UMD SOCY 240 Entire Class

University of Maryland SOCY 240 Explaining Social Change Fact and Fiction in Understanding Why Our World Looks the Way It Does Entire Class

This course examines social change from the perspective of comparative and historical sociology, highlighting rich and telling ways of getting at the questions ‘where are we now?’ and ‘how have we arrived here?’ Students will wrestle with causal inference in notable works of historical comparative research, and consider on what basis the analyst is able to make more or less persuasive causal claims about patterns of change. The course will focus on the power of case-based scholarship to illuminate and explain, examining strategies of causal inference as well as the kinds of evidence marshaled by scholars to substantiate their claims according to each of these strategies.

Note: This entire class includes discussions, assignments, course projects, and exams.