 3 credits

230.304 (S) Social Organization and Social Control in                           Schools

We will ask: "How do arrangements of tasks, rewards, roles, and opportunities in schools affect student learning, behavior, and sense of attachment?" and "In what ways are social control

processes in schools related to the demands and dynamics of other institutions, particularly the family and the labor market?" Before addressing these questions, we will define social organization and social control, and describe the forms (both intended and unintended) they take in schools.
Plank/ 3 credits

230.305 (S) Poverty and Welfare Policy

Examines the scope, character, and causes of poverty, the

major policies to address it, and the movement toward welfare reform. The roles of migration, race/ethnicity, and gender are considered.
Cherlin / 3 credits

230.306 (S) Economic Sociology

Classical and contemporary theories of the interaction between economy and society. Hierarchies, market segmentation, embeddedness. Formal and informal economies in advanced nd developing societies.
Arrighi / 3 credits

230.307  Sociology of Latin America

This course will offer an overview of Latin America's reality through its economic, social, political and cultural dimensions.  Latin American development will be analyzed as a historical process determined by intertwined internal socio-economic factors, however, within the constraints of the world economy.

von der Heydt/ 3 Credits

230.309  (S) Segregation and Social Inequality

This course presents an in-depth study of segregation and its

relationship to social and economic inequality. Students will explore several forms of segregation--residential, school, and occupational segregation. We begin with the history of residential segregation in the United States, its patterns and causes, as well as its social, economic, and demographic consequences. We then explore school segregation, and end with an examination of segregation of men and women in work. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and films, students gain insight into racial, ethnic, and gender inequality across several social, economic, and demographic domains.

Bennett/ 3 credits

230.310 (S,W)  Becoming An Adult: Life Course                                        Perspectives On School, Work,

                And Family Transitions

While sudents may already be personally familiar with the subject matter, the course examines the sociological and psychological dimensions of this demographically dense period known as the transition to adulthood.  Emphasizes life course theories of human development through readings of empirical work on adolescence, the transition to college, early employment and early family formation.  Attention is paid to the ways class, gender, race and nationality influence the pathways, choices and outcomes of young people.  A Statistics/Sociology background is helpful, but not required.

DeLuca/ 3 credits

230.312 (S,W) Education and Society

This course examines how educational institutions affect students' skills, values, and social mobility across generations. Research is reviewed that compares educational institutions according to their formal and interpersonal structures.
Alexander/ 3 credits

230.313 (S,W) Space, Place, Poverty and Race:                                        Sociological Perespectives on

               Neighborhoods and Public Housing

Is a neighborhood just a grouping of individuals living in the same place, or do neighborhoods have collective meanings and impacts on children and families? We will capitalize on research methodologies used to define and describe neighborhoods and their effects on economic and educational outcomes. These include case studies, census data, surveys, quasi/experimental data. Focus is on how research measures neighborhood effects and incorporates community level processes into models of social causation (e.g. social capital/control, community efficacy, civic engagement). Also examined: patterns in residential mobility, segregation, and preferences within black and white populations; development of housing policy in the US; programs to determine how neighborhoods affect issues of social importance. Statistics and public policy background is helpful but not required.
DeLuca/ 3 credits

230.314 (S) International Development

          Recent trends in the global distribution of wealth, status

          and power will be analyzed in light of theories of

          national and international development. Special attention

          will be paid to the unevenness of development between

          and within the global North and South.

          Arrighi/3 credits

230.316 (S,W) The African-American Family

This course is an examination of sociological theories and studies of African-American families and an overview of the major issues confronting African-American family life. The contemporary conditions of black families are explored, as well as the historical events that have influenced the family patterns we currently observe. Special attention will be given to social policies that have evolved as a result of the prominence of any one perspective at a given point in time.
McDonald/ 3 credits

230.317 (S,W) Sociology of Immigration

This course surveys sociological theories and research on immigration to the U.S. Theoretical approaches include theories of international migration, economic sociology, immigration, and assimilation. Research topics include the impact of U.S. immigration laws and policies on immigrant inflows and stocks, self-selection of immigrants, the impact of immigration on the native-born population and the U.S. labor market and economy, and the adaptation of the first and second generations. The course focuses on immigration since 1965 and its related controversies and debates.
Hao/ 3 credits

230.318 (S)  State and Society Relations in Modern

                           India

           This course examines the complex, at times conflicting, relationship

           that has emerged between Indian seats of power from above

           and Indian expressions of society from below. Attention will be

           placed on the period between 1947 to the present.

           Agarwala/3 credits

230.320 (S,W)  Education and Inequality: Individual,                              Contextual, and Policy Perspectives

This course examines classic and current debates in the sociology of education.  Topics covered include the function and purpose of school in modern society; inequality and social mobility (as affected by labor market returns to school and the institutional mechansisms that affect status, such as tracking); social interactions in the classroom and student achievement; racial differences in achievement: the effort vs. ability debate; schools as organizations in the larger societal context; the function of community colleges; and the school to work transition.  The relevance of education research to policy-making and school reform is emphasized throughout the course.

DeLuca/ 3 credits

230.321 (S)  Revolution, Reform, and Social Inequality                        in China

           This course explores various aspects of social inequality in China                   during the Mao Zedong era and during the post-Mao reform era.  We            will examine inequality within villages, the rural/urban divide, urban                inequality, education policies, and gender and ethnic relations.  Each              of these issue areas will be tackled analytically, but the aim is also to            understand what it was/is like to live in China during and after the                   Mao era.

Andreas/ 3 credits

230.322 (S,W,Q) Quantitative Research Practicum

This course provides "hands on" research experience applying sociological research tools and a sociological perspective to problems of substance.  Quantitative methods will be emphasized, as applied to census data, survey data and/or archival data.  Students will design and carry out a research project and write a research report.  Introduction to Social Statistics (230.301) is a prerequisite.

Staff/ 3 credits

230.323 (S,W) Qualitiative Research Practicum

This course provides "hands on" research experience applying sociological research tools and a sociological perspective to problems of substance.  Qualitative observational and/or interviewing methods will be emphasized.  Students will design and carry out a research project and write a research report.  Introduction to Social Statistics (230.205) is a prerequisite.

Staff/ 3 credits

230.324 (S) Gender and International Development

         This course employs a comparative perspective to examine the              gendered impact of international development experiences and              policies.  Students will discuss the historical evolution of how                       the concept of gender has been constructed, conceptualized,                       and integrated into international development theory and practice.            The course will also examine how greater attention to gender issues                has challenged the assumptions behind the

           theoretical frameworks and the policy prescriptions guiding            international development.  In particular, we will examine            structural theories of poverty reduction, individual theories of power

           and processes of stratification at the household and family level.

           Specific issue areas will include the globalization, class and

           work, political participation and social movements.                        Agarwala/ 3 credits 

230.325 (S) Comparative and Historical Sociology

                          Research Practicum

            This course provides "hands on" research experience

            in comparative and historical sociology. Sociological

            research tools and perspectives will be used to analyze

            social structure, conflict and change. This course is

            suitable for both majors and non-majors, and fulfills the

            "research practicum" requirement for Sociology majors.

             Silver/3 credits

230.328 (S,W) Sociology of Human Development

A survey of sociological research and theory on life cycle stages from infancy through adulthood with emphasis on continuity and change. Topics will include sociology of birth and infancy, child and adolescence as a transition period for young adulthood, and the various stages of adulthood into old age. Major themes are life-course issues, including the role of education.
Entwisle/ 3 credits

230.329 (S,W) Seminar in Work and Personality

An intensive examination of the research literature on the relationship between work and personality, emphasizing such issues as the causal directionality of the relationships, conceptualization of job structure and of personality, processes by which job conditions affect off-the-job psychological functioning, the relationship between people's positions in the class structure and stratification hierarchy and their job conditions, and modification of job conditions.

Kohn/ 3 credits

230.332 (S) Race, Racism, and Racial Privilege

This course will examine the concepts of race, racism, racial privilege in contemporary America, and the West in general. Examples from other countries will be integregated as well. Historical contexts such as the colonialism, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement, and the post-Civil Rights era will help to provide an understanding of the social, political, economic, and cultural forces processes that have constructed and shaped the concepts of race and the racialized subject over time.
Bennett/ 3 credits

 

230.333 (S,W) Quality and Inequality in American                                   Education

The tension between quality and equality in American education, as developed in the various writings of James S. Coleman, will be the focus of this course. Major works to be considered will include The Adolescent Society, Equality of Educational Opportunity, Youth in Transition, Trends in School Segregation, and Public and Private High Schools.
Alexander/ 3 credits

230.334 (S) The City in Time and Space:Historical    

                     Sociology of the Urban World

This course will cover the past and current developments of urbanization from a comparative historical perspective examining how cities operate in the increasingly connected and complex world of today.

Dean's Teaching Fellowship Course

Pasciuti/3 credits

230.335 (S) Political Sociology

Analyzes the relations of the state to society and economy in several nations which occupy distinctive positions in the world system, with special attention to the effects of different class structures and patterns of regional inequality on political protest, mobilization, and change.
Silver/ 3 credits

230.341 (S) Medical Sociology

This course introduces graduate students and upper-level undergraduates to medical sociology, which is the application of the sociological perspective to health and health care. Major topics include stress, social epidemiology, and the social organization of health care.
Staff, Bloomberg School of Public Health/ 3 credits

230.345 (S) Historical Sociology of Africa

           This course will examine social problems of contemporary

           Africa in light of the legacies of the pre-colonial, colonial and

           post-colonial eras. Special attention will be paid to the social

           and political aspects of uneven economic development within

           and between regions of sub-saharan Africa.

           Arrighi/3 credits

230.349 (S) Globalization and Social Movements

This course examines theories of social protest and revolution. Empirical cases studied range from national liberation movements in the first half of the 20th century to "new" social movements in the 1960s and the present. The conditions conducive to the emergence of open protest, the changing (class, status) composition of movements and their demands, and the causes of movement success or failure will be examined. Special emphasis will be placed on studying transnational links among contemporary movements as well as historical periods of "global" social protest.
Silver/ 3 credits

230.351 (S) The Historical Sociology of East Asia

The East Asian region in pre-modern and early modern times. East Asian and European dynamics compared. Connections between "the rise of the West" and "the demise of the East." Origins of the Chinese diaspora. Rebellions, wars, and revolutions. The reorganization of the region under U.S. hegemony. Japanese and Chinese business networks. The East Asian economic renaissance and the current crisis in world-historical perspective.
Arrighi / 3 credits

230.388 (S) Sociology of the Family

This course includes a survey of sociological writings on the institution of the family and an examination of current issues and problems in family life.
Cherlin/ 3 credits

230.389 (S) The Family in Comparative Perspective

           Using theories of family sociology and principles of

           comparative perspective, this course compares family

           structure and family processes among various families

           within the U.S., western Europe, China, and Japan.

           Hao/ 3 credits   

230.390 (S) Theories of Social Change and Evolution

This is a course on the historical development of human societies. Systematic comparisons are made between societies and intersocietal networks with emphasis on changes in the logic of social development. The course surveys general theories of social evolution and historical economic systems. The dynamics of political centralization/decentralization in the rise and fall of chiefdoms, states, empires, and modern hegemons are also compared.
Staff / 3 credits

230.391 (S) Theories of International Development

Theories of political, economic, and social development. National development and the development of international systems. Although contemporary development and underdevelopment are emphasized, patterns of change in recent centuries are also examined in order to provide a comparative background for understanding recent developmental processes.
Silver, Arrighi / 3 credits

230.407 (S) Comparative Labor Movements                                          Research Seminar

Research-oriented course on the dynamics of labor and social movements from a global and comparative-historical perspective.
Silver/ 3 credits

230.410 (S) Cross-National Research on Social Structure

                          and Personality

A critical examination of the research literature in this domain, with special attention to the logic of cross-national comparative analysis and to the methods used for assuring comparability of concepts and indices in cross-national research.

Kohn/ 3 credits

230.450 (S) Macro-Comparative Research Methods

This course covers basic methods of studying long-run, large-scale social change. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are covered.

Staff/ 3 credits

230.500 Independent Study

Staff/ 3 credits

230.501 Research Assistantship

230.502 (S) Senior Honors Program

           Staff/ 3 credits

The requirement for the seminar is an honors thesis, due at the end of the second semester. The thesis may be a piece of research that the student does independently, or it may be a thoughtful and critical review of the work in a selected area.
Staff/ 3 credits

230.505 Independent Study - (Summer)

           Staff/ 3 credits

230.506 Independent Research

            Staff/ 3 credits

230.508 Internship - Staff

230.509 Independent Study (Intersession)

230.510 Tutorial In Criminal Justice - Staff

Cross-Listed

195.477-478 Introduction to Urban Policy: Seminar                              and Internship

This is a 6-credit, one-semester undergraduate course on urban problems and policy in the U.S. The weekly seminar considers the major challenges and opportunities facing cities, and the effectiveness of urban and related policies. Students also work at part-time internships in the City Council, a government agency, or community organization in Baltimore. Course requirements include two term papers-one for the seminar portion of the program, the other for the internship. Admission is by permission of the instructor. Undergraduates must take the seminar and internship concurrently. Graduate students may take the seminar only.
Newman / 3 credits (seminar) / 3 credits (internship)