Sociology

This course explores the relationship between language, society, and culture from a sociolinguistic and intercultural perspective. It identifies how social, historical, and cultural factors influence language use and variation, as well as the processes of language contact. This course addresses the impact of intercultural communication on identity, social interaction, and the construction of meanings. It begins with a brief history and the fundamental concepts of sociolinguistics and then moves to the types of variation in sociolinguistics. Next, it concentrates on the relationship between language and attitude and then that of language and culture. This course examines culture and intercultural communication and finishes by discussing the future of English as a global language.  

This course examines futures studies, a field vital for tackling complex issues in business, government, and society. Students will work individually and in teams to respond to a challenge set with the City of Sydney council to explore and propose a future worth wanting set in "Sustainable Sydney 2050." Students will learn and apply practical techniques and theoretical frameworks to: examine how change happens in complex systems, identify and interpret emerging signals of change, and engage peers and partners in exploring possible futures. Students will also critically reflect on how their values and personal perspective, and those of individuals, communities, and organizations, shape the way we imagine and create futures worth wanting.

This course systematically introduces the fundamental theories, core concepts, and empirical research of the sociology of emotions, guiding students to understand the social nature of emotions from a sociological perspective. Covering topics such as emotional labor, gender and emotion, transformation of intimacy, emotional capitalism, and digital emotions, the course combines classic readings with case discussions to help students develop a sociological framework for analyzing emotional phenomena and understanding how emotions shape social interaction, inequality, and social change.

This course explores the psychological and mental health impacts of Spanish culture, focusing on traditional lifestyle behaviors, diet, work-life balance, and community. Students examine how recent shifts—such as changes in food habits, increased sedentarism, technological use, and growing cultural diversity—affect health, relationships, and society, while analyzing responses through collective and individual initiatives. This course discusses how different generations marked by distinct historical periods—postwar and Francoist dictatorship, transition to democracy until 1990s, and the 21st century global digital era—view and shape well-being and mental health models through the lens of cultural change, resilience, and identity. 

This course provides an interdisciplinary examination of online dating and hookup culture. Moving beyond a public health focus on sexually transmitted diseases, it explores the communicative, psychological, and sociocultural dimensions of online dating platforms. Topics include online relationship development, motivations for app use, platform design, gender politics, queer world-making, and sexual racism, with case studies drawn from diverse global contexts. The course develops the ability to critically evaluate the opportunities, challenges, and broader social implications of dating and hookup apps. Some required readings involve quantitative reasoning.

This course examines health and illness from a cultural perspective. Specifically, It analyzes the social meanings associated with health and illness, medical knowledge production, medical decision-making, and global health in cross-cultural contexts. Students will have a chance to delve into issues related to the social processes of framing illness, the medicalization of life in China and elsewhere, the complexity and uncertainty surrounding medical decisions, and the cultural aspects of health practices across the globe.

This course is an introduction to race and colonial studies. Why do ideas about race feature in social relations today? What structures of knowledge do ideas about racial difference rely upon? How do historical projects of race-making come to be refashioned in contemporary social life? This course engages with such questions by examining the provenance of race and its defining role in the formation of colonial modernity. It provides an overview of key theoretical approaches and methodological debates in the study of race, racism, and colonial formations across various disciplines and intersecting sites of modern power.

This course introduces a computational approach to the sociology of ideas. It is structured around a classic research question in the social sciences requiring the collection of data relevant to the circulation of bodies and ideas between France and the USA in order to study these datasets and produce insights relevant to the research question. The educational objective of the course is to immerse students in the practice of research in computational social sciences through a variety of tools presented in class. It does so while maintaining a shared object of study. This year, the course studies Franco-American academic and intellectual exchanges since 1945. French scientists and intellectuals have long benefited from the hospitality of American institutions. These exchanges have led to an intense circulation of knowledge, the transformation of both U.S. and French academic scenes and the achievement of lasting results. They have transformed American universities to some extent, and, to a greater extent, they have affected French institutions through both brain drain and reverse brain drain. Yet, unlike larger diasporas (Chinese, Indian, or post-Soviet), the Franco-American scientific exchange has never been systematically studied. This course fills this gap by devising a methodology to study three dimensions - Mobility: French academics in the U.S., American academics in France; collaboration: Franco-American partnerships; and influence/attraction: French ideas on American campuses, American ideas on French campuses.

This course enables the class to recognize and assume each person's responsibility for the generalized environmental crisis and its impact on climate change. Furthermore, the class fosters an understanding of one's agency on four dimensions: a) as a person, b) as a citizen, c) as a professional and d) as a consumer, so that they can become and active participant in its solution.

This course provides a broad, interdisciplinary overview of the study of what has been interchangeably called nonviolent social movements, nonviolent civil resistance, nonviolent activism, and strategic nonviolence. It explores questions surrounding the ethics of nonviolent activism, when and where it has been used, the conditions under which it is more or less effective, and its consequences for local communities, state polities, and the international system. The course draws from seminal texts, historical accounts, cutting-edge social science research, and guest speakers. Students gain a foundational understanding of both the normative and empirical debates surrounding the practice of nonviolent activism, a familiarity with key cases in which it has been used, and an understanding of how this form of civic engagement is resourced. The course entails substantial discussion in class.