Lazreg: Soc.80000

Social Theory: Foucault, Bourdieu, and Baudrillard

Young: Soc 85000

The Sociology of Transgression

Prof. JOCK YOUNG

Soc. 85000 - THE SOCIOLOGY OF TRANSGRESSION {97627}

THURSDAYS 6.30-8.30p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

Drawing on recent developments in Cultural Criminology and the Sociology of Deviance this course examines the following areas:

* Social Exclusion/Social Bulimia

*Othering and Moral Panics

*The Scapegoating of Immigrants

*Sociology of War and Genocide

*Terrorism

*The Social Construction of Crime and Deviance in the Mass Media

*Pychoactive Drugs and the War against them.

*Post-Subcultural Youth

* The Surveillance Society

*Prison, Torture and the Prison Industrial Complex.

Indicative texts are Jock Young, The Vertigo of Late Modernity; Phillipe Bourgois and Nancy Scheper-Hughes,Violence in War and Peace; Loic Wacquant, Prisons of Misery; Ken Plummer, Telling Sexual Stories, Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Modernity.

There is an option for students to attend the Common Study Session in Amsterdam/Rotterdam in the second week of November.

Professor Marnia Lazreg Marnia@earthlink.net

Soc. 80000 - Foucault, Bourdieu and Baudrillard {96591}

Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

In 1977 Jean Baudrillard wrote that Foucault’s conception of power is a “mythic discourse” rather than a discourse that purportedly reveals the truth about the nature of power relations. In 1968, Bourdieu, a one-time former student of Foucault, turned Foucault’s question “What is an Author?” into “How to read an Author.” Yet, Baudrillard shared with Foucault a rejection of the core concepts of Cartesian rationalism and a “poststructuralist” orientation, while Bourdieu sought to develop a sociological perspective that incorporated a number of Foucault’s critical theoretical insights. What historical, philosophical, political and biographical factors account for these French sociologists’ mixture of reticent admiration and skepticism about Foucault’s system of ideas and political engagements(-- that sets them apart from social scientists in the United States--)? Using methods borrowed from the history of ideas as well as the sociology of knowledge, this course examines in-depth Foucault’s foundational epistemic and conceptual innovations; their direct and indirect influences on Bourdieu; as well as Baudrillard’s efforts to build a critical sociology. Special attention will be given to the meanings and articulations of key concepts and issues such as structure and event/history; rules and discourse; language and power; signs and symbols; body, sex/sexuality and gender; biopolitics and liberalism; security/war and self defense. The course will further examine the concrete socio-political activities which each author engaged in light of his theoretical commitment.

Although students are encouraged to read these authors’ seminal works, emphasis will be placed on Foucault’s Lectures at the College de France in addition to the Order of Things, and Madness and Civilization; Bourdieu’s Pascalian Meditations, Practical Reason, Acts of Resistance, and Masculine Domination; Baudrillard’s Seduction, Simulacra and Simulation, Symbolic Exchange and Death.

Students are expected to immerse themselves in the works of these authors and write a paper focusing on three critical issues with which one of them grappled. The paper must be elaborated in stages to be discussed in class until its completion.

Professor David Halle dhalle@ucla.edu

Soc. 82201 - Computer Mapping for LA & NY {96594}

Mondays, 11:45 – 1:45 p.m. Room TBA, 1 credits

An introduction to computer mapping (Geographic Information Systems), using the software Mapinfo. We will learn the techniques of computer mapping using 2000, 1990, 1980 and 1970 census data for New York and Los Angeles, both the cities and regions. We will start by mapping the distribution of income, occupations, and racial and ethnic groups. Students will use the data to discuss such key topics as the Latinization of inner city neighborhoods, whether it make sense to talk anymore about inner-city "ghettos", the movement of ethnic groups to the suburbs, gentrification and urban growth.. We will also map crime at the level of the police precinct, political data including mayoral and congressional elections, and city and county boundaries, and discuss the issues associated with these data.

The class will meet for four sessions during the month of September - October. (Meetings will be held on Mondays, starting Monday, September 8th through Monday, October 6th, from 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m. in the Computer Classroom. In addition, Professor Halle will be available at regular times throughout the year to help/consult with students on G.I.S.

Professor Philip Kasinitz pkasinitz@gc.cuny.edu

Soc.85800 – Race & Ethnicity{96606}

Wednesdays, 11:45 – 1:45p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

Race and ethnicity are constantly changing and evolving, yet they remain among the most persistent forms of structured social inequality. Focusing on the United States, but with reference to other multi-ethnic societies, we will examine the evolution of the concept of “race” and its relationship to racism; the heritage of slavery and segregation and their impacts contemporary life; the origins of modern racism and anti-Semitism, why and how the salience of ethnic identity increases and decreases at particular historical moments and the relationship of race and ethnicity to migration, nationalism, colonialism and class. In addition we will take an in depth look at how racial boundaries change, competition and cooperation between ethnic groups in contemporary America and how “racialized” minorities are (or are not) incorporated into different societies. Readings will include works by W.E.B. Dubois; Jean Paul Sartre, George Fredrickson; William Julius Wilson, David Roediger, John Iceland, Richard Alba, Yen Lee Espiritu, Cornell West, Tariq Madood, Alejandro Portes, Stephen Steinberg and Mary Waters.

Prof. John Torpey jtorpey@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 70000 – Proseminar {96587}

Mondays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

The proseminar introduces students to the graduate study and the academic profession of sociology, as well as to the faculty of the CUNY PhD Program in Sociology. Faculty members will speak to the new cohort about their fields of interest in order to give students a sense of whose interests might overlap with their own. We will also examine outstanding recent PhD-level work, as evidenced, for example, by theses that have won the American Sociological Association’s “dissertation of the year” award. We will also explore the process of grant-writing, publication, and other issues pertaining to academic life. Grading will be on a pass/fail basis.

Prof. Richard Alba ralba@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 81900 – Quantitative reasoning in the study of Immigration, Race, & Ethnicity {96596}

Thursdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

(Qualifies for Methods requirement)

This course will focus on the practices and logics of contemporary quantitative analysis in the study of immigration and ethnicity/race. We will as a group examine some of the major quantitative techniques (e.g., logistic regression, event-history analysis) and study their applications in recent published research. Exercises in applying the techniques also will be a regular feature of the course. The emphasis, however, will be on a critical examination of the logics behind contemporary quantitative practices and the substantive inferences to which they lead; the goal will be a sophisticated understanding of quantitative analysis, useful whether one is a consumer of quantitative research or producer of it.

Prof. Barbara Katz Rothman bkatzrothman@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 82800 - Topics in Public Health: Food, Culture, & Society {97246}

Wednesdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

This course explores major issues in foodways—food habits from production through consumption—through readings and discussions as well as through primary research in food and society. The scholarly study of food invokes issues of gender, class, labor, and cultural identities and demands an interdisciplinary approach. Theoretical frameworks include the food voice (Hauck-Lawson), cultural studies, political economy, and symbolic interactionism.

Prof. Lynn S. Chancer lchancer@hunter.cuny.edu

Soc. 83300 - Gender, Crime, Media and Culture {96607}

Thursdays, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

This course will explore a fascinating selection of sociological literature that combines, in myriad ways and through the use of diverse methodologies, the subject matters of gender, crime, media and culture. The first part of the course will offer students an overview of different theoretical perspectives currently exerting influence in the sociological subfields of gender, crime, media and culture respectively. In the second part of the course, we will turn to research in substantive topic areas. Among the topics covered will be school violence cases, domestic violence, sex work, gang research and the gendered division of labor in legal (as well as illegal) occupations.

Prof. Margaret M. Chin mmchin@hunter.cuny.edu

Soc. 85800 – Ethnic Media {96608}

Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:30 Room TBA, 3credits

The course focuses on the role that ethnic media plays in the US, by acquainting their audiences (usually new immigrants with limited language abilities) with news information, and by reflecting and shaping immigrant cultural life. Central to understanding the role of these media in everyday life is an understanding of the current and historical status of immigrants in the United States. We will review the development of the ethnic media in relation to immigration patterns. For example, in recent years, ethnic television stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines and web sites have set the pace for media growth in the United States because of the unprecedented growth of immigrant communities. While the economic downturn has slowed ethnic media growth, there has been no shortage of the need for the information they carry. We will discuss how ethnic media changes to accommodate these new conditions.

This course will also explore how the ethnic “in language” media has covered issues related to immigration, education, culture, health and the economy. We will also examine how the coverage of these issues are influenced by the business and marketing side behind the stories. On the immigrant consumer end, we will explore what the immigrant is in interested in seeing in the media and whether the content of these media helps them keep in contact with their homeland and /or at the same time integrates them into everyday life in the US. Finally, we will also examine the changing technology that ethnic media uses to allow easier access and/or more freedom of choice of content.

Prof. Patricia Clough pclough@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 80000 - Contemporary Theory: Desire, Affect and the Social

{96589}

Thursdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

The course considers the differences and similarities between affect and desire. Given the interest in desire that gave shape to feminist theory, queer theory, psychoanalysis, philosophy, film studies and literary criticism in the latter half of the twentieth century, and the current interest in affect in political theory, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, performance studies and media studies, what changes have occurred making necessary the addition of affect to the stock of social theoretical concepts? What configurations of economy, politics, sociality, and technology condition the focus on desire and on affect, respectively? What differences between affect and desire inform our understandings of language, bodies, psyche, reflexivity, thought, writing science and methodology? Readings will be drawn from the fields mentioned above with some emphasis on the philosophical tradition running through Gilles Deleuze, the psychoanalytic tradition beyond Lacan and the sociological tradition from Weber to Foucault and Bourdieu

Prof. William Kornblum wkornblum@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 82800 – Community & Global Social Change {96600}

Tuesdays, 11:45 – 1:45 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

This course will consider some of the rich literature in the social sciences that views the experiences of major moments of social change through the lens of people’s experiences in local communities. The semester’s central question is “What are the strengths and limitations of exploring major turning points in human history through a community studies approach?” We will look at work in the community studies tradition that deals especially with the processes and consequences of revolutionary political and economic social change, as indicated in the reading units outlined below.

Revolution in France

Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire, Civil War in France

David Harvey, Paris,Capital of modernity

Passages from Tocqueville, Ancien Regime and the Revolution

Roger Gould, Insurgent identities : class, community, and protest in Paris from 1848 to

The Commune

Revolutions in China

William Hinton, Fanshen (revised edition)

Film: Manufactured Landscapes

Peter Kwon, The New Chinatown, revised edition

Margaret Chen; Sewing Women: Immigrants and the New York City Garment Industry (Columbia Comparative Studies on Ethnicity and Race) by Margaret Chin (Hardcover - April 29, 2005)others

Industrialization and De-Industrialization

Marx and Engles on Manchester

Maurice Stein, Eclipse of Community

George Orwell The Road to Wigan Pier

Beatrix Campbell, Wigan Pier Revisited: Poverty and Politics in the 80s (Paperback)

St. Claire Drake and Horace Cayton, Black Metropolis

William J. Wilson, When Work Disappears

Mario Small, Villa Victoria

Communities and Cultural Change

Kai Erikson, Wayward Puritans

Arlene Stein The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community's Battle over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights by Arlene Stein, 2002

Faye Ginsburg, Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community, Updated edition by Faye D. Ginsburg (Paperback - Sep 1, 1998)

Bullough, Vern L. Before Stonewall : activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context /

In addition to one group project in which students will present analysis of readings relating classic studies discussed in the Stein volume, students will be encouraged to rk either on their own community-based research or to write papers based on their own particular selection of community studies.

Prof. Juan Battle jbattle@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 71100 – Social Science Research Consulting Seminar {96598}

Tuesdays, 11:45 – 1:45 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

This course is designed to expose students to advanced social research methods. Every week a different topic will presented and discussed. Perspectives will be considered from sociology, psychology, political science, and related areas in the social sciences. Prerequisites: Statistics II or instructor permission.

Professor Cynthia Fuchs Epstein cepstein@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 86800 – Cultural Sociology & Sociology of Culture{96613}

Wednesdays, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

Cultural practices and processes, symbolic and classificatory systems, repertoires of action, of contention, webs of significance, and cultural structures are topics comprising the “cultural turn” in sociology.

Theories and research on culture and its relationship to social structure and agency; and empirical work on culture have grown in the last 20 years. Cultural Sociology is the next to largest section in the American Sociological Association.

Of particular interest in this course, is the work on boundaries – such as those that define gender, ethnicity, sexualities, race and nation.

We shall read the work of scholars who have conceptualized these topics, sought research sites and methodologies for exploring them in such arenas as music, art, fashion, communications, celebrity culture, sexuality, gender distinction and politics. For example, we shall read DiMaggio and Crane on the institutionalization of cultural categories, Zerubavel on cognitive sociology, Alexander on myths and narratives, Douglas and (Alexander) on the sacred and profane, Bourdieu on cultural capital, Brubaker and Barth on groups and ethnicities, Geertz on thick description and a webs of significance, Lamont (and Epstein) on symbolic boundaries and status, Swidler on Love, Friedland on religious ideology and kinship, and Kunda on corporate cultures.

We will apply theories of interest to current social phenomena: for example: the place of women in societies; religious communities; changing forms of network communications; food. fashion and art.

As a final requirement students will be asked to write a paper on a subject of their own research interest using the concepts explored in the class.

Professor Stuart Ewen sewen@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 76900 – Social and Historical Roots of Mass Culture {96615}

Wednesdays, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

In conjunction with readings, films and a variety of other materials, this seminar explores the crossroads linking the development of a global commercial society, the rise of modern media systems and the emergence of consumer culture. Relations between visual culture, language and conditions of public expression and perception will be scrutinized in light of changing structures of power and social interaction over a period of centuries.

We will also engage changes in the concept of “truth,” the physics of perception, and the character of public life and public communication that have evolved alongside the rise of a world market system, metropolitan life, and a modern media culture. Throughout the course of the semester, we will examine media artifacts and aesthetic currents in relation to distinct cultural outlooks and important social and/or historical changes. Historical junctures linking art, science, religion, popular culture with a modern media system will be explored as well. Areas of concern include the history, influence and meanings of visual language, the changing consequence of words in print and speech, the relationship between social structure, classification systems, social psychology, and modernity.

Professor Jack Hammond jhammond@hunter.cuny.edu

Soc. 72500 – War and Society {96609}

Wednesdays, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

This course will examine war as a social phenomenon, on the battle front and the home front. Historical: technology and social organization as influences on war; war and the rise of the nation-state. Contemporary: the combat experience; symmetric and asymmetric warfare and the targeting of civilians; the military as an institution (including recent debates about the racial and gender integration of the military and the All Volunteer Force); ethical considerations of just war and human rights in wartime; movements of opposition to war.

Professor Samuel Heilman scheilman@gmail.com

Soc. 84001 – Comparative Religious Fundamentalism: Beliefs and Believers

{96616}

Wednesdays, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

This course will examine fundamentalist variants of religion, paying particular attention to the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We will look at common elements that define the essential characteristics of fundamentalism. Students will be expected to write a term paper that examines two groups from two different religious groups,compare and contrast them. Many of the materials for reading will be posted online. The approach will follow the themes raised in the University of Chicago and American Academy of Arts & Sciences Fundamentalism Project. http://www.amazon.com/Accounting-Fundamentalisms-Character-Movements-Fundamentalism/dp/0226508862/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b. The course will require reading and independent research. The goal is to establish a basis for analyzing fundamentalisms.

Professor William Helmreich helmreichw@aol.com

Soc. 82301– The Peoples of New York City {97161}

Mondays, 2 - 4 p.m. Room TBA, 3 Credits

This course looks at the different neighborhoods/communities that make up this great and fascinating city. Its focus is on the different ethnic, religious, and racial groups in the city and their social and cultural life-----Hispanics, Jews, Arabs, Asians, African Americans, Greeks, Italians, and people of differing socioeconomic and gender groups. In addition, we will be looking at the neighborhoods themselves, their architectural and spatial characteristics, how and why they grew, and how they function as communities.
An integral part of the course will be field work---visiting and studying the areas-----Bensonhurst, Carroll Gardens, Gerritsen Beach, the South Bronx, Chelsea, Glendale, Maspeth, Harlem, etc., etc. Readings will reflect the above topics.

Professor Hester Eisenstein hester1@prodigy.net

Soc.80000 – Social Theory: The Marxist-Feminist Tradition{96590}

Tuesdays, 4;15 – 6:15p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

In this course we will explore the tradition of Marxist-feminism, from its origins in the writings of Marx and Engels, through the debates of the 1970s, to its contemporary iterations. What is the relationship between patriarchy and capitalism? Can a Marxist framework accommodate issues of race and gender? Do the social relations between men and women, and between production and reproduction, constitute forms of economic exploitation in the Marxist sense? How have Marxist regimes dealt with the issue of gender? What is the relevance of Marxist-feminism to today’s globalized world?

Readings will be drawn from the following texts:

Aguilar, Delia and Anne E. Lacsamana, eds. 2004. Women and Globalization. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books.

Davis, Angela. 1983. Women, Race, and Class. New York: Random House.

Disney, Jennifer Leigh. 2008. Women’s Activism and Feminist Agency in Mozambique and Nicaragua. Philadephia: Temple University Press.

Eisenstein, Hester. 2009. Feminism Seduced: How Global Elites Use Women’s Labor and Ideas to Exploit the World. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

Eisenstein, Zillah R., ed. 1979. Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism. New York: Monthly Review Press.

Engels, Friedrich. 2004 [1884] The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. Sydney, Australia: Resistance Books.

Federici, Silvia. 2005. Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation. Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia.

Gimenez, Martha E., and Lise Vogel, eds. 2005. Marxist-Feminist Thought Today. Special issue of Science and Society 69, no. 1.

Holmstrom, Nancy, ed. 2002. The Socialist-Feminist Project: A Contemporary Reader in Theory and Politics. New York: Monthly Review Press.

Jayawardena, Kumar. 1986. Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World. London: Zed Books.

Kruks, Sonia, Rayna Rapp, and Marilyn B. Young, eds. 1989. Promissory Notes: Women in the Transition to Socialism. New York: Monthly Review Press.

Kuhn, Annette and AnnMarie Wolpe, eds. 1978. Feminism and Materialism: Women and Modes of Production. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Mies, Maria. 1999. 2nd ed. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour. London: Zed Books.

Molyneux, Maxine. 2001. Women’s Movements in International Perspective: Latin America and Beyond.. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sargent, Lydia, ed. 1981. Women and Revolution: A Discussion of the Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism. Boston: South End Press.

Lise Vogel. 1983. Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Toward a Unitary Theory. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Professor Lily Hoffman lilymhoff@gmail.com

Soc. 72500 – Urban Sociology – Changing Cities/Evolving Theory {96599}

Wednesdays, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

Urban sociology has had some dramatic turning points since the beginning of the 20th
century. This course will critically examine models of the city and urban life, including Marx,
Weber, Simmel, the Chicago School, the “new” urban sociology, global cities
formation, cultural and urban economy models. Our objective is to identify the thematic
questions, see how they have been resolved over the past 100 years, and discuss their
relevance today. One focus will be on cities in recessionary times.

Prof. James Jasper jjasper@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 80500 – THE SOCIOLOGY OF EMOTIONS {97160}

Tuesdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

This course is a general overview of the sociology of emotions, including both classics and recent research, and examining structural, cultural, and social- psychological approaches. It draws as well on theory and findings in related social sciences, especially political science and philosophy. Although emotions follow neuro-physiological pathways, they are social in their triggers and expressions and –in some cases – felt experience.

Prof. William Kornblum wkornblum@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 81500 – Visual Sociology {96593}

Tuesdays, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

(Qualify for methods requirement)

What is visual sociology? This course will take Howard Becker’s discussion of the question as its point of departure (http://home.earthlink.net/~hsbecker/visual.html).. Note that the definition of the field as stated by the International Association (http://www.visualsociology.org/) is far broader and includes subjecs like comparative “visual cultures” or analysis of graphs and other visual presentations of data as used in the social sciences. The visual culture of societies is also a subject we will study, but the course will focus most intensely on contemporary uses of photos, film and video in the social sciences and the related fields of documentary work and conceptual art. The primary goal is to help students gain background in the literature of the field and some experience in making presentations that require the use of photos and film or video. Although this is not a production course that can teach the basics of these visual methods, the instructor will facilitate class presentations and assist students who are doing film and video work. To the degree possible, emphasis will be on projects that can be accomplished within the framework of the semester. Toward this end students will be responsible for one small group presentation early in the semester, at least one short class presentation, and one final presentation which can take a variety of forms, from a conventional paper to a visual “work in progress.” At least five weeks of the course will be about the uses of photography and film/video in contemporary ethnographic field research and writing.

One among a number of substantive dimensions of our work this semester will be on the documentation of social change, and in particular the contrast between village and urban society. We will study the way sociologists who incorporate visual materials in their work, and documentarians who think sociologically, have approached and analyzed the fundamental transition from rural to urban society. This will entail, for example, the study of work by Robert Flaherty (Man of Aran) George Stoney (All My Babies, How the Myth Was Made), George Rouquier (Farrabique), Pare Lorentz (The River, The Plow That Broke the Plains).

We will also look at recent work by sociologists and others who are incorporating a visual dimension of analysis into their work, such as Douglas Harper, Terry Williams, Mitch Duneier, Faye Ginsburg, Wendy Ewald, the Ewans, Stephan Tonnelat, and others. Readings for the course will include selections from Walter Benjamin (A Short History of Photography, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction) , Trachtenberg, Sontag (On Photography, Regarding the Pain of Others), Coles, Goffman Becker, Douglas Harper, W.J.T. Mitchell (Picture Theory) and others. A more detailed course outline will be available from the instructor (wkornblum@gc.cuny.edu)

Prof. MaryClare Lennon mlennon@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 81900 – Causal Inference: Design and Statistics {96597}

Wednesdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

(Qualifies for methods requirement)

This is a seminar on causal inference for doctoral students in the social sciences and public health. The course focuses on the logic of causal inference in observational studies, that is, studies in which individuals select themselves into different situations or treatments (quasi-experiments and non-experiments). The course objective is to provide students with instruction and hands-on experience in applying methods of research design and quantitative analysis to research problems in social sciences with an emphasis on studies of health and social policy. Topics covered include concepts of explanation and causality in the social sciences, specification and estimation of single equations and systems of simultaneous equations to model causal relationships, and statistical and design techniques for inferring causal effects from observational data. Special attention will be given to the assumptions that underlie these methods and statistics. As a seminar, we will devote about half our time to lectures and the other half to student presentation and discussion of class projects.

In recent decades, economists and statisticians have developed an approach to causality that will be the focus of this course: the counterfactual or potential outcomes model. In the past several years, these methods have made their way into sociological studies, as well as into public health. This approach provides a logic of causal reasoning and a framework for evaluating evidence of causality.

Prof. Pyong Gap Min PyongGap.Min@qc.cuny.edu

Soc. 82800 – New Immigrants and Their Religions {96610}

Mondays, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

Textbooks

Helen Rose Ebaugh and Janet Saltzman Chafetz, New Immigrants and Their Religions

(Walnut Creek, 2000).

Stephen Warner and Judith Wittner, Gatherings in Diaspora (Temple University

Press,1998).

Thomas Tweed, Our Lady of Exile: Diasporic Religion at a Cuban Catholic Shrine in

Miami. (Oxford University Press 1997).

Pyong Gap Min, The Intergenerational Transmission of Ethnicity through Religion: Korean

Protestants and Indian Hindus in New York City (New York University Press, Forthcoming)

10 Selected Articles

Bankston, Carl, III, and Min Zhou. 1995. “Religious Participation, Ethnic Identification,

and Adaptation of Vietnamese Adolescents in an Immigrant Community.” SociologicalQuarterly 36: 523-534.

Cao,Nanlai 2005 “The Church as a Surrogate Family for Working Class Immigrant

Chinese Youth.” Sociology of Religion 66: 183-200.

Chen, Carolyn. 2002. The Religious Varieties of Ethnic Presence: A Comparison

Between A Taiwanese Immigrant Buddhist Temple and an Evangelical Christian Church.” Sociology of Religion 63: 215-238.

Gans, Herbert. 1994. “Symbolic Ethnicity and Symbolic Religiosity: Towards a

Comparison of Ethnic and Religious Acculturation.” Ethnic and Racial Studies

17: 577-592.

Kurien, Prema. 1999. “Gendered Ethnicity: Creating a Hindu Indian Identity in the

United States.” American Behavioral Scientist 42: 748-670.

Levitt, Peggy. 1998. “Local-Level Global Religion: U.S.-Dominican Migration.” Journal

for the Scientific Study of Religion 37: 926-948.

Menjivar, Cecilia. 2003. “Religion and Immigration in Comparative Perspective:

Catholic and Evangelical Salvadorians in San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Phoenix.” Sociology ofReligion 64: 21-45.

Min, Pyong Gap. 1992. “The Structure and Social Functions of Korean Immigrant

Churches in the United States.” International Migration Review 26: 1370-1394.

Stevens, W. D. 2004. “Spreading the Word: Religious Beliefs and the Evolution of

Immigrant Congregations.” Sociology of Religion 65: 121-138.

Yang, Fenggang, and Helen Rose Ebaugh. 2001. “Transformation in New Immigrant

Religions and Their Global Implications.” American Sociological Review 66: 269-288.

Course Outline

The vast majority of post-1965 immigrants have originated from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean Islands. Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants have transplanted Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and other “Oriental” religions to the United States. Latino, Caribbean, and some Asian immigrant groups have brought with them Third World versions of Catholicism that put more stress on syncretic family and small-group rituals combining Catholic beliefs and local folk culture than on worship in a congregation. Many Caribbean and Asian immigrants have also transplanted new versions of Protestantism.

This course takes an overview of a growing body of the social science literature on the religious experiences of the new immigrant groups. It will examine not only immigrants’ participation in religious institutions but also their practices of religious rituals at home. As a sociology course, it will pay special attention to the relationships between immigrants’ religious practices and ethnicity, gender, race, class, intergenerational transition, globalization, and transnationalism.
As shown in class schedule below, we will discuss about three articles/book chapters for each class. Students need to read in advance the articles, books chapters, and/or a book assigned for each class and to participate in discussions. Of course, I will provide lectures whenever necessary to help students better understand particular pieces of assigned reading materials. Attendance and classroom discussions are very important for this course as well as for any doctoral seminar course. Since I give no final test, I put a lot of weight on attendance and classroom discussion in evaluating students’ performance. Good writings are even more important for successful completion of this course than classroom discussions. Students need to write an article review, two book reviews, and a term paper (that can be sent to me by the end of the year as an e-mail attachment).

Grading

2 Book Reviews 30 points

1 Article Review 10 points

Attendance, Preparation &

Participation in Discussion

Presentation of Term Paper 30

Term Paper 30 points

____________________________________________

Total 100

Prof. Frances Fox Piven fpiven@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 84600 – Globalization and Popular Power {96603}

Tuesdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

A large literature on social movements has developed in the last three decades in the fields of political science, sociology, history and anthropology. This work was no doubt stimulated by the social movements of the 1960s and early 1970s, and there is much to be learned from it. But even a cursory overview reveals two large problems for an understanding of contemporary movements. First, much of the literature has been framed by the assumption that movements are shaped by and oriented to national governments, and national governments in turn mediate responses to the movement. At the very least, globalization in its many dimensions complicates this understanding. Second, and this problem is more longstanding,

the literature is weak in explaining what are sometimes called movement outcomes or, in other words, movement power. This course will be guided by preoccupation with both of these problems. We will try to understand how the economic, political and cultural transformations we call globalization have influenced the emergence of movements, the forms they take, and responses to them. And in the course of this examination, we will focus particularly on the question of movement power, and ask how globalization in its several dimensions influences movement power.

We will begin this study by reviewing the main theoretical perspectives on movements, and then turn to case material to illustrate and criticize these perspectives. The first case we will examine will be familiar, the contemporary labor movement in the United States. Our focus will be on the impact of globalization on traditional forms of labor power, and the question of whether there are emerging forms of worker power generated by the complex changes associated with globalization. We will then turn to an overview of a number of popular insurgencies elsewhere in the world, particularly in the resource-rich southern hemisphere. These cases are less familiar but perhaps no less important to an understanding of the potential power of social movements in a globalized world.

Prof. Robin Rogers-Dillon Robin.Rogers-Dillon@qc.cuny.edu

Soc. 85700 – Sociology of Public Policy {96604}

Mondays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

Sociologists have made great contributions to public policy research study through demography, neo-institutionalism , studies of social problems and social movements, comparative welfare state research, and research on race and gender. Today, sociology has even greater contributions to make. The Welfare State retrenchment of the 1980s and 1990s reflected a new reality in which Nation States are diminishing in power. In the U.S. we have seen devolution of policymaking power from the federal government to the states and a shift toward service provision by non state organizations, such as charter schools, rather than government employees or “bureaucrats.” What do these changes mean for society? How can sociologists research these new dynamics and how might policymakers respond to them effectively? This course will provide theoretical frameworks for addressing these and other questions in the sociology of public policy. Substantive foci include government, religion, non-profits, demographic changes in the US and globalization.

Prof. Juan Battle jbattle@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 71500 – Sociological Statistics I {96592}

Wednesdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

This course will instruct students in file management and the statistical techniques used for the analysis of survey data. Students will further develop their skills in computer programming, file handling, data transformation, index creation, univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics. For this course, each student will use Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for Windows to analyze a large dataset, provided by the instructor.

Prof. Stanley Aronowitz saronowitz@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 84600 - The Political Economy of Global Capitalism{96611}

Thursdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

There is general agreement among most qualified observers that we live in the era of globality. But there is considerable disagreement concerning what globalization actually means and implies. This course will explore that question from two perspectives: some leading theories of political economy: Marxist, neo-classical(liberal) and Keynesian; and some historical and contemporary aspects of the global economic system. We will explore the limits of national contexts for economic activity; concepts such as Empire and imperialism; what is neo-liberalism?; the state and its interventions in periods of financial and more broadly, economic crisis; uneven development between regions, particularly what has been described as North and South. Among the texts we might read:

Theory

Selections from Karl Marx: Capital volumes One and Three

Selections from Rosa Luxemburg- Accumulation of Capital

Ernest Mandel Late Capitalism(selections)

Frederick Hayek –The Road to Serfdom

Milton Friedman-Capitalism and Freedom

Karl Polanyi- The Great Transformation

Joseph Schumpeter- Capitalism, Socialism, Democracy(selections)

JM Keynes- The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money(selections)

Dudley Dillard- The Economics of John Maynard Keynes(selections)

Contemporary

David Harvey- A Short History of Neo-Liberalism

William Greider- Secrets of the Temple

Randy Martin- The Financialization of Daily Life

Articles by Paul Krugman, Joseph Steiglitz and N. Roubini, among others

Prof. Juan Battle jbattle@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 71500 – Sociological Statistics I {96592}

Wednesdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

This course will instruct students in file management and the statistical techniques used for the analysis of survey data. Students will further develop their skills in computer programming, file handling, data transformation, index creation, univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics. For this course, each student will use Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for Windows to analyze a large dataset, provided by the instructor.

Professor Pamela Stone pstone@hunter.cuny.edu

Soc.73200 – Gender & Work{96605}

Wednesdays, 11:45 – 1:45p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits

The entry of women in to the paid labor force is often hailed as one of the defining changes of the 20th Century. But still today in the 21st, gender inequalities persist, 40+ years after the feminist revolution and passage of equal opportunity laws. This course looks at changes in women’s paid and unpaid labor from the Industrial Revolution to the contemporary post-industrial globalized workplace to consider demographic trends in women’s work and family roles and their interrelationship; the gendered organization of work; the intersection of race, class and gender in understanding today’s transnational labor markets; the tension between women’s paid employment and unpaid care giving; and policies aimed at advancing women’s status and economic independence. Particular attention will be given to under-researched groups and to the analysis of gender inequality at work and at home, including consideration of such topics as the household division of labor, job segregation, wage inequality, work-family integration, and policies such as pay equity and flexible work arrangements.

Prof. John Torpey jtorpey@gc.cuny.edu

Soc. 70100 – Development of Sociological Theory {96588}

Tuesdays, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Room TBA, 3credits

This course introduces students to some of the foundational works in the sociological tradition. The emphasis here is not on textual exegesis (though we will inevitably do some of that), nor on intellectual history (though that is equally unavoidable), but on the ways in which these writers speak directly to our contemporary predicament. Our principal task in this course is to trace the development of the theoretical questions associated with the ideas of these seminal thinkers. We will concentrate on issues such as the following: What (if anything) is society? What is the relationship between the individual and society? What makes for a stable society, and what destabilizes society? In what ways has social life varied according to time and place? How have societies changed over time? What (if anything) distinguishes “modern” society – in order to explain which the discipline of sociology came into being – from its predecessors?