Sociology

This course explores the social implications of the digital revolution, including ethical issues associated with algorithmic design and privacy at the intersection of political communication, data science, ethics, and policy. It mainly discusses the use of data and datafication in society from social and psychology lens. The first part of the course covers the creation of “big data” that is recorded and circulated in the form of data beyond particular moment and place. Next, it covers selected topics in which such data is being used to understand or influence people’s behavior in (political and other subfield of) communication. Finally, the latter part of the course covers various ethical and societal implications of big data and its applications in society.

This interdisciplinary course examines the representation of London in a variety of cultural outputs from the Victorian to the contemporary period. In particular, it analyzes how writers and artists have expressed their perception of the city as a dark site of social tensions, mystery, crime, and detective work. Alongside representative literary texts (from Dickens and Conan Doyle to Ackroyd), the course makes room for a significant amount of visual material such as illustrations (Doré, Cruikshank), films (Hitchcock, Reed), television dramas (Ripper Street, Sherlock), and documentaries (Keiller, Ackroyd). It is also supplemented by visits to UCL Collections and other London Museums.

The course discusses the problems, methods, and results of sociolinguistics, in particular the social aspects that influence linguistic change. It explores the incidence of social and cultural factors in the acquisition and use of language, as well as on the sociolinguistic status of Indigenous languages and the linguistic planning of the different Latin American countries. 

This course examines the current sociology and political science research in globalization. The first part of the course looks at the history of globalization and discusses both the research to analyze and understand the future of globalization. The second part discusses global political and economic change and the consequences after the latest wave of globalization, with particular focus on the global production chain, the role of the nation-state, global governance, as well as the phenomenon of globalization and inequality. The third part of the course examines the impact of globalization class, gender, culture, social movements, environmental justice and health management. Assessment: class participation (50%), the final report including oral reports and written research report (50%).