printer friendly pageSOC 123D: Mental Health from Crisis to Construction
Mental health is an increasingly hot topic in the media. Why are high school and college students struggling with more and more mental health issues? Why are rates of depression and anxiety increasing? What is the role of social media? How can people cope with the psychological consequences of a multi-year pandemic? These conversations often culminate in the belief that there is a 'mental health crisis' plaguing the 21st century. But mental health, like other social phenomena, is not experienced in a vacuum. How does social context shape individuals' psychological experience? How might sociologists think about the idea of a mental health crisis? This course will provide an introduction to the sociology of mental health and will give you the tools to think critically about narratives around wellbeing that you may hear in your own lives. You will learn how the line between health and illness ('normal' and 'crazy') is socially constructed, how social context influences subjective experience, and how people's responses to subjective experience can change (and have changed) over time. We will also delve into demographic patterns in mental health experiences and discuss the social stigma that surrounds mental illness, mental health treatment, and diagnosis. Throughout the course, we will discuss contemporary issues around mental health - such as social media and the COVID-19 pandemic - using our sociological lens to offer explanations and insights. You will learn through reading scientific articles and books, class discussions, group work, and an independent final project that will be presented to the class at the end of the term.
Last offered: Summer 2022
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
SOC 124: Gender and Technology
Gender and Technology historicizes the process through which technical skills and modern-day American computing technologies have been imbued with masculinist associations. We explore how social processes link technical expertise to gendered domains, and how ideas about gender are shaped in turn by the resulting technologies. Students explore how American gender roles from the 19th century to the present¿as they intersect with race, class, and sexuality¿are constructed with and through technologies in order to better understand the masculinist defaults of the tech industry in the Silicon Valley.
Last offered: Spring 2020
SOC 124D: The Sociology of Nature
What does is mean for something to be 'natural', and why is a connection to nature so often seen as a good thing? Drawing on perspectives from sociology, psychology, anthropology, environmental studies, and popular culture, this course analyzes how the concepts of nature and naturalness contribute to the way we make sense of our social world, including based on race, gender, beauty, morality, and politics. Students will learn about the history of environmentalism, the sociology of bodies, the economics of consumption, and the social psychology of traditionalism. Through a combination of lectures, in-class discussions, written assignments, and group projects, students will be encouraged to interrogate their own relationships with nature in order to more intentionally act towards the natural world and towards other people. Throughout, the course will prioritize a sociological lens by considering the roles of social relationships, power, scientific evidence, and inequality in cultural conceptions of nature.
Last offered: Summer 2022
SOC 124VP: Social Inequalities and Poverty in Latin America with focus on Brazil (SOC 224VP)
The central goal of this course is to promote an academic debate and knowledge exchange about social inequalities and poverty in Latin America, with an emphasis on Brazil, analyzing their impact on the scope of politics, the design of social policies and the interests of society. It is based on an analysis of Angus Deaton's work (Nobel Prize in Economics, 2015), that develops an economic-historical study and points out the great economic and social transformations that affect the process of evolution of social and health inequalities. Thus, what is proposed here is an analysis of the mutation of inequalities throughout the history of humanity. Deaton's relevant contribution is his approach to the process of overcoming inequalities and poverty over the last three centuries. His work demonstrates that, although the advances in terms of economic growth and quality of life have been extraordinary, there are inequalities between different regions and countries around the world. From this contextualization, the aim of this course is to discuss a contemporary approach to social development centered on the ideas of Amartya Sen (Nobel Prize in Economics, 1998), with a focus on capabilities. Sen's innovative perspective establishes that development should be centered on individuals¿ freedom of choice.
Last offered: Spring 2019
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
SOC 125: The Rape Tax: Understanding the Financial Consequences of Sexual Assault and Trauma (FEMGEN 125S)
What are the consequences of sexual assault? How much does a sexual assault cost a person of their time, educational attainment, income, and ambitions? The goal of the course is to introduce undergraduate students to the relevant perspectives and academic research on the educational and economic consequences of sexual assault. Using a sociological lens, we will explore how experiences of sexual assault are consequential for individuals' lives beyond their physical or emotional well-being by examining how sexual assault may affect individuals' abilities to make ends meet. After briefly surveying the social determinants of sexual assault, this course will dive deeply into exploring the costs of sexual assault including the costs of reporting and engaging in the legal system, the costs to an individual's educational trajectory, the costs to an individual's ability to seek and maintain employment, the costs to making ends meet financially, and the macro-level costs for society. After surveying the literature, students will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge by learning about conducting research on sexual assault as an undergraduate student, designing their own research proposal, or volunteering with an organization that engages in work on sexual assault.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Nichols, B. (PI)
;
Gleit, R. (TA)
SOC 126: Introduction to Social Networks (SOC 226)
(Graduate students register for 226.) Theory, methods, and research. Concepts such as density, homogeneity, and centrality; applications to substantive areas. The impact of social network structure on individuals and groups in areas such as communities, neighborhoods, families, work life, and innovations.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
SOC 127: Solving Social Problems with Data (COMM 140X, DATASCI 154, EARTHSYS 153, ECON 163, MS&E 134, POLISCI 154, PUBLPOL 155)
Introduces students to the interdisciplinary intersection of data science and the social sciences through an in-depth examination of contemporary social problems. Provides a foundational skill set for solving social problems with data including quantitative analysis, modeling approaches from the social sciences and engineering, and coding skills for working directly with big data. Students will also consider the ethical dimensions of working with data and learn strategies for translating quantitative results into actionable policies and recommendations. Lectures will introduce students to the methods of data science and social science and apply these frameworks to critical 21st century challenges, including climate change, educational equity, health policy, and political polarization. In-class exercises and problem sets will provide students with the opportunity to use real-world datasets to discover meaningful insights for policymakers and communities. This course is the required gateway course for the new major in Data Science & Social Systems. Preference given to Data Science & Social Systems B.A. majors and prospective majors. Course material and presentation will be at an introductory level. Enrollment and participation in one discussion section is required. CS106A is the only prerequisite. Syllabus available here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fiGKmFStyQ2_Hr6E9jr-qHQaCx46JWxOyuhXsTfIQ8o/edit?usp=sharing
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-AQR, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Nobles, M. (PI)
;
Weinstein, J. (PI)
;
HILL, B. (TA)
...
more instructors for SOC 127 »
Instructors:
Nobles, M. (PI)
;
Weinstein, J. (PI)
;
HILL, B. (TA)
;
Tang, S. (TA)
;
Wu, J. (TA)
;
Yamaya, S. (TA)
SOC 128: The Future of Global Systemic Risk (EARTHSYS 156, STS 156)
The global risk environment is changing. Seemingly distinct large-scale risks affect what we now realize are mutually interdependent human, socio-technical, and ecological systems. As a result, consequences are more catastrophic, and costs are set to accelerate. How do we determine the top risks of this decade to prioritize actions, and how are both risks and actions likely to evolve and interact? This course investigates the data, methods, and insights mobilized by key actors such as corporations, governments, and academics to assess systemic risk, create future scenarios, and generate predictions. What are the track records of recognized systemic risk assessment and modeling toolkits? Going forward, how can we get better at risk prevention and mitigation? This year, the course will focus on combined risks from the environmental, health, and emerging tech domains. The key objective is to quickly learn relevant vocabularies (risk, tech, and futurist) by engaging with both traditional and emerging assessment methods, in order to discover how to shape positive societal outcomes in the next decade and beyond. The course prepares students for key roles in the assessment, management, and prediction of risks, technologies, markets, industries, infrastructures, and futures. People with these skills can affect the governance principles, strategies, and leadership of corporations, philanthropies, states, economies, and entire societies.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-4
Instructors:
Undheim, T. (PI)
SOC 128D: Analytics for a Changing Climate: Introduction to Social Data Science
Data science has rapidly gained recognition within the social sciences because it offers powerful new ways to ask questions about social systems and problems. This course will examine how tools from data science can be used to analyze pressing issues relating to disaster, inequality, and scarcity in the Anthropocene (the current period in which humans are the primary driver of planetary changes). We will explore how a range of computational methods can be used to garner new meanings from sources such as weather monitors, press releases, websites, government programs, and more. This is a hands-on, interactive course culminating in a social data science project designed by the student or a team of up to four students. Most class sessions will be taught interactively using Jupyter Notebooks. Students will follow along with workshop-style lectures by using and modifying the provided R/Python code in real time to analyze data and visualize results. The course will cover such topics as the South African water crisis, Hurricane Katrina, the California Wildfires, and water rights along the Colorado River. Students will learn to explore text data with tools such as word embeddings, topic models, and sentiment analysis. Students will gain experience with Python and R and will learn about a range of packages for cleaning data, linking and matching records, and mapping their results.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI, WAY-AQR
Instructors:
McDaniel, T. (PI)
SOC 129D: Food, Sustainability, and Culture
There are few issues more important for human life than those concerned with sustainability. Current global trends, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, rising inequality, and increasing urbanization, raise critical questions about future environmental and social sustainability. Changes are necessary for the survival of our species, especially around how and what we eat. But how can we bring about the changes needed? In this course, we explore the historical and cultural diversity of human-environment interaction as it pertains to food and agriculture, and analyze sustainability in a variety of contexts: from the local to the global, in the past and present, in the U.S. and among small-scale societies. We'll look at development through the lens of food, and discuss sustainability in the context of globalization: whether social movements around food justice or the new world of lab-based meats. From behavioral psychology and how it contributes to environmental action, to the individual choices we make every day, this course will help you reflect on the world, your own behaviors and assumptions, and how to act in greater accordance with the Earth's limits.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Ramirez, B. (PI)
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