Hot Topics in Education

Chinese Migration in Modern World History, 1500s-2000s

Criminal Justice and Correction

Research Methods for the Social Sciences

Social Theory

Political Sociology

Social Organization and Social Control in Schools

Segregation and Social Inequality

lntroductory Sociology

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

Staff/ 3 credits

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

Freshman Seminar: Hot Topics In Education

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

Alexander/ 3 credits

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 analyzed.

Bennett/ 3 credits

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

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

Chinese Migration in Modern World History, 1500s-2000s

This interdisciplinary course applies theories of economic sociology to examine the effects of Chinese overseas migration on modern world economy from the sixteenth century to the contemporary era. It examines the contribution of overseas Chinese to the development of capitalism in the following junctures: the East-West economic integration in the pre-modern era, China's modern transformation after the Opium War (1839-1842), the making of US national economy in the early twentieth century, as well as the postwar economic miracles in the Pacific Rim, among others.

Kuo/ 3 credits

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

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

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.

Hao/ 3 credits

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.

Heydt-Coca/ 3 credits

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

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

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

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

Political Sociology

This course explores the interaction between political power and social forces in macro-comparative and international perspectives, focusing on how political institutions (such as states, political parties, and international governing bodies) are shaped by actions of different social groups (such as classes, ethnic groups, social movements), and vice versa. The class will cover the historical emergence of sovereign nation-state as the most salient political organization across the world, as well as its evolution into the form as we know it today. The class will also discuss the array of challenges that modern nation-states are facing under globalization and restructuring of world order following the end of Cold War.

Hung/3 credits

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

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.

Heydt-Coca/ 3 credits

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 intellectual 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 socialism to nascent capitalism, and (in the instructor's current research) China during its very different transformation.

Kohn/ 3 credits

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

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

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

Economic Sociology

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

Arrighi / 3 credits

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 socioeconomic factors, however, within the constraints of the world economy.

Heydt-Coca/ 3 Credits

Segregation and Social Inequality

This course presents an in-depth study of racial and ethnic residential segregation and its relationship to social inequality. Through various theoretical perspectives, students will explore the history and contemporary patterns of residential segregation in the United States. In doing so, students will learn about the persons, organizations, and social phenomena that contribute to neighborhood segregation, such as developers, homeowner associations, federal government, local governments (like our own Baltimore City), as well as personal preferences. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and films, students will gain insight into the causes of segregation, as well as its social, economic, and demographic consequences. 

Bennett/ 3 credits

Becoming An Adult: Life Course Perspectives On School, Work, And Family Transitions

While students 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

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

Space, Place, Poverty and Race: Sociological Perspectives 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

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.

Silver/3 credits

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

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.

Hao/ 3 credits

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

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 mechanisms 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

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

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

Qualitative 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.

McDonald/ 3 credits

Gender and International Development

This course employs a comparative perspective to examine gendered impact of international development experiences policies. Students will discuss the historical evolution of 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

Comparative- Historical 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

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

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

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 integrated 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

Quality and Inequality in United States 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

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

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

Global Crises: Past and Present

This course compares the social, political and economic dynamics of the contemporary global crisis with that of earlier ones. Special attention will be paid to the Great Depressions of the 1930s and that of the late 19th century.

Silver / 3 credits

Comparative Sociology of Religious Fundamentalism

The rising tide of global religious fundamentalism in the last three decades has challenged the basic tenets of all theories of progress, and attracted significant popular and scholarly attention. This course combines theoretical material with comparative analyses of selective case studies to investigate and question the basic dichotomies that underlie our understanding of religious fundamentalism: cultural versus political, Western versus non-Western, modern versus anti-modern, and reactionary versus revolutionary.

Bushra / 3 credits

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

Political Sociology of Latin America

This course examines Latin American social structures with a special emphasis on issues of class, race and ethnicity, and contemporary social movements. The first part of the course is organized chronologically, beginning with an overview of pre-Columbian civilizations and the colonial legacies that gave rise to the multiethnic societies and the ethnic conflicts that characterize contemporary Latin America.  The second part the course is organized thematically around issues of social structure, social classes, ethnicity and social movements.

Heydt-Coca / 3 credits

Health and Society in Contemporary China

This class examines the social and health consequences of systemic transformations in China, including collapse of the urban work-unit system, resurgence of infectious disease, and implementation of the One-Child Policy.

Dean's Teaching Fellowship Course

Core / 3 credits

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

Contemporary Economic Sociology of Latin America

This course will offer an overview of Latin America’s economic reality as an intertwined process of economic and political domestic factors within the constraints of the world economy. Latin American development will be analyzed from a historical perspective. The first half of the semester the course will focus on the analysis of the economic developmental patterns starting in the middle of the 19^thcentury to the populist era in the middle of the 20^thcentury.  In the second half of the semester, we will analyze in depth the contemporary neoliberal approach to development. Globalization is the force that drives economic, social and political processes in Latin America. The course will include case studies as well the social conflicts generated by the increasing polarization of the society.

Students will be exposed to important sociological theories.

Heydt-Coca/3 credits

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

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

Global Social Change

This course introduces students to issues of global social change, with a particular focus on the challenges of international development and the contemporary globalization process. Specific themes include world income inequality and global poverty, the rise of supranational organizations (e.g. WTO and EU) and their relations with sovereign states, anti-globalization activism, the rise of China and India in the global economy, and the origins as well as consequences of the current global economic crisis, among others. Lectures will be aided by documentary films and other multi-media materials.

Hung/3 credits

Trust and Collective Efficacy: Fragile Resources

Trust is often cited as necessary to the successful functioning of small groups, formal organizations, and democratic society. Collective efficacy (social cohesion combined with shared expectations for control of public space) is a related concept. This course will consider theories and empirical evidence regarding trust and collective efficacy, as well as claims about other mechanisms that can secure mutually beneficial cooperation. Case studies from education and neighborhood ecology will be considered.

Plank / 3 credits

Globalization, Labor and the State in East Asia

The course will examine the relationship between labor, state policies, and globalization in China, South Korea and Japan in comparative perspective. We will look at debates about the role of developmentalist states on economic and social development, as well as transformation in the nature of work and labor relations in the three countries.

Zhang/3 credits

Research Seminar on Global Social Protest

This course will be run as a collective research working group in which we will design and carry-out a research project on the current upsurge of social unrest around the world, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, from the anti-austerity movements roiling Europe to the wave of workers’ protests taking place in China (including the factories where Ipods, Ipads and Iphones are assembled).  We are currently witnessing an unusual worldwide clustering of major protest movements that will have important consequences for the shape of social and political institutions in the twenty-first century.  We will design and carry-out a research project aimed at documenting the spread and characteristics of this global wave as well as exploring its causes and consequences. The first part of the class will be devoted to research design (determining our central research questions, hypotheses, and data collection procedures); the remainder of the class will be devoted to data collection and analysis. This course is suitable for students who are interested in an empirical and theoretical introduction to the dynamics of global social protest as well as in gaining hands-on research experience on a topic of contemporary social and political relevance.  

Silver & Karatasli/3 credits

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

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

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 hegemonies are also compared.

Staff / 3 credits

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

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

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

Social Problems in Contemporary China

In this course we will examine contemporary Chinese society, looking at economic development, rural transformation, urbanization and migration, labor relations, changes in class structure and family organization, health care, environmental problems, governance, and popular protest. The course is designed for both graduate and undergraduate students. Undergraduates must have already completed a course about China at Hopkins and must obtain the instructor’s permission to join the class.

Andreas / 3 credits

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

Independent Study

Staff/ 3 credits

Research Assistantship

Senior Honors Program

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

Independent Study - (Summer)

Staff/ 3 credits

Independent Research

Staff/ 3 credits

Independent Study (Intersession)

Tutorial In Criminal Justice - Staff

Cross-Listed :

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)