Seminar sociologically explores elements of the American Jewish experience: identity, ethnicity, Jewish diversity, denominationalism, adaptation, acculturation vs. contra-acculturation, including intermarriage. We investigate Jewish population and attitudes, ritual and rites of passage, popular culture, Jewish education, antisemitism and philosemitism, messianism, and the role of Israel. Students will analyze one of these topics in depth in the real life of Jews. A field trip to Brooklyn is included.

This course surveys Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences in sociology, anthropology, American studies, ethnomusicology, and education. This course develops an account of racializations beyond the black/white binary while situating Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences of exclusion and differential inclusion in the larger context of US wars and empires Asia and the Pacific Islands; settler colonialism; racial capitalism; displacement & migration; and popular culture and mass media.

This class examines the transpacific entanglements between the United States, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. The central aims of the course is to 1) unpack how narratives of American exceptionalism and rescue have historically been used to justify US military and capitalist interventions in Asia and the Pacific Islands and 2) connect the ways in which this contributes to the continued dispossessions, displacements, movements, and racializations of Asian and Pacific Islander peoples.

Technology and society are unthinkable without each other, each provides the means and framework in which the other develops. To explore this dynamic, this course investigates a wide array of questions on the interaction between technology, society, politics, and economics, emphasizing the themes such as innovation and regulation, risk and failure, ethics and expertise. Specific topics covered include nuclear power and disasters, green energy, the development and regulation of the Internet, medical expertise and controversy, intellectual property, the financial crisis, and the electric power grid.

This seminar examines how gender and sexuality shape processes of migration. It mainly focuses on the experiences of women. It addresses the constitution of gender and sexuality in the process of migration, analyzes the ways that society disciplines migrants via the control of their gender and sexuality, examines how race factors in these processes, and lastly identifies the ways that migrants utilize gender and sexuality to negotiate the various structural inequalities they confront in the process of migration. This course situates our discussion of gender and sexuality in the state, labor market, and family.

Source materials used in the study of population; standard procedures for the measurement of fertility, mortality, natural increase, migration, and nuptiality; and uses of model life tables and stable population analysis and other techniques of estimation when faced with inaccurate or incomplete data are studied.

This course seeks to provide a sociological account of crime and punishment. Why do people commit crime? How should we respond to crime? How has crime policy changed over the past several decades? What are the consequences of recent crime policy? By reading classic and contemporary sociological research, policy analysis, and media coverage, we will explore the themes of crime and punishment in contemporary society.

Who succeeds in school, and why? What do schools teach students, in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic? What is the role of schools in modern society? How do schools reproduce, interrupt, or legitimate the social order? In this course, you will apply sociological perspectives to the study of education.

This course takes a close look at the foundational texts and critical concepts in the discipline of sociology, from the 19th century classics to contemporary theorists who have inspired important research agendas. Our two main goals will be to a) engage critically with authors and ideas and b) to develop your own 'sociological eye' and theoretical skills. Key authors will include Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Dubois, Schutz, Goffman, Bourdieu, Foucault, Butler and Latour. We will put these authors in their historical contexts and also ask how they can be used now to interpret contemporary issues and events.

The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages? Drawing on history, social-scientific research, and reporting, this seminar will attempt to unravel this question. Weekly, we will discuss a topic central to understanding the causes and consequences of, and solutions to, American poverty. We will take field trips, welcome guests, and collaborate on projects to abolish poverty.

Money seems to represent the ultimate symbol of economic rationality, a single, impersonal and totally interchangeable medium of exchange. Money is also feared as morally dangerous, replacing personal bonds with cold greed. This seminar will offer a fundamentally different sociological explanation of how money works. Examining different monetary worlds ranging from households and college campuses, to law firms and internet sites, we will explore how our multiple moneys are shaped by cultural meanings, moral concerns, and social relations.

This course focuses on the structural and institutional foundations of racial discrimination in the United States. It emphasizes the contributions of sociologists. The course gives a historical overview followed by an investigation of key legislative actions and economic factors inhibiting racial equality. Subsequent topics include migration and immigration; urban development; and residential segregation. The end of the course reviews resistance movements and policies aimed at addressing systemic racism, including restorative justice and reparations.

The combined deployment of digital systems, massive data collection and computer code have reshaped the basic rules of social life: how people communicate, work, exchange and associate; how they relate to one another, themselves, and the world around them; how institutions, public and private, frame and pursue their social mission and economic purpose; and how they sort, slot, and know populations and individuals. This course will analyze the specificity and power of digital technology as a driver of capital accumulation, a technique of government, an engine of social difference, and a cultural force with its own politics and moral lexicon.

This course will introduce you to the basic concepts, theories, and methods used in social demography. We will apply a comparative approach that highlights country differences with a special emphasis the US Israel comparison. In the first half of this class we will review basic demographic concepts. In the second half of the class we will focus on demography of the family. We will ask how fertility, marriage and divorce differ for different population groups in different countries. We will also learn how demographic processes may be related to the reproduction of poverty, and inequality.

This course examines the social impact of driverless cars, a rapidly evolving technology that promises to revolutionize the way we travel. Through a sociological lens, we will explore how driverless cars are expected to affect safety, accessibility, employment, urban planning, and environment, as well as privacy and data security. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature, we will analyze the benefits and drawbacks of driverless cars from a sociological perspective. Through readings, discussions, and projects, students will develop a critical understanding of the social impact of driverless cars and the future of transportation.

This is a course on research methods for sociology PhD students. The seminar has four objectives: 1) to review foundational principles of research design and contemporary debates in sociological methodology; 2) to introduce students to the practice of different research methods (e.g., survey research, experiments, in-depth interviews, ethnography) while considering the strengths and limitations of various approaches; 3) to familiarize students with the components of a strong empirical paper and prepare them to identify a topic and data for their empirical paper; and 4) to train students in the conduct of responsible research.

This course teaches advanced statistical methods for social science in three segments: (1) causal inference, (2) categorical data analysis, and (3) replication analysis. Emphases are on research designs and practical applications rather than statistical theories or computations. Familiarity with basic probability theory, inferential statistics, and linear regression models for continuous dependent variables is assumed.

Preparation of quantitative research papers based on field experiments, laboratory experiments, survey procedures, and secondary analysis of existing data banks.

This six-week seminar explores the sources and dimensions of long-term change in contemporary society and the agenda for relevant sociological work on those questions. The six sessions focus on the following topics 1) the changing structure of capitalism; 2) climate change; 3) changes in communication and information technology, including the rise of artificial intelligence; 4) changes in population, family structure, and values; 5) immigration, race, and diversity; and 6) democratic breakdown and backsliding.

Is everything predictable given enough data and powerful algorithms? This seminar explores that question through social science and computer science research in many domains including life trajectories of individuals, geopolitical events, weather, disease outbreaks, social media and, somewhat speculatively, artificial general intelligence. We aim to identify fundamental limits, learn about common pitfalls, and explore policy implications. Coursework is a mix of reading and empirical work tailored to students' backgrounds. The course is designed to facilitate publishable student research in both social science and computer science.

This course looks at late twentieth and twenty-first century Black urban life in the United States. We analyze the impact of social, political, and economic realities in shaping Black urban communities in the post-Civil Rights Movement era. We read about each of these areas: spatial isolation and ghetto formation; broad political economy in the 1970s and 1980s and its impact on Black communities; and developments in Black politics from electoral politics to Black Lives Matter.

The Research Apprenticeship involves faculty assignment to students that lead to the acquisition of new research skills by the student and/or may lead to a joint research project during that semester or in the future. This may include quantitative or qualitative research methods and/or a substantive area of research (i.e. a survey of a literature). It is required during each semester of the first two years of graduate study (A,B,C,D). SOC 599A and 599C are offered in the fall and SOC 599B and 599D are offered in the spring.

This course will examine how institutions develop, vary in design, and shape public policy. Law will be a primary focus because it is central to the development of institutions in modern societies and provides the formal means for expressing and fixing policy. The course will cover a wide range of institutions- social, economic, and political- not only in an American context but also in comparative perspective.

For the first time, most people now live in cities. One in seven humans lives in an urban slum. We analyze the political, economic, and social dynamics that both create and arise from urbanization, informality, and attempts to govern our contemporary urban world. We ask how formal and informal institutions change inequalities of shelter, work, race, and other social identities, across urban space. We investigate the links between the processes of urbanization and climate change, and how they shape the politics of cities. We draw from cases across the globe and the US, along with a range of social science methods and theoretical perspectives.

Course examines how and why society can make us sick or healthy and how gender, race/ethnicity, wealth, education, occupation and other social statuses shape health outcomes. It looks at the role of social institutions, and environment-society interactions in shaping health outcomes and examines how these factors underlie some of the major causes of illness and death around the world including infant mortality, infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. The course draws on historical and cross-cultural material from the U.S. as well as global examples from different countries around the world.

This segment of the JDP seminar covers theory and research on social stratification, the major subfield in sociology that focuses on inequality. Course begins by reviewing major theories, constructs, measures, and empirical work on inequality. Weeks two through six focus on institutions that are expected to produce (and reproduce) inequalities, including families, neighborhoods, schools, labor markets, and penal policy.

This course will examine different crises confronting cities in the 21st century. Topics will range from informal settlements, to immigration, terrorism, shrinking population, sprawl, rising seas, affordable housing, gentrification, smart cities. The range of cities will include Los Angles, New Orleans, Paris, Logos, Caracas, Havana, New York, Hong Kong, Dubai among others.