* SOCY 081a / ER&M 081a / MUSI 081a, Race and Place in British New Wave, K-Pop, and Beyond  Grace Kao

This seminar introduces you to several popular musical genres and explores how they are tied to racial, regional, and national identities. We examine how music is exported via migrants, return migrants, industry professionals, and the nation-state (in the case of Korean Popular Music, or K-Pop). Readings and discussions focus primarily on the British New Wave (from about 1979 to 1985) and K-Pop (1992-present), but we also discuss first-wave reggae, ska, rocksteady from the 1960s-70s, British and American punk rock music (1970s-1980s), the precursors of modern K-Pop, and have a brief discussion of Japanese City Pop. The class focuses mainly on the British New Wave and K-Pop because these two genres of popular music have strong ties to particular geographic areas, but they became or have become extremely popular in other parts of the world. We also investigate the importance of music videos in the development of these genres. Enrollment limited to first year students.   SO
MW 4pm-5:15pm

* SOCY 100a, Introduction to Population Studies  Emma Zang

This course offers an introduction to population studies/demography. Population studies cover all aspects related to human populations. The topics that demographers or population scientists study range from health disparities in the United States, the impact of AIDS on population health in Africa, migration patterns from Latin America, the reasons behind sex-selective abortions in Asia, the implications of low fertility in Europe, and the socioeconomic impact of COVID19. Understanding population dynamics is crucial to professionals in a diversity of careers and industries. For example, city planners, environmental engineers, and health policy experts all use demographic expertise about population growth, migration patterns, and health and longevity in decisions on issues such as how many schools a city should build, how much water a region needs over twenty years, and what type of public health initiatives would best serve a community. Professionals in business also rely on demographic knowledge to make decisions about which markets to enter, what products are needed, and how to best market their products. In this course, students explore the key concepts and measures used to study population dynamics.  SC, SO  0 Course cr
MW 3:30pm-4:20pm

SOCY 101b, Introduction to Sociology  Philip Smith

The class opens a doorway to sociology as an academic discipline. This is the systematic and rigorous study of society at all levels from the interpersonal, through institutions, organizations, and groups, to the level of the nation and world system. We cover the major research methods, forms of explanation, core concepts, and theoretical models. Substantive topics include inequality, race, gender, networks, culture, deviance, social change, and social behaviors among others.  SO  0 Course cr
TTh 4:30pm-5:20pm

SOCY 112a / AMST 115a / EDST 110a, Foundations in Education Studies  Staff

Introduction to key issues and debates in the U.S. public education system. Focus on the nexus of education practice, policy, and research. Social, scientific, economic, and political forces that shape approaches to schooling and education reform. Theoretical and practical perspectives from practitioners, policymakers, and scholars.  SO  0 Course cr
HTBA

SOCY 133a, Computers, Networks, and Society  Scott Boorman

Comparison of major algorithm-centered approaches to the analysis of complex social network and organizational data. Fundamental principles for developing a disciplined and coherent perspective on the effects of modern information technology on societies worldwide. Software warfare and algorithm sabotage; blockmodeling and privacy; legal, ethical, and policy issues. No prior experience with computers required.  SO  0 Course cr
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

SOCY 138b / ANTH 140b / ER&M 241b, The Corporation  Douglas Rogers

Survey of the rise, diversity, and power of the capitalist corporation in global contexts, with a focus on the 20th and 21st centuries. Topics include: the corporation as legal entity and the social and cultural consequences of this status; corporations in the colonial era; relationships among corporations, states, and non-governmental organizations in Western and non-Western contexts; anti-corporate critique and response; corporate social responsibility; and race, gender, and indigeneity.  HU, SO  0 Course cr
MW 10:30am-11:20am

SOCY 144a / EDST 144a / ER&M 211a / EVST 144a, Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration  Staff

Exploration of sociological studies and theoretical and empirical analyses of race, ethnicity, and immigration, with focus on race relations and racial and ethnic differences in outcomes in contemporary U.S. society (post-1960s). Study of the patterns of educational and labor market outcomes, incarceration, and family formation of whites, blacks (African Americans), Hispanics, and Asian Americans in the United States, as well as immigration patterns and how they affect race and ethnic relations.  SO  0 Course cr
HTBA

SOCY 151a / PLSC 290a, Foundations of Modern Social Theory  Staff

Major works of social thought from the beginning of the modern era through the 1900s. Attention to social and intellectual concepts, conceptual frameworks and methods, and contributions to contemporary social analysis. Writers include W.E.B. Du Bois, Simone De Beauvoir, Adam Smith, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx.  SO  0 Course cr
HTBA

* SOCY 169a, Visual Sociology  Philip Smith

Introduction to themes and methods in visual sociology. The role and use of visual information in social life, including images, objects, settings, and human interactions. Ethnographic photography, the study of media images, maps and diagrams, observation and coding of public settings, unobtrusive measures, and the use of internet resources.  SO
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

SOCY 170a / AFAM 186a / LAST 214a / PLSC 378a, Contesting Injustice  Staff

Exploration of why, when, and how people organize collectively to challenge political, social, and economic injustice. Cross-national comparison of the extent, causes, and consequences of inequality. Analysis of mobilizations for social justice in both U.S. and international settings. Intended primarily for first years and sophomores.  SO  0 Course cr
HTBA

* SOCY 205a, Politics and Culture  Yagmur Karakaya

This class explores the link between politics and culture, by delving into three subsets of political culture: civil society and power, political performance and communication, and collective action. Throughout the semester, we explore culture as a social force which can shift political life in new directions. Our deep engagement starts with civil society and power, specifically the American understanding of community, to see how civic Republicanism and radical individualism undergird participation in social life. Here, we deconstruct how Americans perceive themselves as political actors and members of a political community, and frame their participation in politics. In political performance and communication, we explore several topics: political speeches, populism as a style, media as a realm of political performance, and collective memory. Learning about the performative side of politics, with real life material, we familiarize ourselves with narratives and deep stories told by people across the political spectrum. In collective action, we look at social media and mobilization, environmental philanthropy, religion in political activism, and emotions. While focusing on case studies students become familiar with different approaches to culture.  SO
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

SOCY 207b / AMST 200b / HUMS 165b / WGSS 200b, Topics in Human Sexuality  Joseph Fischel

In 1970, Yale professors and sexuality scholars Lorna and Philip Sarrel introduced what came to be their wildly popular lecture, “Topics in Human Sexuality.” The course, offered at the height of the sexual revolution and shortly after Yale University admitted women undergraduates, was multipurpose: to teach students about pressing, contemporary social problems around sex, gender, and sexuality; to help students learn about their bodies, sexualities, and relationships; to direct students to resources and information about their sexual and reproductive health; and to advance the mission of a liberal arts education, namely, the cultivation of well-rounded, critically engaged, curious, participatory young citizens. This iteration of the course is inspired by the Sarrels’ ambitions, even if we are unlikely to realize them in full. The course is offered in the spirit of a critical sexuality education, critical as in 1) theory- rather than practicum-driven, but nonetheless 2) urgent. As political movements that endanger transgender children, suppress sexual expression, and rescind reproductive rights gain traction, the course offers candid, careful focus on: abortion, sexual education, queer and trans kids, pornography, university sexual politics, hooking up, and breaking up.  Along the way, we watch a season of Netlfix’s “Sex Education” together. The class (nonexclusively) focuses on social and political problems in the contemporary United States, and examines those problems by drawing upon scholarship in Gender & Sexuality Studies, American Studies, Sociology, Psychology, and Public Law.  HU, SO
HTBA

SOCY 230b / GLBL 287b / PLSC 387b, Capitalism and Crisis  Isabela Mares

This course provides an introduction to the study of comparative capitalism. We examine how institutions organizing labor markets, finance and the welfare state differ systematically across advanced industrialized countries and the consequence of these differences for a variety of economic and policy outcomes. These include economic growth, unemployment, levels of inequality and so on. Can we meaningfully talk about a German or Swedish model and if so, what are the main institutional arrangements that differ across these economies? How do institutions in these countries differ from more liberal capitalist economies, such as the United States? In the second part of the course, we examine the responses of different countries to a variety of economic shocks. These include the stagflation crisis of the 1970’s, the slowdown in economic growth, deindustrialization, the rise in unemployment and inequality and the migration crisis. We examine how existing political and economic institutions have shaped the policy trade-offs encountered by different countries and we explain the different political responses taken in response to these crises. During the period between November 14 and November 24, enrollment will be limited to majors. After November 24, registration will be opened to all Yale College students. Please register your interest via the Yale Course Search website.  SO  0 Course cr
MW 9:25am-10:15am

* SOCY 275a, Climate Privilege: A Sophomore Seminar  Rene Almeling

There are massive and consequential inequalities between those who produce the most carbon and those who suffer the effects. In this discussion-based seminar designed for sophomores, students first review basic information about climate warming and learn about the emergence of the environmental justice approach, which foregrounds intersecting inequalities such as race and class. Then, they engage with interdisciplinary readings on privilege, complicity, and complacency to develop a more systematic understanding of “climate privilege” and how it contributes to forestalling the social, political, economic, and cultural changes necessary to reduce climate warming. The course also involves a basic introduction and practice with selected social scientific research methods, including surveys, observations, and interviews.  SO
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* SOCY 305a / ER&M 285a / LAST 305a, Latin American Immigration to the United States: Past, Present, and Future  Angel Escamilla Garcia

Immigration from Latin America is the one of the most important and controversial issues in the United States today. The family separation crisis, the infamous border wall, and the Dream Act dominate political debate. Latinos—numbering more than 60 million in the U.S.—are a large, heterogeneous, and growing group with a unique social, political, and cultural history. This course explores key current issues in immigration, as well as the history of Latin American migration to the U.S., with the aim of providing students the tools necessary to thoughtfully participate in current debates.  SO
HTBA

* SOCY 331b / HIST 240b / RLST 347b / WGSS 291b, Sexual Minorities from Plato to the Enlightenment  Igor De Souza

This interdisciplinary course surveys the history of homosexuality from a cross-cultural, comparative  perspective. Students study contexts where homosexuality and sodomy were categorized, regulated, and persecuted and examine ancient and medieval constructions of same-sex desire in light of post-modern developments, challenging ideas around what is considered normal and/or natural. Ultimately, we ask: what has changed, and what has remained the same, in the history of homosexuality? What do gays and lesbians today have in common with pre-modern sodomites? Can this history help us ground or rethink our sexual selves and identities? Primary and secondary historical sources, some legal and religious sources, and texts in intellectual history are studied. Among the case studies for the course are ancient attitudes among Jews, early Christians, and Greeks; Christian theologians of the Middle Ages; Renaissance Florence; the Inquisition in Iberia; colonial Latin America; and the Enlightenment’s condemnation of sodomy by Montesquieu and Voltaire, and its defense by Bentham.  HU
T 3:30pm-5:20pm

* SOCY 342a / AFAM 329a, Managing Blackness in a "White Space"  Elijah Anderson

White space” is a perceptual category that assumes a particular space to be predominantly white, one where black people are typically unexpected, marginalized when present, and made to feel unwelcome—a space that blacks perceive to be informally “off-limits” to people like them and where on occasion they encounter racialized disrespect and other forms of resistance. This course explores the challenge black people face when managing their lives in this white space.  SO
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* SOCY 390a / ER&M 360a / HLTH 370a / HSHM 432a / WGSS 390a, Politics of Reproduction  Rene Almeling

Reproduction as a process that is simultaneously biological and social, involving male and female bodies, family formation, and powerful social institutions such as medicine, law, and the marketplace. Sociological research on reproductive topics such as pregnancy, birth, abortion, contraception, infertility, reproductive technology, and aging. Core sociological concepts used to examine how the politics of reproduction are shaped by the intersecting inequalities of gender, race, class, and sexuality.  WR, SO
HTBA

* SOCY 410a / PLSC 410a, Political Protests  Maria Jose Hierro

The 2010s was the “decade of protest,” and 2019 capped this decade with an upsurge of protests all over the world. In 2020, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the US is witnessing the broadest protests in its history. What are the roots of these protests? Under what conditions does protest start? Why do people decide to join a protest? Under what conditions do protests succeed? Can repression kill protest movements? Focusing on recent protest movements across the world, this seminar addresses these, and other questions related to the study of political protest.   SO
Th 9:25am-11:15am

* SOCY 471a, Individual Study  Rourke O'Brien

Individual study for qualified juniors and seniors under faculty supervision. To register for this course, each student must submit to the director of undergraduate studies a written plan of study that has been approved by a faculty adviser.
HTBA

* SOCY 491a, Senior Essay and Colloquium for Nonintensive Majors  Ramina Sotoudeh

Independent library-based research under faculty supervision. To register for this course, students must submit a written plan of study approved by a faculty adviser to the director of undergraduate studies no later than the end of registration period in the term in which the senior essay is to be written. The course meets biweekly, beginning in the first week of the term.
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* SOCY 493a, Senior Essay and Colloquium for Intensive Majors  Alex Manning

Independent research under faculty direction, involving empirical research and resulting in a substantial paper. Workshop meets biweekly to discuss various stages of the research process and to share experiences in gathering and analyzing data.
W 1:30pm-3:20pm