Sociology

This course is divided into two parts—engineering development and social changes. Engineering development responds to the needs of human life, satisfies and promotes increasingly diverse lifestyles, and at the same time profoundly affects the beautiful society of human beings in our social lifestyles, psychological states, ethical issues, and environmental resources. Topics include automobiles and assistive devices, media development, sexual harassment and bullying, creativity and intellectual property rights, surface engineering and human interactions, stress adjustment, crime prevention, integrated circuit development, environmental change and water resources, laws of thermodynamics and ways to mature, information technology. All topics are discussed under the context of engineering development and social trends.

This course introduces students to quantitative text analysis, reviews selected methods falling within this category of approaches, and illustrates their implementation in the statistical programming language R. It covers the origins of quantitative approaches to studying text and how they complement traditional, qualitative methodologies. Using recent peer-reviewed publications, the course explores how these methodological approaches can be used to answer sociological questions and, in hands-on lab session, students implement selected techniques in R.

This course demonstrates that crime and deviancy, rather than being found ready made in society, are produced, strengthened, and challenged by numerous competing forces and actors. Using Italy as a launchpad, the course approaches, analyzes, and discusses contemporary and historical case studies in which these forces and actors are located, in order to develop precisely those skills needed to question and dissect unfolding events in a sociological fashion. Italy has long had associations with organized crime, and the course studies first-hand this complex historical, sociological phenomenon, while simultaneously questioning those more socially immediate and recognizable forms of social "deviance" found in the modern Italian context. To aid this analysis, case studies are navigated in parallel with the pillars of sociological theory relating to crime and deviance, in order for discussions and theses about events to be rooted in, and aided by, models which facilitate thought and hypotheses.

This course provides a political economy perspective on the rapidly changing economy and society in contemporary China. The course focuses on the discussion how political, economic, and social forces shape socialism with Chinese characteristics. Lecture topics include the lexicon of China's political economy, population and China's power, the significance of administrative jurisdiction economy, transformation of economic development models, mobility system and citizenship, political economy concerns of urbanization, government finance and the case of infrastructure financing, inequality under welfare regime transformation, and how we understand the real China. Basic readings: Janos Kornai, THE SOCIALIST SYSTEM: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COMMUNISM; Terry Cannon and Alan Jenkins, eds., THE GEOGRAPHY OF CONTEMPORARY CHINA: THE IMPACT OF DENG XIAOPING'S DECADE; Barry Naughton, GROWING OUT OF THE PLAN: CHINESE ECONOMIC REFORM 1978-1993; John R. Logan, THE NEW CHINESE CITY: GLOBALIZATION AND MARKET REFORM. 

This course provides students with a general introduction to the field of sustainable consumption. It considers the potential of the social sciences to engage with issues of global significance, whilst considering the origins and consequences of the things that consumers do in their everyday lives. Students go on to examine the role of businesses, governments, and other organizations in moving towards a more sustainable future.

How do our unconscious biases impact the way we view people within the African Diaspora? This course explores intersectional inequalities of citizenship and the politics of Belonging and how our unconscious biases impact the way we view (Black) Africans and people within the African Diaspora. The relationship between migration, social cohesion, and national German identity has become an increasingly contentious political issue. Historically, the settlement of migrant groups and the formation of minority ethnic groups have changed the socio-cultural, political and economic fabric of receiving societies. The course explores the relationship between racial and ethnocultural diversity. Students are encouraged to the intentional notion of undoing – unlearning and dismantling unjust practices, assumptions, and institutions – as well as persistent action to create and build alternative spaces and ways of knowing, particularly concerning the Black (African) Diaspora. Berlin is used as a case study for themes covered, however, students are encouraged to reflect on their own identities and the expressions of various identities around the city.