Sociology (SOC-GA)

This course, taken in the fall semester, is a comprehensive introduction to quantitative research in the social sciences. The course focuses on foundational ideas of sociological research, including strengths and weaknesses of different research designs, interpretation of data drawn from contemporary and historical contexts, and strategies for evaluating evidence. The majority of the course is comprised of two-week units examining particular research designs, with a set of scholarly articles that utilize that design (e.g., experimental designs, with a set of readings that use this method to examine discrimination in labor and housing markets). The course is designed so that students will produce a proposal of their thesis as their final paper.

The two-semester course in data analysis covers numerous specific statistical tools used in social science research. The course also emphasizes the use of statistical software packages in analysis. Students will gain experience with linear regression, probability models, statistical graphics, polynomial models, analysis of multivariate outcomes and repeated measures, and logistic regression. Prerequisite: introductory statistics course that includes linear regression.

The two-semester course in data analysis covers numerous specific statistical tools used in social science research. The course also emphasizes the use of statistical software packages in analysis. Students will gain experience with linear regression, probability models, statistical graphics, polynomial models, analysis of multivariate outcomes and repeated measures, and logistic regression. Prerequisite: introductory statistics course that includes linear regression.

The seminar is designed to serve multiple sets of student needs. With a focus on presentations from outside speakers and practical training, the seminar will expose students to different methods and practices of sociology. Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from NYU and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from private, government, and non-profit settings. Some weeks will focus on current research in a particular area or on a particular topic, while other weeks will focus on specific skills (such as a software package) or topic of interest (such as applying to PhD programs).

The seminar is designed to serve multiple sets of student needs. With a focus on presentations from outside speakers and practical training, the seminar will expose students to different methods and practices of sociology. Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from NYU and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from private, government, and non-profit settings. Some weeks will focus on current research in a particular area or on a particular topic, while other weeks will focus on specific skills (such as a software package) or topic of interest (such as applying to PhD programs).

This course is designed to help AQR students gain experience with “real-world” data and research communication. Over the course of the semester, students will work collaboratively on a project using data from a large longitudinal survey and conducting analyses in Stata. In addition to a course paper, students will communicate research findings in a non-technical and an in class presentation, providing students with diverse experiences with communicating research findings.

This course allows students to receive course credit for off-campus internship work by documenting their work activities in a professional setting, and reflecting on their internship's connection to broader principles of applied quantitative analysis. Course credit varies based on the number of hours worked and the number of writing assignments completed.

To complete the requirements for the MA in Applied Quantitative Research, students will complete an independent research project, under the direction of a faculty member in the Department of Sociology (either chosen by the student, or assigned by the AQR program director). The project will involve an original analysis of quantitative data (most often a secondary analysis) to answer a research question constructed by the student (and approved by her/his faculty advisor). A preliminary proposal must be discussed and approved by the faculty advisor. The final project will take the form of a paper that would potentially be appropriate for submission to a scholarly journal in the social sciences

Examines major figures of modern sociology, including Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Simmel. Focuses on the conditions and assumptions of social theory, the process of concept formation and theory building, general methodological issues, and the present relevance of the authors examined. An effort is made to speculate on the nature of the growth of knowledge in sociology.

This class explores what race and ethnicity mean, beginning with historical ideas about human difference. Comparing American beliefs and practices to those found in other societies, we will pay special attention to the particular notions and hierarchies of race that emerge in different times and places.

Assesses the research and theoretical work on economic inequality and classes in the social sciences. Reviews important classic contributions (including Marx, Weber, and Schumpeter), compares competing approaches (including Marxist, conflict, functionalist, elite, and status attainment theories), and surveys modern directions of development (such as labor market studies, socialist inequality, the role of the state).

Overviews substantive field of demography, with an emphasis on the social aspects of population change, fertility, mortality, migration, and population composition.

Surveys controversies and research issues and topics in social movements. Topics include classical, economic, resource mobilization, political process, and political opportunity theories of social protest movements; so-called new social movements; and issues of identity formation. Analyzes recent thinking and research concerning the consequences or impact of social protest movements, including the U.S. civil rights movement, labor movements, neopopulist movements, and revolutionary movements.

The aim of this seminar is to examine the social relations, institutional arrangements and human values that underpin the modern welfare state and to explore the theories and concepts that have been developed to understand them.

Critically assesses the research and theoretical work on gender inequality in the social sciences. Provides a sophisticated, scholarly grasp of this fast developing field. Topics include the origins of gender inequality, economic equality between the sexes, political inequality, reproduction and child rearing, sexuality, violence, and ideology. Compares the competing theories of the causes of gender inequality and of changes in inequality.

Supervised experience in activities and techniques of qualitative, naturalistic field methods like observation, interviewing, and participant observation. Exploratory work may lead to an empirical dissertation project.

Overview of issues in historical and comparative methodology in macro-sociology: methods of and current controversies in historical and comparative sociology; debates about what makes sociology ?historical? to debates about the benefits of techniques, such as qualitative comparative analysis; analysis of recent macrosociological investigations in sociology, employing comparative and historical methods.

Matrix formulation of regression, probit, and logit. Simultaneous equation systems, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, measurement models, loglinear models, time-series, and panel analysis. Pooling methods.

Statistical models and methods that make use of the temporal dimension in a data set, that is, its “over time” character. Age-period-cohort analysis, event history analysis, time series, repeated cross-sections, static and dynamic panel data methods.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor during research opportunity.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor during research opportunity.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor during research opportunity.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor during research opportunity.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor during research opportunity.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor during research opportunity.

Provides an introduction to the methods of research in sociology. The focus is the relationship between theory and empirical evidence, and research design. Methods include ethnographic observation, in-depth interviewing, comparative research, sampling, conceptualization, measurement, and causal inference.

This two-semester sequence provides an introduction to quantitative research in sociology, integrating the study of research methods and statistics. The first semester introduces basic methodological issues and basic statistics. The second semester introduces multivariate techniques, emphasizing application through the study of one social science data set

This introduction to the sociology of culture begins with a unit on micro-foundations, including micro-sociology and work in psychology on social cognition. It then covers the major theoretical traditions and themes in the sociology of culture (Durkheim and ritual, Weber and the sociology of ideas, Simmel on cultural networks, Marx and Weber on culture and power). A third unit focuses on active research areas within the sociology of culture, including culture and inequality, institutionalized culture production, and political culture. The final unit explores different approaches to theorizing and studying cultural change. The goal is to equip the student with a broad overview of the field, including exposure to the full range of methods that students of culture employ.

In this class we will not only explore empirical and theoretical sociological research that examines morality, but we will also pull from work in philosophy, psychology, and history that is engaged in similar questions. Our goal will be to collectively explore the theme of morality in social life together, rather than to give you a systematic overview of a well-established field.

The seminar covers most of the important sociological perspectives on religion, but the case materials are overwhelmingly on religion in the US and many of the theoretical readings reflect the effort of US sociologists to understand their home terrain.

Theoretical perspectives and research strategies in the sociology of law. Topics include the development of legal norms, legal participation and litigiousness, law and dispute resolution, the courts, the organization of public law enforcement, the legal profession, the relationship between social and legal change, and the use of law in social engineering.

Examines the relationship between economic institutions and other social institutions. Considers how economic life influences and is affected by political organizations, the logic of organizational functioning, kinship systems, class conflict, and other social phenomena. Materials include classical theoretical works and contemporary studies.

Surveys controversies and research topics in political sociology. At the center of these investigations are states and power. Explores concepts of power and the theories of the state. Topics are the formation of states, political institutions, and social policies and the determinants and outcomes of collective action.

Systematic introduction to the literature on family and kinship. Includes classical theories and examines the major areas of contemporary research. Topics include family formation, social reciprocity, family dissolution, the history oSystematic introduction to the literature on family and kinship. Includes classical theories and examines the major areas of contemporary research. Topics include family formation, social reciprocity, family dissolution, the history of the family, and a comparison of general theoretical paradigms.

Introduction to the field of urban sociology that looks at the interplay between studies of city life and theories about cities. Traces the development of modern American cities; examines the theories that emerged to explain the causes and consequences of urbanization; and analyzes the social, political, and economic processes of community growth and decline among urban and suburban residents.

This course is an introduction to the sociology of punishment and crime-control. It aims to (i) introduce students to the theoretical literature in the sociology of punishment; and (ii) consider the nature of penal control in contemporary America. The class will explore sociological theories of punishment and penal change; the social functions of punishment; the effect of criminal justice in reproducing class and race stratification; the relationship a society’s penal state and its welfare state; competing explanations of the emergence of ‘mass incarceration’; and the distinctive character of American penality, considered in historical and comparative perspective.

Topics:

This is a course on contemporary Marxist social science. It presents Marxist theory as a research program, focusing on its core themes and internal logic. We will examine how the class structure of capitalist societies generates a particular set of constraints and compulsions on social actors. We will then see how these constraints also generate corresponding patterns of dependence and social power, favoring some actors over others, and thereby generating forms of social domination specific to capitalism.

Advanced analysis of one or two sociological theorists or traditions, considering the origins, major claims, and current debates over their status (e.g., Marxism, Foucault, Merton, Bourdieu, Habermas).

This course surveys methods for analyzing event history data, with a focus oncontinuous-time models and estimation techniques. Topics include the exploratoryanalysis of event history data, nonparametric methods, right censoring, maximumlikelihood estimation, alternative specifications for time dependence in the baseline hazard, observed and unobserved heterogeneity, time-varying covariates, proportional and nonproportional models, multiple transition and competing risk models, left truncation and left censoring, and analogs of recursive and nonrecursive models. Major emphasis is placed on the logic, practical use, and estimation of models.

Examines how social life emerges from the interdependent behavior of multiple actors. Drawing from the analytical sociology research tradition, investigates the micro-level processes that bring about macro outcomes of interest. Topics include social influence, diffusion, segregation, cooperation and collective action, network externalities, status hierarchies, and social norms. Considers research using a variety of methods

Each section covers a specific topic in sociology, such as social networks or race and class.

Topic Varies each semester. Confirm with department for updated topic and content.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor on the progress of dissertation.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor on the progress of dissertation.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor on the progress of dissertation.

Variable credit. Supervised by faculty advisor on the progress of dissertation.

These courses entail independent reading and study by students under a faculty member’s guidance.

These courses entail independent reading and study by students under a faculty member’s guidance.

These courses entail independent reading and study by students under a faculty member’s guidance.

These courses entail independent reading and study by students under a faculty member’s guidance.

These courses entail independent reading and study by students under a faculty member’s guidance.

This course provides a practical introduction to becoming a professional sociologist. It will be equally divided between research and pedagogy, along with special topics related to the social sciences and the graduate program at NYU. Open only to first-year doctoral students in Sociology.