SOC 500: Research Methods: Statistics, Mullis, MW 5-6:30 p.m.

Maximum enrollment: 10

Content: This course is an introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics for univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. Topics to be covered include summarizing evidence with graphs and numbers, developing and assessing composite measurements, generalizing from a sample to a population, and determining the relationship between two or more variables. The course will prepare you to understand and evaluate research reports in social science publications and in the news media. It will also enable you to do original research of your own. You will learn how to ask meaningful questions of quantitative data and to draw sound conclusions from the evidence you produce. The overall goal of the course is to increase your statistical literacy and prepare you to take additional courses in statistics and research methods.

Particulars: Exams, computer assignments

---

SOC 501: Research Methods: Design, Franzosi, TTh 2:30-3:45

Maximum enrollment: 10

Content: Sociologists, as social "scientists," have a fundamental concern with methods. The aim of this course is to familiarize students with the three most common methodological approaches used in Sociology: comparative-historical, interpretive, and multivariate analysis. It will outline the fundamental features, advantages, and disadvantages of each research method. The course will also introduce students to the basic jargon of methodology: research design, variables, operationalization, causality, hypothesis testing, models. It will focus on the relationship between theory and method (looking at Galileo's work!) and on the relationship between research questions and methods as these come together in the research design. The roots of the quality versus quantity debate will be explored (going back to the Newton and Goethe debate!). Most importantly, the rhetoric of science will be analyzed in light of sociologists' obsession with methods ("a methodological pestilence," in Max Weber's expression).

Texts: There will be a packet of readings (selected book chapters and journal articles) and several methodological texts and monographs. Likely sources include the following:
Liebow, Elliot. 1993. Tell Them Who I Am: the Lives of Homeless Women. New York: Free Press.
Rossi, Peter. 1989. Down and Out in America. The Origins of Homelessness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Robert Alford. The Craft of Inquiry. Theories, Methods, Evidence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Howard S. Becker. 1998. Tricks of the Trade. How to Think About Your Research While You Are Doing It. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Weber, Max. 1949. The Methodology of the Social Sciences. Translated and Edited by Edward A. Shils and Henry A. Finch. With a Foreword by Edward A. Shils. New York: The Free Press.
Emile Durkheim. 1938. The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: Free Press.
Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. New York: Aldine.
Sandra Harding. 1991. Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking From Women's Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Arthur L. Stinchcombe. 1968. Constructing Social Theories. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
C. Wright Mills. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McCloskey, Donald N. 1985. The Rhetoric of Economics. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Edmondson, Ricca. 1984. Rhetoric in Sociology. London: McMillan.

Particulars: There will be weekly homework assignments. Students will be expected to produce a final 6-8 page research proposal (a brief sketch will be due at mid-semester).

---

SOC 517: Race/Ethnic Relations, Werum, Th 1-4

Maximum enrollment: 10 (written permission required from instructor)

Content: The main purpose of this course is to introduce students to classic and contemporary research on racial and ethnic relations in the U.S. But in that context we will also examine how U.S. foreign policy has affected ethnic relations in other countries as well as the relationship between the U.S. and those particular nations. For that purpose, we will simply put a "spotlight" on a select number of countries, probably Haiti, the former Yugoslavia, and Israel. Rather than approaching this as a special topics course, this class is designed to provide students with a overview of issues concerning race/ethnic relations. As such, it will help students prepare for preliminary exams in any of the macro-sociological fields. We will examine historical as well as current trends and pay special attention to how class and gender differences in outcomes intersect with race-specific patterns. During the first month, we will cover a variety of theories about race/ethnic relations and address issues of racial identities and the social construction of race and ethnicity. For the remainder of the semester, we will concentrate on racial/ethnic stratification by looking at various public policy arenas and social institutions (e.g., immigration, education, housing, social movements). During the last month, we will spend one week each on the above-mentioned case studies involving U.S. foreign policy. By the end of the semester, students should be familiar with theoretical and empirical literature on racial/ethnic relations in this country and abroad. Each student will write a research paper due at the end of the semester. Depending on the student's academic status, this can be a research proposal or an extension of ongoing research (for instance a dissertation chapter). I will assume that students are familiar with the most important developments in sociological theories of race and ethnic relations during the past 20 years. Knowledge of a typical undergraduate sociology course in stratification or race/ethnic relations is sufficient. Students who have no background in the area should discuss this course with me and consider reading a few introductory text books before enrolling.

Particulars: regular attendance, 2 in-class presentations, 1 research paper

---

SOC 526: Women and Development, Shayne, Tu, 10-1 (Same as WS 526)

Maximum enrollment: SOC=5; WS=5; Total=10 ( written permission required from instructor)

Content: The purpose of this course is to facilitate a critical understanding of the multiple positions women occupy in the "Third World" in the age of globalization. We will look at theories of development, reproductive and productive labor, sexuality, population, globalization, motherhood, revolution, and feminism. Two thirds of the course will be devoted to analysis of the material and one third to developing pedagogical tools from which to teach.

Texts: Required (partial list): Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures (1997), Alexander & Mohanty; Feminist Futures: Re imagining Women, Culture and Development (2003), Bhavnani, Foran, & Kurian, eds; Reproductive Rightsand Wrongs (1995), Hartmann; Encompassing Gender: Integrating International Studies and Women's Studies (2002), Lay, Monk, & Rosenfelt, eds; Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's Perspectives (1987), Sen & Grown. Assignments: Seminar paper and syllabus

---

SOC 540: Basic Theoretical Problems, Lechner, Wed. 2-5

Maximum enrollment: 10 (written permission required from instructor)

Content: This course examines basic issues in sociological theory, including problems of culture and structure, meaning and rationality, solidarity and modernity. It describes the development of theory and demonstrates its unity and diversity using original texts of major theorists and the work of recent and contemporary scholars who draw on the major traditions.

Texts: The following books are highly likely:
Robert Bellah, ed., Emile Durkheim on Morality and Society
Donald Levine, Visions of the Sociological Tradition
Donald Levine, ed., Georg Simmel on Individuality and the Social Forms
Anselm Strauss, ed., George Herbert Mead on Social Psychology
Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Particulars: In-class presentations, paper, final exam

---

SOC 552: Structural Aspects of Social Interaction, Johnson, W 1-4 (Same as PSYC 533)

Maximum enrollment: SOC=7; PSYC=3, Total=10 (permission required from instructor)

Content: This course examines theories that address how status, power, and legitimacy processes operate in small group interaction. We will see the development and extension of theories in the status, power, and legitimacy areas, as well as review the empirical support for these theories. We will discuss the various possible new directions in the groups and networks literatures. The status characteristic, gender, will be emphasized, but other status characteristics will be given attention as well.

Particulars: Short critiques and a research paper

---

SOC 555, Controlling Crime, Agnew, Mon. 9-12

Maximum enrollment: 10

Content: This course examines efforts to control crime and delinquency, with a special focus on the criminal justice system (police, courts, correctional institutions, community based corrections) and related agencies. First, we briefly review the research on the causes of crime and the requirements for good evaluation research (used to determine program effectiveness). Second, we examine the efforts of the police, courts, and correctional agencies to control crime, asking: what do they now do, how effective are they, do what extent do they violate individual and group rights, and what might they do to be more effective? Third, we examine four general strategies for controlling crime: deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and prevention. Finally, we examine certain more specific strategies for controlling crime, like efforts to control media violence, gun control, and capital punishment.

Particulars: Midterm, final paper, and a series of short assignments

---

SOC 701, Advanced Multivariate Analysis II, Hicks, TTh 11:30-12:45

Maximum enrollment: 10 (written permission required from instructor)

Content: The goal of this course is to extend applied mastery of multiple regression beyond elementary OLS regression. Extensions advance in three directions: (a) ad hoc complements to regression such as non-linearities and interactions; (b) simultaneous equations systems, path analytic as well as non-recursive structural equations; and (c) time-series (and "pooled" time series) regression. The focus will be especially useful for those interested in applied competence in quantitative cross-sectional, time-series and/or pooled analysis of aggregate data.

Texts: Probable texts include: Gujarati, D.N. Basic Econometrics. Kennedy, P., Guide to Econometrics. Selected articles and Sage Monographs

Particulars: Sociology 500 is a prerequisite. Evaluations will be based on three exams (worth 20% of grade each) and several computing assignments (worth the remainder).

---

SOC 759R, Gender in US Religion, Eiesland, TBA (Same as SR613 and WS585-00p)

Maximum enrollment: SOC=3; WS=3; SR=tba (permission required for WS section)

Content: This courses examines the intersections between gender construction and religious life in the U.S. From women home missionaries in the Progressive era to contemporary voodoo priestesses, the course will use case studies and ethnographies to analyze the American ways of doing gender and religion.

---

SOC 759R, Social Cognition, Keyes, M 1-4

Maximum enrollment: 10 (written permission required from instructor)

Content: Social cognition is the scientific study of the ways that individuals perceive, categorize, explain, predict, and otherwise understand other people, social events, and their own social behavior. This seminar covers the theories and research on the topics of attitudes and behavior, stereotypes and discrimination, person perception and attribution, and the linkages of the self concept and social identification with social behavior.

Particulars: active participation in seminar discussion (which requires regular attendance), a journal style research paper, and a formal research presentation

---

SOC 767, Teaching Sociology, Hegtvedt, M 1-4

Maximum enrollment: 10 (written permission required from instructor)

Content: The seminar is designed to help prepare you for your first (or next) teaching assignment and enhance your effectiveness as a teacher. These goals will be achieved through a) reading the literature on teaching and learning; b) the observation of classroom processes; c) active participation in the seminar sessions; d) practice in teaching; and e) the preparation of your own course materials (e.g., syllabus, textbook selection, sample exam questions, sample lectures and discussions). The primary texts is Tools for Teaching (Davis), supplemented by a collection of readings.

Particulars: You will be contacted by Dr. Hegtvedt during the summer with special instructions.

---

SOC 720, Morality and Society, Tipton, Th 7-10 p.m. (Same as RLSR 767)

Maximum enrollment: SOC=2

Content: This seminar studies the relationship between the distinctive moral ideals and experience of social life and its varied institutional arrangements, including the moral implications of social modernization for conceiving persons individually and evaluating their globally structured relations. It maps diverse moral logics and constituencies across cultural traditions seen as continuities of conflict over socially shared ways of life. It probes the social processes of producing, distributing, receiving and contesting moral meaning; and its role in inspiring social action and judging social institutions to shape social conflict as well as order. The course charts the sociology of morality as a field by marshaling thematically related works in sociology and social theory, moral and political philosophy, comparative religious ethics and anthropology to span classical theories and recent empirical studies of contemporary American moral life, including racial and gender inequality, public participation, religious conflict, hard work and romantic love.

Texts: Readings include works by Aristotle, Adam Smith, Rousseau; Marx, Weber, Durkheim; John Meyer, Bourdieu, Walzer, Seyla Benhabib, Mary Douglas, Geertz, Bellah, Ann Swidler, Nina Eliasoph and William JuliusWilson.

Particulars: Ph.D. seminar; term paper, class presentations.

---

SOC 790R, Departmental Seminar, Franzosi/Agnew, F 12-2

Maximum enrollment: 10 (written permission required from instructor)

Content: The Departmental Seminar is a weekly presentation, commentary and discussion of research by Sociology graduate students and faculty. The Seminar is intended to be the center of intellectual discussion for the Department and the prime venue for improving one's papers beyond that afforded by classes or committees. It is designed to emulate three major steps in professional research: 1) peer review (from both sides); 2) concise presentation before an audience; and 3) discussion and defense of ideas. In addition, the Seminar is an avenue for building solidarity within the Department and among the local Sociology community. Graduate students, faculty and adjuncts are encouraged to participate; everyone is invited to the presentations and discussions.

Particulars: Distribution of a completed paper, typically a research or theory article or a thesis or dissertation proposal, to all active participants; presentations of the paper in the seminar; written comments on other papers presented in the seminar; participation in a discussion workshop following the presentation. Graduate students should take the seminar at least once for credit. They are encouraged to audit it every semester