One of the most significant cultural institutions in contemporary society is the academy-the intellectual space populated by instructors and researchers who work in college and university settings. Although a great deal of sociological research has been done over the years on the significance of institutions of higher education, only recently have sociologists begun to examine one of the main activities of academics: formulating and expressing ideas. Sociologists of ideas ask a variety of questions. What does it mean to be an intellectual today? What is the best way to describe the social structure of academia? How are one's intellectual choices affected by one's institutional position in this structure? How do academics give voice, in their work, to their political, religious, ethnic, racial, and sexual identities? And what is the relationship between the writings of intellectuals and the culture of the times? These questions will be among those discussed in this course, which will examine both the older sociology of ideas emerged, and the work of major figures in the field today. Requirements: a midterm, a final, a research paper, and class participation. No prerequisites.

Hour: GROSS