Graduate Courses in Sociology
Required CoursesSelected Seminars
Required Courses
Global Sociology (SOC 512)Multivariate Statistics for Social Science (SOC 501)
Multivariate Regression Techniques (SOC 502)
Sociological Theory (SOC 506)
Global Sociology (SOC 512)
Global sociology is one of the department’s required, “flagship” courses. Each year it is led by a different faculty member, and several other faculty members with interests in globalization bring their special expertise to the seminar. In the last decade or so, the notion of “globalization” has increasingly been used to define the epoch in which we live. The central proposition is simply this: we now live in a qualitatively new era of human history, marked by such unprecedented trans- or supra-national social processes that we can no longer assume that sociology is the study of social processes “contained” by nation-states. This course, accordingly, addresses three questions: (1) is this true? Are we entering a “new age” of globalization? (2) If so, what are the implications for social processes? (3) How can we, as professional sociologists, evaluate these propositions? Is there empirical evidence that we can bring to bear on these claims?
A rather different perspective than the “new age” globalization theories is represented by a loose body of sociological work variously labeled “world systems theory”, “international political economy” or “state formation” theory. Roughly, this body of sociological work argues that there is a world system which possesses a definable structure and is composed of specifiable processes. This world system has been several centuries in the making and, while we may currently be witnessing a new stage of development in the world system, there is nothing new about the process of globalization as such. From this perspective, the task for sociologists is less to conceptualize the nature of a historical unique “new age,” than to explain the long-term historical dynamics of the development of the capitalist world system and the roles of states, nations, organizations, households, classes, and publics within it. The course is organized so as to constantly play off “new age” globalization theories against theories of the historical development of the world system, hopefully in a productive manner.
Some part of this course will be devoted to addressing the question of exactly what is meant by “globalization” and what is comprised under the heading of “global sociology.” What is the relationship of “global sociology” to, for example, comparative and historical sociology, the sociology of the world system, theories of underdevelopment and dependency, general theories of social change and modernization, discussions of the relationships between “internal” and “external” or “domestic” and “foreign” factors, the sociology of transnational flows of people, capital, ideas, etc.? Are we looking at processes of “globalization” or “Westernization?” Is global sociology the same as “macro-comparative” sociology? Must it necessarily be “historical?” The faculty at Stony Brook don’t necessarily have the answers to these questions; nor do we all share the same approach to the topic. We do, however, all believe that there are certain social processes that are, in some sense, “global” and that these require important reconceptualizations of how sociologists should analyze contemporary society. This course introduces students to the main issues and debates in this burgeoning field.
Click to view a sample syllabus
Multivariate Statistics for Social Science (SOC 501)
Dr. Timothy Patrick Moran
This course is the first half of the required two-semester sequence for incoming PhD students, providing knowledgeand practice in the application of quantitative methodology to socialscientific research. This course provides an in-depth and rigorous look at thedescriptive and inductive statistics most often employed by sociologists. Thecourse is both theoretical and applied, thus in addition to practicalinstruction on the techniques themselves, topics include probability theory and the philosophy of statistical inference.
In this course, we will discuss quantitative analysis from a holistic perspective. This means we will learn how to theoretically determine (and question) the appropriateness of the various procedures given the research problem; how to correctly apply the procedure once one is chosen; and how to clearly and accurately interpret and present the results. We will also consider the potential misuses and misinterpretations of these techniques as well as their more desirable attributes. Emphasis will be placed on turning out high quality, professional work that is both statistically accurate and easily understood.
While most people equate "doing statistics" with mechanical, "number crunching" procedures, computation is only one (and in most ways the easiest) component to quantitative methods. Statistical analyses are methods of sociological inquiry that are intrinsically no better or worse than any other. In this sense, the most important aspect of the course is to realize how our methodology interacts with both the real world and how we come to understand it. The skills for learning in this manner are not arcane, nor necessarily mathematical. They are critical skills that all good sociologists should inherently possess. To this end, our approach to the material is careful not to mistake what can be taught (statistical technique) with what can only be nurtured (critical evaluation and creative application of statistics to solve a research problem).
Text: Blalock, H. M., Jr. 1979. Social Statistics, 2nd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.ISBN: 0-07-005752-4
Multivariate Regression Techniques (SOC 502)
Dr. Timothy Patrick MoranAs a continuation of Soc 501, this course retains the same approach to learning quantitative techniques in the social sciences, while extending the material to cover in detail multivariate regression analysis. This course focuses on linear regression techniques - by far the most widely used models in the social sciences today. Topics include: assumptions, diagnostics, and remedial corrections associated with multivariate OLS regression; qualitative (dummy) predictor variables; interaction effects; and an introduction to regression with categorical or limited dependent variables. Given the relative "ease" of building complex regression models on the computer, models that may or may not be mispecified, inappropriate, or simply contain little useful information, we also spend time discussing the sociological and statistical roles of the computer in quantitative social science.
The course is also meant to prepare you for training in more advancedstatistical procedures. Like Soc 501, this is still a foundation class.Statistical techniques in the social sciences continue to advance and thoseplanning to do quantitative research will probably require more sophisticatedmethodologies than you will learn here. A thorough grounding in OLS regression, however, will be invaluable to learning more advanced statistical methods.
Text: Neter, J., M.H. Kutner, C.J. Natchtsheim, and W. Wasserman. 1996.Applied Linear Regression Models, 3rd Edition. Chicago: Irwin.ISBN: 0-256-08601-X
Sociological Theory (SOC 506)
The purpose of this course is to provide a broad foundation for the understanding of social thought by bringing together theories from different strands. Because it is impossible to cover all contemporary social thought in a single semester, my course offers a selective review of major trends in contemporary sociological thought. The objective is to provide graduate students a starting point for their own exploration of current theoretical idiosyncracies. The course begins with a critical examination of the paradigmatic structure and historical background of current sociological thought. We will then explore in more detail the explanatory power and empirical validity of present currents in sociology, such as functionalism, conflict theory/social change, symbolic interactionism/phenomenology, rational choice, sociobiology, and postmodernism. Combining my European and American teaching experience, I will mix short lectures, oral presentations by students, and upper-level seminar discussions where the instructor and students explore in a free and informed discourse implications of theoretical thought. The emphasis is on the development of analytical and critical abilities in a classroom setting that encourages individual and group participation. Student participation and the completion of reading and writing assignments are crucial parts of the learning experience.
Selected Seminars
Citizenship and Immigration: Emerging Modes of Identification in the Age of Globality (SOC 591)Ethnographies of Practice. The Practice of Ethnography
Genderand Law
Sociology of Culture
Sociologyof Gender
War and the Military (HIS/SOC 555)
Citizenship and Immigration: Emerging Modes of Identification in the Age of Globality (SOC 591)
Dr.Daniel Levy
This is a course for advanced graduate students with an interest in immigration and questions of collective identification in the global age. The course explores the relationship of globalization and emerging conceptions of citizenship. Particular emphasis rests on the ways in which representations of immigrants are shaped and, in turn, inform conceptions of culture, nationhood and citizenship. The first part of the class examines various citizenship and immigration theories in historical perspective. The second part addresses recent developments revolving around globalization, with a particular focus on emerging transnational formations. These include post-national scenarios, diasporic communities and questions of multicultural citizenship. In the third part we study the empirical manifestations of these formations in the European and U.S. context. Europe, along with North America, has become a major magnet for contemporary migrants. Recent European migration trends offer an interesting prism on globalization insofar as they organize collectivities through a highly institutionalized supranational body (EU). This creates legal foundations for these trends, provides legitimacy for competing visions of collective self-understanding as well as demands to establish firm criteria for national belonging. The fourth part of the course will be dedicated to students' case studies.
Ethnographies of Practice. The Practice of Ethnography
Dr.Javier AuyeroThis course has three major objectives:
1. to become familiar with contemporary ethnographies
2. to acquaint students with the methodological literature on qualitative sociology
3. to consider theoretical and epistemological issues in qualitative research.
Throughout the semester will we read ethnographies that deal with different practices (drug-dealing, street-selling, fixing cars, hustling, mothering, collective action). We will submit these works to a generative reading, that is, we will take the analytic, epistemological, and methodological tools these "good enough ethnographies" provide to think about our own objects of research. During the last four weeks, the seminar will discuss students' projects, interviews, and/or papers. Readings include Bourdieu, Geertz, Wacquant, Bourgois, Scheper-Hughes, Harper, Duneier, Passerini, and James.
Click to download a sample syllabus in compressed WORD format: Field Methods (FieldMethods.doc)
Genderand Law
Dr. Michael KimmelIn recent years, legal issues, both civil and criminal, have become a majorarena for the articulation of new issues in gender relations. This coursewill focus on several of these recent cases, with an emphasis on exploringthe distinctly sociological issues that these cases suggest. We will bespecifically concerned with issues such as the organization and politicsof the family, sexuality, violence, the workplace, and the body. Each ofthese arenas - body, workplace, home - have become contested terrains onwhich issues of great sociological significance are being played out. Eachweek will focus on a different case or set of cases that fall under theselarger rubrics.
Sociology of Culture
Dr.Javier AuyeroCultural sociology stands as one of the most exciting fields in contemporary social inquiry. This course will survey major theoretical approaches to the "culture question" and assess the links and influences among them. The course also attempts to proceed beyond the different theorizations of culture to the actual practice of cultural sociology. In this vein, we will examine the ways in which some of the approaches are put into practice, i.e. are exercised in concrete sociological research.
The course is divided in three main sections. The first part explores some of the foundations of contemporary cultural sociology (readings will include: Geertz, Durkheim andMauss, Douglas, Halbwachs, Williams, Thompson, Foucault, and Goffman). The second part examines Bourdieu's "genetic structuralism" as a synthetic approach to culture (readings will includeBourdieu, Willis, Elias, Alford and Szanto, Wacquant). The third part surveys current research on collective action that puts culture and identity at the center of the sociological analysis (readings will include Steinberg, Calhoun, and Jasper).
Click to download a sample syllabus in compressed WORD format: Sociology of Culture (SocCulture.doc)
Sociologyof Gender
Dr.Michael Kimmel
