Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
Introduces students who are considering majoring in sociology to the basic topics, concepts, and principles of the study of society. This course is required for the major; 1 or any version of 3 is prerequisite for other sociology classes; students not considering a sociology major are directed to any version of 3 or 3AC.
Introduction to Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2019 8 Week Session, Summer 2018 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 8 Week Session
This course surveys the major theories, concepts, and substantive areas of sociology in ways that are specifically designed for undergraduate students pursuing careers in health and medicine as well as students who intend to major in sociology. In this course, the readings, lectures, and assignments have been chosen with the needs of pre­-health students in mind, consisting of units on social relationships, cultures, institutions, stratification, inequalities, demographics, and social change.
Introduction to Sociology for Pre-Health Majors: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
This course aims to; assist you in developing a clear, persuasive and personal prose style in English, to refine and build upon the close reading techniques you practiced in R1A and to equip you with the skills necessary for writing a research paper_a standard requirement of many upper-division (100-level) courses. Since our readings mostly cover social science, this course also introduces concepts useful for reading texts in these fields.
Sociological Reading & Composition: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019
Comparing the experience of three out of five ethnic groups (e.g. African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicano/Latino, European Americans, and Native Americans) we shall examine historically how each people entered American society and built communities and transformed their cultures in the process. Students will be introduced to the sociological perspective, characteristic methods of research, and such key concepts as culture, community, class, race, social change, and social movements.
Principles of Sociology: American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Summer 2020 8 Week Session, Spring 2020
A review of methodological problems in assessing data relating to social life. Topics to be covered include: posing a sociological problem, gaining access to data, measuring, establishing correlation and causal connection among data, and relating data to theoretical context.
Evaluation of Evidence: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
This course will provide students with a set of skills to understand, evaluate, use, and produce quantitative data about the social world. It is intended specifically for social science majors, and focuses on social science questions. Students will learn to: produce basic graphs, find good-quality and relevant data on the web, manipulate data in a spreadsheet, including producing pivot tables, understand and calculate basic statistical measures of central tendency, variation, and correlation, understand and apply basic concepts of sampling and selection, and recognize an impossible statistic.
The Power of Numbers: Quantitative Data in Social Sciences: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020
This course explores the role of social research in policymaking and public decisions and develops skills for the communication of research findings and their implications in writing and through data visualization. Students will develop an understanding of various perspectives on the role that data and data analysts play in policymaking, learn how to write for a public audience about data, results, and implications, and learn how to create effective and engaging data visualizations.
Data Science Connector: This course builds on the Foundations of Data Science course by teaching more advanced data visualization skills and techniques, by providing an understanding of how data is used, and by teaching how to communicate about data in writing.
Data Science for Social Impact: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2016
Group studies of selected topics which vary over time.
Directed Group Study: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
Berkeley Connect is a mentoring program, offered through various academic departments, that helps students build intellectual community. Over the course of a semester, enrolled students participate in regular small-group discussions facilitated by a graduate student mentor (following a faculty-directed curriculum), meet with their graduate student mentor for one-on-one academic advising, attend lectures and panel discussions featuring department faculty and alumni, and go on field trips to campus resources. Students are not required to be declared majors in order to participate.
Berkeley Connect: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
First half of a year-long course on the history of social thought as a source of present-day problems and hypotheses.
Sociological Theory I: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
Second half of a year-long course on the history of social thought as a source of present-day problems and hypotheses.
Sociological Theory II: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2018, Fall 2016
Course involves pursuing study in subfields of sociological theory. The course presumes a general background in social theory.
Advanced Study in Social Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
Problems of research design, measurement, and data collection, processing, and analysis will be considered. Attention will be given to both qualitative and quantitative studies.
Research Design and Sociological Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2018, Spring 2018
This course will cover more technical issues in quantitative research methods, and will include, according to discretion of instructor, a practicum in data collection and/or analysis. Recommended for students interested in graduate work in sociology or research careers.
Quantitative Sociological Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017
This course will introduce you to the craft of doing participant-observation. Put simply, in this method we participate in, observe, and theorize about the social world we are studying. You will learn about the methodological challenges and riches of observing people in their social worlds. This kind of “deep hanging out” will allow you to observe, hear, and learn about things that are commonly neglected and missed in other methods — both quantitative and qualitative.
Participant-Observation: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
Scientists regularly gather data through observation. Sociologists can go a step further and ask the objects of their studies about their lives and thoughts. This upper-level course teaches students how to engage in scientific research using question-based data. It involves a mix of classroom and hands-on learning, culminating in an independent research paper.
Advanced Methods: In-depth Interviewing: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
This survey course studies administrative organizations and voluntary associations; major social institutions in industry, government, religion, and education.
Organizations and Social Institutions: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2015 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2013, Spring 2013
In this course, we trace the history of the American family from the 19th-century farm--in which work, medical care, and entertainment went on--to the smaller, more diverse, and subjectively defined family of the 21st century. We also explore ways in which the family acts as a "shock absorber" of many trends including immigration, the increasing social class divide, and especially the growing domination of the marketplace. Finally, we also explore the diversity of family forms associated with social class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Sociology of the Family: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Summer 2020 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2020
In this course, we trace the history of the American family from the 19th-century farm--in which work, medical care, and entertainment went on--to the smaller, more diverse, and subjectively defined family of the 21st century. We also explore ways in which the family acts as a "shock absorber" of many trends including immigration, the increasing social class divide, and especially the growing domination of the marketplace. Finally, we also explore the diversity of family forms associated with social class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Sociology of the Family: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
This course focuses on children and on varied contexts and experiences of growing up; it also highlights the social organization and meanings of age. It explores the idea of childhood as a social construction, including cross-cultural and historical variation in assumptions. Then it highlights the changing political economy and history of childhoods, including children's roles in consumption and production in the world. Lastly, it examines the intersecting dynamics of age, social class, racial ethnicity, gender and sexuality in growing up.
Sociology of Childhood: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020
Society is ordered by age. Age is not the only ordering dimension of society, but it is a central one. A life course perspective represents a sociological way of understanding how age structures society. Our lives progress through a sequence of socially constructed stages—childhood, adolescence, middle adulthood, and later adulthood. A life course perspective is particularly interested in the rules and norms that govern transitions between these stages.
Sociology of the Life Course: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2010
This course explores the relationships between changes in how Americans are experiencing family life, growing inequality in the U.S., and the social policy "solutions" aimed at families and children. While discussing these trends and changes and their social consequences, we will discuss government responses to these changes, how debates are framed, who debates, and how other industrialized countries consider these questions.
Families, Inequality and Social Policy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session
The course will locate the place of religious consciousness in human action and then survey comparatively and historically the role that religion has played in human society. Will include a general theory of the nature of religious experience, religious symbolism, and the basis of religious community.
Sociology of Religion: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2017
The role of formal education in modern societies. Educational systems in relation to the religious, cultural, economic, and political forces shaping their character.
Sociology of Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2020, Fall 2018
The role of formal education in modern societies. Educational systems in relation to the religious, cultural, economic, and political forces shaping their character.
Sociology of Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session
Selected legal rules, principles, and institutions treated from a sociological perspective. Influence of culture and social organization on law; role of law in social change; social aspects of the administration of justice; social knowledge and the law.
Sociology of Law: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2014
The course will provide an overview of the intersections of biology, genetics and society in an examination of the past, present, and possible future effects of such intersections. In particular, the course addresses contemporary controversies, such as the search for the gay gene and the biology of human behavior, the biology of superiority, and the nature-nurture debate, in order to provide students a critical insight into biology’s profound role in shaping our modern way of life.
Biology, Genetics and Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2017
This course examines the social forces that promote and sustain illness throughout the globe and contribute to illness outbreaks becoming epidemics and pandemics. Emphasizing the central roles of poverty and politics in shaping health risks, disparities within and across nations are explored. With the understanding that health is, at core, a social justice issue, this course reviews policies and programs that attempt to address health problems, some of which have helped to alleviate suffering and some of which have caused additional harm.
Health in a Global Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2019, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2018, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session
This course covers several topics, including distributive justice in health care, the organization and politics of the health system, the correlates of health (by race, sex, class, income), pandemics (e.g., AIDS, Avian Flu and other influenzas, etc.), and the experience of illness and interactions with doctors and the medical system.
Sociology of Health and Medicine: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Spring 2017, Fall 2015
The labor force; social control within and of occupations and professions (professionalization, professional associations vs. labor unions, codes of ethics, legal controls); social structure of the workplace, work experience of the participants, relation of both to community and society.
Sociology of Work: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2018
Analysis of sport as social institution, its structure and functions; male-female role contrasts, race and sport; economics of sport; the roles of coach, athlete, fan--their interrelationships and complexities; current turmoil in sport and the ideological struggle which has emerged.
Sport As a Social Institution: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2017
This course addresses organizational design strategy formulation and institutional analysis for a variety of organizational entities. The course features a focus on international issues, key debates in organizational design and their implications. By the end of the course, students will be expected to detect, diagnose, and recommend globally savvy solutions for many types of organizational design related issues.
Organizational Strategy and Design: A Sociological Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
This survey course focus on three major themes of the contemporary United States: government, resources, and cities. Stress on the importance of transition from the 1960's. Examination of how each sector is influenced by policy currents, economic trends, and social conflicts.
Economy and Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
This course will examine the social and cultural environment that enables or hinders the innovation process in business. The course starts by reviewing how companies can create and foster innovative cultures and organize for innovation, and reviews differences between countries in innovativeness. It continues by examining the factors which influence whether innovations are or are not adopted. It addresses some social and ethical issues of innovation, examines the social role and context of entrepreneurs, and closes with some case studies.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Social and Cultural Context: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
This course will explore the sociology of poverty. It will examine a number of theories on the causes of poverty, then turn to an examination of empirical studies concerning the trends and determinants of poverty, followed by an examination of the everyday life of those who live in the condition of poverty. This course will conclude with a look at social policy toward poverty. The course will focus primarily, although not exclusively, on poverty in the U.S. While there will be some readings concerning rural poverty, the course will have a decidedly urban focus.
Sociology of Poverty: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
Introduction to population issues and the field of demography, with emphasis on historical patterns of population growth and change during the industrial era. Topics covered include the demographic transition, resource issues, economic development, the environment, population control, family planning, birth control, family and gender, aging, intergenerational transfers, and international migration.
Sex, Death, and Data: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2018
A comparative analysis of socio-economic and political change, focusing on the poor countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Offers both a basic descriptive understanding of processes of change in these countries and an introduction to major theoretical perspectives on development and globalization.
Development and Globalization: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session
This survey course studies recent trends in occupational stratification; social classes in local communities and the nation as related to interest organizations.
Social Inequalities: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
This course explores the causes and consequences of inequality in the U.S. First, we will discuss theories and concepts scholars use to understand inequality. We then consider several institutions that sustain, reproduce and/or mitigate inequality in the U.S., such as education, labor markets, family structure, and the criminal justice system. Within each topic, we pay attention to the significance of race and ethnicity, social class, and gender.
Social Inequalities: American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020
Course focuses on race and ethnic relations in the United States. Examination of historical experiences, contemporary circumstances and future prospects of racial and ethnic populations with particular attention to trends in relations between the dominant society and the Afro-American, Native-American, Asian-American and Latino sub-cultures. Political and social consequences of racial and ethnic stratification are explored.
Race and Ethnic Relations: The United States Experience: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2018
Course focuses on race and ethnic relations in the United States. Examination of historical experiences, contemporary circumstances, and future prospects of racial and ethnic populations with particular attention to trends in relations between the dominant society and the African American, Native American, Asian American, and Latino subcultures. Political and social consequences of racial and ethnic stratification are explored.
Race and Ethnic Relations: U.S. American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course mixes sociological theory and social history to trace the workings of race as a principle of social vision and division. It proceeds through a focused inquiry into the making, functioning, and contradictions of four "peculiar institutions" that have operated to define, confine, and control African Americans in the history of the United States: slavery; the Jim Crow system of legal discrimination and segregation; the ghetto of the Northern metropolis; and the novel institutional mesh formed by the hyperghetto and the prison.
Four Centuries of Racial Vision and Division in the U.S.: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Spring 2019
Historical and comparative theories of gender and gender relations. Exploration of key institutions such as family, state, and workplace through which students can understand the social, economic, and cultural factors that create gender and shape what it means to be a man or a woman. Consideration of feminist movements, in a global context, and of relationships of gender to social class, sexuality, age, race/ethnicity, and nationality.
Sociology of Gender: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2017
This course examines how sexual identities, communities, desires, and practices are socially, historically, and culturally constructed. We will look at how people reproduce dominant models of sexuality, as well as how a wide range of people--including lesbians, bisexuals, gay men, transgenderists, and self-described queers--contest the power that operates through dominant models of sexuality. Looking at empirical studies and theoretical texts, we will trace the paradigm shift from late 19th century sexology to early 20th century psychoanalysis, through a variety of approaches in the 1960's and 1970's to the feminist and queer theory of recent decades.
Sexual Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
The nature, causes, consequences of world urbanization; metropolitan areas; location and types of cities, social and demographic characteristics of urban populations.
Urban Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Spring 2019
Overview of the field of environmental justice, analyzing the implications of race, class, labor, and equity on environmental degradation and regulation. Environmental justice movements and struggles within poor and people of color communities in the U.S., including: African Americans, Latino Americans, and Native American Indians. Frameworks and methods for analyzing race, class, and labor. Cases of environmental injustice, community and government responses, and future strategies for achieving environmental and labor justice.
Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Summer 2011 10 Week Session, Summer 2011 Second 6 Week Session
Specialized topics in Social Inequalities that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge. The survey course in Social Inequalities, 130, is recommended before taking this course.
Selected Topics in Social Inequality: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
This course will explore the social construction and material effects of social problems in the food industry. We will begin with an examination of the social constructionist approach to social phenomena and will specifically explore how sociologists study social problems. We will then apply sociological theories to the study of various aspects of the food industry by examining the treatment and pay of workers, the impacts on health, governmental policies, and environmental issues.
Selected Topics in Social Inequality: Social Problems of the Food Industry: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019
The underlying principle of meritocracy is that everyone should have an equal opportunity to put their life plans in action. When structural barriers get in the way of such human flourishing, we think of them as unjust. Being in good health and of sound mind are two core requirements of a life well-lived. Without them, all other attempts at fair play (such as those in the distribution of income and other valued resources) are likely to fail. It makes good sense, therefore, to pay close attention to the relationship between health and wealth. Such a study has important scholarly and policy implications. We will participate in precisely this kind of inquiry during the semester. We will ask: What are the social determinants of health?
Selected Topics in Social Inequality: Health & Wealth: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Summer 2019 Second 6 Week Session
This survey course studies the relationship between society and politics through an analysis of the intersection of economic development, social relations, and the political sphere. Examines how class, race, ethnicity, and gender interact with political culture, ideology, and the state. The course also looks at diverse forms of political behavior, a key aspect of politics.
Politics and Social Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2018
Social movements, the formation and play of public opinion, and the behavior of interest groups.
Social Movements and Political Action: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2017
Violent and peaceful procedures in the pursuit of national objectives; analysis of attempts to specify the causes of war.
Sociology of War and Conflict: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Fall 1992, Fall 1986
Examination of the role that ethnicity plays in influencing the political behavior of individuals as well as analysis of how the state in multi-ethnic countries interacts with ethnic groups.
Ethnic Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2019 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2019
Study of major changes in modern societies: the sources of these changes; the processes through which they spread; their meaning for individuals and institutions.
Social Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course will seek to explain the formation of modern United States society by inquiring into the processes of social change that have brought us to the present as well as created possibilities for the future. Race, nationalism, and ethnicity--and movements against racism and nationalism and for multiculturalism--are central dimensions of social change in the United States. The course will explore the processes of social change as they affect and are affected by different racial and ethnic groups in the United States.
Social Change: American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2014, Fall 2011
This course will introduce students to the origins and nature of social change in contemporary Latin America. A socio-historical approach will be used to describe the region's development, which will lay the groundwork for understanding the emergence in recent decades of movements promoting social change there. While focusing particularly on Latin America, the course will also provide the theoretical and analytical tools required to comprehend social change elsewhere in the Third World.
Social Change in Latin America: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2012, Fall 2010
The goal of this course is to introduce students to important academic and political debates around immigration, to discuss processes of immigration, integration and exclusion in different national and cultural contexts, and to look at how the question of immigration plays out in different social and political areas.
Contemporary Immigration in Global Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
The goal of this course is to introduce students to important academic and political debates around immigration, to discuss processes of immigration, integration and exclusion in different national and cultural contexts, and to look at how the question of immigration plays out in different social and political areas.
Contemporary Immigration in Global Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020
We will explore questions about migration and membership in the contemporary world by drawing on empirical and normative perspectives. By “empirical,” we investigate what social science evidence tells us about the drivers of migration or the benefits of citizenship. By “normative,” we think through questions of what a society ought to do: what is the morally right, just, or fair thing to do about issues of migration and citizenship?
Membership and Migration: Empirical and Normative Perspectives: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Fall 2018, Spring 2018
In this course, we will examine American policy responses to poverty and inequality and evaluate various theories. We will pay particular attention to the role of pulic opinion, interest groups, race and class relations, social movements, and the state in explaining the American social welfare provision.
Social Policy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
This course explores a wide range of scholarship on policing. It commences with the task of developing a sociological conceptualization of “police” before proceeding to examine the historical emergence of the police in modern societies, focusing particularly on the case of the United States. The course traces the historical development of policing in the U.S. from the colonial era through the contemporary period.
Selected Topics in Sociology of Politics and Social Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2020
This survey course examines many theoretical approaches to social psychology. The approaches may include: symbolic interactionism, neo-behaviorism, psychodynamic analyses, cognitive theories, interpersonal processes and theories of exchange.
Social Psychology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Fall 2012, Fall 2011
This course addresses how individual psyches are shaped by the wider society: how a person's locations in a culture, an historical era, and within a society affect how they think, what they feel, and how they express their personalities.
Personality and Social Structure: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Summer 2013 10 Week Session, Summer 2013 Second 6 Week Session
A consideration of forms, causes, and controls of deviant behavior.
Deviance and Social Control: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020
A consideration of forms, causes, and controls of deviant behavior.
Deviance and Social Control: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2020
This survey course studies human meaning systems, particularly as manifested in art, literature, music, and other media. It includes study of the production, reception, and aesthetic experience of cultural forms.
Sociology of Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Fall 2018, Spring 2018
This course examines various forms of popular culture including media, subcultures, art, and consumer culture. We will begin the course with an examination of the definition of popular culture and how cultural texts, artifacts, and behavior come to be seen as popular. Then we will focus on sociological theories that will guide our understanding of popular culture.
Popular Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Fall 2008, Summer 2008 First 6 Week Session
A "social network" can be an association of people or of groups of people. It is usually for some kind of exchange, with the network serving as a forum or medium. It can be personal or impersonal. This course will study the relations linking persons, organizations, interest groups, states, etc., analyze the structure of these relations, and review how such structures constrain behavior, and channel social change.
Social Networks: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
This course studies the interaction between society and technologies in a comparative and multicultural perspective. Some topics covered include the relationship between technology and human society; technology, culture and values; technology in the new global economy; development and inequality; electronic democracy; how technology has transformed work and employment; and the challenges of technological progress and the role that society plays in addressing these challenges.
Society and Technology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Summer 2020 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2020
With the advent of virtual communities and online social networks, old questions about the meaning of human social behavior have taken on renewed significance. Using a variety of online social media simultaneously, and drawing upon theoretical literature in a variety of disciplines, this course delves into discourse about community across disciplines. This course will enable students to establish both theoretical and experiential foundations for making decisions and judgments regarding the relations between mediated communication and human community.
Virtual Communities/Social Media: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018
With the advent of virtual communities and online social networks, old questions about the meaning of human social behavior have taken on renewed significance. Using a variety of online social media simultaneously, and drawing upon theoretical literature in a variety of disciplines, this course delves into discourse about community across disciplines. This course will enable students to establish both theoretical and experiential foundations for making decisions and judgments regarding the relations between mediated communication and human community.
Virtual Communities/Social Media: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2011
Specialized topics in sociology of culture that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge. Possibilities include investigations of new media for cultural expression or social networking, cultures of care giving, and the meaning of consumption patterns. The survey course in sociology of culture, 160, is recommended before taking this course.
Selected Topics in Sociology of Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
This course is designed to interrogate different aspects of cross-cultural communication and cultural differences: family life, social relationships, the workplace, government, education, gender, romance, and religion. Throughout exploring these topics, we will strive to engage in personal self-reflection, hands-on experience, and to understand the connections to larger social structures. The cornerstone of the course is being involved in a cultural subgroup that you are not familiar with in or around the East Bay (e.g. student group, church, volunteer organization, internship, etc.). You will be expected to join this co-culture regularly (weekly or biweekly) throughout the semester and write a final paper on the experience.
Cross-Cultural Communications: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2015
The course will provide a broad overview of food as culture. The course begins with foundational writings on the cultural implications of food as consumption and social distinction, and the culture of a global food world. The course also examines how food is imbued with gender, race, class, ethnic and sexual meanings and the constitution and creation of identity.
Cultural Perspectives of Food: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020
This course is designed to interrogate different aspects of cross-cultural communication and cultural differences: family life, social relationships, the workplace, government, education, gender, romance, and religion. Throughout exploring these topics, we will strive to engage in personal self-reflection, hands-on experience, and to understand the connections to larger social structures. The cornerstone of the course is being involved in a cultural subgroup that you are not familiar with in or around the East Bay (e.g. student group, church, volunteer organization, internship, etc.). You will be expected to join this co-culture regularly (weekly or biweekly) throughout the term and write a final paper on the experience.
Cross-Cultural Communications: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017
An introduction to institutions, social groups, and values in contemporary Chinese society. Dynamics of social change in a revolutionary and post-revolutionary setting. Trends in the future development of Chinese society.
Contemporary Chinese Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2017
Specialized topics in area studies in sociology that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge.
Selected Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
This survey course explores difference between the US and European countries in the cultural domain. It starts by discussing American Exceptionalism, focusing on 1) individualism versus collectivism, 2) liberal market ideology versus social democracy, and 3) religiously versus secularism. Subsequent topics are: differences in the mind and psyche, focusing on substance use and abuse, the role of self-fulfillment, and of therapy, as well as moral judgment and the visions of the good life, systems of classification and evaluation, family, abortion and sex, and the cultural integration of immigrants.
Comparative Perspectives on U.S. and European Societies: Culture: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2012, Fall 2010
In this course we will focus first on relevant sociological theories of comparative education, and then apply these theories in their practical context by looking at social issues in education in the United States and selected European countries. Next we will discuss the impact of race, ethnicity, language, social class, and gender. Finally, we will consider sociological perspectives on comtemporary education reform, school change, and alternative education.
Comparative Perspectives on U.S. and European Societies: Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
This survey course explores differences between modern societies through systematic comparisons of inequality in the U.S. and European countries. It analyzes central social changes, social problems and institutions in the societies, addressing gender inequality, immigration, and rising inequality.
Comparative Perspectives on U.S. and European Societies: Inequality: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2011
This course introduces comparative political economy with focus on the US, European countries, and the international economic arena. We will compare and conrast different theories of comparative political economy. Then we will focus on the varied economic, political, and social impacts of the EU in comparision to the NAFTA. Lastly, we will focus on challenges of and possible solutions to economic developments.
Comparative Perspectives on U.S. and European Societies: Political Economy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Spring 2016
A broad survey of race and ethnic relations in a wide variety of nations and periods, with special attention to comparisons with the present and past patterns in the United States. Emphasis on: social, economic, political, institutional, social psychological, and demographic processes.
Elementary Forms of Racial Domination: International Perspectives: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2012, Fall 2008, Spring 2005
How are families and households organized around the world? Which aspects of household and family vary, and which are constant? What are the relationships between household and family on the one hand and the political, economic, or broad social patterns on the other? This course examines all of these questions, taking historical and contemporary examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Family and Household in Comparative Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2013, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
Global sociology seeks to transcend national boundaries, studying the world as a unit unto itself, populated by organizations, networks, and movements. Global sociology cannot be constructed by sociologists from a single country, but it must be a collaborative effort from different parts of the planet. We will study globalization through a sociological lens by asking distinguished sociologists from around the world to discuss such contemporary issues as immigration, terrorism, disasters, etc.
Global Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2010
This course explores the ways that contemporary American society is different than other societies and different than American society in earlier periods.
American Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Fall 2013, Spring 2013
Specialized topics in comparative perspectives in sociology that are not regularly offered in the curriculum may occasionally be offered under this number. The focus of the course will vary depending on the instructor in charge. One of the survey courses in comparative perspectives in sociology, 180C, 180E, 180I, or 180P, is recommended before taking this course.
Selected Topics in Comparative Perspectives: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
The course will cover both traditional and new elite theories, examine contemporary empirical evidence on the rise of the new global plutocracy, and think about the long-term implications of this phenomenon for inequality, culture, and society.
Comparative Perspectives in Sociology: The Global Elite: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2008
This course will focus on the cultural aspects of protest and youth cultures in two cities that were influential in the sixties: Amsterdam and Berkeley. Particular attention will be paid to how American popular culture was perceived in a European context. All readings and discussions in English.
Dutch Culture and Society: Amsterdam and Berkeley in the Sixties: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2020
Advanced study in sociology, with specific topics to be announced at the beginning of each semester.
Seminar and Research in Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Fall 2011
Advanced study in sociology, with specific topics that satisfy the American Cultures requirement, e.g., immigration, to be announced at the beginning of each semester.
Seminar and Research in Sociology: American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
Intensive study of individual topic to provide background for honors thesis which is completed during the second semester of the sequence. Group and individual conferences.
Senior Honors Thesis and Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
Intensive study of individual topic to provide background for honors thesis which is completed during the second semester of the sequence. Group and individual conferences.
Senior Honors Thesis and Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
This course aims to introduce the structure, rules, and mechanics of formal academic writing in the discipline of sociology. The focus of the course will be on developing the abilities of reading, analyzing, comprehending, and then practicing the ways in which this type of formal, academic, sociological writing operates.
Sociological Writing and Analysis: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017
This seminar is for students who are interested in writing a longer research-based paper. It is designed to improve writing skills, with a focus on empirical sociological research. Students will be required to conduct, write, and present an original research project. The seminar will also have a set of substantive readings, which will help students with specific substantive interests focus their work. The readings will vary by year and instructor, and may cover topics such as immigration, ethnicity, and poverty.
Writing Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Fall 2012, Spring 2012
This course is the UCDC letter-graded core seminar for 4 units that complements the P/NP credited internship course UGIS C196B. Core seminars are designed to enhance the experience of and provide an intellectual framework for the student's internship. UCDC core seminars are taught in sections that cover various tracks such as the Congress, media, bureaucratic organizations and the Executive Branch, international relations, public policy and general un-themed original research.
UCDC Core Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Fall 2012, Spring 2012
This course provides a credited internship for all students enrolled in the UCDC and Cal in the Capital Programs. It must be taken in conjunction with the required academic core course C196A. C196B requires that students work 3-4 days per week as interns in settings selected to provide them with exposure to and experienc in government, public policy, international affairs, media, the arts or other areas or relevance to their major fields of study.
UCDC Internship: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
Students work in selected internship programs approved in advance by the faculty coordinator and for which written contracts have been established between the sponsoring organization and the student. Students will be expected to produce two progress reports for their faculty coordinator during the course of the internship, as well as a final paper for the course consisting of at least 35 pages. Other restrictions apply; see faculty adviser.
Special Field Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Supervised experience relevant to specific aspects of sociology in off-campus organizations. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required.
Field Study in Sociology: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
Group studies of selected topics which vary over time.
Directed Group Study for Undergraduates: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
Berkeley Connect is a mentoring program, offered through various academic departments, that helps students build intellectual community. Over the course of a semester, enrolled students participate in regular small-group discussions facilitated by a graduate student mentor (following a faculty-directed curriculum), meet with their graduate student mentor for one-on-one academic advising, attend lectures and panel discussions featuring department faculty and alumni, and go on field trips to campus resources. Students are not required to be declared majors in order to participate.
Berkeley Connect: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2016, Summer 2015 10 Week Session
Enrollment restrictions apply; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
Supervised Independent Study and Research: Read More [+]