This study of the development of human societies explores the five major 'techo-economic bases' that have characterized our species' history (hunting-gathering, horticultural, agrarian, industrial and information/biotech) and examines how contemporary macrolevel trends affect our lives at the microlevel.

This course will explore the determinants, nature, and effects of the increase in cross-border flows of goods, services, capital and people that we have come to associate with the term "globalization". We will investigate how globalization affects domestic & world inequality, the role of institutions, and world & local cultures. The course will include readings from economics, history, world-system theory, and cultural analysis.

Explores the ways in which physical environments shape and are shaped by social life.  Examines the relationship between urban space and culture in different historical and social settings, though there is a particular focus on the rise and development of modernity as expressed through the experience of particular cities.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of sociology.

Topics vary from semester to semester and will be announced.

Human societies exist in time.This course will examine the historical development of a variety of societies from earliest times to the present. Its focus will be on the relation of the West to the rest of the world. The course is particularly intended for social scientists, to make them aware of the historical dimension to human society; but it is open to all.

This course introduces the Soc of Latinxs in the US. Topics explore how Latinxs experience systems & institutions in the US, like education, immigration, work, & the criminal punishment system. Theories of structural racism, racialization, racial formation, as well as histories of colonization & intersectional frameworks ground course learning. Attention is paid to the histories & experiences of Afro-Latinx and Indigenous communities.

This course provides a sociological overview of Earth's changing environment, starting with the impact of past disasters that affected climate and living beings. Then it considers growing evidence of accelerating climate change and its impact on environment, humans and other species, while also considering initiatives to combat it. It combines relevant sociological and other literature with student searches of major newspapers and periodicals.

This course explores the social dimensions of health and illness, focusing especially on the social experience of illness, the social determinants of disease, and the role and meaning of medicine and public health in modern U.S. society. The class examines how we define health problems and their solutions, and it considers the ways in which race, gender, class, age, and sexuality matter for understanding health-related experiences and discourses.

Many goals require the combined efforts of multiple individuals, from developing a new product to providing health care to the poor. Yet individuals have their own interests, so how do organizations keep them coordinated? And what are the impacts of organizations on social inequality and social institutions such as democracy? This course introduces the study of organizations in their cultural, economic and political environments.