This course will examine the films of Alfred Hitchcock and the afterlife of Hitchcock in contemporary U.S. culture. We will analyze Hitchcock films in a variety of interpretive frames, including feminist and queer theories, and in shifting historical contexts including the Cold War. We will also devote substantial attention to the legacy of Hitchcock in remakes, imitations, and parodies. Hitchcock films may include The Birds, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, North by Northwest, Psycho, Rear Window, Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound, Strangers on a Train, and Vertigo.

This course is for all who stay to the end of the credits, purchase soundtracks, and argue over who should have won the Oscar for Best Score, along with anyone else interested in the undervalued importance of music to the general effect of a motion picture. We will explore and discuss the myriad ways in which these two media interact. The course will focus on classic scores by Herrmann, Morricone, and Williams, as well as the uses of pre-existing music in films of Kubrick and Tarantino.

This course uses a sociological framework to examine the nature and structure of modern industrial societies. To identify central trends in society and culture, this course covers several basic themes, such as social inequality and social interaction, that have appeared repeatedly in the works of major social thinkers.

This course uses a sociological framework to examine the nature and structure of modern industrial societies. To identify central trends in society and culture, this course covers several basic themes, such as social inequality and social interaction, that have appeared repeatedly in the works of major social thinkers.

A critical analysis of race, racism, and justice in the United States, as set in a. socio-historical context defined by power. In addition to traditional modes of teaching-learning, students use intergroup dialogue and collaborative group work to examine how race is constructed, experienced, reproduced, and transformed within social structures.

COVID-19 has upended schooling in the United States. Assumptions about physical co-presence, standardized testing, the rights of students, and the responsibilities of schools have all been transformed at warp speed. The pandemic also exposed durable fault lines in American education and society. This course provides an opportunity to evaluate our present moment using classical and contemporary sociological perspectives on mass schooling.

This course examines the origins and development of sociological theory in the nineteenth century. Focusing on the three most important representatives of the classical tradition in sociology - Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim - we consider in detail the ideas of each, compare their perspectives on emerging industrial society, and assess their contemporary significance.

The Occupy movement protests and recent popular uprisings across developing countries draw attention to rising global economic inequality. This course asks, "How does capitalism produce and reproduce economic inequality both within and across nations?" Drawing on theoretical and empirical research, we will examine class relations as a way to explain the unequal distribution of wealth and power. We will also discuss the role of the state and ideology in perpetuating the gap between the rich and poor.

In Organizations and Inequality, we analyze how organizations create, reproduce, and also potentially challenge social inequalities. Drawing on different organizational perspectives, students will engage the challenges of ethical action in a complex world marked by competing rationalities and deep inequalities. Students will also research an organization of which they are a member and develop their own case study.

This course investigates the creative economy through a sociological lens. Through case studies of various creative industries, as well as examination of the creative sector as a whole, we will examine how the cultural economy influences, and is influenced by, social phenomena. We will explore issues such as how value is produced in the field of fashion modeling, how music and other creative industries drive urban economies, how local crafts enter global markets, and how norms and values influence the adoption of e-commerce in the market for fine art.