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• Sociology 151, Personality and Social Structure (Fall, 2011)
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• The field of “Personality and Social Structure” studies the intersection between the individual and society. We are going to look at how national culture, historical era, and social class position shape individuals’ personalities, thinking, and feeling, and at how culture, era, and class affect the way individuals express their personalities. Among the specific topics we will look at are: why this topic matters to sociology, theories of personality, types and measurements of personality, Asian versus Western habits of thinking, class differences in individuals’ sense that they control their lives, historical changes in "intelligence," and socio-cultural variations in individuals’ happiness and depression.
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• Sociology 125, Urban Sociology (Spring, 2007)
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• This course is an introduction to urban sociology. Part 1 will be an overview of the field, organized around a textbook, and touching on basic topics such as the rise of cities, urban infrastructure, third-world urbanization, and rural-urban differences. Part 2 will cover several advanced topics in the field such as urban politics, neighborhoods, and immigrant ghettoes. Part 3 will treat public policy issues such as crime, homelessness, and sprawl. Several class sessions will be devoted to films. There will be section meetings for discussion. Also, the class will focus on developing writing skills as well as mastery of the substantive topics. The readings include the textbook, The Urban World, 7th Ed., Kefalas, Working-Class Heroes; Klinenberg, Heat Wave; and many articles, both in a printed reader and an on-line reader.
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• Sociology 180, American Society
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• Sociology 271A, Methods of Sociological Research
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• Sociology 190.008, Undergraduate Seminar on the Sociology of American Jewry (Fall 2006)
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• This seminar provides an introduction to the sociological study of the Jewish American community. Readings and discussion (and perhaps films) will probably cover, in the first part of course: the history of Jews/Judaism in the United States; the immigrant experience; upward mobility in America; community structure; assimilation; and religious practice. Students will select the topics to be covered in the subsequent few weeks among subjects such as American Jews and: antisemitism, intermarriage, Israel, American politics, American popular culture, the college campus, other minorities, and the Holocaust. The last couple of weeks will be devoted to student presentations.
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• Sociology 290, Seminar on Modernity and Mentalite in America (Spring 2005)
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• We will address the question of whether there is a different mentalité developed over the course of American history, looking at various possible dimension of dimensions of mentality (e.g., self-absorption, anxiety, sentimentality, other-directedness, materialism, alienation, neuroses, etc.); how changes, if any, in Americans’ social psychology may or may not connect to structural changes; and how one could study change in mentality historically. The tentative structure of the seminar is three-part: to read assigned books and articles (heavily historical) for the first several weeks; to read works chosen by consensus for the next several weeks; and to have student presentations for the last few weeks. A term paper is expected for a grade; reading and participation is expected of all attenders.
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• Sociology 290, Seminar on The History of Consumption (Spring 1998)