ASOC 25A18 - Investigating the City: Linking theory and evidence

The course focuses on sociological concepts and methods to help students learn how to link theory with evidence. How can we apply sociological concepts to the world around us? In this course you will learn the key skills of academic writing – how to write an effective academic research paper and how to read academic papers to link theory with evidence. A key learning objective is close reading of texts, understanding the key argument of each text, and applying concepts to the real world. This course has a theme of the ‘city', to help us focus on producing original research work on a focused domain. This course uses key sociological readings, case studies, and in-the-news topics, to study society as a complex space where buildings, people, animals, laws, policies, and international financial flows, intersect to produce our lived experience. The aim is for us to be able to see sociological concepts even as we walk around in the city. We will explore foundational texts and address specific questions related to inequality, power, conspiracy theories, global finance, environmental crisis, social policy, violence, segregation, and so on.

Sukriti ISSAR

Cours magistral seul

English

Autumn 2024-2025

Weekly notes [5% each or 40% in total]. [these will be completed in a google form sent to you each week and completed before class]. Three short papers on urban questions due in week 4, 8, 12. Ask a question, propose an argument and use the readings [60% total or 20% each].