Sociology
Students may complete a major or minor in Sociology.
The major in Sociology aims to provide understanding of the organization and functioning of modern society by analyzing its major institutions, social groups, and values, and their connections to culture and power. To facilitate these analytical objectives, the department offers rigorous preparation in social theory and problem-focused training in quantitative as well as qualitative methodologies.
Study Abroad
Students who plan to take a junior semester abroad must get the approval of the department adviser before completing the course registration for the program. The student should submit a description of the program, a catalogue or published description of the courses the student plans to take for sociology credit, and a statement of how the program fits into the major.
Opportunities for Field Work and Internship Experiences
The Sociology Department encourages students to pursue the varied opportunities to combine classroom learning with practical experiences through fieldwork and internships in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. Opportunities for volunteer work in social service and other agencies are provided through the College's Civic Engagement Office. Students interested in course related internships should consult the Professor teaching the course for more information.
Departmental Grants for Summer Internships
Over the past decade, the sociology department has received a gift to fund student internships. The Pollak Fund supports student internships (for sociology junior and sophomore majors only!) for eight to 10 weeks each summer. These grants are supported by the estate of Otto and Gertrude Pollak—lawyers from Vienna, Austria—who became political refugees from Nazi-occupied Austria and emigrated to the United States. After they settled in the Philadelphia area, Bryn Mawr College had a significant impact in helping them to establish their professional careers. For more details and application instructions, read this letter [PDF].
Major Requirements
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| SOCL B102 | Society, Culture, and the Individual | 1 |
| SOCL B265 | Quantitative Methods | 1 |
| SOCL B302 | Social Theory | 1 |
| SOCL B303 | Junior Conference: Discipline-Based Intensive Writing (fulfills the College writing intensive requirement) | 1 |
| SOCL B398 | Senior Conference | 1 |
| Five additional courses in sociology (one of which may be at the 100 level and at least one of which must be at the 300 level) | ||
| Total Units | 5 | |
In addition, the student must take two additional courses in sociology or an allied subject; the allied courses are to be chosen in consultation with the faculty adviser. The department strongly recommends that majors take a history course focused on late 19th and 20th century American history. Students with an interest in quantitative sociology are encouraged to elect as allied work further training in mathematics, statistics and computer science. Those with an interest in historical or theoretical sociology are encouraged to elect complementary courses in history, philosophy, and anthropology. In general, these allied courses should be chosen from the social sciences.
Senior Experience
The Senior Seminar is required of all senior sociology majors regardless of whether or not they wish to do a thesis. Depending on the number of students, in some years the Senior Seminar will have two sections. The content of the two sections may differ, but the structure of the seminars will be the same. Students will focus on their writing in a series of assignments, emphasizing, as the new college-wide writing requirement suggests, the process and elements of good writing.
Senior Thesis
During senior year, seniors will have the option of doing a one-semester thesis in the fall, a one-semester thesis in the spring, or a two-semester thesis (one grade for the year). To become eligible to write a senior thesis, a student must have a minimum 3.3 GPA in sociology (this will also be the minimum GPA for a student to do an independent study in sociology). Junior sociology majors will need to approach a faculty member as early as possible about the possibility of advising their thesis and will need to indicate in their thesis proposal their "preferred adviser." The department will attempt to follow these preferences but will take responsibility for assigning an adviser.
Rising seniors who wish to write a senior thesis will need to submit by June 30 to the Chair of sociology a 1-2 page thesis proposal that includes the following information:
- Proposed term of thesis-writing: fall semester; spring semester; both semesters
- Timeline: brief indication of when the data will be collected, when/how it will be analyzed, when the write-up will take place, etc.
- Preferred adviser
- Thesis proposal (should include the research question, its sociological significance, the proposed method, plan of analysis, and anticipated value)
- The thesis proposal should also state clearly whether the research will require IRB approval, if approval has already been secured, or when it will be secured
- Please indicate if you have any previous preparation/work in the thesis topic area.
The chair will distribute the proposals to department members, collect their comments, and inform the student of a yes/no decision by July 15. Please note that students who are not selected to do a senior thesis may still pursue independent work with a faculty member (if their GPA in the major is 3.3 or above). If you are unsure of whether your topic is really "THESIS," you should discuss this with a faculty member. The following broad categories of work have been considered in the past to be theses: students conduct an analysis of empirical data (this can be qualitative or quantitative; collected by the student or by someone else; contemporary or historical; etc.) or students undertake to research a question using already published evidence (so the thesis could be a very focused, extensive literature review). Students would be welcome to propose developing further a research paper that they wrote in a course. This kind of proposal needs to be very specific as to what the new/additional goals are.
The Department of Sociology offers concentrations in gender and society and African American studies. In pursuing these concentrations, majors should inquire about the possibility of coursework at Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges and the University of Pennsylvania.
Honors
Honors in Sociology are available to those students who have a grade point average in the major of 3.5 or higher and who write a senior thesis that is judged outstanding by the department. The thesis would be written under the direction of a Sociology faculty member.
Concentrations Within the Sociology Major
Gender and Society
Three courses are required for this concentration—at least two of these courses must be in sociology. The remaining course can be in sociology or an allied social science field. Students who pursue this concentration are required to take at least one of the core courses in this area offered by the department: SOCL B201 The Study of Gender in Society or SOCL B225 Women in Society. The department encourages students in this concentration to take courses that focus on the study of gender in both the Global North and the Global South. In addition to taking courses in this field at Bryn Mawr, students may also take courses towards this concentration in their study abroad programs or at Haverford, Swarthmore, and the University of Pennsylvania. Any course taken outside of the Bryn Mawr Department of Sociology must be approved by the department for concentration credit.
African American Studies
Three courses are required for this concentration—at least two of these courses must be in sociology. The remaining course can be in either sociology or an allied field. Students who pursue this concentration are required to take the core course offered by the Bryn Mawr Department of Sociology: SOCL B229. Students are encouraged to take courses on Black America listed under the Bryn Mawr and Haverford Africana Studies Programs. Courses taken outside the Bryn Mawr Department of Sociology must be approved by the department for concentration credit. Majors interested in this concentration should consult Robert Washington for further information.
Minor Requirements
Requirements for the minor are SOCL 102, 265, 302, and three additional courses within the department. Students may choose electives from courses offered at Haverford College. Bryn Mawr majors should consult their department about major credit for courses taken at other institutions.
Honors
Honors in Sociology are available to those students who have a grade point average in the major of 3.5 or higher and who write a senior thesis that is judged outstanding by the department. The thesis would be written under the direction of a Sociology faculty member.
Concentrations Within the Sociology Major
Gender and Society
Three courses are required for this concentration—at least two of these courses must be in sociology. The remaining course can be in sociology or an allied social science field. Students who pursue this concentration are required to take at least one of the core courses in this area offered by the department: The Study of Gender in Society (SOCL 201) or Women in Contemporary Society: The Southern Hemisphere (SOCL 225). The department encourages students in this concentration to take courses that focus on the study of gender in both the Global North and the Global South. In addition to taking courses in this field at Bryn Mawr, students may also take courses towards this concentration in their study abroad programs or at Haverford, Swarthmore, and the University of Pennsylvania. Any course taken outside of the Bryn Mawr Department of Sociology must be approved by the department for concentration credit.
African American Studies
Three courses are required for this concentration—at least two of these courses must be in sociology. The remaining course can be in either sociology or an allied field. Students who pursue this concentration are required to take the core course offered by the Bryn Mawr Department of Sociology: Black America In Sociological Perspective (SOCL 229). Students are encouraged to take courses on Black America listed under the Bryn Mawr and Haverford Africana Studies Programs. Courses taken outside the Bryn Mawr Department of Sociology must be approved by the department for concentration credit. Majors interested in this concentration should consult Robert Washington for further information.
SOCL B102 Society, Culture, and the Individual (1 Unit)
Sociology is the systematic study of society and social interaction. It involves what C. Wright Mills called the "sociological imagination," a way of seeing the relationship between individuals and the larger forces of society and history. In this course, we will practice using our sociological imaginations to think about the world around us. We will examine how social norms and structures are created and maintained, and we will analyze how these structures shape people's behavior and choices, often without their realizing it. After learning to think sociologically, we will examine the centrality of inequality in society, focusing specifically on the intersecting dimensions of race and ethnicity, gender, and class, and the role of social structures and institutions (such as the family and education) in society. Overall, this course draws our attention toward our own presuppositions-the things we take for granted in our everyday lives-and provides us with a systematic framework within which we can analyze those presuppositions and identify their effects..
Tagged with:
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
College Requirement(s):
- Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Every Fall
SOCL B110 From Conversation to Society: Microsociological Perspective (1 Unit)
When we talk about society, we often imagine classes, networks, organizations, and interlocking systems. When we look for them, we find people talking, gesturing, smiling, frowning–in short, interacting. How do we make sense of these interactions as observers? How do the participants make sense of each other? What happens when interactions fail? Or succeed for that matter? How do some of these interactions come to constitute medical consultations, congressional hearings, job interviews, family dinners, or prayer meetings? What do the boundary-making practices of race, class, and gender look like in practice? In other words, how can an understanding of conversation help us understand what society is where and when it happens? In this course, we will explore these and other questions using readings from a range of microsociological traditions and a variety of audio and video materials.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B200 Urban Sociology (1 Unit)
How do social forces shape the places we live? What makes a place urban? What is a suburb and why do we have them? What’s environmental racism? Why are cities in the US still highly racially segregated? We will take on these questions and more in this introduction to urban sociology. Classic and contemporary urban social theories will inform our investigations of empirical research on pressing urban issues such as housing segregation, the environment, suburbanization, transportation and inequality. The course has a special focus on the social, economic and political forces that shape in urban space in ways that perpetuate inequality for African Americans.
Tagged with:
- Africana Studies
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B201 The Study of Gender in Society (1 Unit)
The definition of male and female social roles and sociological approaches to the study of gender in the United States, with attention to gender in the economy and work place, the division of labor in families and households, and analysis of class and ethnic differences in gender roles. Of particular interest in this course is the comparative exploration of the experiences of women of color in the United States.
Tagged with:
- Child and Family Studies
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
College Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B205 Social Inequality (1 Unit)
In this course, we will explore the extent, causes, and consequences of social and economic inequality in the U.S. We will begin by discussing key theories and the intersecting dimensions of inequality along lines of income and wealth, race and ethnicity, and gender. We will then follow a life-course perspective to trace the institutions through which inequality is structured, experienced, and reproduced through the family, neighborhoods, the educational system, labor markets and workplaces, and the criminal justice system.
Tagged with:
- Child and Family Studies
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
College Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B209 Memoir as Sociology (1 Unit)
This course will use memoirs as a medium for learning about society. Memoirs are personal narratives based on true events, as reconstructed by memory, that portray in detail a period in the author's life or a particular series of events. Memoirs used to be written by famous people, but in the past three decades there has been an explosion of these publications, both as books and essays. Using these works in a course allows me to highlight the essential sociological principle as outlined by C. Wright Mills: the personal is situated within larger historical, social, economic, and political contexts. People's live are shaped by history and by the particular time and place in which they live.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
SOCL B214 The Sociology of Mental Health and Illness (1 Unit)
The sociological perspective can make a unique contribution to our understanding of mental illness and social responses to it. Biological and genetic understandings of mental illness are ascendant, and yet there is increasing awareness that they are scientifically unsatisfying and that purely biomedical treatment has not delivered promised improvements in outcomes. On the other hand, more purely de-constructionist approaches deny the real suffering mental illnesses can cause and offer a one-sidedly critical view of pharmaceuticals and healthcare professionals. In this course, we will try to cut a middle ground, showing how mental illness is both socially and biologically determined; very real yet socially constructed and culturally specific. We will see how institutions of mental health treatment both cure and control, and how a better response to mental illness requires medical and social interventions.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
SOCL B216 Social Dynamics of Violence (1 Unit)
How do we make sense of violence in society? Why do people act to hurt, injure, or kill each other? How do we account for the diversity and similarity of violent acts and actors? How do we understand the role of violence in social change and social order? In this course, we will examine violence from a sociological perspective. We will consider a variety of different kinds of violence, from bullying and corporal punishment to riots and wartime massacres, using comparative analysis to probe the patterns and causes of violence, and its embeddedness in our social relationships.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B220 Social Perspectives on Health (1 Unit)
CDC data from 2023 shows that Black and Hispanic Americans were 1.6 and 1.7 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than White Americans. Why do we see these disparities, and what do they reveal about broader patterns of social inequality? What does it mean to be sick, healthy, or medicated? This course invites students to consider how society shapes our experiences of health, illness, and medicine. Together, we will explore concepts such as medicalization, the social construction of illnesses, health disparities, medical ethics, and the authority of physicians. We will also examine how the state, experts, markets, and social movements shape healthcare, as well as how inequalities based on race, class, gender, geography, sexuality, and age influence health outcomes. By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze how social structures affect health and develop ideas for addressing health inequities.
Tagged with:
- Health Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B221 The Social Life of Emotions (1 Unit)
How do our emotions reflect and affect our social relationships, roles, and structures? How do we feel, manage, express, and share our emotions with others? How do social factors like culture, power, status, and ritual shape our emotional lives? The sociology of emotions contends that emotions are not just personal and psychological experiences, but are at the heart of social life. In this course, we will explore emotions from a variety of sociological perspectives, and apply these perspectives to a variety of sociological phenomena including family formation, job interviews, religious experiences and political movements.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B225 Women in Society (1 Unit)
In 2015, the world’s female population was 49.6 percent of the total global population of 7.3 billion. According to the United Nations, in absolute terms, there were 61,591,853 more men than women. Yet, at the global scale, 124 countries have more women than men. A great majority of these countries are located in what scholars have recently been referring to as the Global South – those countries known previously as developing countries. Although women outnumber their male counterparts in many Global South countries, however, these women endure difficulties that have worsened rather than improving. What social structures determine this gender inequality in general and that of women of color in particular? What are the main challenges women in the Global South face? How do these challenges differ based on nationality, class, ethnicity, skin color, gender identity, and other axes of oppression? What strategies have these women developed to cope with the wide variety of challenges they contend with on a daily basis? These are some of the major questions that we will explore together in this class. In this course, the Global South does not refer exclusively to a geographical location, but rather to a set of institutional structures that generate disadvantages for all individuals and particularly for women and other minorities, regardless their geographical location in the world. In other words, a significant segment of the Global North’s population lives under the same precarious conditions that are commonly believed as exclusive to the Global South. Simultaneously, there is a Global North embedded in the Global South as well. In this context, we will see that the geographical division between the North and the South becomes futile when we seek to understand the dynamics of the “Western-centric/Christian-centric capitalist/patriarchal modern/colonial world-system” (Grosfoguel, 2012). In the first part of the course, we will establish the theoretical foundations that will guide us throughout the rest of the semester. We will then turn to a wide variety of case studies where we will examine, for instance, the contemporary global division of labor, gendered violence in the form of feminicides, international migration, and global tourism. The course’s final thematic section will be devoted to learning from the different feminisms (e.g. community feminism) emerging out of the Global South as well as the research done in that region and its contribution to the development of a broader gender studies scholarship. In particular, we will pay close attention to resistance, solidarity, and social movements led by women. Examples will be drawn from Latin America, the Caribbean, the US, Asia, and Africa.
Tagged with:
- Africana Studies
- Child and Family Studies
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Latin American, Iberian, and Latinx Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
College Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B231 Punishment and Social Order (1 Unit)
An examination of the American criminal justice system and punishment in its social context. The course addresses theoretical approaches to crime control and examines the current system of mass incarceration in cross cultural comparison and relative to alternative approaches including restorative and transformative justice.
Tagged with:
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
SOCL B232 A Sociological Journey to Immigrant Communities in Philly (1 Unit)
This course will use the lenses of sociology to critically and comparatively examine various immigrant communities living in greater Philadelphia. It will expose students to the complex historical, economic, political, and social factors influencing (im)migration, as well as how migrants and the children of immigrants develop their sense of belonging and their homemaking practices in the new host society. In this course, we will probe questions of belonging, identity, homemaking, citizenship, transnationalism, and ethnic entrepreneurship and how individuals, families, and communities are transformed locally and across borders through the process of migration. This course also seeks to interrogate how once in a new country, immigrant communities not only develop a sense of belonging but also how they reconfigure their own identities while they transform the social, physical, and cultural milieus of their new communities of arrival. To achieve these ends, this course will engage in a multidisciplinary approach consisting of materials drawn from such disciplines as cultural studies, anthropology, history, migration studies, and sociology to examine distinct immigrant communities that have arrived in Philadelphia over the past 100 years. Although this course will also cover the histories of migrant communities arriving in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a greater part of the course will focus on recent migrant communities, mainly from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean and arriving in the area of South Philadelphia. A special focus will be on the Mexican American migrant community that stands out among those newly arrived migrant communities.
Tagged with:
- Child and Family Studies
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Latin American, Iberian, and Latinx Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
SOCL B235 Mexican-American Communities (1 Unit)
For its unique history, the number of migrants, and the two countries' proximity, Mexican migration to the United States represents an exceptional case in world migration. There is no other example of migration with more than 100 years of history. The copious presence of migrants concentrated in a host country, such as we have in the case of the 11.7 million Mexican migrants residing in the United States, along with another 15 million Mexican descendants, is unparalleled. The 1,933-mile-long border shared by the two countries makes it one of the longest boundary lines in the world and, unfortunately, also one of the most dangerous frontiers in the world today. We will examine the different economic, political, social and cultural forces that have shaped this centenarian migration influx and undertake a macro-, meso-, and micro-levels of analysis. At the macro-level of political economy, we will investigate the economic interdependency that has developed between Mexico and the U.S. over different economic development periods of these countries, particularly, the role the Mexican labor force has played to boosting and sustaining both the Mexican and the American economies. At the meso-level, we will examine different institutions both in Mexico and the U.S. that have determined the ways in which millions of Mexican migrate to this country. Last, but certainly not least, we will explore the impacts that both the macro-and meso-processes have had on the micro-level by considering the imperatives, aspirations, and dreams that have prompted millions of people to leave their homes and communities behind in search of better opportunities. This major life decision of migration brings with it a series of social transformations in family and community networks, this will look into the cultural impacts in both the sending and receiving migrant communities. In sum, we will come to understand how these three levels of analysis work together.
Tagged with:
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Latin American, Iberian, and Latinx Studies
- Praxis Program
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
College Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
SOCL B239 Sociology of Social Media (1 Unit)
This course will introduce students to a range of debates on the nature and effects of online social networks. How are virtual communities like in-person communities and how are they different? How do people’s online and offline social worlds relate? What are the consequences of social media for politics and social relations? Students will learn the theories and methods that sociologists use to approach these questions.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B246 Sociology of Migration: A Cross-Cultural Overview of Contemporary Challenges (1 Unit)
The twenty-first century began much as the twentieth century did for the United States with high levels of immigration. This has affected not only the nation, but the discipline of sociology. Just as early twentieth century Chicago School sociology focused on immigration and settlement issues, so too the first decade of the twenty-first century shows a flurry of sociological imagination devoted to immigration scholarship. This course will center on the key texts, issues, and approaches coming out of this renovated sociology of immigration, but we will also include approaches to the study of immigration from history, anthropology, and ethnic studies. While we will consider comparative and historical approaches, our focus will be on the late twentieth century through the present, and we will spend a good deal of time focusing on the longest running labor migration in the world, Mexican immigration to the U.S., as well as on Central American migrant communities in the U.S. Students with an interest in contemporary U.S. immigration will be exposed to a survey of key theoretical approaches and relevant issues in immigration studies in the social sciences. Current themes, such as globalization, transnationalism, gendered migration, immigrant labor markets, militarization of the U.S.-Mexican border, U.S. migration policy, the new second generation and segmented assimilation, and citizenship will be included.
Tagged with:
- Latin American, Iberian, and Latinx Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
- Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B258 Sociology of Education (1 Unit)
Major sociological theories of the relationships between education and society, focusing on the effects of education on inequality in the United States and the historical development of primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in the United States. Other topics include education and social selection, testing and tracking, and micro- and macro-explanations of differences in educational outcomes. This is a Praxis II course; placements are in local schools.
Tagged with:
- Child and Family Studies
- Education
- Praxis Program
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
College Requirement(s): Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B260 A City of Homes: Housing Issues in Philadelphia (1 Unit)
In the late 19th century, Philadelphia’s boosters described the city as the “City of Homes” to celebrate its success compared to other major cities in the US in providing housing and opportunities for homeownership for its growing population of workers. This class investigates the unique history of housing in Philadelphia. We will cover the problems the city has faced and still faces in providing affordable housing, fair access to housing and creating diverse and vibrant neighborhoods and its great legacy of innovation in this area. We will use Philadelphia as a case for investigating the relationship between housing, the economy, locational resources, and neighborhood development. We will see how racial capitalism shapes what housing is built, where it is built and who has access to it. Through the Tri-Co Philly program students will engage with this literature as part of an immersive experience in the city and gain a deeper understanding of the practice of engaging with housing issues for professionals and political actors.
Tagged with:
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Sociology at Haverford
SOCL B262 Public Opinion (1 Unit)
This course will assess public opinion in American politics: what it is, how it is measured, how it is shaped, how it relates to public policy, and how it changes over time. It includes both questions central to political scientists (what is the public, how do they exercise their voice, does the government listen and how do they respond?) and to sociologists (where do ideas come from, how do they gain societal influence, and how do they change over time?). It will pay close attention to the role of electoral politics throughout, both historically and in the current election. It is focused primarily on the United States, but seeks to place the US in global context. If this course is taken to fulfill an elective in the Data Science minor, students will conduct hands-on analyses with real data as a key component to both their Midterm and Final Essays.
Tagged with:
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Political Science
- Political Science at Haverford
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
- Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Typically Offered: Every other Year
SOCL B264 Sociology of Childhood (1 Unit)
In this course, we will examine childhood from a sociological perspective focusing on how children shape and are shaped by their social worlds. We will begin by considering childhood as an historically constructed category that has changed over time and place. We will next focus on three institutions that are key agents of childhood socialization: the family, the school, and peers. Finally, we will study topics that may be considered problems of childhood: commercialization, the medicalization of aspects of children's life experiences, and school discipline. Throughout the course, we will consider how children's lives are shaped by broader systems of inequality based on race, class, and gender.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B265 Quantitative Methods (1 Unit)
An introduction to the conduct of empirical, especially quantitative, social science inquiry. In consultation with the instructor, students may select research problems to which they apply the research procedures and statistical techniques introduced during the course. Using SPSS, a statistical computer package, students learn techniques such as cross-tabular analysis, ANOVA, and multiple regression. Required of Bryn Mawr Sociology majors and minors. Non-sociology majors and minors with permission of instructor.
Tagged with:
- Data Science
- Health Studies
- Health Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
College Requirement(s):
- Quantitative Methods (QM)
- Quantitative Readiness Required (QR)
Typically Offered: Every Spring
SOCL B267 Space, Place, and Queer Geographies (1 Unit)
How do spaces and places shape who we are and how we relate to others? How do different groups create, contest, and transform the environments they inhabit? This course introduces students to the sociology of space and place, with a particular focus on queer geographies. We will begin with foundational theories of space and place, exploring how power, identity, and belonging are negotiated through spatial practices. Next, we will investigate how sexuality and gender identity intersect with spatial experiences—from intimate spaces to neighborhoods to cities to digital environments. We will analyze how race, class, gender, and sexuality intersect to create different experiences of spatial belonging, exclusion, and resistance. Throughout the course, we will consider both the constraints and possibilities that spaces offer for identity formation, community building, and social change.
Tagged with: Sociology
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B269 Sociology of Deviance (1 Unit)
Sex, drugs, and… corporate malfeasance? Why are some behaviors and identities considered more morally acceptable than others? Who or what decides? How are boundaries of difference enforced? How do these boundaries wax and wane over time? In this course, we will analyze the origins, development, and reactions surrounding deviance in society. We will examine how behaviors are constructed as “deviant” or “normal,” and how people exhibiting these behaviors experience the world. We will examine core theories of deviance and social control and analyze deviant acts and identities through different theoretical lenses. We will consider why deviance is often associated with “low life” in both society and the sociological literature, and we will consider how deviant behaviors exhibited by the wealthy and powerful are treated in society. We will also examine how the social media age shapes deviance. Through this course, we will hone our sociological imagination through critical reading, writing, and speaking.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Critical Interpretation (CI)
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B275 Social Problems, Community Conversations (1 Unit)
This Praxis course will create space for students and community members to examine social problems in a co-created, diverse setting. We’ll ask questions like: What social problems have shaped our lives? How do they connect to the social problems of other generations? Who defines social problems, and how? Who tries to solve social problems, and how? How might sociology help us shed light on these problems? How can we design and participate in productive dialogues across difference around these social problems? The course will examine a variety of social issues chosen by students and community members (e.g. crime, racial/ethnic inequality, gender inequality, educational, environmental, healthcare, and housing crises, AI, changing workplaces). The course emphasizes co-creation and modes of learning that bring together lived experience, library knowledge, and conversation across diverse communities.
Tagged with:
- Education
- Praxis Program
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B276 Making Sense of Race (1 Unit)
What is the meaning of race in contemporary US and global society? How are these meanings (re)produced, resisted, and refused? What meanings might we desire or imagine as alternatives? In this course, we will approach these questions through an array of sources while tracking our own thinking about and experiences of raced-ness. Course material will survey sociological notions of the social construction of race, empirical studies of lived experiences of race, and creative fiction and non-fiction material intended to catalyze thinking about alternative possibilities.
Tagged with:
- Africana Studies
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Every Year
SOCL B279 Economic Sociology (1 Unit)
How are economic relationships, encounters, and transactions embedded in social relations? How does culture determine value? What is the relationship between morality and markets? This course will address key topics and debates in economic sociology, including networks, risk, trust, order, payment, measurement, calculation, technology, law, policy, the state, globalization, and finance.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Critical Interpretation (CI)
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B288 Space, Place, and Environment (1 Unit)
In this interdisciplinary course, students will bring a social scientific and theoretical lens to geographic and spatial phenomena. Bridging urban sociology, environmental sociology, and the sociology of space, we will consider various facets of human relations to places at the local, national, and global levels. Topics will include the racialization of space, gentrification, resource inequality, colonialism, neighborhood change, organizations, incarceration, and space-related conflicts.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Critical Interpretation (CI)
- Inquiry into the Past (IP)
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B291 Jews and Racialization (1 Unit)
This course focuses on the racialization of the immigrant groups who arrived in the U.S, beginning in the early days of New Amsterdam and moving through the early twenty first century. Our particular focus will be on Jews; although we will examine Jewish inclusion and exclusion in the context of the marginalization of other ethnic groups. The WhiteThe dominant group assigned district physical, moral and personality characteristics to the various immigrant communities; but each of these stereotypes nevertheless was the basis for marginalizing all members of these groups. rical approach to understanding the various characterizations given to these distinct groups how these outsiders were discriminated against. U.S. history is often defined in the categories of "black" and "white;" but the racial and ethnic status of "other" immigrants was problematic from the point of view of the dominant group, the White Anglo Saxon Protestant. Immigrants from different ill interrogate how their perspective came to be socially constructed as "natural" and thereby hegemonic and how this dominant, privileged group defined and controlled social institutions, policies and even individual consciousness.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B302 Social Theory (1 Unit)
Prerequisite(s): Bryn Mawr Sociology Majors and Minors
This course focuses primarily on the works of classical social theorists. The theorists include: George Herbert Meade, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber; and secondarily their influences on the works of more contemporary theorists: C. Wright Mills, Shulamith Firestone, Antonio Gramsci, Erving Goffman, Randall Collins, Robert Bellah, Howard Becker, and Pierre Bourdieu. Among the theoretical conceptions examined: culture, religion, the sacred, power, authority, modernization, deviance, bureaucracy, social stratification, social class, status groups, social conflict, and social conceptions of the self.
Tagged with:
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
Typically Offered: Every Fall
SOCL B303 Junior Conference: Discipline-Based Intensive Writing (1 Unit)
Prerequisite(s): Limited to Bryn Mawr Sociology Majors
This course will introduce students to a range of qualitative methods in the discipline and will require students to engage, through reading and writing, a wide range of sociological issues. The emphasis of the course will be to develop a clear, concise writing style, while maintaining a sociological focus. Substantive areas of the course will vary depending on the instructor. Prerequisite: Required of and limited to Bryn Mawr Sociology Major, Junior Standing
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
Writing in the Major: Writing Intensive
Typically Offered: Every Semester
SOCL B307 Transnational Queer Politics (1 Unit)
As people and ideas traverse national, cultural, and social borders, how are gender and sexuality negotiated and redefined? This course uses queer politics and practices as an entry point to examine transnational processes such as global diffusion, international organizations, colonialism, global capitalism, and neoliberalism. Instead of taking gender and sexual categories like “gay,” “lesbian,” and “trans” for granted, we will use a feminist and queer sociological approach to interrogate how gender and sexual categories are produced, maintained, and reconfigured in non-western societies. Furthermore, we will consider how to address the limits of global LGBT rights discourse, social movements, and politics through postcolonial and intersectional lenses. Together, we will cultivate critical tools to assess the relationships between gender, sexuality, and globalization and how these processes influence the lived experiences of queer/trans individuals worldwide. Prerequisite: At lease one course in the social sciences.
Tagged with:
- Gender & Sexuality Studies
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- International Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
SOCL B309 Sociology of Religion (1 Unit)
This course will investigate what sociology offers to an historical and contemporary understanding of religion. Most broadly, the course explores how religion has fared under the conditions of modernity given widespread predictions of secularization yet remarkably resilient and resurgent religious movements the world over. The course is structured to alternate theoretical approaches to religion with specific empirical cases that illustrate, test, or contradict the particular theories at hand. It focuses primarily on the West, but situated within a global context.
Tagged with:
- Sociology at Haverford
- Sociology/Anthropolgy at Hav
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B317 Comparative Social Policy: Cuba, China, US, Scandinavia (1 Unit)
This course will examine different countries' policy choices to address different societal challenges. Four societal types - socialist (Cuba), post-socialist (China), capitalist (US), and social-democratic (Scandinavia) - will be studies to help us understand how these different kinds of societies conceive of social problems and propose and implement attempted solutions. We will examine particular problems/solutions in four domains: health/sports; education; environment; technological development. As we explore these domains, we will attend to methodological issues involved in making historical and institutional comparisons
Tagged with:
- Education
- Health Studies
- International Studies
- Political Science
- Sociology at Haverford
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B323 Communes, Co-ops, and Collectives: Alternative Organizations (1 Unit)
From schools to hospitals to grocery stores, most of the organizations we encounter and participate in throughout our lives are based on a hierarchical, bureaucratic form of organization. How did this form of organization come to be so common in U.S. society? And what are the alternatives? In this course, we will begin by exploring the origins, form, and proliferation of what Max Weber famously referred to as the “iron cage” of bureaucracy. Then we will focus on alternative forms of organization, such as communes, cooperatives, and collectives. How do these types of collectivist-democratic organizations differ from the rational-bureaucratic organizations with which we are most familiar? How are these alternative organizations structured? What makes them work—or not? From the Burning Man (anti)organization to mutual aid societies, democratic schools, farmer cooperatives, and feminist collectives, we will explore the ways in which alternative organizations can enforce the status quo or serve as catalysts for social change. Prerequisite: At least one social science course or permission of instructor.
Tagged with:
- Political Science
- Political Science at Haverford
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B324 Du Bois and Sociology: The Racialized Self in Modernity (1 Unit)
W.E.B. Du Bois pioneered a liberatory sociology of emancipation grounded in rigorous empirical investigation of social problems and a theory of the racialized self in modernity. In this course, we will examine the Du Boisian roots of American sociology, studying some of his most influential texts for insights into how sociology can address important current public conversations about dismantling racist and exploitative structures of oppression.
Tagged with:
- Africana Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B327 Capital & Connections:A Network Approach to Social Structure (1 Unit)
Is it better to have a tightly knit circle of friends or several compartmentalized groups? And better for what--social support, academic achievement, finding a job, coming up with a new idea, sparking a social movement? How might we study questions like these? In this course, we will explore the various ways of understanding social connections as a resource--as a form of capital--and we will learn how to collect and analyze data about networks to investigate the structure of social networks. In particular, we will learn how to think about advantages and disadvantages as resulting from the structure and composition of our social networks. Prerequisite: At least one social science course or permission of instructor.
Tagged with:
- Data Science
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B328 The Black Middle Class (1 Unit)
The Black Middle Class has often been used rhetorically and empirically to make claims about the intersection of race and class in the US. We will examine the evolving debate about significance of race and class with the Black Middle class at its center.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Course does not meet an Approach
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B329 Race, Class & Gender: Intersectionality & the Social World (1 Unit)
This course takes an in-depth look into how racism, classism, and sexism perpetuate inequality as well as scholarly debates and engagements with intersectionality theory. We will critically engage with intersectionality theory and explore scholarship that applies intersectionality theory to a variety of social arenas including families, activism, education, sexuality, politics, health, work, and more. By the end of the course, you should be able to identify contemporary scholarly debates surrounding intersectionality theory and evaluate its applications across sociological works. Throughout the semester we will practice synthesizing readings, crafting original arguments, and critical writing skills.
Tagged with:
- Africana Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B331 Global Sociology: Capital, Power, and Protest in World-Historical Perspective (1 Unit)
Prerequisite(s): Previous course in social science
The last decades of the 20th century brought about a series of social, political, economic, and cultural changes that have reshaped our ways of understanding and thereby relating to the world. Globalization as a conceptual paradigm has assisted us in comprehending those changes and most importantly the impacts that those changes have brought to our lives individually and collectively. In this sense, globalization has not only stirred up a series of debates within the social sciences about its novelty, but has also become one of the most contested concepts, meaning that there are different and competing understandings of what the term means and how to assess the process. With this in mind, the objective of this course is to explore the distinct themes that make up what is referred to as the sociology of globalization. These include: globalization studies and theories of globalization; the global economy; political globalization; globalization and culture; transnational civil society/transnational social movements; globalization and gender/race/ethnicity; transnational migration; new global division of labor; and human consequences of globalization in the form of the so-called wasted lives (Bauman), to mention just a few. Linkages between social, political, and economic forces that play a role in shaping trends and problems will be analyzed through lectures, readings, discussions, case studies, and films shown in class. An intersectional perspective of race, class, nationality, and gender (among other social axes of oppression) will be used to demonstrate how various historically marginalized groups experience the impact of globalization. Finally, this course adopts a social justice framework with the intent to cultivate students as active agents of change. Prerequisite: Previous course in social science; permission of instructor.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B332 Sociology of Popular Culture (1 Unit)
“Culture” is one of those words that is used constantly by nearly everyone, but rarely is it made clear what exactly is meant by the term or what precisely it is contributing as either cause or effect. This course seeks to provide clarity and precision in what is meant by the term “culture” and how it can be a useful analytical concept, focusing explicitly on those cultural objects deemed "popular." It will explore how popular culture is produced, reproduced, received, challenged, disseminated, resisted, and transformed. Special attention will be given to how popular culture interacts with other social institutions, social movements, power relationships, and intersectional identities.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B333 Varieties of Sociological Imagination: Voices from the Major (1 Unit)
In this course, we will explore works of sociological theory and imagination from thinkers outside the US and Europe, classic and contemporary. We will read and discuss texts from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East addressing a variety of sociological themes, including race, gender, caste, and colonialism. We will also discuss how these works can inform and inspire our own sociological research and practice.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Course does not meet an Approach
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B334 Dilemmas of Nonviolence in a Violent World (1 Unit)
Nonviolent civil resistance has long been celebrated by scholars and practitioners as the superior strategy in overthrowing dictators, military regimes, and colonizers. Yet cutting-edge research shows that romanticizing “nonviolence” obscures the study of its tactical and ethical complexities. This course bridges the fields of sociology and peace studies to critically examine the historical roots and practices of nonviolence, with a focus on thorny questions about power and politics.
Tagged with: Sociology
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B336 Modernizing China (1 Unit)
Today, China is the world’s second-largest economy and a major contender for the global superpower status to the United States. Yet, China was once one of the world’s poorest countries in the mid-twentieth century. How did China modernize itself from the “Sick Man of Asian” to an emergent global economic, cultural, and political superpower? How are these changes impacting Chinese society and the world? At what/whose cost? This course takes a sociology of development lens to understand contemporary China’s modernization projects. We will critically examine various modernization projects, including the “Great Leap Forward,” the post-socialist market reform, and “One Belt One Road.” Together, we will also consider how these measures create sweeping social changes in every fabric of Chinese social life—from the shifting relationship between the state and society, the one-child policy, to profound changes in family, kinship structure, and the most intimate aspects of life. Through examining and reflecting on various modernization projects in China, students will be able to critically analyze how social policies generate both intended and unintended consequences to social life. Prerequisite: One course in the Social Sciences or permission of instructor.
Tagged with:
- East Asian Languages and Cultures
- International Studies
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B350 Movements for Social Justice (1 Unit)
Throughout human history, powerless groups of people have organized social movements to improve their lives and their societies. Powerful groups and institutions have resisted these efforts in order to maintain their own privilege. Some periods of history have been more likely than others to spawn protest movements. What factors seem most likely to lead to social movements? What determines their success/failure? We will examine 20th and 21st-century social movements to answer these questions. Prerequisite: At least one prior social science course or permission of the instructor.
Tagged with:
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Peace, Justice and Human Rights
College Requirement(s): Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Occasionally
SOCL B365 Digital Sociology: Technology, Culture, and Community (1-4 Unit)
How do digital technologies shape who we are and how we connect with others? This seminar examines the sociological dimensions of digital media, focusing on how new technologies influence identity formation, community, and social relationships. We will explore how different groups use digital platforms to create belonging, resist or reproduce inequality, and build alternative forms of social organization. Particular attention will be paid to how marginalized communities leverage digital technologies for survival, community care, and cultural production. Prerequisite: Once course in the Social Sciences or permission of instructor.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B382 Sociology of Work (1 Unit)
This course will engage with classical and contemporary theoretical and empirical texts and other sources relating to work, labor, and occupations. We will consider topics such as professionalization, exploitation, and changes in the societal division of labor. Emphasizing race, class, and gender analysis, students will complete an in-depth occupational study focusing on a field of their choosing. We will discuss processes of career planning and selection, as well as a variety of paid and unpaid work contexts.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B384 Sociology of Elites (1 Unit)
This seminar will introduce students to major texts and perspectives in the resurgent sociological study of elites. We will focus on the realms of education and culture, as well as politics, work, gender, race, and space/place. As a class, we will conduct original research on the "Seven Sisters" group of historically women's colleges and their individual contributions to U.S. elite reproduction.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B387 Nocturnal Spaces, Nocturnal Selves: Sociology of Nightlife (1 Unit)
This seminar examines nightlife as a critical site for understanding contemporary social life. Far from mere entertainment, nightlife spaces serve as laboratories for social experimentation, venues for identity work, and stages for the performance of power, status, and belonging. Drawing from classic and contemporary research in sociology, urban planning, and cultural studies, we will examine how diverse nightlife settings—from local underground scenes to global party destinations—are organized, regulated, and contested. Throughout the course, we will pay close attention to how these after-dark social worlds reflect, reproduce, and challenge broader societal inequalities.
Tagged with: Sociology at Haverford
Typically Offered: Only Once
SOCL B398 Senior Conference (1 Unit)
Prerequisite(s): BMUG: Sociology Majors
This capstone course for the sociology major focuses on major concepts or areas in sociology and requires students to develop their analytical and synthetic skills as they confront both theoretical and empirical materials. The Key emphasis in the course will be on students' writing. Through a variety of assignments (of different lengths and purposes), students will practice the process (drafts) and elements (clarity and concision) of good writing. Specific topical content will vary by semester according to the expertise of the instructor and the interests of students. Writing Attentive.
Tagged with: Sociology
Writing in the Major: Writing Attentive
Typically Offered: Every Fall
SOCL B403 Supervised Work (1 Unit)
Students have the opportunity to do individual research projects under the supervision of a faculty member.
Tagged with: Sociology
Typically Offered: Every Semester
EDUC B266 Geographies of School and Learning: Urban Education Reconsidered (1 Unit)
This course examines issues, challenges, and possibilities of urban education in contemporary America. We use as critical lenses issues of race, class, and culture; urban learners, teachers, and school systems; and restructuring and reform. While we look at urban education nationally over several decades, we use Philadelphia as a focal “case” that students investigate through documents and school placements. Weekly fieldwork in a school required.
Tagged with:
- Africana Studies
- Child and Family Studies
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Praxis Program
- Sociology
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s):
- Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
- Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)
Typically Offered: Every Year
HLTH B302 Survey Methods for Health Research (1 Unit)
Surveys are widely used to measure the population prevalence of various health conditions; to better understand the scope and impact of exposure to social and economic stressors on population health; to monitor health-related knowledge, attitudes and practices; and to inform health systems strengthening efforts. Through course material and hands-on experience, students will master the basic elements of survey design, including, operationalizing constructs and formulating research questions, choosing a mode of survey implementation, pretesting the survey instrument, designing a sampling plan, managing field operations, and analyzing and interpreting survey data. Prerequisites: Completion of a 200-level course in the social sciences or permission of the instructor.
Tagged with:
- Data Science
- Psychology
- Psychology at Haverford
- Sociology
- Sociology at Haverford
College Requirement(s): Course does not meet an Approach
Typically Offered: Every Fall
SOWK B554 Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity (1 Unit)
Prerequisite(s): At least Junior Standing
The purpose of this course is to provide students with knowledge and an understanding of how structural factors (racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, discrimination, the built environment, poverty, working conditions, and the unequal distribution of power, income, goods, and services) contribute to racial/ ethnic and gender disparities in health and well-being. Note: Enrollment limited to 5 advanced undergraduates. Students may only miss 3 classes.
Tagged with:
- Child and Family Studies
- Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr
- Health Studies
- Praxis Program
- Sociology
- Sociology at Haverford