SOC 506, Applied Regression Analysis

Archibald, Monday, 9-12, Max: 15

Content: Applied Regression Analysis 506 is a graduate-level course in the theory and application of regression models as they pertain to social science data. Topics include simple linear and multiple regression, dummy variable techniques, model reduction and diagnostics, violation of classic assumptions, nonlinear and dynamic models, and simultaneous equations. The course will provide the necessary foundation in statistical theory and estimation procedures underlying multivariate regression analysis and give students data analysis tools, which will allow them to undertake their own research using these techniques. In addition, a thorough grounding in the basics of statistical theory will facilitate students' understanding and interpretation of regression-based social science research literatures.

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SOC 515, Social Stratification

Condron, Tuesday 2-5 Max: 15

Content:This course provides graduate students with a comprehensive introduction to classical and contemporary theories and analyses of social stratification. The course emphasizes class but also addresses race/ethnicity, gender, and the intersecting nature of class, racial/ethnic, and gender inequalities. In doing so, the substantive material explores the role of institutional contexts (i.e., families, education, work, government) in generating, maintaining, and transforming stratification. Assigned readings will include Grusky’s reader, Social Stratification: Class, Race, & Gender in Sociological Perspective (2/e) and additional books and articles (many of which are on the stratification preliminary examination reading list).

Particulars: TBA

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SOC 540, Basic Theoretical Problems

Boli, Tuesday, 10-1, Max: 15

Content: This course examines basic issues in sociological theory -- including problems of culture and structure, conflict and change, meaning and rationality, modernity and myth. Readings are taken from original texts of major theorists and the works of recent and contemporary scholars drawing on the major traditions. An historical perspective is emphasized.

Texts: The following books are highly likely; one or two others may be added: Robert Bellah, ed. Emile Durkheim on Morality and Society, 1975. Lewis Coser, Masters of Sociological Thought, 2nd ed., 1977. Mary Douglas, How Institutions Think, 1986. Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, 1984. Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, ed. From Max Weber, 1946. Donald Levine, ed. Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms, 1972. Anselm Strauss, ed. George Herbert Mead on Social Psychology, 1964. Robert C. Tucker, ed. The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed., 1978

Particulars: In-class presentations, paper, final exam.

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SOC 553, Evaluations in Social Interaction

Hegtvedt, Wednesday 1-4, Max: SOC=9; PSYC=5; Total=14

Content: How do people evaluate themselves, their feelings, and their outcomes in social interaction? This course first addresses a critical process underlying evaluations: the comparisons individuals make between themselves and others. The second part of the course notes how such comparisons influence emotional experiences and expressions and examines debates within the sociology and psychology regarding the nature of emotions and the consequences of emotions in interaction. Both social comparisons and emotions are fundamental components of justice processes, which constitute the third part of the class. Questions will focus on the antecedents and consequences of both distributive, procedural, and interactional justice in social interaction.

Text: selected readings available on eReserves

Particulars: Presentation on readings, one essay exam, research paper, paper critiques. (Note: in lieu of the research paper, students may take two additional essay exams.)

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SOC 560, Sociology of Culture, Dowd

Thursday 6-9 p.m., Max: 10

Content: The course (1) provides students with a grounding in cultural sociology and (2) prepares students for doing their own cultural research. To facilitate the first objective, we survey major themes and issues in cultural sociology. We begin this survey by considering the sociological approach to culture, which entails answering the following questions: "What is culture and what does it do?" and "How is culture to be studied?" We next turn to seminal issues that Marx, Weber, and Durkheim respectively raised. In particular, we inspect how current scholars approach these issues. Examples of issues that spring from the work of classical sociologists include the following: "Do media messages shape our view of reality? If so, how?" and "How do class and lifestyle intertwine to reproduce inequality?" Finally, we turn to substantive questions that have come to the fore in recent decades, including "How is market activity undergirded by cultural assumptions?" and "How does social context shape the production and consumption of expressive goods?" To facilitate the second objective (i.e., doing research), we give special attention to methods and designs employed in current research, and we heed how theoretical ideas are translated into empirical projects. Thus, by the end of the semester, each student will have a grasp of the field and an understanding of how to do cultural sociology.

Text: Online reserves.

Particulars: Weekly memos; term paper. Written permission required from instructor prior to registering.

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SOC 585, Second Year Research Seminar

Dowd & Condron, Monday 1-4, Max: 15

Content:This seminar has two broad goals. First, it instructs students in the conceptual and pragmatic issues associated with empirical research. It does so by focusing on such fundamental issues as the construction of literature reviews, the translation of theoretical concerns into empirical projects, and the design and implementation of empirical studies. Second, it assists students in bringing their own empirical research to completion. As a result, enrolled students are expected to enter the semester with an identified research project; moreover, they are expected to make substantial progress on these projects, especially given the feedback and dialogue that will occur throughout the semester.

Texts: Online Reserves

Particulars: In-class presentations of ongoing research efforts; demonstrated progress on research paper by end of semester. Written permission required from instructors prior to registering.

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SOC 585, Content Analysis

Franzosi, Tue. 1-4, Max enrollment: 10 (permission only)

Content: The course aims to provide an introduction to Content Analysis, a social science technique for the quantitative analysis of communication material (namely text, but also photographs or pictures). Is this a course for you? If you are planning to use (or have already used) in-depth, unstructured interviews in your research, or textual (or even photographic) material from newspapers, magazines, TV, the web, or other documents, then this is the course for you, as the course will help you extract systematic information from your sources. That is true even if you are already working on your dissertation. The course will teach you "how to do things with words" ... as a social scientist. Two types of quantitative approaches will be illustrated: traditional content analysis -- word counts, thematic, and referential -- and narrative analysis. Each class meeting will be equally divided in labs and lectures in order to introduce students to both the practical and methodological, substantive, theoretical aspects of content analysis (e.g., sampling, design of coding categories and coding schemes, reliability, validity). Ideally, students enrolling in the course will already know which topic to research and which documents to use as data sources for their project. If not ... the instructor will meet with individual students, before or at the beginning of the course, to explore research topics and sources. In labs and homework, students will then "code" this material and analyze the codes. The final outcome will be an empirical research paper. The labs will be based on Maxqda and PC-ACE.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites are required for the course although a general research methods course will have prepared students to the language of empirical research (e.g., sampling, measurement, reliability, validity). Students who took Sociology 759, Textual Analysis, in Spring 2007, can register for the course since the two courses are very different. No auditors will be admitted to the course. 

Texts: Selected books and articles.

Particulars: The course requires: 1) leading one class discussion based on assigned readings; 2) weekly memos on the readings; 3) weekly lab work; 4) coding of communication material; 5) a final research paper based on the analysis of the coded material.

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SOC 712, Race, Gender, and Social Theory

Aldridge, Thursday 1-4, Max: 15

Content: This seminar analyzes the intellectual contributions, social context, and influence of selected scholars from various subcultural groups on the development of the field of sociology. Particular emphasis is placed on their theories of social stratification, race, gender and social organization. While focus will be on major African American scholars such as Du Bois, Frazier, and Cox, considerable attention will also be devoted to women and other subcultural groups and the contributions they have made and challenges met in the discipline of sociology and the social sciences in general.

The purpose of this course, then, is two fold: 1) to familiarize students with the lives and contributions of African American scholars and scholars of various other subcultural groups in the development of the field of sociology and 2) to demonstrate the relevance of the theoretical and methodological works of these scholars' for integration/ incorporation into courses throughout the discipline of sociology and the social sciences rather than largely, if not only in race and gender relations courses.

Texts: Selected books and articles.

Particulars: The seminar requires active class participation as well as: 1) leading one class discussion based on assigned readings; 2) a final research paper, and 3) a final exam addressing the course content and taking the format of a preliminary examination question.