SOC 167A: Asia-Pacific Transformation (INTLPOL 244D, SOC 267A)
Post-WW II transformation in the Asia-Pacific region, with focus on the ascent of Japan, the development of newly industrialized capitalist countries (S. Korea and Taiwan), the emergence of socialist states (China and N. Korea), and the changing relationship between the U.S. and these countries.
Last offered: Winter 2022
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-SI
SOC 167VP: Justice + Poverty Innovation:Create new solutions for people to navigate housing, medical, & debt
How can emerging technologies and human-centered design be used to help people going through problems with housing, medical care, and debt? In this class, we will work with local partners to develop new tech and design prototypes to address poverty-related problems. We will explore new digital solutions, as well as how to use emerging technologies like AI and blockchain. At the same time, we will explore policy and legal reforms that could address root causes of the problems.nStudents will work in small, interdisciplinary teams with partners organizations in law, medicine, and policy. They will do design research in the field, propose new solutions and test them, and develop new initiatives that will be piloted. The goal is to incubate promising, feasible public interest technology and design projects.nThe class will be run in parallel to similar classes in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia. Students will have the chance to learn about similar innovation efforts in other countries, and will be challenged to think about how their own projects could be replicated and scaled
Last offered: Winter 2020
| Repeatable
for credit
SOC 168A: Race, Nature, and the City (CSRE 168, EARTHSYS 169, URBANST 168)
This course provides an introduction to the study of race and place within urban political ecology (UPE). Geographer Natasha Cornea defines UPE as a 'conceptual approach that understands urbanization to be a political, economic, social, and ecological process, one that often results in highly uneven and inequitable landscapes' in and beyond cities. The primary focus will be cities in the Americas, but we will draw on insights from scholars studying the mutually constitutive nature of race and place in other regions. In line with critical theories that frame intersectional experiences of race, the course readings also take into account class, gender, sexuality, and nation.
Last offered: Spring 2022
| UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
SOC 169: Introduction to Intersectionality (AFRICAAM 169B, FEMGEN 169)
"Intersectionality" is so popular, it's almost impossible to avoid: it was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2017, it was painted on signs at the Women's Marches, and it guides modern day social movement organizers. But what does intersectionality mean? What can intersectionality offer And what does it mean for research and social movements to be truly intersectional? The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the concept of intersectionality. First, we will delve into the works (chiefly from Black feminist scholars) that provide the foundation for today's concept of intersectionality. We will then explore, compare, and critique sociological research that applies (or fails to apply) an intersectional lens to its objects of study. Finally, we will investigate the use of intersectionality in social movements and outside academia. Throughout the course, we will prioritize reading, evaluating, and questioning sociological theory and research.
Last offered: Winter 2019
| UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
SOC 169B: Race and Ethnicity in Urban California: Research Seminar (AMSTUD 169B, CSRE 260B, URBANST 169B)
This course is part of an ongoing research project that examines the consequences of social, demographic, economic, and political changes in ethnic and race relations in in urban California. Students taking this course will construct will investigate a particular issue, place, policy, or event of special interest and write a 15-20-page paper. Through individualized research projects, our aim is to understand how and why policies and practices developed that isolated and marginalized communities of color leading to environmental racism, housing inequality, public health crises, socioeconomic (im)mobility, over-policing, and underserving, and (un)fair representation in city politics and governments. We will also focus on solutions. We look at the creative, challenging, and diverse ways grassroots organizers, academics, and governments at every level can work in partnership to reshape policy and rectify injustice in a variety of urban and suburban environments in California. Each paper should conclude with ideas about how to make constructive change. This course has been designated as a Cardinal Course by the Haas Center for Public Service. Cardinal Courses apply classroom knowledge to pressing social and environmental problems through reciprocal community partnerships. The units received through this course can be used towards the 12-unit requirement for the Cardinal Service transcript notation.
Last offered: Winter 2022
| UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
SOC 170: Classics of Modern Social Theory (SOC 270)
(Graduate students register for 270). Sociologists seek to understand how society works, specifically: how social life is organized, changed, and maintained. Sociological theory provides hypotheses for explaining social life. All empirical research in sociology is enriched by, and has some basis in, sociological theories. This course introduces students to the earliest sociological theories and the thinkers who developed them. Specifically, we will discuss the work of W.E.B. Du Bois, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx. We will compare and contrast how they thought about important modern-day social realities such as capitalism, racism, crime, religion, and social cohesion. We will consider how these early theories and thinkers influence the way sociologists think about and study the social world today.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci
Instructors:
Walder, A. (PI)
SOC 172: Computational Social Science
This course introduces students to computational social science from a sociological perspective, grounding popular computational methods such as text mining and network analysis in sociological theory. While the course is open to graduate and advanced undergraduate students from any discipline, the materials will be primarily sourced from sociology. Students with no prior computer science experience will find this course a menu of potential methodologies for future research, while students with some programming experience or with a pre-existing research question can use this course to advance their research projects. By framing these methods in sociological theory, students will gain a more critical understanding of why scientists select these methods and how computational methods impact society.
Last offered: Spring 2019
SOC 173: Gender and Higher Education: National and International Perspectives (EDUC 173, EDUC 273, FEMGEN 173, SOC 273)
This course examines the ways in which higher education structures and policies interact with gender, gender identity, and other characteristics in the United States, around the world, and over time. Attention is paid to how changes in those structures and policies relate to access to, experiences in, and outcomes of higher education by gender. Students can expect to gain an understanding of theories and perspectives from the social sciences relevant to an understanding of the role of higher education in relation to structures of gender differentiation and hierarchy. Topics include undergraduate and graduate education; identity and sexuality; gender and science; gender and faculty; and feminist scholarship and pedagogy.
Last offered: Spring 2022
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-Gender, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
SOC 174: Social Computing (CS 278, SOC 274)
Today we interact with our friends and enemies, our team partners and romantic partners, and our organizations and societies, all through computational systems. How do we design these social computing systems - platforms for social media, online communities, and collaboration - to be effective and responsible? This course covers design patterns for social computing systems and the foundational ideas that underpin them.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-4
Instructors:
Bernstein, M. (PI)
;
Gordon, M. (TA)
;
He, J. (TA)
;
Maheshwari, E. (TA)
;
Shih, J. (TA)
;
Smyers, E. (TA)
;
Zhang, A. (TA)
;
Zhou, A. (TA)
SOC 175: Understanding China's Rise (GLOBAL 194, SOC 275)
This course is an overview China's national trajectory since the 1980s, and will place its historic economic advance in comparative perspective. We will examine the factors that made this advance possible, explore the ways that China's political and economic institutions are different from other major economies, and consider challenges that now appear to threaten China's continuing economic advance.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Walder, A. (PI)
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