231 - 240 of 264 results for: SOC

Seminar. Key lines of inquiry on organizational change, emphasizing network, institutional, and evolutionary arguments.

Designed for graduate students who are writing dissertations about American public opinion. Students participate in all phases of the research process and include questions on nationally representative surveys. Enrollment requires permission of the instructors. See the Notes for additional information.

Designed for graduate students who are writing dissertations about American public opinion. Students participate in all phases of the research process and include questions on nationally representative surveys. Enrollment is limited to members of the Laboratory for the Study of American Values.

In this course, we seek to understand economic markets as cultural institutions. Far from natural or inevitable entities, markets are social constructions that rely upon¿and reproduce¿particular shared understandings about how the world is and should be. In this course, we consider the cognitive, expressive, and normative aspects of culture in order to analyze the existence of markets, the forms they take, and the justifications for the effects they have. We begin by exploring the cultural constitution of market goods and actors. How do some, but not other, objects come to be exchanged via the market, and why do companies and consumers look and act the way they do? We then dig deeper into the key cultural forms and processes that enable and constrain economic phenomena. In what ways do classification, quantification, narrative, metaphor, and so on give rise to the market as we experience it, and who has the power to shape the way these processes take hold? Next, we delve into two special cases: money, which some hold to be impervious to social considerations, and cultural objects, which some hold to be impervious to market logic. Both turn out to be much more complicated. In the final part of the course, we explore cultural aspects of organizations and economic policymaking. The course readings are largely empirical research, so we will also critically discuss how sociologists use data and methods to build evidence

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.

Introduction to social network theory, methods, and research applications in sociology. Network concepts of interactionist (balance, cohesion, centrality) and structuralist (structural equivalence, roles, duality) traditions are defined and applied to topics in small groups, social movements, organizations, communities. Students apply these techniques to data on schools and classrooms.

Restricted to Sociology doctoral students. This course provides an introduction to some of the main themes arising in sociology¿s early theoretical literature. Since the founding of the discipline, sociologists have had an interest in understanding the forces underlying crisis, continuity, and change. These themes continue to shape contemporary empirical and theoretical work within the discipline.

Theoretical strategies for the study of interaction, group, and network processes, including rational choice and exchange theory, the theory of action, symbolic interactionism, formal sociology, and social phenomenology. Antecedent ideas in foundational works and contemporary programs of theoretical research.

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.