Results for SOC

Why do people behave the way they do? This is the fundamental question that drives social psychology. Through reading, lecture, and interactive discussion, students have the opportunity to explore and think critically about a variety of exciting issues including: what causes us to like, love, help, or hurt others; the effects of social influence and persuasion on individual thoughts, emotion, and behavior; and how the lessons of social psychology can be applied in contexts such as health, work, and relationships. The social forces studied in the class shape our behavior, though their operation cannot be seen directly. A central idea of this class is that awareness of these forces allows us to make choices in light of them, offering us more agency and wisdom in our everyday lives.nnnThis course is offered for 3-4 units. The 4 unit option has weekly discussion sections while the 3 unit version does not.

20th-century Korea from a comparative historical perspective. Colonialism, nationalism, development, state-society relations, democratization, and globalization with reference to the Korean experience.

Why social movements arise, who participates in them, the obstacles they face, the tactics they choose, and how to gauge movement success or failure. Theory and empirical research. Application of concepts and methods to social movements such as civil rights, environmental justice, antiglobalization, and anti-war.

(Graduate students register for EDUC 212 or SOC 229X). Combination of social science and historical perspectives trace the major developments, contexts, tensions, challenges, and policy issues of urban education.

Over the last three decades, inequality in America has increased substantially. Why has this happened, and what can be done about it? The course will begin by surveying the basic features of poverty, inequality, and economic mobility in the 21st century. From here we will discuss issues related to discrimination, education and schools, criminal justice, and the changing nature of the family as forces that shape inequality. We will also focus on the main social policy options for addressing inequality in the United States, including income support for the poor, taxing higher incomes, efforts to encourage philanthropy, and other institutional reforms.

The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the sociological conceptualization of gender. Through the sociological lens, gender is not an individual attribute or a role, but rather a system of social practices that constructs two different categories of people men and women and organizes social interaction and inequality around this difference. First we will explore what ¿gender¿ is according to sociologists and the current state of gender inequality in the labor market, at home, and at school. We will then investigate how gender structures our everyday lives through the individual, interactional, and institutional levels. Finally, we will discuss avenues for reducing gender inequality. Throughout the course, we will prioritize reading, evaluating, and questioning sociological theory and research on gender."

(Graduate students register for 249.) Recent research and theory on the urban underclass, including evidence on the concentration of African Americans in urban ghettos, and the debate surrounding the causes of poverty in urban settings. Ethnic/racial conflict, residential segregation, and changes in the family structure of the urban poor.

(Graduate students register for 251 and 5 units. Undergraduates register for 151 and 4 units.) Comparative analysis of historical, contemporary, and anticipated demographic change. Draws on case studies from around the world to explore the relationship between social structure and population dynamics. Introduces demographic measures, concepts and theory. Course combines lecture and seminar-style discussion.

Our social and physical environments are widely recognized as playing a central role in shaping patterns of health and disease within and across populations. Across disciplines, a key question has been: How does the social environment ¿gets under the skin to influence health? In this course, we will explore how social scientists, epidemiologists, public health experts, and physicians tackle this question. Reflecting both qualitative and quantitative approaches, we will draw on literatures in social science, public health, and medicine to understand the processes through which our environments shape health outcomes. We will examine a number of key social determinants of health, wellness and illness. These determinants include socioeconomic status, gender. race/ethnicity, religious affiliation, neighborhoods, environments, social relationships, and health care. We will also discuss a host of mechanisms through which these factors are hypothesized to influence health, such as stress, lifestyle, and access to health resources. An overall theme will be how contextual factors that adversely affect health are inequitably distributed and thereby fuel health disparities. Through all of this, we will assess the promise of public policy, planning and research for generating more equitable health outcomes across society.

Algorithms have become central actors in today's digital world. In areas as diverse as social media, journalism, education, healthcare, and policing, computing technologies increasingly mediate communication processes. This course will provide an introduction to the social and cultural forces shaping the construction, institutionalization, and uses of algorithms. In so doing, we will explore how algorithms relate to political issues of modernization, power, and inequality. Readings will range from social scientific analyses to media coverage of ongoing controversies relating to Big Data. Students will leave the course with a better appreciation of the broader challenges associated with researching, building, and using algorithms.

Our everyday lives are made up of multiple routines, some consciously staged and imagined and others unconscious and insidious. Anthropologists call these rituals. Rituals shape every aspect of our lives, creating our symbolic universes and governing the most minute of our practices. nnFor early anthropologists and for those interested in religious and symbolic life, rituals and rites were seen as both one of the most universal features of human existence, and, as that which enables us to reflect upon our human existence. A prominent example are that of the ¿rites de passage¿ found in every culture, from puberty initiation rites, weddings or funerals, which socially signal the change from one status to another. While initially for anthropologists, rituals marked the difference between the sacred and the profane, soon scholars began to see the ubiquity of ritual and the symbolic in shaping even the most mundane activity such as the structure of a meal and why one is not meant to eat dessert before the main course. The first half of the class examines these different debates surrounding the meaning and effects of rituals and rites. The second half of the class takes these debates to think about the question of power and politics. We return to the question of how our symbolic universes are staged and imagined by us through ritual forms such as the annual Presidential ¿pardoning the turkey¿ at Thanksgiving. The question of power however pushes us even further to ask why it is that we obey particular kinds of authority, consent to particular actions, and find ourselves doing things we haven¿t consciously decided to do. Many have argued that these kinds of political questions about how we respond and are shaped by power have something to do with our symbolic worlds and ritual, from the most obvious (the monarchy) to the most subtle (listening in a classroom). Throughout the course, these abstract questions will be grounded in cross-cultural examples and analysis.

Will robots, automation, and technology eliminate work and create a large poverty-sticken dependent class? Or will they eliminate poverty, free us from the tyranny of work, and usher in a new society defined by leisure and creative pursuits? This two-quarter class is dedicated to exploring new theories about poverty while at the same time incubating applied technology solutions. The first quarter is devoted to examining the theory of technology-based solutions to poverty, and the second quarter is devoted to planning a viable technology-based product that will reduce poverty. This product may then be built in a follow-up Using Tech for Good (Computer Science 50) class in the first quarter of 2018 (but class participants are not required to take that follow-up class). The course is premised on the view that innovative solutions to poverty will be based on new conversations and an authentic collaboration between Silicon Valley and leaders from education, government, and low-income communities

Social and political forces that shape market outcomes. The emergence and creation of markets, how markets go wrong, and the roles of government and society in structuring market exchange. Applied topics include development, inequality, globalization, and economic meltdown. Preference to Sociology majors and Sociology coterm students.

This course is about the distribution of power in contemporary democratic societies, and especially in the US: who governs? Is there a ``power elite,'' whose preferences dominate public policy making? Or, does policy reflect a wide range of interests? What is the relationship between income and power? What are the political consequences of increasing income inequality? How do income differences across racial and ethnic groups affect the quality of their representation? What are effective remedies for unequal influence? Finally, which institutions move democratic practice furthest towards full democratic equality? This course will address these questions, focusing first on local distributions of power, and then considering the implications of inequality in state and national politics. nStudents will have the opportunity to study income inequality using income and labor force surveys in a mid-term assignment. Then, in a final paper, students will conduct an empirical examination of the implications of income inequality for American democracy.

Methods for analyzing and evaluating quantitative data in sociological research. Students will be taught how to run and interpret multivariate regressions, how to test hypotheses, and how to read and critique published data analyses. Limited enrollment; preference to Sociology majors.

Prior arrangement required.

Work on a project of student's choice under supervision of a faculty member. Prior arrangement required.

Work in an apprentice-like relationship with faculty on an on-going research project. Prior arrangement required.

Prior arrangement required.

Computational sociology research assistant working with faculty on an on-going technical research project. Applications for position reviewed on a rolling basis.

Work on an honors thesis project under faculty supervision (see description of honors program). Must be arranged early in the year of graduation or before.

20th-century Korea from a comparative historical perspective. Colonialism, nationalism, development, state-society relations, democratization, and globalization with reference to the Korean experience.

A quarter-century from the fall of the Berlin Wall, we have gained broad perspective on the challenges of wholesale transformations away from socialism. This course explores the process and social consequences of opening the economies of Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and China to market forces. We will answer questions about how individuals and social systems respond to the particular challenges of rapid economic and political openings, including demographic challenges, corruption, nationalism, and growing inequality. We will compare the Eastern European and Post-Soviet experiences of these issues with the Chinese experience, and highlight the similarities and distinctions between transformations in these societies.

Why social movements arise, who participates in them, the obstacles they face, the tactics they choose, and how to gauge movement success or failure. Theory and empirical research. Application of concepts and methods to social movements such as civil rights, environmental justice, antiglobalization, and anti-war.

(Graduate students register for EDUC 212 or SOC 229X). Combination of social science and historical perspectives trace the major developments, contexts, tensions, challenges, and policy issues of urban education.

This course will focus on social science engagement with developments in genetic research, focusing on two key issues. First, social scientists are trying to figure out how genetic data can be used to help them better understand phenomena they have been long endeavoring to understand. Second, social scientists try to improve understanding of how social environments moderate, amplify, or attenuate genetic influences on outcomes.

Over the last three decades, inequality in America has increased substantially. Why has this happened, and what can be done about it? The course will begin by surveying the basic features of poverty, inequality, and economic mobility in the 21st century. From here we will discuss issues related to discrimination, education and schools, criminal justice, and the changing nature of the family as forces that shape inequality. We will also focus on the main social policy options for addressing inequality in the United States, including income support for the poor, taxing higher incomes, efforts to encourage philanthropy, and other institutional reforms.

(Graduate students register for 249.) Recent research and theory on the urban underclass, including evidence on the concentration of African Americans in urban ghettos, and the debate surrounding the causes of poverty in urban settings. Ethnic/racial conflict, residential segregation, and changes in the family structure of the urban poor.

(Graduate students register for 251 and 5 units. Undergraduates register for 151 and 4 units.) Comparative analysis of historical, contemporary, and anticipated demographic change. Draws on case studies from around the world to explore the relationship between social structure and population dynamics. Introduces demographic measures, concepts and theory. Course combines lecture and seminar-style discussion.

Our social and physical environments are widely recognized as playing a central role in shaping patterns of health and disease within and across populations. Across disciplines, a key question has been: How does the social environment ¿gets under the skin to influence health? In this course, we will explore how social scientists, epidemiologists, public health experts, and physicians tackle this question. Reflecting both qualitative and quantitative approaches, we will draw on literatures in social science, public health, and medicine to understand the processes through which our environments shape health outcomes. We will examine a number of key social determinants of health, wellness and illness. These determinants include socioeconomic status, gender. race/ethnicity, religious affiliation, neighborhoods, environments, social relationships, and health care. We will also discuss a host of mechanisms through which these factors are hypothesized to influence health, such as stress, lifestyle, and access to health resources. An overall theme will be how contextual factors that adversely affect health are inequitably distributed and thereby fuel health disparities. Through all of this, we will assess the promise of public policy, planning and research for generating more equitable health outcomes across society.

Course will provide hands-on practice in analysis of data from experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, including a) instrumental variables estimators; b) regression discontinuity estimators; c) difference-in-difference estimators; d) matching estimators; e) fixed effects estimators; and f) panel data methods (including individual fixed effects models, lagged covariate adjustment models, growth models, etc.). Prerequisites: satisfactory completion of EDUC 255B, EDUC 257C or SOC 257.

Social and political forces that shape market outcomes. The emergence and creation of markets, how markets go wrong, and the roles of government and society in structuring market exchange. Applied topics include development, inequality, globalization, and economic meltdown. Preference to Sociology majors and Sociology coterm students.

Data and algorithms are rapidly transforming law enforcement and criminal justice, including how police officers are deployed, how discrimination is detected, and how sentencing, probation, and parole terms are set. Modern computational and statistical methods offer the promise of greater efficiency, equity, and transparency, but their use also raises complex legal, social, and ethical questions. In this course, we analyze recent court decisions, discuss methods from machine learning and game theory, and examine the often subtle relationship between law, public policy, and statistics. The class is centered around several data-intensive projects in criminal justice that students work on in interdisciplinary teams. Students work closely with criminal justice agencies to carry out these projects, with the goal of producing research that impacts policy. Students with a background in statistics, computer science, law, and/or public policy are encouraged to participate. Enrollment is limited, and project teams will be selected during the first week of class.

Methods for analyzing and evaluating quantitative data in sociological research. Students will be taught how to run and interpret multivariate regressions, how to test hypotheses, and how to read and critique published data analyses. Limited enrollment; preference to Sociology majors.

This course examines the expansion, impact, and organization of higher education across the world. This course engages students with sociological theory and comparative research on global and national sources of influence on higher education developments, e.g. admissions criteria, curricular content, governance structure.. At the end of the course students should be able to compare and contrast developments across countries.

Note: for first-year Sociology Doctoral Students only.nThis class will prepare you for the important roles as undergraduate instructors at Stanford. It rests on the idea that teaching is not only an art that we can all learn, continually improve, and cultivate; teaching can also become a source of great joy and personal meaning during your graduate career, and beyond. You will not only learn how to become an effective instructor in your day-to-day teaching roles (e.g., how to write a compelling syllabus, deliver a powerful lecture, lead an engaging discussion section, build an inclusive classroom, juggle with teaching logistics, make best use of technology, campus resources etc.); you will also discover that teaching is - above all a deeply personal process. While your students will all have different backgrounds, stories and learning styles, we, too, all have different philosophies and ways of teaching. Throughout this class, we will help each other explore what these might be, how we can develop and cultivate them, and, finally, how we can actively employ them to foster learning environments that allow for both academic, as well as personal growth. It is my hope that, at the end of this class, you will embark on your very own educational journeys as teacher-learners who unlock the many great potentials that reside not only in your students, but also in you: plus est en vous! There is more in you (than you think!) With this in mind and the right tools in our hands, we can begin to positively transform our students, while allowing ourselves to be transformed by them at the very same time: this is the art and joy of teaching.

This course will introduce students to the logic, design, and implementation of experiments for social science research. We will begin by developing an understanding of how experimental research designs can address some of the central threats to causal identification, such as selection and omitted variables bias. Students will then engage with scholarship that has utilized experimental research designs to produce theoretical insights about topics ranging from social stratification to the dynamics of cultural markets to political mobilization. This course will also cover techniques for analyzing experimental data, strategies for dealing with noncompliance, and combining experiments with other methods of inquiry. The course will culminate with students developing an experimental research design proposal related to their own scholarly interests. While a basic understanding of statistics is necessary for this course, the emphasis will be on research design.

For graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Topics: models of fertility behavior, migration models, stable population theory, life table analysis, data sources, and measurement problems. How population behavior affects social processes, and how social processes influence population dynamics. Recommended: sociological research methods; basic regression analysis and log linear models.

Theory and research on the relationship between social structure and politics. Social foundations of political order, the generation and transformation of ideologies and political identities, social origins of revolutionary movements, and social consequences of political revolution. Prerequisite: doctoral student.

Analysis of quantitative and longitudinal data on national educational systems and political structures. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

A quarter-century from the fall of the Berlin Wall, we have gained broad perspective on the challenges of wholesale transformations away from socialism. This course explores the process and social consequences of opening the economies of Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and China to market forces. We will answer questions about how individuals and social systems respond to the particular challenges of rapid economic and political openings, including demographic challenges, corruption, nationalism, and growing inequality. We will compare the Eastern European and Post-Soviet experiences of these issues with the Chinese experience, and highlight the similarities and distinctions between transformations in these societies.

Theory, methods, and research in the sociology of the economy and of formal organizations, through presentations of ongoing work by students, faculty, and guest speakers, and discussion of recent literature and controversies. May be repeated for credit. Restricted to Sociology doctoral students; others by consent of instructor.

Advanced graduate student workshop in social psychology. Current theories and research agendas, recent publications, and presentations of ongoing research by faculty and students. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

Sociology PhD students will present their own work weekly, and read and critique the research-in-progress of their peers on issues of family, household structure, interpersonal relationships, marriage, demography, survey data, demographic methods, statistical methods, and related fields. May be repeat for credit starting 8/1/2016.

Causes, consequences, and structure of inequality; how inequality results from and shapes social classes, occupations, professions, and other aspects of the economy. Research presentations by students, faculty, and guest speakers. Discussion of controversies, theories, and recent writings. May be repeated for credit. Restricted to Sociology doctoral students; others by consent of instructor.

Current theories and research, recent publications, and presentations of ongoing research by faculty and students. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

Questions about causal effects and processes are critical in the social sciences, and range from macro-level concerns such as Does capitalism cause democracy? to micro-level ones such as Does educational attainment increase individual earnings / health /civic participation?. This course trains students in quantitative approaches designed to address causal questions with observational and quasi-experimental data, including propensity score methods, fixed and random effects, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity, among others. The underlying intuition, statistical formulation, and implementation of each approach will be discussed. The course will also examine topics relevant for researches addressing causal questions such as sensitivity analysis, mediation analysis, and integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches.

For students doing advanced research. Group comments and criticism on dissertation projects at any phase of completion, including data problems, empirical and theoretical challenges, presentation refinement, and job market presentations. Collaboration, debate, and shaping research ideas. Prerequisite: courses in organizational theory or social network analysis.

This graduate seminar surveys recent developments in research activities at the intersection of organizations and networks. The goals of the seminar are to examine ongoing research activities, related theoretical ideas and research design, and to identify unresolved intellectual problems for future research. Topics include: (1) networks within organizational hierarchy; (2) inter-organizational networks such as strategic alliance and knowledge diffusion; (3) models of hierarchical networks.

For Ph.D. students in the social sciences and history. Research on contemporary society and politics in the People's Republic of China. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

Restricted to Sociology Doctoral students only and required for Ph.D. in Sociology. This seminar is designed to deepen students' understanding of the epistemological foundations of social science, the construction and analysis of theories, and the design of empirical research.

Cross-listed with Law (LAW 781), Political Science (POLISCI 334) and Sociology (SOC 374). Associated with the Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS). Year-long workshop for doctoral students and advanced undergraduates writing senior theses on the nature of civil society or philanthropy. Focus is on pursuit of progressive research and writing contributing to the current scholarly knowledge of the nonprofit sector and philanthropy. Accomplished in a large part through peer review. Readings include recent scholarship in aforementioned fields. May be repeated for credit for a maximum of 9 units.

Advanced research workshop with a focus on new theory and research, recent publications, and current research by faculty and graduate student participants. Topics of relevant research include, but are not restricted to, morality, cooperation, solidarity, politics, status, and power. May be repeated for credit.

Required for Ph.D. in Sociology; enrollment limited to first-year Sociology doctoral students. The rationale for and interpretation of static and dynamic models for the analysis of discrete variables. Prerequisites: 381 and 382, or equivalents.

May be repeated for credit.

May be repeated for credit.

CPT course required for international students completing degree requirements.

The Sociology Colloquium is a semimonthly seminar held throughout the academic year, in which distinguished scholars lecture about their cutting-edge research findings. Sociology Students must enroll or credit and it is required for all first and second year Sociology students. May be repeat for credit start 8/1/2016