Sociology 2265 (Formally Soc 236): Culture, Inequality, and Recognition
Semester: Spring
Offered: 2019
This seminar focuses on selected research areas in cultural sociology and sociology more broadly that may be helpful for developing our understanding of the cultural processes in the production of social inequality. Topics include: microsociology, the production of social and symbolic boundaries, ethno-racial and class cultures, evaluation and more.
Throughout the semester we will pay special attention to how the authors we read mobilize and connect theory and data. We will also be reflective concerning how we can use their work to feed our own thinking about the topics at hand. Thus, the seminar will also be a context for explicit apprenticeship about the process of research and knowledge production in sociology. On most weeks, we include an article written by a recent PhD (often from our department) that builds on the literatures we are reading (as a demonstration of how to build on a literature).
The course is primarily oriented toward students who are planning to do research in cultural sociology and inequality, but will also be of interest to scholars working in fields such as race and ethnicity, education, organization, public policy, and other fields.
Related Materials
Sociology 236: Cultural Processes in the Production of Inequality
In recent years Lamont has taught undergraduate courses on “Successful Societies: Markers and Pathways,” "Culture, Power, and Inequality," "Racism and Anti-Racism in Comparative Perspective," and "Knowledge Production and Evaluation." At the graduate level, she taught "Qualitative Data Analysis," "Classical Sociological Theory," and "Culture and Inequality." Since 2004, she has co-organized the Culture and Social Analysis Workshop in the Department of Sociology, where faculty, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students and visitors come together to share their work in progress. Since 2005, she has also been the co-organizer of the Study Group on Exclusion and Inclusion at the Center for European Studies.
An active mentor of post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students, Lamont advises research on a wide range of topics. She received the 2010 Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award, given by the Harvard Graduate Students Council. For a list of current and past graduate students and post-docs, click here. She was also one of eight Harvard faculty across all schools to be recognized as "master mentor" by the Office of the Senior Adviser for Faculty Development and Diversity in 2010.