Sociology

This course provides students with a knowledge and understanding of crimes of the powerful. It includes a wide range of crimes of the powerful with a broad focus on corporate crime and state crime. It addresses the nature of corporate crime, white collar crime, and state crime and conceptual discussions surrounding these concepts. It considers which criminological theories are most relevant when we try to explain the crimes of the powerful. 

This course discusses language in classical and contemporary sociological theory. It also provides a preliminary understanding of how language is studied in fields outside of sociology, including linguistics, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and history. It covers the role of language in social life, challenging its traditional marginalization within sociology. While language is often treated as a reflection of race, class, and gender, the course examines how it actively constructs these and other social and symbolic boundaries. It also explores why language has been largely left to fields such as linguistics and linguistic anthropology, and argues for sociology’s distinct contribution to its study. Drawing on interdisciplinary readings and recent sociological research, the course analyzes language as a key force in shaping social relations and social change. Students design a research project on an original case of their own choosing.

This course expands our understanding of the night and considers the range of lessons from such a reflection. It begins with two baseline assumptions. First, the night is not only a time but also a space. This social fact is important when we consider foundational research areas within social science and the humanities, such as urban anthropology. The city at night is significantly different than during the day, in terms of labor, geography, age groups and expressive culture. Second, when we entertain the idea of the night as a time-space, we can begin to think about inequality, one of the keywords of this course. The qualities of the night and our judgments about such qualities influence how social inequalities are expressed. Despite the fact that inequalities are produced/maintained, albeit differently, at night, it is important to emphasize the creative, transgressive energies of darkness. This course is transdisciplinary, meaning that it discusses methods and theories from multiple disciplines (anthropology, history, cultural studies, geography) and moves towards a creative mix for Night Studies. Readings cover cities in Europe, including Aarhus, as well as Latin American and African locales. It also takes into consideration the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the night.

This course explores the empirical validity of sociological theories. Drawing on quantitative research that uses new data, methods, and designs, it puts sociology’s big ideas to the test and learns how to read and evaluate quantitative sociology. The course takes a fresh, critical, and constructive look at sociological theory, and assesses the usefulness of quantitative empirical sociological research – what can it and what can’t it do? The course requires some basic familiarity with sociological theory and quantitative empirical research, however, knowledge of advanced quantitative methods is not a requirement. The purpose of the course is not to dwell on the mathematical foundation of regression models but to focus on how the intuition of different types of data and designs maps onto answering different questions. It discusses when things go well (when do quant methods allow us to tell right from wrong?), and when it does not (when do numbers promise more than they can deliver?).

The year 2008 marked a turning point in global historical settlement patterns; for the first time in human history the majority of people now live in urban areas. By 2030, two-thirds of the world’s population will be urban. This course explores three interrelated policy and business trends associated with urbanism: Smart Cities, Liveable or Healthy Cities, and efforts to retrofit suburbia. Each of these trends has importance for enhancing our quality of life and addressing climate change. Each also creates unique business opportunities and policy challenges. The course critically examines these trends and their unique relevance internationally and for Ireland. Among other pressing contemporary topics, the course examines housing affordability and the effects spurred by the Covid pandemic, most notably the shifts towards working at home and shopping online, and how these concerns may impact for the future of cities.

This course covers some of the major research techniques and tools which sociologists use to observe and interpret the social world. The first half focuses on issues of the logic of research and research design, the general procedures for research design, and research ethics. The second half deals more specifically with a variety of techniques of gathering data which may include survey research, field and observational methods, experiments, content analysis, and historical methods. Some of the software programs covered that are critical for conducting social scientific research in the 21st century may include those for statistical analysis, qualitative data analysis, database management, the creation of maps and timelines, and the presentation of research reports. The course develops more knowledgeable and critical practitioners, consumers, and evaluators of social science data and research.

The course is designed to equip students with experience, knowledge, and skills for succeeding in globally interdependent and culturally diverse workplaces. Throughout the course, students will be challenged to question, reflect upon, and respond thoughtfully to the issues they observe and encounter in the internship setting and local host environment. Students will have the opportunity to cultivate professional and personal development skills as defined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Assignments focus on building a portfolio that highlights those competencies and their application to workplace skills. Students complete 45 hours of in-person and asynchronous online learning activities and 225-300 hours at the internship placement.

The course uses a sociological lens to view the current consumer society, and how concepts such as social classes, politics, and social organizations impact the consumption-advertising system.  Through sociological theories, it analyzes the motivations for consumption in society and the influence of the environment on the consumer.

This course discusses the role of law in organizing collective life, its legitimacy, its relationship with power structures, and its impact on social change. This course examines classical and contemporary theoretical approaches to the relationship between law and society and explores empirical studies and real-world cases that show how law operates in practice-- how it evolves alongside social changes and how it can both reproduce inequalities and open paths for resistance and transformation.

The course covers communication, in both public and private sectors, as an essential means to connect with clients and anticipate processes of social change. It examines global information processes, with an emphasis on strategic management and effective communication.