SOCI 803: Institutions and Inequalities

SOCI 803-001: Institutions and Inequality
(Spring 2018)

04:30 PM to 07:10 PM M

Krug Hall 209

Section Information for Spring 2018

This is a core course in the Sociology Ph.D. program for graduate students who are concentrating their area of study in “Institutions and Inequality.”  The concept of an “institution” is central to the discipline.  Yet, it has been so diversely (under)specified, both within Sociology and other disciplines, that it remains notoriously ambiguous. This condition presents students of institutions with both challenges and opportunities for empirical research and theoretical elaboration.  In this course, we will examine theories of, and empirical research on, institutional organization, process, and practice (i.e., aspects of social order and reproduction), as well as emergence, diffusion, isomorphism, change, and collapse (or de-institutionalization).

Institutional theories (and the various “institutionalisms” they promote) differently direct our attention to the political, economic, cultural, and organizational contexts that shape social life. As we examine these institutionally relevant contexts, we also will situate institutional analysis within related studies of key sociological concepts: inequality; social structure; agency (and social power); the social “self;” culture; collective memory; consciousness and imagination, social organizations; social space; and social networks; among others.  Throughout the course, we will assess a wide array of research on particular social institutions – including polity/states, economy/markets, society/civil society, corporations, law, social movements, families, education/universities, religion, science, professions, global financial institutions, (I)NGOs, human rights – and the impact  that globalization (and attendant issues of temporality and spatiality) has had on many of these institutions (and vice-versa).  Our readings deliberately include wide-ranging methods and strategies of research – quantitative, qualitative, critical, comparative, and historical – the scope of which span the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of analysis, and explore local, national, transnational, and global scales of action and institutional reach.  Careful attention to these empirical works (including their research designs and strategies) will afford us the opportunity to, in turn, critically engage, and/or productively elaborate, the institutional theories we have been discussing – and hopefully spawn interesting and innovative ideas for your own research, or other projects.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Addresses the processes through which institutions reproduce relations of power, domination, and exclusion as well as the similarities and differences across forms of inequality and their connection to institutions. May not be repeated for credit.
Registration Restrictions:

Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Schedule Type: Seminar
Grading:
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.