Programs:

Major in Sociology: Cluster 3: Globalization, Transnationalism, and Immigration

Early social thinkers such as Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim recognized that national societies influence one another and that global connections and processes affect social upheaval, policy outcomes, and the movement of people from one place to another. Nearly a century ago, the Chicago School of Sociology illuminated immigrants’ experiences and in doing so contributed to our understanding of social cohesion and adaptation; today, this inquiry is more robust than ever.

While globalization, transnationalism, and immigration have long been important phenomena for sociologists, recent changes-including the worldwide break with Keynesian national economic management in the 1970s, the end of the Cold War in 1989, the terrorist attacks of 2001, and myriad technological advances-have transformed the global social landscape. Using diverse theories and methods, sociologists have expanded our understanding of globalization, transnationalism, and immigration and the many ways these multifaceted phenomena continue to reshape social conditions close to home and in distant locales.

The Globalization, Transnationalism, and Immigration cluster examines U.S. society in the context of its interaction with the rest of the world. Students will examine transnational connections that complement, interact with, and transform societies and the dynamics of human movement, settlement, and adaptation across and within national borders. Courses showcase factors that initiate and sustain migration flows; hybrid identities that emerge as people become transnational and locate themselves in new imagined or real communities; the internationalization of practices related to war, religion, finance, and health; and transformations of the nation-state.

Elective courses for the Globalization, Transnationalism, and Immigration cluster:
In addition to completing all of the above requirements for the Sociology major (LINK), students who complete a Globalization, Transnationalism, and Immigration cluster must take four of their five electives from the following list of Sociology courses:

• 20: Family and Intimate Relationships
• 50: Globalization and Social Change
• 70: Immigration and American Society
• 108: Epidemics
• 113: Urban Sociology
• 120: Sociology of War and Peace
• 135: Social Movements
• 143: Sociology of Religion
• 180: Cities of the Global South
• 181: Seminar on War, Peace, State, and Society
• 183: Transnational Communities
• 186: Seminar in International Health Policy
• 187: Immigrant Children
• 188-02 Seminar: AIDS: Social Origins and Global Consequences
• 190: (Seminar) Immigration: Public Opinion, Politics, and Media
• 198: Directed Research
• 199: Senior Honors Thesis

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