Sociology

Learn concepts of culture, social norms and how to research them, generalizability, and cross-cultural relevance. Seminars provide an opportunity to explore concrete examples for how lives and development of youth can differ across cultures (e.g., initiation rituals, friendship, love and/or marriage, loneliness, social media, work, living arrangements, mental and physical health, beliefs about “emerging adulthood”, ...). Additionally, apply knowledge from lectures by analyzing generalizability and cross-cultural relevance of research articles about youth and their development, reflect on how your own culture can influence how you conduct and interpret research, and develop concrete suggestions for more culture-sensitive research.  This course provides an opportunity to focus on topics you are particularly interested in.

This course examines how the personal and family lives and experiences of children and young people are shaped by contrasting degrees and models of welfare provision (and by the erosion of welfare provision within neo-liberal economies) across the globe. It examines how state policies are shaped by the actions of children and young people themselves. This course uses a range of policy examples, including early years support (e.g. maternity and paternity provision, child-care, parenting guidance), educational and health services provision, family support, and children in state care, to investigate the costs and benefits of different forms and levels of state intervention in the lives of children and their families. 

This course examines the main perspectives of urban sociology to develop a critical understanding of current urban social problems. It studies the relationship between space and society, applying the sociological perspective on the analysis of cities, urban phenomena, and social issues in urban areas. 

The Internship Workforce course provides students with an overview of working in the United Kingdom. The course looks at the changing organizational structures of work in Britain. It examines the social and economic changes that affect the workplace in the UK. Topics covered include: sociology of work, trade unions, oppression at work, generational changes at work, and the future of work. An internship while studying in London provides an opportunity to experience a “hands on” working situation and a different perspective on the workplace and working practices, while developing professional skills.

This course focuses on sociological concepts and methods through the lens of the city. It applies sociological concepts to the city that can be seen while walking around, such as the city of buildings and people; and those less noticeable, such as the city of sentiments, conflict, traffic flows, bike messengers, sewage networks, asset prices and municipal taxation, and animals and nature. This course uses key sociological readings, case studies, and topics in the news to study the city as a complex space where buildings, people, animals, laws, policies, and international financial flows intersect to produce our lived experience. It focuses on close reading of texts, understanding the key argument of each text, and applying concepts to the real world; and covers the key strategies and skills of academic writing as students produce a research paper based on a city of their choice. The first part of the course explores foundational texts, while the rest of the course addresses specific questions related to housing markets, social policy, violence, drugs, environmental change, segregation, urban infrastructure, and urban regulations.