Sociology

This course explores the relationship between collective and individual behavior, society, and technology. It is especially concerned with how technologies evolve in relation to organizational, collective, and individual behavior, and vice versa. The course evaluates how technologies deliver (and fail to deliver) profitable, effective, and valuable products services processes and activities. It also explores in detail the relationship between society and technology, especially in terms of how and why technologies succeed and fail; the value that technologies deliver (and do not deliver); and the wider position of technology in society. Students examine also the relationship between individuals and technology, and how behavior influences how technologies are developed, and how technologies influence and shape behavior.

This course focuses on cultural difference and identity in an era in which the nation seems to lose its unifying significance in matters of personal identity and group identity formation. It analyzes how globalization influences identity and culture and the ways in which these interact with social differences, gender, ethnicity, religion, and nationality. Students become familiar with theories of globalization and culture such as hybridization, McDonaldization, the clash of civilizations, and concepts such as orientalism, occidentalism, and multiculturalism. Its orientation is both practical and theoretical. 

Social Neuroscience is one of the newest fields in psychology and explores the neural systems underlying social behavior. The course outlines the theoretical origins of the field, basic neuroanatomy, and core methodologies including brain imaging techniques and behavioral paradigms. In addition, areas covered include how the brain enables the processing of faces, emotions, theory of mind, prejudice and stereotypes, moral judgments and economic decision making. The course considers some of the ethical implications associated with our growing understanding of the neural determinants of interpersonal behavior and the impact this knowledge can have on our notion of free will and responsibility.

Food is fundamental to survival and a powerful lens with which to view social realities. Social groups are reproduced by activities such as eating together whilst food practices are constrained by inequitable access to material resources and subject to intense moral scrutiny. This course provides a broad introduction to the study of food and eating in the social sciences, particularly sociology and anthropology, and why they are now high on many countries’ policy agendas. Taking an historical and international approach, students explore innovative social scientific contributions to the study of global challenges including dietary health, food poverty, and sustainability.