Sociology

This course provides basic knowledge of politics and society of the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea (DPRK; North Korea). This course is a mixture of area studies and international relations, particularly focusing on North Korea as a case study. Topics include DPRK political systems, governance, and economy; international sanctions and their impact, nuclear development, human rights, media and information control, and the future of the Korean Peninsula.  Based on basic information of internal dynamics of North Korea, students are expected to search for motivations to study further issues regarding North Korea. By the end of the semester, students find themselves to be better equipped with various approaches to North Korean politics and society. 

This course covers global social problems and policies and develops competencies to respond to human needs emerging from interdependence between countries and societies. It introduces the broad field of global social policy by analyzing theory, social policy change, and social policy outcomes. Structurally, the course is divided in four parts. The first introduces classic social policy, discussing the main concepts and theories developed in the Western world during the 19th and 20th century. It also illustrates the main explanations proposed in the literature to investigate welfare state development and Esping-Andersen's welfare regime typologies (and the main critiques to his comparative framework). The second introduces social policy in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and East Asia. It combines a general understanding of welfare regimes in these continents with a more specific appraisal of some national case. The third highlights the main challenges (namely new social risks, family changes, economic crises) for welfare states in the Post-Fordist era and analyzes how different countries are coping with social change. The fourth and last part of the course considers welfare states as an independent variable: alternative welfare state configurations have different effects on redistribution and the economic competitive advantage of countries.

The course brielfy introduces ethics and the history of computing and the Internet. It focuses on a number of areas in which computers and information technology impact society, including work, the environment, privacy, freedom of speech, and intellectual property. 

This course examines the sociology of gangs, focusing on the historical development of gangs in New Zealand and the methods which have been taken to control them.

This course develops a critical understanding of Japan as a multi-ethnic society throughout history up until today, focusing on the societal developments in Japan over the last three decades. By emphasizing the experiences of diverse ethnic and immigrant groups in Japan, the course seeks to understand the ethnic diversity of Japanese society, which continues to be considered an ethnically “homogeneous society”.

Students complete a total of 100-120 hours of research and meet regularly with an advisor to complete an academically rigorous, ethically sound, and culturally appropriate research project and final research paper. The course provides an opportunity to conduct ethical research; analyze primary and secondary source materials; extrapolate relevant content; make contributions to current research; exchange ideas with professionals in prospective fields; develop a scholarly research paper with a defensible argument, supported by evidence and accurate citations; and suggest additional research to be conducted in prospective fields. The research project must be approved by the CIEE Center Director and the student's home school IRB committee. Assessment is based on a research paper that evidences the proposed project, including a literature review, an explanation of the methodology, and suggestions for future research. In addition, students present their findings in a presentation to a panel of academics for feedback and keep a well-documented journal of field notes and findings. 

This course focuses on how gender is socially constructed and how it affects our daily lives meaningfully. It discusses gender roles, gender norms, gender inequality, and sexuality that may seem too natural and self-evident. This course also studies gender issues from various academic perspectives. 

This course examines the main contributions of contemporary sociological theory, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. It discusses contemporary sociology theory and its practical applications. The course is divided into three units: objectivist theories; subjectivitist theories; dual-process theorys-- systems and subjects.

This course address how the economy works and how it affects individuals and society by focusing on a critically important domain of the economy—namely, financial markets. Overall, the course provides a sociological understanding of why we have financial markets, who the key financial actors are, how financial markets are evolving, as well as how finance and financial logics affect individuals and society. More specifically, it introduces recent sociological discussions of two aspects of finance. The first concerns “financialization,” that is, the growing use and importance of financial logics in otherwise non-financial fields. One example of this is when production companies generate more revenue from finance operations than from their core production activities. Another dimension of financialization relates to the everyday life of ordinary citizens who are increasingly embedded in financial logics. For example, the course discusses inequalities pertaining to the ability to obtain loans (credit). The second aspect of the course focuses on the inner workings of contemporary financial markets. In addition to discussing the backdrop to the 2008 financial crisis, particular emphasis is given to understanding how financial markets have transformed in light of automated trading, that is, fully automated algorithms acting in markets without direct human involvement. It covers the main elements in present-day markets, including trading firms, financial exchanges, so-called dark pools, and financial regulation, as well as discusses the kinds of financial crashes automated trading might give rise to. The course draws upon a combination of classical sociological analyses and theories of financial markets (from Max Weber to Wayne Baker); more recent sociological discussions of performativity in markets; financialization literature; and social studies of science-inspired analyses of automation.