Courses in Globalization and Development explore processes of economic, social, demographic, cultural and political transformation at the global and national level. What drives development and how has globalization shaped opportunities for development?  How is globalization reshaping the distribution of wealth and power and how is it impacting the environment and national institutions? Can globalization be governed and made more inclusive?  A range of courses explore the interaction of globalization with race, migration, population, national development and environmental sustainability.

• SOC 0150 Economic Development and Social Change
• ENVS 0150 Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transition
• SOC 1040 World Population Problems
• URBN 1250 The Political Foundations of the City
• SOC 1270 Race, Class and Ethnicity in the Modern World
• SOC 1281 Migration in the Americas
• ENVS 1415 Power, Justice and Climate Change
• SOC 1620 Globalization and Social Conflict
• ENVS 1755 Globalization and the Environment
• SOC 1870K Demographics and Development
• SOC 1871D Sociology of Development
• SOC 1871R Knowledge Networks and Global Transformations

The Work, Organizations and Economy pillar centers on the study of organizations — whether for-profit firms, public agencies, or non-profits — and the occupational, economic, and political institutions that surround them.  Many sociologists in this area examine the dynamics of the modern workplace, from career structures, to workplace inequality, to work conditions and demands.  Others focus on organizations as wholes, examining how organizations emerge, grow, and thrive or fail — as well as how organizational structures, cultures, and conflicts shape policies and practices.  The area also encompasses research on the workings of the larger economy — labor markets, industries, professions, finance, consumption, and economic thought.  Organizations, occupations, markets, and industries are complex social phenomena; the Work, Organizations, and Economy pillar investigates how they function and how they fail.

• SOC 0300 Organizations and Society
• SOC 1060 Leadership in Organizations
• SOC 1114 Law & Society
• SOC 1115 The Enlightened Entrepreneur
• SOC 1116 Criminal Courts and the Law in an Era of Mass Incarceration
• SOC 1311 Micro-Organizational Theory
• SOC 1315 Macro-Organizational Theory
• SOC 1871C The Legal Profession
• SOC 1871O Law, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• SOC 1872H The Sociology of FIRE: Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
• SOC 1872B Sociology of Money

Courses in Population, Health, and Family provide students an opportunity to study various population issues pertaining to population explosion and very low fertility; mortality, morbidity, and health; internal and international migration; population aging; and growing diversity in union formation and families. Demographic, comparative, and historical perspectives are employed to explore these issues at both aggregate and individual levels for both developed and developing world populations. These courses focus on changes, compositions, and structures by age, race, gender, and social class and highlight how social, economic, and political factors affect these issues, and vice versa.

• SOC 0170 The Family
• SOC 0230 Sex, Gender and Society
• SOC 0300K Inequalities and Health
• SOC 1040 World Population Problems
• SOC 1281 Migration in the Americas
• SOC 1420 Violence and Society
• SOC 1440 Intimate Violence
• SOC 1550 Sociology of Medicine
• SOC 1870K Demographics and Development

Courses in Race, Class, Gender and Inequality explore the myriad ways in which inequality is produced and reproduced. Focusing on the core analytic categories in sociology, these courses explore how social categories interact with institutions, policies and social systems to shape the distribution of power, opportunity and outcomes at the national and global level. The topic of inequality is explored across a range of sectors such as education and health and by exposing students to different methodological  and theoretical approaches.

• SOC 0030 Race, Immigration, and the Making of Inequality
• SOC 0230 Sex, Gender and Society
• SOC 0300F Unequal From Birth
• SOC 0300K Inequalities and Health
• SOC 1116 Criminal Courts and the Law in an Era of Mass Incarceration
• SOC 1270 Race, Class and Ethnicity in the Modern World
• SOC 1290 Experiments on Race, Class and Gender
• SOC 1620 Globalization and Social Conflict
• SOC 1871V American Society Update
• SOC 1871S Legacies of Inequality: The U.S. and Beyond
• SOC 1872C Race and Ethnic Relations, Identity and Inequality
• SOC 1872F Solidarity and Social Change

Environmental Sociology examines the complex relationships between people, nature, and the natural environment. It focuses on questions such as: how environmental issues are known, defined and acted upon; why certain environmental issues are largely ignored or denied; the role of institutions and economic systems in shaping relationships with the non-human environment; how different social groups are affected by environmental change and problems; human-animal relations; human conceptions and cultural representations of the natural world; and the role of social movements in promoting environmental reform. Brown's Sociology department has one of the largest teams of environmental sociologists in the country. ​

• ENVS 0150 Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transitions
• SOC 0250 An Environmental Sociology for a Rapidly Warming World
• ENVS 0705 Equity and the Environment: Movements, Scholarship, Solutions
• ENVS 1415 Power, Justice and Climate Change
• ENVS 1574 Engaged Climate Policy in the U.S.: Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. 
• ENVS 1755 Globalization and the Environment
• ENVS 1920 Methods for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research
• SOC 2385 Environmental Sociology

Courses in urban sociology provide theoretical insight and substantive knowledge of the processes that define urban life, as well as methodological tools for the study of such processes. These courses explore topics like race, immigration, labor markets, urban policy and politics, neighborhood change, cities and the environment, comparative urbanization and methods like urban ethnography and GIS. Analysis of urban life provides insight into various contemporary social problems and their solutions.

• URBN 1000 S01 Fieldwork in the Urban Community
• ​URBN 1250 The Political Foundations of the City
• SOC 1330 Remaking the City
• SOC 1340 Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems
• SOC 1871V American Society Update