2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024
Browse
by subject...
    Schedule
view...
 

1 - 10 of 241 results for: SOC

SOC 1: Introduction to Sociology

This course to get students to think like a sociologist; to use core concepts and theories from the field of sociology to make sense of the most pressing issues of our time: race and ethnicity; gender and sexuality; family; education; social class and economic inequality; social connectedness; social movements; and immigration. The course will draw heavily on the research and writing of Stanford's own sociologist.
Terms: Aut | Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI

SOC 2: Self and Society: Introduction to Social Psychology (PSYCH 70)

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. Beginning autumn quarter 2021, this course will no longer fulfill the Way-ED requirement
Last offered: Summer 2021 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

SOC 3: America: Unequal (CSRE 3P, PUBLPOL 113)

It was never imagined "when the U.S. was founded" that the rich would be so rich and the poor so poor. It was never imagined "when the U.S. was founded" that opportunities to get ahead would depend so profoundly on one's family circumstances and other starting conditions. How could this have happened in the "land of opportunity?" What are the effects of such profound inequality? And what, if anything, should be done about it?
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

SOC 8: Sport, Competition, and Society

This course uses the tools of social science to help understand debates and puzzles from contemporary sports, and in doing so shows how sports and other contests provide many telling examples of enduring social dynamics and larger social trends. We also consider how sport serves as the entry point for many larger debates about the morality and ethics raised by ongoing social change.
Last offered: Spring 2021 | UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI

SOC 9N: 2020 Election, Understanding the National, Participating in the Local

In this class we will read the literature on voting and elections. We will cover some literature on voting rights in the US. The class will have a field component, as students will not only be obligated to register to vote (if they are eligible), but also go out into the field, in groups, to register voters and talk to them about some local issue or candidate. Learn to understand the election system through participation! Each student will pick a local issue or candidate, and then the students will go out, in teams, to canvass around that local issue or candidate and learn about what their fellow citizens have to say about their chosen issue. Students will present a post-mortem about their chosen candidate or issue after the November elections are over.
Last offered: Autumn 2020 | UG Reqs: WAY-SI

SOC 10: Introduction to Computational Social Science

The large-scale digitization of social life is providing new opportunities and research directions for social scientists. In this course, we will discuss how social scientists, and sociologists in particular, are using advances in computational techniques to further our knowledge of society. Some of the topics we will survey include online experiments, massive online social networks, large-scale text analysis, and geographical information systems. Students will learn principles of research design in addition to fundamental programming and data analysis techniques. By the end of the course they should be able to produce computational social science research of their own.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4
Instructors: Hoffman, M. (PI)

SOC 11N: The Data Scientist as Detective

This seminar is about how data are used to figure things out. We will consider cases in which a standing mystery existed, a question without an answer that was subsequently solved with a crisp, clever, or comprehensive analysis of data. We will pay close attention to the reasoning used involved in getting answers from data, and together we will consider how to assess how confident to be in those answers. All of which is directed to providing a better understanding of the logic of making inferences from data, evaluating those inferences, and actually working with data. Over the quarter, students will also be asked to pose and advance a project of their own that involves answering a question with data.

SOC 12SC: Guaranteed Income: A Bold Experiment to Reduce Inequality

The state of California, the so-called 'land of plenty,' in fact has the country's highest poverty rate as well as extremely high rates of homelessness and profound racial and ethnic disparities. These problems persist despite a long history of anti-inequality policy. What should be done? In an innovative $35M experiment, the state of California is testing bold new approaches to taking on poverty and inequality, including an unconditional 'guaranteed income' that assures that everyone can raise their children in healthy environments, invest in their skills, and take advantage of opportunities. The Stanford Guaranteed Income Team - a coalition of Stanford faculty - will be advising on the implementation and evaluation of this experiment (pending the state's final review of their grant application). Would you like to assist with one of the boldest anti-inequality experiments of our time? If you sign on for this course, you will (a) learn about the causes of poverty and other inequities and how they can be taken on, and (b) then assist with the implementation and evaluation of the experiment by interviewing potential participants. This course is not for the faint of heart. It will involve intensive training in qualitative interviewing and other types of research; it will require a commitment to be there for the people who have decided to participate in the experiment; and it will require a willingness to listen and learn with humility and respect.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2
Instructors: Grusky, D. (PI)

SOC 14N: Inequality in American Society

An overview of the major forms of inequality in American society, their causes and consequences. Special attention will devoted to to public policy associated with inequality.
Last offered: Winter 2021

SOC 18N: Ethics, Morality, and Markets

Markets are inescapably entangled with questions of right and wrong. What counts as a fair price or a fair wage? Should people be able to sell their organs? Do companies have a responsibility to make sure algorithmic decisions don't perpetuate racism and misogyny? Even when market exchange seems coldly rational, it still embodies normative ideas about the right ways to value objects and people and to determine who gets what. In this seminar, we will study markets as social institutions permeated with moral meaning. We will explore how powerful actors work to institutionalize certain understandings of good and bad; unpack how particular moral visions materially benefit some groups of people more so than others; examine the ways people draw on notions of fairness to justify and contest the market's distribution of resources and opportunities; and consider who has agency to build markets according to different normative ideals. Most course readings are empirical research, so we will also critically discuss how social scientists use data and methods to build evidence about the way the world works.
Last offered: Winter 2020 | UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
Filter Results:
term offered
updating results...
teaching presence
updating results...
number of units
updating results...
time offered
updating results...
days
updating results...
UG Requirements (GERs)
updating results...
component
updating results...
career
updating results...
© Stanford University | Terms of Use | Copyright Complaints