Media

Selected Public Presentations & Workshops

Courses Taught

Soc 003: Social Problems (syllabus)

2014 through 2020
People talk about social issues being problems all the time, but what gets labeled a problem? Who decides what problems are, and why? Soc 3 will introduce you to sociological approaches to understanding social problems, which emphasize the way problems that may seem like individual troubles often reflect larger social issues. Examining these issues systematically can provide a new perspective on the origins of a given social problem, and may contradict many common sense explanations. The course surveys a variety of things that are labeled social problems (e.g., poverty, the gender pay gap, discrimination, crime/incarceration, immigration, etc.), and analyzes how they are shaped by social dimensions like race, class, and gender. The course will also address how social issues become problems, and compare and contrast current data on social problems with media portrayal and public opinion.

Soc 046B: Intro Statistics (syllabus) 

2015 through 2021
Sociological understandings of society and inequality can only be as good as the data they rely on. So how do we know what we know when relying on statistical information? Soc 46B introduces methods for analyzing quantitative data to help answer this question, with specific applications to classic research questions on poverty, inequality, and social mobility. We can understand quantitative information better when we know where it comes from. Soc 46B covers the relevance and practice of quantitative data analysis, the presentation of quantitative information, probability and uncertainty, basic statistical inference, and hypothesis testing. The course teaches both how to calculate relevant statistics, and to read and interpret quantitative sociological articles. Specifically, Soc 46B aims to fill UCD requirements for learning quantitative literacy. The course also provides a foundation for more advanced quantitative methods courses, like Soc 106. 

Soc 159: Sociology of Work and Employment (syllabus)

2019 through 2021
Most people in will spend a substantial fraction of their time working for most of their lives. Work also structures many people’s social lives and economic well-being. Sociologically understanding society thus requires a deep understanding of work. How do social factors like class, gender, and race shape who works, who does what kind of work, and how that work is valued? This course addresses these questions through reading sociological theories and research, case studies of particular groups of workers and kinds of jobs, and analysis of primary data on workers and workplaces.

Soc 295: Seminar on Stratification (syllabus)

2017 through 2021
​This course surveys foundational and contemporary studies of stratification. Paired weeks address a topical area within stratification (e.g., class/mobility, poverty, race/ethnicity, gender). Hopefully, these pairings help characterize (a small part of) the broad sociological literature within each area. The readings can also provide a partial foundation for a qualifying exam in stratification.

Soc 12Y: Data Visualization in the Social Sciences (syllabus)

2018 through 2020
Introduction to quantitative data across social sciences, including organizing data, describing data sets, graphing, and visual reasoning. In this course, students learn to...
• read and understand quantitative data as presented in empirical reports in the social sciences
• understand the decisions around appropriate data management and summarization
• produce spreadsheets demonstrating appropriate data management and summarization using current software
• understand the decisions around appropriate presentation of data
• produce graphs, figures, and tables using current software
• describe patterns in data, draw and justify conclusions from data

Soc 141: Industrialization and Social Change (syllabus)

2016
Many people use the term 'industrialization' in many ways. For some, industrialization was a historical process centered on changes in forms of production. For others, industrialization is a continuing process related to development and globalization. Despite such ambiguity, industrialization is often highlighted as a source of profound changes in work, economies, politics, cities, and families. Moreover, these consequences are highly varied across time and place. Soc 141 covers classical perspectives on industrialization, contemporary analyses of its consequences, and the role of (de)industrialization for patterns of inequality in the US and around the world.