Teaching

This cross-disciplinary course will address three basic questions: “why people become criminals”, “who makes criminal law”, and “how criminal law is enforced”. Specifically, this course will include topics such as the social causes of criminal behavior, the role of criminal law in social control, and the operation of the criminal justice system (their internal interaction and external interaction with other social organizations).

This course introduces the sociological approach to understanding social problems. It is divided into two components: theoretical perspectives and field work. The theoretical component is a lecture presentation of a variety of sociological perspectives on social problems, the purpose of which is to show that social problems are complex and multi-causal in nature. For the field work component, students will gain first-hand experience of certain aspects of social problems and apply one or more perspectives to the local context by conducting field observation in the community.

This course introduces the sociology of policing to students who wish to advance their understanding of the enforcement of law in a society. With a comparative perspective, the course examines institutions of police with regard to their role, function, organizational structures and culture in the contemporary world.

This course will introduce a variety of social science concepts and theories to analyze contemporary China from an integrated perspective. After taking this course, students should be able to grasp the current development in key areas of China, including economic reform, political system, and change, rural and urban development, social inequality, family and marriage, cultural and ideological issues, as well as other institutional developments.