Bard College Catalogue 2009-2010
2009-2010

Sociology

http://sociology.bard.edu

Faculty

Overview

Sociology at Bard aims to provide an understanding of the structure and processes of society, explain and chart the course of social changes, and offer knowledge of the sources of those actions and ideas that are learned and shared through social membership. While contemporary complex societies are of central concern, cross-cultural comparative materials also lend meaning to the particular patterns of American life. Students are encouraged to engage in internships and original research.

Requirements

Students planning to moderate in sociology are required to take Sociology 101, Introduction to Sociology; Sociology 203, History of Sociological Thought; and Sociology 205, Introduction to Research Methods, before Moderation. For Moderation, students submit the standard autobiographical outline of past and future work and a 10-page essay on a topic of their choice that has been approved by their adviser. Majors are expected to take Sociology 304, Contemporary Sociological Theory; two 300-level seminars; and two additional electives. Each student must write a Senior Project.

Recent Senior Projects in Sociology

Courses

In addition to required courses, tutorials and Major Conferences are offered regularly, based on individual study and interest. Recent tutorials include Minorities and the Media, The Death Penalty and Public Opinion, and Controversies in Education.

Introduction to Sociology
Sociology 101
cross-listed: american studies, eus
This introduction to the sociological perspective illuminates the way in which social forces impinge on individual lives and affect human society. It reviews key sociological concepts and methods through the study of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx; examines forms of social inequality, particularly those based on class, race, and gender; surveys important social institutions (the family, economic order, political order, education, and religion); and explores interrelated issues of ideology, social movements, and social change.

Inequality in America
Sociology 120
cross-listed: american studies, eus, gss, human rights, social policy, sre
An examination of the ways in which socially defined categories of persons are unevenly rewarded for their social contributions. Sociological theories are used to explain how and why social inequality is produced and maintained, and how it affects the well-being of individuals and social groups. The governing themes are the structure of inequality as part of the study of the unequal distribution of material and social resources, and the processes that determine the allocation of people to positions in the stratification system.

History of Sociological Thought
Sociology 203
cross-listed: human rights
This course retraces the origins of modern social theory in the aftermath of the democratic revolutions in America and France and the capitalist Industrial Revolution in Britain. Readings are drawn in particular from the major works of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel. Sociological themes include alienation and anomie; social disorganization and community; and class conflict and solidarity, among others. The contributions of classical sociologists to subsequent social science, in addition to their aspirations to criticize, reform, or revolutionize modern society, are assessed.

Introduction to Research Methods
Sociology 205
cross-listed: eus, human rights, social policy
This course enables students to understand and use the various research methods developed in the social sciences, with an emphasis on quantitative methods. Students learn how to formulate hypotheses and research questions, choose the appropriate research method for the problem, maximize chances for valid and reliable findings, and learn how to perform simple data analysis and interpret and present findings in a written report.

Culture Wars
Sociology 227
cross-listed: american studies, political studies
Contemporary domestic battles over controversial issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, and affirmative action have led many to charge that the “culture wars” of the early 1990s have returned to the forefront of public attention. This course examines iterations of the culture wars as they became manifest during the 2004 election season. It considers the historical sources of the moral and cultural conflicts at issue; charts various factions of the contemporary conservative movement; and surveys various policy arenas targeted by cultural warriors.

Sociology of Education
Sociology 230
cross-listed: american studies, gss, sre
This course aims to introduce students to sociology of education as a field of study, to present the relationships between education and other social institutions, and to develop critical thinking regarding the educational issues studied. After an overview of the main sociological theories of education, the class examines topics such as education and socialization; achievement and social success; education and ethnic inequality; segregation and desegregation; parental resources and achievement; gender roles and gender inequality; and education, marriage, and family formation.

Science and Society: Debates on Race and Gender
Sociology 234
cross-listed: human rights, sre, sts
This course revisits the study of race and ethnicity in the context of emerging genetic research. It examines the history of the race concept in anthropology, the eugenics movement in the United States, and eugenics in Nazi Germany, and surveys more recent anthropological and sociological accounts of race in relation to the genomics revolution. Finally, it considers the implications and potential social consequences of this emerging research on human genetic variation across scientific domains such as health and disease, genetic screening, and forensics.

The Historical Sociology of Punishment
Sociology 242
cross-listed: human rights
This course examines the character of punishment and the rationales for punishing in a variety of different historical circumstances, including primitive societies, Puritan New England, 18th- and 19th-century Western Europe, the American South, and the modern United States and Great Britain. Comparisons among such disparate cases are meant to suggest broad development patterns in punishing and more specific queries about the connections between culture, social structure, and penal strategies. Case studies also offer a historical perspective on many contemporary issues and controversies.

Current Issues in Israeli Society, Politics, and Culture
Sociology 244
cross-listed: jewish studies, human rights, middle eastern studies, sre
This course is designed to acquaint students with the fundamental political and social issues facing Israel today, through a critical analysis of academic literature, films, news reports, and novels by contemporary Israeli writers.

Race and Ethnicity: The Key Concepts
Sociology 246
cross-listed: africana studies, american studies, human rights, sre
Although it is popular today to celebrate the existence of a “postracial” world, race continues to affect us in multiple ways. This course, by situating the study of race and ethnicity within its own historical and intellectual context, exposes students to the broad diversity of scholarship in the field and conveys the excitement and challenge of the enterprise. Key concepts surveyed include race formation, ethnic identity, assimilation, racism, race and science, racial categorization, and whiteness, among others.

The American Family: Continuity and Change
Sociology 247
cross-listed: american studies, gss, social poligy
How do we choose the people we date and eventually marry? What effect does marital separation have upon the success of children later in life? This course uses sociological literature to study these and related questions. Focusing primarily on family patterns in the United States, it examines the processes of partner selection, the configuration of gender and family roles, and the interrelationships among family and household members.

The Workplace as Civic Space
Sociology 252
cross-listed: human rights
This course explores the workplace as a site for civic action in our society. Starting with the debate over Wal-Mart and criticisms of its workplace practices, the class discusses strategies for mobilizing workers and community allies to action, both here and around the world in factories where Wal-Mart buys its products. The goal is to give students both the theoretical and practical tools to analyze the limits on labor power and options for expanding the civic role of workplace action.

Social Movements
Sociology 254
cross-listed: gss, human rights, lais
Students examine four social movements: the black civil rights movement of the 1950s–60s, the Chicano movement of the 1960s–70s, the gay and lesbian movement of the 1970s–90s, and the Vieques antimilitary movement of the 1990s. The course focuses on two main areas: it identifies and studies the tactics, strategies, and decisions taken by organizers, and it reviews the types of actions and protests and how these related to the environment, the movements’ goals, and to their success or failure.

Rights, Multiculturalism, and Citizenship
Sociology 255 / Africana Studies 255
cross-listed: human rights, sre
See Africana Studies 255 for description.

Media and Society
Sociology 257
This course presents a quick overview of the contemporary mass media systems and examines the different factors—historical, economical, political, and cultural—that are involved in its development. The course looks at the industry, the content, and effects of different media in our society. It also addresses contemporary debates concerning ownership concentration, civic engagement, access, and power.

Punishment, Politics, and Culture
Sociology 260
cross-listed: human rights, political studies
Other than war, punishment is the most dramatic manifestation of state power. This course considers connections between punishment and politics in the contemporary United States. Does punishment express our noblest aspirations for justice or our basest desires for vengeance? When is it appropriate to forgive rather than punish? These and other questions are considered in the context of arguments about the right way to deal with drug offenders, sexual predators, and terrorists. The treatment of punishment in constitutional law is also examined.

Contemporary Sociological Theory
Sociology 304
cross-listed: human rights
This course examines, among other schools and traditions, functionalism, conflict theory, exchange and rational choice theory, symbolic interactionism, feminist theory, and critical theory. Readings include works by Ralf Dahrendorf, Jon Elster, Michel Foucault, Harold Garfinkel, Erving Goffman, Jürgen Habermas, George Herbert Mead, Talcott Parsons, and Dorothy Smith. Prerequisite: Sociology 203 or permission of the instructor.

Cultural Studies: A Sociological Perspective
Sociology 310
Cultural studies is an exciting new interdisciplinary area of study that offers great potential for confronting such important contemporary sociological issues as multiculturalism, nationalism, leisure, media/ideology, and sexuality. By confronting a wide range of topics—from postcolonialism to youth subcultures, and from queer theory to rock and roll, this course introduces students to the distinctive theory and method of cultural studies.

The Blending of American Peoples: Intermarriage, Assimiliation, and Group Continuity
Sociology 315 / History 315
Throughout American history, people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds have formed sexual unions (some of which society defined as legal marriages, others not), and from these unions have emerged generations of multiethnic, or multiracial, children. This course reviews the role of these unions in determining American ethnoracial assimilation; explores group-level responses to the challenges posed by the presence of mixed-origin people; and asks how ethnic and racial groups survive at all following extensive blending.

A Sociological Classic: Middletown and America
Sociology 322
cross-listed: american studies
This course is based upon a close reading of two books by Robert and Helen Lynd, Middletown and Middletown in Transition. The authors lived and did research in the “typical” American community of Middletown for several months during the 1920s and again during the Depression; their work appraises all aspects of social life in the community. Students write a paper based upon either the Lynds’ work or other classic works in American community studies.

Irish and Germans in America, 1830 to 1930: Immigration and Ethnicity
Sociology 329 / History 329
cross-listed: american studies, human rights, sre
See History 329 for description.

Seminar on Social Problems
Sociology 332
cross-listed: american studies, human rights, social policy, sre
We often read shocking stories about children in poverty, segregated and failing schools, family dissolution, and numerous other problems in contemporary American society. While these accounts provide a sensational and superficial treatment of various social problems, what do researchers really know about the causes of, and solutions for, these problems? This seminar provides a critical survey and analysis of the research on various topics, including poverty and wealth, schools and education, and gender inequality in the workplace, among others.

America, Its Jews, and Israel
Sociology 3335 / History 3335
cross-listed: american studies, jewish studies, middle eastern studies
See History 3335 for a full course description.

The Impact of Law and Legal Institutions on the Economy, Social Organization, and Social Movements
Sociology 335
cross-listed: human rights
Starting with core texts on the sociology of law, this course asks what law is and what its role in society should be, including the nature of bureaucracies created under those legal structures. It considers three major themes of the effect of law on society: the structure of the economy, race and racism, and the role of women in society.

Collective Memory: A Social Process Perspective
Sociology 336
cross-listed: lais
This seminar explores the concept of collective memory as a social process of meaning-making that is mostly rooted in culture—taking place through history writing, monument and memorial construction, holiday calendar assignment, and institutional and political commemoration or conferral of oblivion. Among the cases and subjects explored are the Holocaust in Germany, Pinochet’s Chile, Desaparecidos in Argentina, and the destruction and commemoration of the World Trade Center.

Welfare States in Comparative Perspective
Sociology 338
cross-listed: gis, human rights, political studies, social policy
This course retraces the main lines of development of the welfare state, examining the social demands and political conflicts out of which “welfare” emerged, and the values and principles that have subsequently informed welfare policies. It considers debates and conflicts over the scope and aims of welfare states during the last two decades, and examines innovative policy ideas to reform the welfare state or bring it into line with changing realities. Case studies are drawn from Sweden, Germany, Britain, Italy, and the United States.

Sociology of Medicine
Sociology 342
cross-listed: gis, social policy, sts
How do sociologists and other social scientists contribute to understanding health and illness and the organization and delivery of health care? The course focuses on medical practice and institutions in the contemporary United States, with some international comparisons. Among the topics treated are illness as an existential and cultural experience; the social distribution of disease across the life cycle and geographical locales, and by gender, race, ethnicity, and social class; and new technologies and the frontiers of bioethics.

Cities of Injustice? Critical Geographies of Late Modern U.S.A.
Sociology 351
This seminar explores the contemporary urban condition in the United States and beyond. Its goal is to help students develop analytical tools through which to decipher and critically interpret some of the large-scale transformations of urban economic, political, and social life that have unfolded during the last 30 years.