Sociology

This course investigates how concepts of childhood and youth came about (and are constantly reinvented) in the context of particular social and economic conditions. This course considers how the lives of children and young people today have been shaped by historical and global contexts, and by different national, cultural, religious, social, and economic circumstances. It explores the histories of children and young people at work, at play, and in education, and how these histories shape childhood and youth in different global contexts today.

This course examines key ideas and concepts in criminology, including definitions of crime, criminological theories of crime causation, the consequences of crime, research methods used in criminology, and the ethics of conducting criminological research.

This course examines sociological and anthropological perspectives on the nature of the social. It considers questions such as: what is the social; what is the relation between the individual and society; how is the social lived and experienced; and wow do we understand the everyday. It examines the social as idea, concept and experience through themes such as biography and selfhood, identity and difference, power and freedom, nature and culture, and state and nation.

Students discuss the relationship between far right politics and liberal democracy. Focusing on Europe, students examine questions such as: How do far right mobilizations reflect wider structural forms of marginalization in society? Are mainstream political actors complicit in the normalization of exclusionary populist discourse? Does structural racism and other forms of discrimination/domination provide opportunities to far right actors? At the end of the seminar, students work in groups on ideas for counter-measures and present these as a project.

This is a highly interactive elective seminar course encouraging maximum student participation and leadership. Grounded in the concept of praxis (learning by doing, education for use), the course explores the nature of influence, legitimate and non-coercive methods of influence, and different ways of exercising that influence. Ranging from the academic and philosophical to the practical and personal, the course considers forms, methods, and networks of influence, weighs questions related to messaging, visibility, and the power of example, as well as offering training on how to give a successful speech, how to go on television with no time to prepare, how to exercise influence in organizations, and how to create your own persona as an influencer.