Sociology
140 Prospect, 432.3323
M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.
Chair
Jeffrey Alexander
Director of Graduate Studies
Ron Eyerman
Professors
Julia Adams, Jeffrey Alexander, Scott Boorman, Deborah Davis, Ron Eyerman, Paul Gilroy, Phil Gorski, Karl Ulrich Mayer, Ivan Szelenyi
Associate Professors
Lawrence King, Christopher Rhomberg
Assistant Professors
Jennifer Bair, Hannah Brueckner, Averil Clarke, Alondra Nelson (African American Studies), Andrew Schrank, Rachel Sherman, Philip Smith, Peter Stamatov
Lecturers
Ulrich Schreiterer, Vron Ware
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 complete fourteen term courses and demonstrate competence in sociological theory, statistics, and research methods, competence in which may be demonstrated by passing two term courses in each area. After completion of courses, students prepare written and oral comprehensive examinations in two selected fields 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 joint Ph.D. program must meet all of the requirements of the Ph.D. in Sociology with the exception that, excluding the courses required to demonstrate competence in sociological theory, statistics, research methods, and comprehensive examination in two substantive fields, joint-degree students may substitute African American Studies courses for six of the fourteen term courses required to qualify for the Ph.D. in Sociology. For further details see African American Studies.
Master's Degrees
M.Phil. See Graduate School 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 501a, Foundations of Sociological Theory.]
SOCY 502a, Contemporary Sociological Theory: Durkheimian Sociology. Philip Smith.
Th 2–4
The course looks at the work of Emile Durkheim and his legacy for both social theory and empirical sociology. In the first part we look at 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 century. 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. Consideration is given to the contributions of Mass, Bataille, Goffman, Victor Turner, Collins, Lukes, Douglas.
SOCY 502b, Contemporary Sociological Theory: Pierre Bourdieu. Phil Gorski.
Th 1–3
This course provides an intensive introduction to sociological and anthropological work of the late Pierre Bourdieu. We examine how Bourdieu defines the master concepts of “habitus,” “capital,” and “field,” how his “theory of practice” relates to other universalizing theories, such as rational choice, and how he and his followers have applied the theory of practice to various fields, including consumption, education, the state, political contestation, gender, literature, sports, and art. And we ask whether Bourdieuian theory could provide the paradigmatic foundations for a renewed sociology, and whether such foundations are desirable or necessary.
SOCY 504a, Research Methods: Design and Data Collection. Deborah Davis.
F 9.30–11.20
Survey of (re-)current debates, problems, and innovations in qualitative and quantitative empirical research, including both data collection and data analysis issues. Focus on assessing and improving validity and generalizability within the theoretical and practical limits of social science research. Aims at developing a set of skills necessary for everyone who is interested in designing empirical fieldwork. Familiarity with statistics may be helpful but is not required.
SOCY 506b, Research Methods: Applied Data Analysis. Hannah Brueckner.
T 4–6
Focus on practical experience with analyzing complex data, including data management, exploration, description, and multivariate analysis. Familiarity with the basics of research methodology and statistical inference is required. Special emphasis is given to issues of comparisons across time and space with both descriptive and analytic methods. A second theme throughout the class is how to measure, describe, and explain changes/differences in inequality. The class covers basic statistics as well as multivariate regression models for continuous and categorical dependent variables.
[SOCY 509a, Advanced Methods of Ethnographic Field Research.]
SOCY 522au, The Sociology of Development. Andrew Schrank.
W 3.30–5.20
This seminar examines the social and political underpinnings of national development in comparative and historical perspective. Topics to be covered include class formation, entrepreneurship, industrialization, urbanization, and political development.
SOCY 525a, Cultural Sociology: Theory and Research Programs. Jeffrey Alexander.
W 3–5
After a review of a broad range of contemporary perspectives, the seminar proceeds to examine in depth, and in its variations, the strong program in cultural sociology. This includes looking at theoretical ideas about hermeneutics and interpretation, critical theory, semiotics, structuralism and post-structuralism, social drama and ritual, performance studies, and social approaches to symbolic process. It also includes looking at empirical studies that apply cultural methods to such issues as politics, violence, civil society, and collective trauma.
SOCY 526a, Social Stratification. Ivan Szelenyi.
Th 9–11
Social and economic inequalities based on social class and status are a major dimension of individual life chances and life aspirations as well as of the structure and dynamics of societies and the world system. The course is intended to cover the current state of the field in regard to academic and policy debates, theories, methods, crucial research findings, as well as comparative analyses.
[SOCY 529b, Legislation.]
SOCY 536a, Colonialism and Empire. Julia Adams.
T 10–12
This seminar explores the dynamics of imperial states, societies, and subjectivities, as well as the theoretical literature addressing problems of colonialism and empire. We survey current debates over the question of the imperial status of the contemporary United States, as well as ranging over historical imperial contexts including the Roman and Ottoman empires; the overseas empires of the early modern Western European states; the struggle for imperium in the late nineteenth-century world; twentieth-century colonial empires; and decolonization and imperial aftermath in both the post-state socialist and third worlds. We pay particular attention to the thorny issue of how and why empires are made, cohere, or come apart. The reflections and experiences of both those who operate empires and those who live within their borders are threaded throughout the course.
[SOCY 543bu, Sociology of Education.]
SOCY 544b, Social Movements. Ron Eyerman.
W 10-12
The course covers the dynamic field of social movement research from its origins to the present day. We discuss developments in theory and methodology primarily from European and American (North and South) perspectives, but touch on others as well. The course is open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates; some knowledge of sociological theory is helpful, but not required. The course is run as a seminar, which requires active participation. Instruction includes the use of film and music.
[SOCY 545a, Reading Karl Marx.]
SOCY 546bu, Sociology of Higher Education. Ulrich Schreiterer.
T 9.30–11.20
Examination of institutional features of higher education: “Bird's-eye view” of system development. Peculiarities of “the city of intellect”—disciplines, organizational saga, the academic profession, power, and governance. Changes reflecting new types of knowledge production, educational services, and marketing.
[SOCY 548a, The Sociology of the Arts: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives.]
[SOCY 550a, Sociology of Work and Labor Markets.]
SOCY 553bu, Empires and Imperialism. Peter Stamatov.
Th 1.30–3.20
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 fif-teenth 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 557b, Political Sociology. Julia Adams.
M 2–4
This course engages central problems in understanding political action and institutions. It also serves as an introduction to the broad field of political sociology. We survey the panoply of major theoretical orientations toward power and politics. Substantive topics include collective action, political movements, and revolutions; political identities, including the dimensions of class, race, and gender; forms of political representation; the constitution of selves and subjectivities in politics; war; the formation and dissolution of states, empires, and nations; and the political imaginary.
SOCY 560a, Comparative Research Workshop. Ivan Szelenyi, Andrew Schrank.
W 6–8
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. Phil Gorski.
W 6–8
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 567bu, Cultural Performances. The Whitney Seminar on New Perspectives in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Jeffrey Alexander.
W 3.30–5.20, Lect. W 7
“Performance” has become a major new topic in both the humanities and the social sciences, and provides a new bridge for interrelating the disciplines that compose them. Performance allows textual emphasis to be related to contingency and context, symbolic action to be related to power and control, and dramatic production to be related to audience response. In this seminar, we examine the critical texts of this movement and host, in person, some of its most prominent students and practitioners. Also WHIT 971bu.
[SOCY 577a, Topics in Multivariate Data Analysis.]
[SOCY 578a, Logic of Social Inquiry.]
[SOCY 580au, Introduction to Statistics in Sociology.]
[SOCY 581b, Multivariate Methods for the Social Sciences.]
[SOCY 585b, Life Course Research: Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Approaches.]
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 610bu, Race, Gender, and the African American Experience. Averil Clarke.
Th 9.30–11.20
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. Also WGSS 745b.
SOCY 625a, Analysis of Social Structure. Scott Boorman.
M 10–12
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.
F 12–2
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 both as 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 between 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 and Civil Society. Jeffrey Alexander, Ron Eyerman.
F 12–2
Continuation of SOCY 628a; see 628a for course description.
SOCY 631bu, Economic Sociology. Lawrence King.
Th 9.30–11.20
The course focuses on the difference between neoclassical economics and the emerging field of economic sociology. We explore the origin and evolution of capitalism as a global phenomenon and examine economic change in the post-communist and reforming communist systems.
[SOCY 637b, The Transition to Democracy and Capitalism in Eastern Europe.]
[SOCY 643bu, Topics in Comparative Political Economy.]
SOCY 644a, Theorizing the Racial Formation of the United States in the Late Twentieth Century. Paul Gilroy.
T 9.30–11.20
A designated core course for students in the joint Ph.D. program; also open to students in African American Studies and American Studies. The interdisciplinary seminar includes readings from the fields of anthropology, critical legal studies, cultural studies, literary history, history, politics, and sociology. Also AFAM 505a, AMST 643a.
[SOCY 647b, Social Processes.]
SOCY 650b, Modernity and Its Others: Self, Subject, and Cultural Differences. Paul Gilroy.
T 9.30–11.20
This social theory course explores aspects of the political, philosophical, and sociological debates that have emerged around the concept of modernity. It looks particularly at articulations of modernity and “race” following four interlinked lines of inquiry: how has the subject of modernity been imagined and articulated; what attributes and experiences have qualified that subject as properly human and rational; where has identity been recognized as coming from, culturally and materially; and where has cosmopolitan loyalty emerged as a demand to see and act beyond the boundaries of immediate particularity? Also AFAM 712b.
Next: Southeast Asia Studies, Council on
|
