This course introduces majors to widely used theoretical perspectives that inform the sociological imagination. It focuses on how these perspectives analyze core facets of social life, such as structure and stratification, power and inequality, culture, agency, self and identity. Each topic is surveyed from several major perspectives, providing a comparative view so that students can make assessments of the insights each theory offers. Enrollment limited to 40 with majors and minors having priority. Prerequisite: SOC 101.

This course examines the institution of education from a sociological perspective, exploring issues of power and privilege, relationships between education and other social institutions, and the varying purposes of education in society. A recurring theme throughout the course is meritocracy. We consider how merit is defined in education, factors that affect who succeeds in the educational system and whether meritocratic education is a viable goal.

An introduction to classical and contemporary approaches to class relations, status and social inequality. Topics include Marxian and Weberian analysis, social mobility, class consciousness, class reproduction, and the place of race and gender in the class order. Enrollment limited to 35. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35.

For first-year students and sophomores; juniors and seniors with permission of the course director. Perspectives on society, culture and social interaction. Topics include the self, emotions, culture, community, class, ethnicity, family, sex roles, deviance and economy. Colloquium format. Enrollment limited to 30.

For first-year students and sophomores; juniors and seniors with permission of the course director. Perspectives on society, culture and social interaction. Topics include the self, emotions, culture, community, class, ethnicity, family, sex roles, deviance and economy. Colloquium format. Enrollment limited to 30.

For first-year students and sophomores; juniors and seniors with permission of the course director. Perspectives on society, culture and social interaction. Topics include the self, emotions, culture, community, class, ethnicity, family, sex roles, deviance and economy. Colloquium format. Enrollment limited to 30.

This course introduces students to the culture, politics and everyday life of South Asia. Topics covered include religion, community, nation, caste, gender and development, as well as some of the key conceptual problems in the study of South Asia, such as the colonial construction of social scientific knowledge, and debates over “tradition” and “modernity.” In this way, we address both the varieties in lived experience in the subcontinent and the key scholarly, popular and political debates that have constituted the terms through which we understand South Asian culture.

Topics course.: What does it mean to belong—to a city, a nation, a global community—from an anthropological perspective? How do passports, blood tests, border checkpoints, and voting ballots produce and reinforce ideas about citizenship? How are global movements of people and capital transforming notions of belonging? How does globalization challenge conventional understandings of citizenship as a particular relationship to a nation-state? This seminar considers the political, cultural and economic dimensions of citizenship and belonging.

Topics course.: In the United States, the idea of multiculturalism has come to symbolize the right of communities with distinct cultures to maintain their own ways of living in a diverse national society. Similar politics of difference have developed in other countries in the world. But is multiculturalism the same idea in every national context? How do the different histories of countries in North or South America, Europe, Asia or Africa influence the way that these different national multiculturalisms develop?

This course reviews the major theoretical approaches and directions in cultural anthropology from the late 19th century to the present. These approaches include social organization and individual agency, adaptation and evolution of human culture, culture and personality, economic behavior, human ecology, the anthropology of development and change, and postmodern interpretation. The works of major anthropologists are explored, including Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski, Margaret Mead, Evans-Pritchard, Claude Levi-Strauss, Marvin Harris, Eric Wolf, Clifford Geertz, Sherry Ortner and others.