USC Sociology

02/28/2024

11/02/2022

VANCOUVER - Ken Tung says he recently helped a new arrival from Hong Kong find a basement unit in Metro Vancouver for only $500 rent per month, thanks...

08/02/2022

Monica Valencia, a USC sociology undergrad alum, recently did an interview with Shoutout LA about her background and the experiences that led her to becoming the proud Latina lawyer she is today! You can read more about Monica's work and career below👇🏼

We had the good fortune of connecting with Monica Valencia and we've shared our conversation below. Hi Monica, how has your background shaped the person you are today? I'm from Echo Park in Los Angeles, but my parents are immigrants from Mexico. I very much grew up in an immigrant household and

06/15/2022

“What is the range of available measures to address our catastrophic future?”

05/02/2022

"The administration should decide on a consistent line," one expert warned after an especially perplexing week.

03/22/2022

Manuel Pastor is the recipient of USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences' 2021 Communicator of the Year Award in the category of Center or Institute Leader. Congratulations!🎉

https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/3656/2021-communicator-of-the-year-awards/

02/07/2022

Congratulations to Rhacel Salazar Parreñas for receiving one of USC Dornsife's highest faculty honors, the Senior Raubenheimer Award! This award celebrates extraordinary achievement in research, teaching, and service to the university. Congratulations!🎉

01/18/2022

Check out the final projects from students in Fall 2021 SOCI-465 Visual Sociology of the City and Its Residents taught by Professor Elaine Bell Kaplan.

In this course, students develop the ability to interpret visual communications products in a rigorous and sociologically disciplined fashion. They read Howard S. Becker “Telling About Society,” Mitchell Duneier “Sidewalk with Photographs,” Elaine Bell Kaplan “We Live in the Shadow, Inner-city Kids tell their Stories Through Photography” and Journal of Visual Studies’ article: “Love is a Souvenir.”

Students are also required to research their areas of interest and present findings in class and final project papers. The students and instructor critiqued the final group projects and supported the current academic literature and relevant material. Taking a lesson from Becker, all projects include maps of the project’s areas.

The photos show the urban to be a site of contradictions: One set of images compares South Central L.A. to Orange county to demonstrate the various ways in which cultural, social, and visual class differences dominate these two areas. Another project explores USC’s role in the gentrification of South Central. The third project’s set of photos reveals that Basketball and basketball courts are essential to community life. This project’s photos take a deep look at the social aspect of Basketball and how different demographics use basketball courts. The images and analyses show that Basketball has had a tremendous impact on society.

In sum, these photo projects’ findings are sociologically meaningful. These visual sociological projects show that:
1) Los Angeles has an incredible way of demonstrating the global/urban community that adheres to various and particular cultural needs.
2) The urban landscape of Los Angeles in these photos describes a complex social world. These photo essays illustrate a keen sense of order and normalcy amongst the seemingly chaotic blending of American urban and global cultural identities. At the same time, we understand how racial and class inequality exists in this urban city.

These photo essays portray the students’ (I say “artists”) representations of Los Angeles, the global/urban city, and its residents.

07/09/2021

Check out the new essay by Andrew Lakoff, The Routes Of Viral Traffic, about the scientific debate over the origins of COVID-19.

Did the prophecy that future pandemics are inevitable actually bring one into being?

04/03/2020

Congratulations to USC Sociology PhD alum Cheryl Cooky, who has been promoted to full professor at Purdue University, jointly appointed in American Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. We are so proud!