Sociology
140 Prospect, 432.3323
M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.
Chair
Karl Ulrich Mayer
Director of Graduate Studies
Ron Eyerman
Professors
Julia Adams, Jeffrey Alexander, Elijah Anderson, Scott Boorman, Richard Breen, Hannah Brueckner, Deborah Davis, Ron Eyerman, Philip Gorski, Karl Ulrich Mayer, Joel Podolny, Ivan Szelenyi
Associate Professor
Christopher Rhomberg
Assistant Professors
Jennifer Bair, Averil Clarke, Alondra Nelson (African American Studies), Philip Smith, Peter Stamatov
Lecturer
Ulrich Schreiterer
Fields of Study
Fields include Comparative Sociology/Macrosociology, Cultural and Historical Sociology, Life Course/Social Stratification, Mathematical Sociology, Methodology (Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches), Networks, Political Sociology, Race/Gender/Ethnic/Minority Relations, Social Change, Social Movements, Theory (General, Critical, Hermeneutic), Urban Sociology.
Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree
Qualification for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. will take place during the student’s first three years of study at Yale. A student who has not been admitted to candidacy will not be permitted to register for the seventh term of study. To qualify for candidacy the student must take twelve seminars to be completed in years 1 and 2, four required courses, and eight electives, including at least one workshop. After completion of courses, students prepare a research paper and one field exam and defend a dissertation prospectus.
Teaching is an important part of the professional preparation of graduate students in Sociology. Students teach therefore in the third and fourth years of study.
Combined Ph.D. Degree in Sociology and African American Studies
The Department of Sociology offers, in conjunction with the program in African American Studies, a combined Ph.D. degree in Sociology and African American Studies.
Students accepted to the combined Ph.D. program must meet all of the requirements of the Ph.D. in Sociology with the exception that, excluding the courses required, a research paper, and a field exam, combined-degree students may substitute African American Studies courses for six of the twelve term courses required to qualify for the Ph.D. in Sociology. For further details see African American Studies.
Master’s Degrees
M.Phil. See Department Requirements.
M.A. (en route to the Ph.D.). Eight term courses are required for the M.A. degree. Two of these courses must include statistics and theory. A grade of High Pass or Honors must be achieved in five of the eight required courses. A student may petition for the M.A. degree in the term following the one in which he/she completes the course requirements.
Program materials are available at www.yale.edu/socdept.
Courses
SOCY 502b, Contemporary Sociological Theory: Durkheimian Sociology. Philip Smith.
Th 1.30–3.20
The course looks at the work of Emile Durkheim and his legacy for both social theory and empirical sociology. In the first part we examine Durkheim’s major writings and key concepts. Next an exploration is made of the multiple and often contending ways these have been taken up and interpreted over the past one hundred or so years. Particular emphasis is given to the decline in functionalist and positivist readings of Durkheim and his emergence as a major cultural theorist in recent decades. We consider the contributions of Mauss, Bataille, Goffman, Victor Turner, Collins, Lukes, Douglas.
[SOCY 504a, Research Methods: Design and Data Collection.]
[SOCY 506b, Research Methods: Applied Data Analysis.]
[SOCY 507a/b, Social Science Workshop on Contemporary China.]
[SOCY 509b, Advanced Methods of Ethnographic Field Research.]
[SOCY 510bu,Religious Nationalism.]
SOCY 511au,Building Social Theory for Empirical Analysis. Richard Breen.
W 9.25–11.15
In this course we look at the main approaches used by sociologists in order to build models to explain empirical phenomena. The course is based on rational choice, not only because it is widely used but also because the other approaches that we look at can usefully be understood in relation to rational choice and how they differ from it. We cover the standard rational choice approaches and how they can incorporate such things as norms, values, and beliefs. We then turn to approaches that focus on the interactional nature of social life, namely particular game theory and social interaction models. We also look at the use of agent-based models and other simulation techniques in building models of social phenomena. The emphasis throughout is on applications: that is to say, the construction of explanatory models and their testing against empirical data.
[SOCY 519b, The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu.]
SOCY 520b, Revolutions in a Comparative Perspective. Julia Adams, Steven Pincus.
Th 1.30–3.20
This co-taught course deals with the relationship between theories of revolution and substantive comparative-historical analysis. Topics covered include the causes, processes, and consequences of political and social revolutions; the concept of revolution more broadly; the past, present, and future of “revolution studies.” The course ranges widely over historical and geographical terrain, from antiquity to the twenty-first-century meaning of revolution. We examine the distinctiveness of the great revolutions of early modern Europe; debates on colonialism, race, and revolution; the changing nature of revolutionary movements; and Islam, revolution, and modernity. Also HIST 972b.
[SOCY 525a, Cultural Sociology.]
SOCY 527au,Knowledge in Society. Ulrich Schreiterer.
T 1.30–3.20
Post-industrial societies are said to rely deeply on knowledge-based economies, the production and distribution of new knowledge, research, and information. The course examines the social foundations of knowledge regimes, epistemic cultures, and the “value” of knowledge: discursive orders and disciplines; expertise and scientific capital; academic research and economic development; property rights and the governance of knowledge.
[SOCY 529b, Legislation.]
SOCY 542a, Sociological Theory. Julia Adams.
W 2.30–4.20
Sociology 542a seeks to convey a sense of what doing sociological theory is all about. We trace the lineaments and genealogies of major theoretical approaches in contemporary sociology, including Marxism, cultural structuralism, utilitarianism, Weberian perspectives, and so on. We also explore various ways that sociologists and social theorists have contended with these approaches as they have confronted the central questions of the discipline. Many of these questions developed as an effort to understand the processes by which social structures and social actors were created and transformed during the transition from so-called traditional societies to some distinctively modern form of social life. This course remains deliberately open-ended—not only because, at one term long, it must be so, but because sociologists are still engaged in the intellectual project of deciphering modernity. The course seeks to give graduate students the basic tools to build their own reconstructive encounters with sociological theory and practice.
[SOCY 544b, Social Movements.]
[SOCY 548a, The Sociology of the Arts: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives.]
SOCY 551b, Comparative and Historical Methods. Philip Gorski.
W 2.30–4.20
This course provides a hands-on introduction to the craft of comparative and historical analysis. Through a series of small-scale, individual, and group projects, students learn how to frame researchable problems, how to use comparisons to address them, how to work with different types of primary sources, how to transform them into “data,” and how to manage this data. In order to create a substantive focus for the course, and to exploit the strengths of Yale’s libraries and archives, the readings and assignments are centered on English history and historiography. The course is designed for graduate students in history and the social sciences but is also open to undergraduates with a strong interest in research.
SOCY 553au,Empires and Imperialism. Peter Stamatov.
M 3.30–5.20
A study of empire as a territorial organization of political power. Comparison of empire in different historical periods, from antiquity to European overseas expansion in the fifteenth through twentieth century, and in different geographic contexts in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Review of economic, political, and cultural theories of imperialism, colonialism, and decolonization.
SOCY 557a, Current Debates in Political Sociology. Christopher Rhomberg.
T 3.30–5.20
Examination of current topics in the sociology of the state and politics. Initial consideration of issues in political philosophy; primary focus then turns to recent debates, including globalization and neoliberalism, war and violence, restructuring of the welfare state, relations between state and civil society, mass media and democracy, and collective actors and social movements, among other topics.
SOCY 560a, Comparative Research Workshop. Philip Gorski, Julia Adams.
HTBA
This workshop is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar at which work-in-progress by distinguished visiting scholars, Yale graduate students, and faculty from various social science disciplines is discussed. Papers are distributed a week ahead of time and also posted at the Web site of the Center for Comparative Research. Students who take the course for a letter grade have to present a paper the term they are enrolled for credit. Also PLSC 734a.
SOCY 560b, Comparative Research Workshop. Philip Gorski, Julia Adams.
HTBA
Please see SOCY 560a for course description. This term’s workshop has an additional focus on recent developments in comparative methodology. Also PLSC 734b.
[SOCY 561bu,Topics in Contemporary Chinese Society.]
SOCY 562a, Topics in Cultural Sociology. Jeffrey Alexander.
Th 9.25–11.15
After a brief review of the broad range of contemporary sociological perspectives on culture, the seminar proceeds to examine in depth, and in its variations, the strong program in cultural sociology. This includes, on the one hand, looking at theoretical ideas about hermeneutics and interpretation, critical theory, semiotics, structuralism and post-structuralism, and their background in classical debates within sociology. We then examine how a cultural-sociological program emerged, and how it has been developed into a range of research topics, including social drama and ritual, performance studies, and the iconic turn. We conduct this examination by focusing on empirical studies that apply cultural-sociological methods to such issues as politics, violence, crime, gender and sexuality, civil society, and collective trauma.
SOCY 565a/b, Advanced Seminar in Cultural Sociology. Jeffrey Alexander.
T 3.30–5.20
This full-year seminar focuses on the unpublished work of advanced graduate students in cultural sociology at Yale and elsewhere, as well as on just-emerging published work that exemplifies “strong program” work in the cultural sociology and surrounding fields. The format is intended to maximize student participation so as to develop collegial networks of intellectual support as well as capacities for critical evaluation. The workshop may be audited by more advanced graduate students who wish to participate in this process but whose course work is completed, as well as by Visiting Fellows to the Center for Cultural Sociology, or with permission of the instructor.
[SOCY 567bu,Cultural Performances. The Whitney Seminar on New Perspectives in the Social Sciences and Humanities.]
SOCY 570b, Social Theory Trauma and Memory. Ron Eyerman.
T 9.25–11.15
This seminar explores sociological approaches to memory and trauma. A central theme is how cultural trauma has influenced the development of social theory, as well as literature and the arts generally. While aimed at graduate students in the social sciences and humanities, the seminar is open to advanced graduate students after consultation with the instructor.
[SOCY 577a, Topics in Multivariate Data Analysis.]
SOCY 578a, Logic of Empirical Social Research. Richard Breen.
T 9.25–11.15
The seminar is an intensive introduction into the methodology of the social sciences. It covers such topics as concepts and indicators, propositions and theory, explanation and understanding, observation and measurement, methods of data collection, types of data, units of analysis and levels of variables, research design (experiments and quasi-experiments), description and causal modeling, verification and falsification, testing and inference, longitudinal analysis. Besides the discussion of selected texts we re-analyze classical studies as well as recent research papers.
SOCY 583b, Ethnography of the African American Community. Elijah Anderson.
Th 9.25–11.15
Ethnographic study of the African American community. Selected ethnographic and historical literature is read and assessed, with particular attention to substantive, conceptual, and methodological issues. Topics include the social significance of race, class, tradition, residence, place, outlook, identity, poverty, among others.
[SOCY 585b, Life Course Research: Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Approaches.]
SOCY 589au,Classical Social Theory: The Marx-Weber Debate. Ivan Szelenyi.
Th 1.30–3.20
Close reading of critical texts by Marx and Weber. Evaluation of the authors’ differences and similarities.
[SOCY 590b, Early Modern Empires: Theory and History.]
SOCY 595a, Inequality and Life Course Workshop. Richard Breen, Karl Ulrich Mayer, Ivan Szelenyi, Hannah Brueckner.
HTBA
In this workshop we present and discuss ongoing research work, primarily but not exclusively quantitative analyses. In addition, we address theoretical and methodological issues in the areas of the life course (education, training, labor markets, aging as well as family demography), social inequality (class structures, stratification, and social mobility), and related topics.
SOCY 595b, Inequality and Life Course Workshop. Karl Ulrich Mayer, Hannah Brueckner.
HTBA
Please see SOCY 595a for course description.
SOCY 597a,b, Special Topics in Sociology. Faculty.
Students enroll in Special Topics if they wish to retake a course for credit when there is a new instructor and a substantially different syllabus from the first time they took the course. Only with the permission of the DGS.
SOCY 598a, 599b, Independent Study.
By arrangement with faculty. Directed Reading Course Selection Form should be completed.
[SOCY 601a, Work and Gender.]
SOCY 610bu,Race, Gender, and the African American Experience. Averil Clarke.
Th 9.25–11.15
This course explores how the social constructs of race and gender impact individual and collective black experiences within major social institutions (i.e., education, family, criminal justice, media and entertainment, and politics and the economy). It also analyzes the ways in which these institutions produce and are constituted by race and gender inequality. Attention is paid to theories of discrimination and to social movements that both differentiate and unite the black experience along gender lines. Enrolled students are required to present the oral and written results of research on race and gender in one such social institution.
SOCY 616a, Urban Ethnography. Elijah Anderson.
W 9.25–11.15
The ethnographic interpretation of urban life and culture. Conceptual and methodological issues are discussed. Ongoing projects of participants are presented in a workshop format, thus providing participants with critical feedback as well as the opportunity to learn from and contribute to ethnographic work “in progress.” Selected ethnographic works are read and assessed.
SOCY 625a, Analysis of Social Structure. Scott Boorman.
M 9.25–11.15
This course develops and integrates a variety of the most promising contemporary approaches to the study of social structure and social organization. Building in part on research viewpoints articulated by Kenneth J. Arrow in The Limits of Organization (1974), by Janos Kornai in an address at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences published in 1984, and by Harrison C. White in Identity and Control (1992), four major types of social organization are identified as focal: (1) social networks, (2) competitive markets, (3) hierarchies/bureaucracy, (4) collective choice. Study of each of the four types has its own scholarly traditions and lineage of key contributors; its own species of, and approaches to, data; its own concepts and theoretical viewpoints; and its own major scientific findings. Contemporary complex social structure contains densely packed multiple levels and expressions of all four types. This lecture course uses mathematical and related models—and comparisons of their scientific styles and contributions—as analytical vehicles of choice in synchronized development of the four areas.
[SOCY 627a, Sociology of the Welfare State.]
[SOCY 627b, Gender and Society.]
SOCY 628a, Workshop in Cultural Sociology. Jeffrey Alexander, Ron Eyerman, Philip Smith.
HTBA
This workshop is designed to be a continuous part of the graduate curriculum. Meeting weekly throughout both the fall and spring terms, it constitutes an ongoing, informal seminar to explore areas of mutual interest among students and faculty, both visiting and permanent. The core concern of the workshop is social meaning and its forms and processes of institutionalization. Meaning is approached as both structure and performance, drawing not only on the burgeoning area of cultural sociology but on the humanities, philosophy, and other social sciences. Discussions range widely among methodological, theoretical, empirical, and normative issues. Sessions alternate between presentations by students of their own work and by visitors. Contents of the workshop vary from term to term, and from year to year. Enrollment is open to auditors who fully participate and for credit to students who submit written work.
SOCY 628b, Workshop in Cultural Sociology. Jeffrey Alexander, Ron Eyerman, Philip Smith.
HTBA
Continuation of SOCY 628a; see 628a for course description.
SOCY 631a, Sociology of Work. Karl Ulrich Mayer.
M 3.30–5.20
The seminar comprises three parts. The first covers classical and contemporary theories in the sociology of work, as well as interdisciplinary approaches to processes skill formation. In the second part the seminar focuses on recent research on contingent work and career mobility. The third part provides a practical introduction to longitudinal methods of analyzing working lives.
[SOCY 633b, Economic Sociology.]
[SOCY 643bu,Transitions and Transformation in Eastern Europe and China.]
[SOCY 647b, Social Processes.]
SOCY 654bu,Race, Racisms, and Social Theory. Alondra Nelson.
T 2.30–4.20
An overview of the historical and theoretical issues deriving from the comparative study of race and racisms with special attention to the relationship between the category of “race” and the development of the human sciences. A core consideration of “race” as a problem in the sociology of knowledge is supplemented by material from other disciplines: history, philosophy, economics, politics, and literature. Also AFAM 719bu.
SOCY 656a, Professional Seminar. Ron Eyerman and faculty.
F 9.25–11.15
This required seminar aims at introducing incoming sociology graduate students to the department and the profession. Members of the department are invited to discuss their research. There are minimum requirements, such as writing a book review. No grades are given. The Sociology DGS is responsible for the seminar. Held biweekly.
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