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SOC 247: Race and Ethnicity Around the World (CSRE 147A, SOC 147)

(Graduate students register for 247.) How have the definitions, categories, and consequences of race and ethnicity differed across time and place? This course offers a historical and sociological survey of racialized divisions around the globe. Case studies include: affirmative action policies, policies of segregation and ghettoization, countries with genocidal pasts, invisible minorities, and countries that refuse to count their citizens by race at all.

Last offered: Spring 2024

SOC 249: The Urban Underclass (CSRE 149A, SOC 149, URBANST 112)

(Graduate students register for 249.) We explore the history of residential segregation, urban policy, race, discrimination, policing and mass incarceration in the US. What are the various causes and consequences of poverty? How do institutions that serve the poor work and sometimes fail? We will read deeply into the social, political, and the legal causes of today¿s conflicts.

Terms: Win | Units: 5

Instructors: Rosenfeld, M. (PI) ; Cook, B. (TA)

SOC 252: The Social Determinants of Health (SOC 152)

When we consider a person's health, we often look first to the body. But our bodies don't exist in a vacuum: how we feel, whether we get sick, even how long we live depends on many factors beyond our biology. In this course, we will shift our focus to the world our bodies inhabit, considering how our circumstances affect our health, healthcare, and well-being. We will explore the 'social determinants' of health outcomes, including neighborhoods, social networks, healthcare systems, inequalities, and power structures. We will also reflect on what it means to live a healthy life and the extent to which individuals may or may not be able to determine their own health outcomes.n nBeyond the substantive topic of health, a core component of applying the sociological lens is being able to use research to explain and analyze the social world. To build your critical analysis skills, you will read and engage with social science research and apply theoretical concepts to empirical observations. Throughout the course, we will engage with case studies, both in class and in assignments that ask you to turn your sociological lens to health disparities in the world around you. We will also brainstorm ways to build a world without health inequality.

Last offered: Winter 2022

SOC 254C: The Politics of Algorithms (COMM 154, COMM 254, CSRE 154T, SOC 154)

(Graduate students enroll in 254. COMM 154 is offered for 5 units, COMM 254 is offered for 4 units.) 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.

Terms: Win | Units: 4

Instructors: Christin, A. (PI) ; Fetterolf, E. (TA) ; Marbach, L. (TA) ... more instructors for SOC 254C »

Instructors: Christin, A. (PI) ; Fetterolf, E. (TA) ; Marbach, L. (TA) ; Revilla, T. (TA) ; Santiago, F. (TA)

SOC 255: The Changing American Family (FEMGEN 155, FEMGEN 255, SOC 155)

What are the historical trajectories and consequences of marriage, divorce, and premarital cohabitation? Where have gay rights come from and what is the future of gay rights in the US? What are the gender differences in marriage, family and housework? What does it mean for the personal to be political? What are the racial differences in family life and how have those differences been politicized? How did marriage equality go from being impossible to being the law of the US? We will study social change from the perspective of public opinion, legal changes, and family politics.

Last offered: Spring 2024

SOC 256A: The Changing American City (CSRE 156, SOC 156A, URBANST 156A)

After decades of decline, U.S. cities today are undergoing major transformations. Young professionals are flocking to cities instead of fleeing to the suburbs. Massive increases in immigration have transformed the racial and ethnic diversity of cities and their neighborhoods. Public housing projects that once defined the inner city are disappearing, and crime rates have fallen dramatically. Do these changes signal the end of residential segregation and urban inequality? Who do these changes benefit? This course will explore these issues and strategies to address them through readings and discussion, analyzing a changing neighborhood in a major city in the Bay Area in groups (which will include at least one site visit), and studying a changing neighborhood or city of their choice for their final project. The course does not have pre-requisites.

Last offered: Winter 2023

SOC 258B: Quasi-Experimental Research Design & Analysis (EDUC 430B)

This course surveys quantitative methods to make causal inferences in the absence of randomized experiment including the use of natural and quasi-experiments, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, fixed effects estimators, and difference-in-differences. We emphasize the proper interpretation of these research designs and critical engagement with their key assumptions for applied researchers. Prerequisites: Prior training in multivariate regression (e.g., ECON 102B or the permission of the instructor).

Last offered: Winter 2024

SOC 258C: Using Data to Describe the World: Descriptive Social Science Research Techniques (EDUC 430C)

This course focuses on the skills needed to conduct theoretically-informed and policy-relevant descriptive social science. Students read recent examples of rigorous descriptive quantitative research that exemplifies the use of data to describe important phenomena related to educational and social inequality. The course will help develop skills necessary to conceptualize, operationalize, and communicate descriptive research, including techniques related to measurement and measurement error, data harmonization, data reduction, and visualization. Students develop a descriptive project during the course. Prerequisite: satisfactory completion of a course in multivariate regression.

Last offered: Spring 2022 | Repeatable 2 times (up to 10 units total)

SOC 260: Formal Organizations (SOC 160)

(Graduate students register for 260.) Organizations are ubiquitous: they educate us, manage our finances, and structure our daily routines; they also distribute resources, status, and opportunities among social groups. This course will explore the role of formal organizations in contemporary social life, and their consequences for individuals. Drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives and empirical research in the social sciences, we will examine several topics, including: the origins of organizations, how decisions are made, why some organizations live while others perish, incentives and employment relationships, social networks, and what kinds of organizational policies promote diversity. The course will draw on many substantive examples from the real world to illustrate these theoretical models.

Terms: Aut | Units: 4

Instructors: Furuta, J. (PI)

2024-2025 Winter

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