L40 SOC 500 Independent Work

This course entails graduate-level independent study, usually involving directed readings supervised by a faculty mentor. The work in this course cannot be used to fulfill other program requirements, such as work on one's Mentored Research Collaboration, thesis, qualifying exam, dissertation proposal, or dissertation. Students and faculty should work together to establish course objectives, readings, assignments, and deadlines prior to registration. Students will be waitlisted, pending faculty confirmation. Prerequisite: graduate standing in the Department of Sociology.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L40 SOC 5001 Central Questions and Approaches in Sociology

This is a crash course in some of the most important and prominent questions, research programs, and methodological approaches within the discipline of sociology. Students will read a series of major books and/or articles and discuss current trends, debates, or emerging areas in the field. The course also works to connect lines of scholarly research with practical problems. Students will also have a chance to think creatively about where they fit in the discipline; what questions, assumptions, or arguments need further scrutiny; and how they might productively engage in central debates in the field through their own emerging research. Enrollment is only open to first-year Sociology graduate students.

Credit 2 units.

L40 SOC 5002 Sociology Professional Development

This course serves as an introduction to professional socialization for first-year Sociology graduate students. In addition to orienting students to the department and the discipline, the course will demystify various aspects of the academy and provide tips for navigating graduate school and beyond. Sample topics include: the hidden curriculum of graduate school; being a good colleague and advisee; professional organizations; managing references; reading articles and books; research ethics; applying for external grants and fellowships; developing CV's; giving effective research presentations; the publication process; attending academic conferences; professional networking; public engagement and social media; and preparing for different types of jobs and job markets. This course is open only to graduate students in Sociology.

Credit 1 unit.

L40 SOC 500A Research in Sociology

Students will conduct individual research in collaboration with and under the supervision of an assigned faculty mentor. This course aims to familiarize graduate students with the research and publication process, in addition to providing informal professional socialization during their early years within the department's PhD program. Students must register for the section assigned to their respective faculty member, and consult with their faculty member about course requirements and research expectations prior to enrollment. Students must successfully complete three semesters of the course to fulfill graduate program requirements; however, the collaborations and relationships forged within this course sequence are strongly encouraged to continue well past students' required enrollment. This course is open only to Sociology graduate students.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L40 SOC 5050 Quantitative Methods I

This is the first class in sociology's required two-course graduate quantitative methods sequence. This course is designed to help sociology PhD students develop a strong base in statistical methods. Starting from basic math, students will build up a foundation for linear regression and its application to causal inference. Students will also learn how to use STATA to conduct replicable and reliable analyses. The course is focused on the tools needed to do research as a PhD-level sociologist and draws examples from across the social sciences. Students can take this course both as a introductory course in linear regression or as a deeper dive into regression than what is learned in a typical undergraduate statistics sequence. Prerequisite: graduate standing; priority enrollment will be given to first- and second-year Sociology graduate students.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5051 Quantitative Methods II

This is the second course in the Department of Sociology's required two-course graduate quantitative methods sequence. This course is designed to assist sociology PhD students in understanding statistical methods with the goal of conducting independent and original quantitative research. Building on the first course of the graduate program's quantitative methods sequence, students will focus on extensions of standard linear regression models, including models for binary and categorical outcomes and analysis of panel data. Good quantitative social science research requires not only understanding statistical methods but also training in how to manage data and code, assess the robustness of results, connect theory and statistical practice, and interpret findings. The course emphasizes both understanding statistical methods and applying those methods in empirical research. Prerequisites: graduate standing and either successful completion of SOC 5050 - OR - consent of the instructor. Priority enrollment will be given to first- and second-year Sociology graduate students.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5060 Qualitative Methods

This course is an in-depth examination of qualitative research methods in sociology. The goals of this course are as follows: (1) to examine the epistemology, politics, practice, and ethics of qualitative methods; (2) to explore the strengths and limitations of these approaches; and (3) to develop the skills to design, collect, analyze, and write using qualitative data. Students will read exemplary canonical and contemporary books and articles that use a variety of qualitative methods. Students will learn to evaluate how different researchers approach developing research questions, field site and case study selection, gaining entree, building rapport and trust, note taking and audio recording, the nuts and bolts of conducting interviews and observation, and reflexivity in the field, among other topics. Students will gain hands-on experience with interview and field observation techniques, data analysis, and writing. By the end of the course, students will possess the skills necessary to independently design and undertake a rigorous qualitative research project from conception to write-up as well as the ability to evaluate qualitative studies conducted by others. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Priority enrollment will be given to first- and second-year Sociology graduate students.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5200 Research Design

This course covers the fundamentals of sociological research design, including the formation of research questions and testable hypotheses, the relationship between theory and empirical research, issues of measurement and sampling, the choice of appropriate data collection methods and analytic techniques, causal inference, assessment and critique of research, and the writing of research proposals. Emphasis is placed on principles that are applicable in various kinds of research, such as surveys, participant observation, comparative historical studies, experiments, qualitative interviews, and secondary data analysis. By the end of this course, students will have developed a concrete research proposal for their master's thesis. This course is open only to Sociology graduate students.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5211 Race and Place

In this course, students will investigate the claim that race and place are mutually constitutive; that is, race shapes how people perceive and organize places, and places in turn shape understandings and experiences of race. This investigation will span time - form the beginning of colonization in North America to the present - and space - from rural communities to central cities. Students will use a primarily sociological lens, but will also draw insights from history, political science, demography, and philosophy. Topics of study include segregation, housing, the criminal legal system, schooling, work, and more. This seminar is an upper level course intended for advanced sociology majors and minors, as well as graduate students. Graduate students should enroll in the 500-level offering.
Same as L40 SOC 4211

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S

L40 SOC 5250 Sociology Master's Thesis

This course is a structured independent study for second-year Sociology graduate students to work closely with their thesis committee as they prepare to undertake their Master's Thesis. While the Master's Thesis is to be defended in the Fall term of a student's third year in the program, the course will consist of preparing thesis reading lists, collecting and analyzing data, and constructing preliminary document drafts related to this key program milestone. Students will be waitlisted until they submit both their departmental AM Thesis Committee Declaration form and the OGS-required Research Advisory Committee form to the Academic Coordinator. This course is open only to Sociology graduate students.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5289 Neighborhoods, Schools, and Social Inequality

A major purpose of the course is to study the research and policy literature related to neighborhoods, schools and the corresponding opportunity structure in urban America. The course will be informed by theoretical models drawn from economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, education and law. A major focus is to gain greater understanding of the experiences and opportunity structure(s) of urban dwellers, in general, and urban youth, in particular. While major emphasis will be placed on data derived from the interface of urban environments and the corresponding institutions within them, the generational experiences of various ethnic groups will complement the course foci. Prerequisite: Completion of any 1000, 2000, or 3000-level Education course, graduate standing, or permission of instructor. Enrollment note: All students are enrolled onto the waitlist. Priority is given to Department of Education majors, minors, and graduate students. Undergraduate students must enroll in Educ. 4289 and graduate students must enroll in Educ. 5289
Same as L12 Educ 4289

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S

L40 SOC 5300 Professional Writing

This class focuses on various aspects key to the successful publication of sociological research. Though the main focus will be on writing for peer-reviewed disciplinary outlets (for which the process is far from intuitive), students will also engage and value strategies to translate research for a broader range of audiences. Working with existing writing associated with their Master's thesis or another ongoing research project, students will move through the various components of a publishable article, culminating in the presentation of their research to the department during the final week of the semester. This course is open only to Sociology graduate students.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5310 Stratification

This course is a graduate-level seminar exploring the the tools needed to analyze and understand processes of stratification fundamental to human organization. The course's emphasis will be upon institutions undergirding inequality in modern America, with a special focus on recent trends. The course will provide a survey of many major readings in stratification across the disciplines, and introduce various approaches and topics undertaken by contemporary stratification scholars. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Priority enrollment given to Sociology graduate students.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5311 Sociology of Higher Education

What we call "higher education" in the United States is a complex web of institutions - nearly 3,000 4-year colleges, 1,500 2-year colleges, and still more postsecondary institutions that grant a variety of credentials. It is a system through which tens of millions of students pass each year; over the last few decades, the importance of earning a postsecondary credential has increased markedly. As such, higher education is deserving of rigorous scrutiny and careful interrogation. But in studying "higher education," we are in fact attending to a multitude of things - among other things, varied institutional types with different resources and different imperatives, experiences of accessing and navigating higher education that are widely divergent along axes of inequality, and institutional processes that play out on campus but have resonance beyond the university gates. In this course, which will be conducted as a discussion-based seminar, we will engage with texts examining the enterprise of higher education from varied vantage points, but always through a sociological lens. We'll discuss why and how higher education came to be so important and loom so large in contemporary life, the stark differences between different sectors of the higher education landscape, and how stratification occurs between and within institutions. We'll talk at length about how higher education is a microcosm of many of the inequalities we see in the broader society, looking at issues of race, class, gender, and politics on campus. By taking a sociological lens to studying higher education, we'll learn a language and facility for rooting discussion of issues in higher education in theoretical grounding and empirical evidence. In so doing, students will develop the capacity to more critically assess research and public discourses on higher education, as well as their own work and experiences in the sector. Prerequisite: Completion of any 1000, 2000, or 3000-level Education course, graduate standing, or permission of instructor. Enrollment Note: Undergraduate students must enroll in Educ. 4310, and graduate students must enroll in Educ. 5310.
Same as L12 Educ 4310

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC EN: S

L40 SOC 5312 Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality

This graduate seminar is designed to be a foundational course for graduate students interested in race and ethnicity. Drawing primarily from sociological theory and research, we will interrogate the concepts of race and ethnicity as social constructions. This course provides an overview of major debates and theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of race, ethnicity, and racial inequality in Sociology. Prerequisites: There are no specific prerequisites but this course is intended for sociology graduate students. It is open to graduate students in other departments with instructor approval.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5313 Intersectionality: Theory, Method, and Praxis

This graduate-level seminar course draws on sociological research, while also drawing on other disciplines and texts by activists themselves. Students will consider intersectionality theory and its application and "travel" to various spaces including online. In what ways does intersectionality require critical race analysis? In what ways does intersectionality differ on the page as compared to embodied spaces such as social movements? Throughout the course, students will be attentive to the (seeming) tension between intersectionality as a theoretical tool and intersectionality as praxis. In addition to discussion of theory building and content, students will consider the politics of research and how these issues relate to students' own projects. To that end, students will practice a range of learning modalities. Prerequisite: graduate standing.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 535A Qualifying Exam Paper - Area I

This course is a structured independent study for Sociology graduate students to work closely with their Qualifying Exam Area I faculty advisor as they prepare to undertake their Qualifying Exam Paper. Students should enroll in this course in the semesterthey anticipate completing their Qualifying Exam Paper - usually during the Spring term of one's third year in the program. Students must concurrently enroll in L40 SOC 535B - Qualifying Exam Paper - Area II with their Area II faculty advisor. This course pair may only be taken once. Students will be waitlisted until they submit the departmental Qualifying Exam Paper Committee Declaration form. This course is open only to Sociology graduate students.

Credit 1 unit.

L40 SOC 535B Qualifying Exam Paper - Area II

This course is a structured independent study for Sociology graduate students to work closely with their Qualifying Exam Area II faculty advisor as they prepare to undertake their Qualifying Exam Paper. Students should enroll in this course in the semester they anticipate completing their Qualifying Exam Paper - usually during the Spring term of one's third year in the program. Students must concurrently enroll in L40 SOC 535A - Qualifying Exam Paper - Area I with their Area I faculty advisor. This course pair may only be taken once. Students will be waitlisted until they submit the departmental Qualifying Exam Paper Committee Declaration form. This course is open only to Sociology graduate students.

Credit 1 unit.

L40 SOC 540 Sociology of Immigration

This course reviews theoretical and empirical research on how and why people migrate across international borders, and the consequences of international migration for immigrants and natives in the United States. While immigration is one of the most controversial issues in the contemporary United States, these contentious debates are not new. Americans once voiced the same concerns about the economic and social impact of Southern and Eastern European immigrants that today are aimed at immigrants from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. In this course, students will compare historical (1880-1920) and contemporary (1965-present) waves of immigration to the United States. In this, students will explore why and how people migrate; immigrant integration; the impact of immigration on native-born Americans; and how government policies - at the national, state, and local level - shape immigrant assimilation and what it means to be considered truly "American" in a social as well as a legal sense. Prerequisite: successful completion of an introductory Sociology course or consent of the instructor.
Same as L40 SOC 3710

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S

L40 SOC 5450 Sociology Dissertation Proposal

This course is a structured independent study for Sociology graduate students to work closely with members of their dissertation committee members as they begin crafting their dissertation proposal. Enrolled students should anticipate defending their dissertation proposal before the conclusion of the term in which they take the course. Students should consult with their dissertation chair and the DGS prior to registration. Students will be waitlisted until they submit the departmental Dissertation Proposal Committee Declaration form to the Academic Coordinator. This course is open only to Sociology graduate students.

Credit 1 unit.

L40 SOC 5515 Migration and Health

This course explores the complex relationship between migration and health, with a focus on immigrant health in the United States. Topics include the immigrant health paradox, the impact of immigration enforcement on health and health behavior, access to health care, the health effects of migration on those left behind, and refugee health. Throughout the course, students will pay particular attention to the diverse mechanisms through which immigration and immigration status affect health. In addition to sociology, students will draw on scholarship from the fields of anthropology, demography, medicine, public health, and public policy. Prerequisite: successful completion of an introductory Sociology course or consent of instructor. Graduate students should enroll in the 500-level offering.
Same as L40 SOC 4515

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S

L40 SOC 5530 Sociology of Education

There are few institutions that nearly all Americans pass through, and schools are one of them; around fifty million students are enrolled in preK-12 schooling in the United States. As such, schools are an institution deserving of rigorous scrutiny and careful interrogation. But in studying K- 12 schools, we are in fact attending to a multitude of things - competing visions of and purposes for schools, and disparate experiences of accessing and navigating education that are widely divergent along axes of inequality. In this course, which will be conducted as a discussion-based seminar, we will engage with texts examining the enterprise of education from varied vantage points, but always through a sociological lens. We'll discuss the varied purposes theorists and practitioners envision for schools, and the extent to which schools live up to those ideals. We'll talk at length about how schools are a microcosm of many of the inequalities we see in the broader society, looking at issues of race, class, gender, and place. By taking a sociological lens to studying education, we'll learn a language and facility for rooting discussion of issues in education in theoretical grounding and empirical evidence. In so doing, students will develop the capacity to more critically assess scholarly research and public discourses on education, as well as their own experiences. Prerequisite: Completion of any 1000, 2000, or 3000-level Education course, graduate standing, or permission of instructor. Enrollment note: All students are enrolled onto the waitlist. Priority is given to Department of Education majors, minors, and graduate students. Undergraduate students must enroll in Educ. 453B and graduate students must enroll in Educ. 5530
Same as L12 Educ 453B

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA, ETH EN: S

L40 SOC 558 Sociological Theory

This course provides the theoretical basis for advanced sociological inquiry. Students will engage with the works of both classical and contemporary authors, exploring their contributions to the discipline of sociology and fields adjacent to it. Open exclusively to first-year sociology graduate students.

Credit 3 units.

L40 SOC 5601 Historical Racial Violence: Legacies & Reckonings

There is growing awareness of the legacies of historical racial violence in the United States and a related increase in reckoning efforts. Area histories of enslavement, lynching, and other racial terror and dispossession relate to inequality, conflict, and violence in the same places today. These 'haunting legacies' include heart disease and other health disparity, homicide rates, white supremacist mobilization, and corporal punishment in schools. Meanwhile, many communities and institutions are moving to acknowledge and address legacies of historical racial violence in various ways. This course combines seminar-style readings and writing on legacies of racial violence with a practicum component, where individual students or groups of students will conceptualize and develop interventions intended to clarify and disrupt legacies of racial violence, facilitating contemporary reckoning. The practicum will explore and support a broad range of interventive efforts, including public policy measures, original research projects, archival development, commemorative efforts, and a related array of mediums, including visual art, design, film, digital projects, and other creative approaches.
Same as L90 AFAS 4601

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S

L40 SOC 5621 Politics of Education

In this course, politics is interpreted broadly to include both formal policy-making processes and any situation in which people have to solve a problem or come to a decision. The purpose of this course is to explore the following processes: (1) how ideologies and power dynamics influence educational policies and decisions; (2) how educational policies and decisions translate into specific school programs and practices; (3) how specific programs and practices influence pedagogies, especially in the relationships among students, teachers, and knowledge pedagogies; (4) how these pedagogies impact student opportunities and outcomes; and (5) how student outcomes and opportunities reinforce ideologies and power dynamics. This course considers politics across time, space, and individuals, noting how historical, geographical, cultural, social, psychological, political, and economic contexts can shape the politics of education. In addition, as this course considers the relationship between politics and power, we explore how politics can manifest itself in ways that promote exclusion and subjugation or work toward the common good. Finally, after carefully examining the research on inequalities and inefficiencies resulting from the current politics of education, we will transition from problem identification (i.e., "What went wrong?") to problem solution (i.e., "Where do we go from here?"). Prerequisite: Completion of any 1000, 2000, or 3000-level Education course, graduate standing, or permission of instructor. Enrollment Note: All students are enrolled onto the waitlist. Priority is given to Department of Education majors, minors, and graduate students. Undergraduate students must enroll in Educ. 462, and graduate students must enroll in Educ. 5620.
Same as L12 Educ 462

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S

L40 SOC 5720 Race, Reproduction, and Justice

Reproduction is biological, economic, political, and social. Of course, individuals reproduce, but when, how, why, and with whom we do (or do not) is also a matter of public policy and social concern. Drawing on readings from sociology, law and other fields that engage continually with these key questions: Why is reproduction an important site through which to understand sociology? How do statuses such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability influence people's reproductive possibilities? How have communities supported or resisted efforts at reproductive control? Why is reproductive justice central to these answers? Students will review theoretical pieces, empirical research, media and more to explore the answers. This course primarily focuses on the US but will expose students to global reproductive concerns. Class sessions include lecture, in-class discussion and online discussion, media analysis and other activities. This upper-level seminar presumes an understanding of the basic concepts in sociology such as sociological imagination and social construction. Prerequisite: successful completion of an introductory-level Sociology course or consent of the instructor. Graduate students should enroll in this 500-level offering.
Same as L40 SOC 4720

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC EN: S

L40 SOC 5884 Advanced Seminar: The Roots of the American Working Class: Myths, Realities, Histories

The diverse realities of American labor and working-class experience have long been submerged under layers of politics and ideology. How should we study the lives of working people? What questions should we ask? Where do we go to answer them? This research seminar engages the lived experiences of the American working classes, in all their complexity, over the long 19th- and 20th-centuries, to the present. The course has the double project of (1) exploring the roots of mythologies about American working people that have the effect of distorting or erasing their experiences, efforts and accomplishments, and struggles for organization, visibility, citizenship, and power, with special attention to mythologies about American workers who are non-white, non-male, and non-U.S.-born who did/do not fit conventional tropes of "American labor" or "the white worker"; and (2) exploring the roots of working people's experiences, as shaped by forces of technology, class, race, gender and sexuality, religion, nationalism, and violence : what are the challenges, conceptual and archival, of studying the people, in their working and familial/community lives, as producers and consumers, in their organizing efforts, and in their civic and political capacities? How did the transformation of work, technology, culture, and society over this long era from Enslavement to Artificial Intelligence, from Blackface Minstrelsy to Hip Hop, shape working people's lives and struggles? How did working people survive cataclysmic crises, from the Civil War to Covid, and mold the evolution of American citizenship and democracy? Each student will produce a 12-15 page original research paper related to the course material, based on an analysis of primary sources, in consultation with the instructor, and due at the end of the semester; the course is designed to closely mentor students in this project.
Same as L22 History 4884

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC EN: H