Sociology

In the social sciences, we try to understand the behavior of individuals in collective settings. In such settings, the best course of action for the individual often depends on the actions of others. For example, the decision to dress formally or informally for a dinner party depends on how we think others will be dressing. Game theory is the formal analysis of decision making in such interdependent situations in which an individual’s best course of action depends on the actions of others. This course presents a non-technical introduction to non-cooperative game theory.

Starting from recent debates and problems like new nationalism, misogyny, political homophobia, Islamophobia and antisemitism the course offers a historical inquiry into the construction and development of cultural differences marked through categories like gender, sexuality, class, race, and religion from the eighteenth century until the Holocaust. Through historical case studies, philosophy, and literature it looks at the way in which Western identity-discourse and its colonial subcode have formed dichotomies like self and other, black and white, the Orient and the West, male and female, worker and bourgeois, hetero- and homosexual, and how these differences became social inequalities. The course introduces gender as a category of historical analysis. Through a critical inquiry it reconstructs the paradoxes of a “dialectic of Enlightenment” (Adorno), that means the dark side behind its claim for reason, equality, brotherhood and freedom. The course traces and illustrates the ways in which the Enlightenment has provided a rationale to mark gendered, classed and racialized boundaries in science which, more often than not, resulted in inequalities. These inequalities became embedded in European society in such a way that the active, dominant subject came to be seen as white, male, and middle class. This discourse of dominance helped to carry out European colonialism and the imperial project. With the help of a literary analysis (Joseph Conrad HEART OF DARKNESS), the course introduces into the (critical) role literature can play within the dynamics of social change and cultural discourse. Furthermore, the course introduces into critical theories, like discourse analysis and the history of knowledge, postcolonial and gender/sexuality studies and studies on Orientalism. Thus, it examines the dynamic processes of the “history of sexualities”, their formation and contradictions, which emerged out of these processes. It reconstructs how masculinity and the image of man became a central trope of nationalism and colonialism. Last but not least, it asks how colonial and anti-Semitic discourse, stereotypes of the external Other (in the colonies) and stereotypes of an internal European Other (the Jews etc.) were intertwined and how we can better understand the Holocaust from a historical, multidirectional perspective.

This course focuses on different scholarly perspectives on ethnicity, nationality, ethnic groups, and nations. Divided into three parts, it begins by establishing an analytical framework for the study of ethnicity and nationalism that stresses the historic specificity and social construction of ethnic groups and nations. In the middle part, the course examines a range of ways in which ethnicity and nationality are experienced, legitimated, and reproduced in the modern world. The final part of the course is devoted to contemporary applications of these concepts: how ethnicity and nationalism manifest themselves in politics, culture, and everyday life. Combined, these three parts establish different ways in which ethnicity and nationality are modern social constructs.

This courses focuses on seven cities and moments in history where western culture has been especially significant for transformations affecting social and economic life. Each location includes a study of relevant philosophers. Topics include: Amsterdam 1650; Paris 1750; Jena 1800; Athens 400 B.C.E.; Vienna 1900; Berlin 1930; New York 1970.

This course is designed as a comprehensive survey course of theory and research in social psychology. The goal is to explain how human thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other people and cultural background. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to critically think about how research in social psychology can shed light on events going on around the world and in their own lives and how it can help to better human existence. The main topics include: the self; social perception; social cognition and information processing; attitudes and persuasion; conforming; prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination; social influence and group behavior, and romantic, aggressive, and helping behavior; and applied social psychology.
 

This course focuses on how collective action and social movements have sought to raise awareness and effect change in migration and identity issues. The course is designed to engage students in a multi-disciplinary, experiential research project on migration issues through a series of set themes related to collective action. It aims to better understand the forms of collective action on the on the issues of migration, based on the in-depth study of the Paris experience. It critically addresses concepts of integration, community, ethnicity, citizenship, asylum, and migrant rights by systematically putting them to the test through social and political mobilizations. As such, it will allow students to explore migrants’ diverse experiences as they interact with societies, culture, and institutions with a strong emphasis on the role played by activism. Given the predominance of migration in the nation’s capital city, a wide range of opportunities for case studies to develop research projects, crossing various disciplines such as history, political science, sociology, literature, journalism, and visual studies on social movements about migrants, migration and identity, and migration in Paris. The Parisian field offers myriad case studies on these issues as the undocumented migrants’ social movements, associations for the defense of migrants’ rights, aid and support institutions for foreigners, as well as organizations created by communities of origin. This is why, by focusing on the research dimension, this course intends to rely on, from a pedagogical perspective, meetings with social actors and collection of first-hand data. Research papers deal with collective action motivated by positions and identities related to migration, ethnicity, religion, anti-racism, nationalism, and diversity. The focus on migration and identity in an historical perspective is particularly relevant to developing research skills and service-learning opportunities for students.