Category Archives: Societies & the Social Sciences

Elective Courses in Liberal Arts & Sciences

Spring 2023

Criminology (SOC-UA 503)

Examines the making of criminal laws and their enforcement by police, courts, prisons, probation and parole, and other agencies. Criminal behavior systems, theories of crime and delinquency causation, victimization, corporate and governmental crime, and crime in the mass media. Policy questions.

Sociology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)

SOC-UA 503-000 (9851)at Washington SquareInstructed by

SOC-UA 503-000 (9852)at Washington SquareInstructed by

SOC-UA 503-000 (9853)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Spring 2023

Statistics for Social Research (SOC-UA 302)

Gives students in the social sciences (sociology, anthropology, political science, and metropolitan studies) an introduction to the logic and methods of descriptive and inferential statistics with social science applications. Deals with univariate and bivariate statistics and introduces multivariate methods. Problems of causal inference. Computer computation.

Sociology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)

SOC-UA 302-000 (8328)at Washington SquareInstructed by

SOC-UA 302-000 (8329)at Washington SquareInstructed by

SOC-UA 302-000 (8330)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Spring 2023

Race and Ethnicity (SOC-UA 135)

What is ’race’ exactly? Defining the concept presents a real challenge. 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. The course also investigates the roles that institutions like the media, the arts, the state, and the sciences play in shaping our understandings of race and ethnicity. We will conclude by considering the predictions that scholars have made about the future of racial stratification in the United States.

Sociology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)

SOC-UA 135-000 (9848)at Washington SquareInstructed by

SOC-UA 135-000 (9849)at Washington SquareInstructed by

SOC-UA 135-000 (9850)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Spring 2023

Sociological Theory (SOC-UA 111)

Prerequisite: one previous course in sociology, junior standing, or permission of the instructor. Brenner, Corradi, Ertman, Goodwin, Lukes. Offered every semester. 4 points. Examines the nature of sociological theory and the value of and problems in theorizing. Provides a detailed analysis of the writings of major social theorists since the 19th century in both Europe and America: Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Freud, Mead, Parsons, Merton, Goffman, Habermas, Giddens, Alexander, and Bourdieu.

Sociology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)

SOC-UA 111-000 (8327)at Washington SquareInstructed by

SOC-UA 111-000 (8978)at Washington SquareInstructed by

SOC-UA 111-000 (8979)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate

Future of Medicine (CCOL-UH 1010)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

One of the biggest challenges in medicine is to prevent disease and ensure personalized treatment. This is now becoming possible thanks to high-resolution DNA sequencing technology that can decipher our individual information. These developments are already impacting global health, but they raise global challenges such as equality. How will these new technologies blend into healthcare systems? What regulations are needed to ensure that personalized medicine reaches all layers of society? How do we prevent discrimination based on our genes? Through an inquiry-based approach we will examine the science, economics, and politics behind medicine and evaluate the ethical issues that arise in this fast-developing field.

Core: Colloquium (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Societies & the Social Sciences Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Fall 2023 Spring 2023

Globalization of The Entertainment Industry (MKTG-UB 46)

Provides a framework for understanding the global expansion of media and entertainment companies. Examines the impact that the significant export growth of American leisure products and services has on the U.S economy. Analyzes the strategies of several leading entertainment and media multinational companies and the development of their entertainment businesses within the major world economic zones. International speakers, cases and readings are used in this course.

Marketing (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

MKTG-UB 46-000 (22222)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Wed4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Brown, Colin

MKTG-UB 46-000 (22228)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Wed6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Evening)at Washington SquareInstructed by Brown, Colin

MKTG-UB 46-000 (23357)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Maheswaran, Durairaj

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2023 January 2021 Spring 2023

Intro to Marketing (MKTG-UB 1)

This course evaluates marketing as a system for the satisfaction of human wants and a catalyst of business activity. It presents a comprehensive framework that includes (1) researching and analyzing customers, company, competition, and the marketing environment; (2) identifying and targeting attractive segments with a strategic positioning; and (3) making product, pricing, communication, and distribution decisions. Cases and examples are utilized to develop problem-solving abilities.

Marketing (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 2 Weeks

Sections (January 2021)

MKTG-UB 1-000 (1219)01/05/2021 – 01/21/2021 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by

General Elective Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2022 Fall 2023

Sports Economics (ECON-UB 211)

This course applies microeconomic theory and econometric analysis to sports and explores some public policy issues that have arisen in the design of sports competitions. The course is divided into four main parts: the structure of sports leagues, labor market issues, college sports, and the market for sports betting.

Economics (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

ECON-UB 211-000 (22435)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon,Wed2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Bowmaker, Simon

General Elective Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate

Computational Social Science (CS-UH 2219E)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This course introduces students to various techniques and concepts that are essential for data scientists. It also provides an in-depth survey of the latest research methodology and topics that prepare the students to produce high quality research in Data Science. This seminar-based course will cover applications from different fields, such as sociology, psychology, network analysis, and artificial intelligence. In this context, the course will cover the use of computational techniques to model and predict various phenomena using real data. Students will be required to complete a course project, and to write up the results in a short article.

Computer Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Societies & the Social Sciences Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Fall 2021

Queer NYC (SCA-UA 421)

How queer is New York City? How do queerness and the city shape each other? This course crosses time and space, examining the history, politics and culture of the Big Apple. Ranging from Harlem to Times Square to Greenwich Village to Park Avenue, and beyond Manhattan to Queens, Brooklyn and Fire Island outposts, we follow people and money, high and underground culture, protests and politics. Materials include fiction and poetry, music, theater and performance, photography and film, and works of urban studies, history and ethnography. Assignments may include archival research and digital cartographic work.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2021

Race, Football and American Culture (SCA-UA 153)

This interdisciplinary course explores the evolution of American football into a mirror of black life and politics and a reflection of race relations in American culture. Students will examine the growth of black players since the NFL was integrated in the late Sixties. Student writing and research will explore the growth of football as a vehicle and model for black protest and support for movements such as Black Lives Matter. Students will go to two football games this semester. The focus will also include a study of the segregated American Football League and its integration of the NFL.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2021

Approaches to Metropolitan Studies (SCA-UA 601)

A broad and interdisciplinary introduction to the field of urban studies, surveying the major approaches deployed to investigate the urban experience in the social space of the modern city. Explores the historical geography of capitalist urbanization with attention to North American and European cities, to colonial and postcolonial cities, and to the global contexts of urban development. Major topics include urban politics and governance; suburban and regional development; urban social movements; urban planning; the gendering of urban space and racial segregation in urban space.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Spring 2021

Race & Reproduction (SCA-UA 158)

Examines the connections between gender, racial ideology and history of medicine to consider the range of ways that reproduction—medically, culturally, and experientially—produces and troubles racial ideology. In this course we will explore issues in the history of race and reproduction, focusing primarily (though not exclusively) on North American contexts. Cross-cultural breadth will help us to consider the relationship between biological experiences (which are often portrayed as universal) and socio-cultural context. While questions about biology will be central to this history, we will also locate biology within a wider set of issues around social reproduction and the practices of motherhood. Through our readings we will consider how different disciplinary orientations (social history, medical anthropology, feminist theory, art history, etc.) help us to illuminate and problematize the connections between technologies and politics of biology and difference.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2021 Fall 2022

Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies: The Politics of Indigeneity (SCA-UA 747)

This course is a general introduction to the field of Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS). The course will introduce students to the central questions and debates of NAIS, including but not limited to: Native American hidden histories and oral histories; comparative indigeneities; questions of “discovery” and colonialism; the politics and representations of lands, massacres, and museums; and questions of law, gender and sexuality. It begins by asking students to consider the history of the field and weaves throughout questions about the complicated and contested terrain of the term Indigeneity. It ends with discussions about decolonizing research and indigenous futures, thus preparing students to consider theories and methodologies they will encounter in more advanced courses for the NAIS minor. By the end of the semester, students will have gained both historical and ethnographic perspectives on how museums and other forms of representation help us to know and reproduce ourselves and “others,” and how institutions craft, control, and circulate cultural heritage in various social lives.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2022

Landcapes of Consumption (SCA-UA 625)

Consumption of objects, images, and places is central to the culture and economy of metropolitan life. The class will explore how the relationship between consumption and cities has developed by examining three key moments—the late nineteenth century and the invention of urban commodity spectacles, post-war America and the rise of suburban consumer spaces, and contemporary America and the selling of the commodity city. The class addresses three questions: Why do we want things? How does landscape organize our consumer desires? How does place become an object of consumption? We will begin with an examination of classic theoretical works that probe the relationships between people, things, and cities. We will then embed these in discussions of changing forms and practices of consumption and urbanism. The empirical cases we will examine range from the development of the department store, to the fashioning of commodity home, to the work of shopping, and to the emergence of a thriving urban debt industry.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2021 Fall 2022

Community Empowerment (SCA-UA 613)

Empowerment is defined as those processes, mechanisms, strategies, and tactics through which people, as well as organizations and communities, gain mastery over their lives. It is personal as well as institutional and organizational. Addresses these issues in a wide variety of community settings. Designed to be challenging and rewarding to those students interested in helping people work together to improve their lives.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2021 Fall 2022

Constitution and People of Color (SCA-UA 366)

Examines how the American legal system decided constitutional challenges affecting the empowerment of African, Latino, and Asian American communities from the 19th century to the present. Topics include the denial of citizenship and naturalization to slaves and immigrants, government-sanctioned segregation, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the prison industry, police brutality, post-9/11 detention issues, and voting rights. Course requirements include attendance at a community function involving constitutional issues, a midterm, and an interactive oral and written final project comparing a present-day issue affecting racial minorities in New York City and proposing measures to collectively address the issue.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Summer 2022

Approaches to Gender & Sexuality Studies (SCA-UA 401)

Designed to interest and challenge both the student new to the study of gender and sexuality and the student who has taken departmental courses focusing on women, gender, and/or sexuality. Through a focus on particular issues and topics, explores the construction of sex, gender, and sexuality; gender asymmetry in society; sexual normativity and violations of norms; and the interactions of sex, gender, sexuality, race, class, and nation. This interdisciplinary course engages materials and methodologies from a range of media and disciplines, such as literature, the visual arts, history, sociology, psychology, and anthropology. Examines both feminist and nonfeminist arguments from a variety of critical perspectives.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Summer 2022)

SCA-UA 401-000 (2751)05/23/2022 – 07/06/2022 Tue,Wed,Thu2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Gao, Cindy

SCA-UA 401-000 (2783)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Spring 2022

Couture/Culture: Fashion and Globalization (SCA-UA 253)

This course examines fashion as both a product and expression of globalization. It explores fashion’s contested histories; its modes of production, consumption, and address; its relationship to colonial enterprises; its system of meaning-making. In this course, we will tackle such issues as the social uses of fashion; the fashion cycle (use, reuse, discard); the relationship between dress and the body; feminist critiques of fashion; the politicization of clothing (from ethnic dressing to green clothing); and the links between style consumption and garment production–and the relationship of all of these to the processes of globalization.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate