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Courses

213. Managing the Environment (=EnvStd 213, LL/Soc 213, NCD 213). PQ: Econ 198 or higher. This course analyzes human interaction with and intervention in the environment. Topics include resource management, environmental and economic policy, environmental law, business initiatives, and global environmental legislation. Also assesses major national legislation on the superfund, resource conservation and recovery, air quality, water quality, hazardous chemicals, and endangered species. D. Coursey. Not offered 1996-97; will be offered 1997-98.

221. Politics and Policy (=PolSci 282). PQ: Open to non-public policy studies and political science concentrators with consent of instructor. Subject to individual prerequisites. PubPol 221-222-223 may be taken in sequence or individually. Public policy choices interact with politics in obvious ways (e.g., elections) but also in subtler ways, turning especially on how organizations work and what governs persuasion and belief. This course surveys some key aspects of these interactions. H. Margolis. Winter.

222. Economics and Policy Analysis (=Econ 261). PQ: Econ 200. Subject to individual prerequisites. PubPol 221-222-223 may be taken in sequence or individually. This course extends the analytic tools developed in Econ 200. Emphasis is placed on the limitations of economic analysis, as well as the interplay between economic and political issues. D. DiPasquale. Autumn.

223. Problems of Policy Implementation (=PolSci 249, Sociol 340). PQ: Subject to individual prerequisites. PubPol 221-222-223 may be taken in sequence or individually. This course is a systematic examination of the interplay among the executive, the administrator, the legislator, and the public as these relationships affect policy and its undertaking. The emphasis is on the politics of administration as well as those political forces that organize around the implementer of public policies. R. Taub. Spring.

230. Organizational Analysis (=Sociol 209/331). This course is a systematic introduction to theoretical and empirical work on organizations, broadly conceived, such as public and private economic organizations, governmental organizations, prisons, health-care organizations, and professional and voluntary associations. Topics include intraorganizational questions about organizational goals and effectiveness, communication, authority, and decision-making. Using recent developments in market, political economy, and neo-institutional theories, we explore organizational change and interorganizational relationships for their implications in understanding social change in modern societies. E. Laumann. Spring.

241. Public Policy and Wage Inequality (=Econ 241). Over roughly the last two decades, the United States has seen a dramatic increase in wage inequality. This course explores potential explanations for this phenomena and specifically examines the role that public policy may have played. The course deals extensively with analyses of minimum wage laws, trade agreements, affirmative action enforcement, and laws governing hiring and firing rules. The course not only focuses on changes in policy over time within the United States but also explores comparisons between U.S. policy and corresponding policies in other developed countries. D. Neal. Autumn.

243/443. Environmental Controversies (=EnvStd 443). PQ: Fourth-year standing and consent of instructor. The focus of this course is on the stubborn conflicts of expert against lay intuition on many environmental matters. What makes these conflicts so common and so stubborn? What has changed when they fade from concern (when that happens)? Our main concern is with the politics and psychology of these controversies, but close attention is also paid to the technical underpinnings of these issues. Although expert/lay controversies are particularly apparent on environmental issues, parallel conflicts on intuition occur in other policy areas, such as medicine and crime, so, especially toward the end of the course, we look for applications of the ideas developed in class to these areas. H. Margolis. Spring.

245. Urban Economics (=Econ 266, Geog 266/366). PQ: Econ 201. This course deals with the economics of spatial processes and structures within the city: residential location, employment location, and spatial-temporal change. We also consider spatial aspects of the public economic activity within a city and relationships between cities and suburbs; externalities in cities; and geographical structures of Third World cities. G. Tolley. Autumn.

248/348. Urban Policy Analysis (=PolSci 256, Sociol 256/329). This course addresses the explanations available for varying patterns of policies that cities provide in terms of expenditures and service delivery. Topics include theoretical approaches and policy options, migration as a policy option, group theory, citizen preference theory, incrementalism, economic base influences, and an integrated model. Also examined are the New York fiscal crisis and taxpayer revolts, measuring citizen preferences, service delivery, and productivity. T. Clark. Autumn.

249. Urban Development and Public Policy (=Econ 267). PQ: Econ 200 and a statistics course or consent of the instructor. This course builds a broad understanding of the economic forces that impact cities and the major determinants of urban development. The location decisions of both firms and households and the key factors determining metropolitan growth are examined. Policy topics covered include incentives for economic development, housing market discrimination, housing assistance, land use regulation, competition among local governments and the problems of central cities. D. DiPasquale. Winter.

250. Topics in Urban Policy. PQ: Econ 200 or consent of the instructor. The main focus of this course is on economic analysis of real world urban policy issues. The course is built around a series of case studies posing particular urban policy problems. The topics vary each quarter but involve examples of market failure, externalities, public sector project evaluation, and pricing of public services. D. DiPasquale. Not offered 1996-97; will be offered 1997-98.

253. Social Welfare in the United States (=SocSci 253). This course examines the evolution of social welfare provisions in American society. Special emphasis is placed on who is helped and who is not, in what forms, under what auspices, and with what goals. The changing nature of helping is analyzed, with particular attention to the changing role of the state. We focus on the poor, children and families, and the mentally ill. Some comparisons are made with other industrialized countries. H. Richman. Spring.

258. Public Choice (=Econ 269, PolSci 235). PQ: Knowledge of microeconomics. This course is an introduction to the major ideas in the literature which seeks to apply the economic notion of rational choice to the context of politics and social choice. H. Margolis. Winter.

260/384. Policy Analysis in Education (=Educ 266/366, PolSci 230). This course serves as the analytical foundation for students interested in education policy. It introduces analytical perspectives in the study of public policy, with emphasis on education. Among the topics are institutional analysis, the bargaining model, the rational actor paradigm, the organizational bureaucratic model, and the "policy typology" school. K. Wong. Autumn.

262-263/390-391. Field Research Project in Public Policy I, II (=PolSci 286-287). PQ: Open to non-public policy studies concentrators with consent of instructor; students must register for both quarters. Students work on a research team to prepare a report on an important public policy problem for a governmental agency, large public-interest group, or community-based organization; this project includes development and implementation of a research strategy designed to answer the policy questions. The objective is preparation of a publishable report. Staff. Winter, Spring.

264-265. Research Project in Sociology and Public Policy (=PolSci 236-237, Sociol 283-284). This two-quarter sequence acquaints advanced College students with specific research experience. It includes reading, hypothesis development, and research design in autumn, and completion of research projects in winter. Starting from an overview of urban policy analysis, we focus on leadership patterns of public officials and their implications for urban finance and economic development. What strategies encourage or discourage fiscal health and economic development? Which specific cities and leaders have followed different sets of strategies and with what consequences? What shifts in urban political cultures have accompanied different sets of policies? Case studies of individual cities and projects and comparative analyses across cities are used. Class meets with Sociol 256 in autumn and 410 in winter. T. Clark. Autumn, Winter.

266/367. Critical Issues in Education (=Educ 267/367). PQ: Consent of instructor. This course focuses on contemporary issues in educational policy in the broader political and institutional context. Possible topics include federal policy development and implementation; reform at the state level--school finance, academic excellence, and teacher competency; racial equity and school desegregation--progress and prospects; public-private school differences and policy proposals; and big-city school politics--race, unions, and the economy. For each topic, two or three major works are selected for more in-depth examination. Scholarly research frames the discussion, along with an evaluation of contemporary policy recommendations from both governmental and nongovernmental sources. K. Wong. Spring.

267. Metropolitan Development and Planning (=Geog 267/367, Sociol 247). PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing. This course focuses on metropolitan development patterns and the interplay of geopolitical, economic, and social changes in U.S. cities after 1950. Intergovernmental relations, and concepts and institutions of urban planning are also explored. Selected policies for economic development, land-use management, housing, education, transportation, energy, and the environment are analyzed by region. D. Holleb. Spring.

269. Medicine and the Law (=LL/Soc 269, SocSci 269). This course is designed as an introductory investigation of the interrelations between two essential human institutions: law and medicine. Students read and discuss a series of instances where law and medicine come into conflict. The first part of the course concentrates on conflicts between individual needs, wants, and desires, on the one hand; and professional responsibility and authority or established community standards of conduct, on the other. The second focuses on legislative, administrative, and executive powers and policies involving medicine. A. Goldblatt. Spring.

270. Introduction to International Economics (=Econ 270). PQ: Econ 201 and 202, or consent of instructor. This course deals mainly with the pure theory of international trade--the real side of international economics. Topics include the basis for and benefits of trade; the theory of comparative advantage; effects of international trade on distribution of income; tariffs and other barriers to trade; and the role of exchange rates. L. Sjaastad. Autumn.

282. Class Project on School Policy (=Educ 268/368). This project involves the collective efforts of the class. Students apply their understanding of and training in public policy to make recommendations that address key policy issues in the Chicago area. K. Wong. Not offered 1996-97; will be offered 1997-98.

283/383. Health Economics and Public Policy. PQ: Econ 201 or higher and consent of instructor. This course analyzes the economics of health care in the United States, with particular attention to the role of government. The first part of the course examines the demand for health care and structure, and the consequences of public and private health insurance. D. Meltzer. Spring.

286/375. Problems of Economic Policy in Developing Countries (=Econ 296). PQ: Econ 201 and 202, or consent of instructor. This course focuses on the application of economic analysis to economic policy issues frequently encountered in developing countries. Topics include sources of economic growth, commercial policy, regional economic integration, inflation and stabilization, the problem of fiscal deficits, the choice of the exchange rate regime, and the international debt problem. L. Sjaastad. Winter.

289. Senior Seminar. PQ: Open only to fourth-year public policy studies concentrators. Must be taken for a letter grade. Staff. Autumn.

295. Reading and Research. PQ: Open only to public policy studies concentrators. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

296. Internship: Public Policy. PQ: Consent of instructor. Open only to public policy studies concentrators. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. After working for a government agency or not-for-profit organization, students write a paper about the experience. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

335. Organizational Decision Making (=PolSci 275/375, Sociol 350). This course is an examination of the process of decision making in modern complex organizations such as universities, schools, hospitals, businesses, and public bureaucracies. The course also considers the impact of information, power, resources, organizational structure, and the environment, as well as alternative models of choice and other implications. J. Padgett. Autumn.

336. Political Sociology (=PolSci 232, Sociol 235/335). PQ: One general social sciences course. This course provides analytical perspectives on citizen preference theory, public choice, group theory, bureaucrats and state-centered theory, coalition theory, elite theories, and political culture. These competing analytical perspectives are assessed in considering middle range theories and empirical studies on central themes of political sociology: the social bases of politics, social stratification and political organization, citizen preferences and political activation, voting behavior, social movements and mobilization, voluntary associations and "special interest groups," political parties, elected officials, government policy outputs, including public goods and free rider problems, separable goods and patronage, policy continua, and alternatives to traditional left-right classifications. Local, national, and cross-national analyses are explored. T. Clark. Not offered 1996-97; will be offered 1997-98.

347. Urban Structure and Decision Making (=Sociol 255/328). This course examines the socioeconomic characteristics of cities that affect their patterns of political leadership and decision making. Topics include theoretical perspectives, institutional aspects of intergovernmental relations, the rise of the welfare state and its implication for cities, the socioeconomic makeup of cities, suburban-central city relations, urbanization, residential choice, citizen participation (the elitist and populist theories of democracy), and patterns of power and decision making. T. Clark. Not offered 1996-97; will be offered 1997-98.

392. Social Policy in Europe, 1815 to the Present (=Educ 391). This course examines the antecedents, evaluation, and alleged "crises" of the welfare state, with emphasis on policies concerning education, the family, the labor market, income distribution, health, and regional development. Themes considered include the social, intellectual, and political origins of social policies; the diffusion of various models of the welfare state; and the ways in which social policies have interacted with the opportunities and choices of individuals and private corporate actors. The course is informed by recent efforts to develop a theory of the welfare state, including those identified with structural-functionalism, neo-Marxist political economy, historical sociology, the "new" institutional economics, and public choice theory. J. Craig. Winter.

393. Social Stratification and Education Organization (=Educ 218/318, Sociol 230/338). This course presents a review of formulations of education's place in the system of social stratification and focuses on the organization of school systems, schools, and classrooms. Attention is given to the ways in which conceptions of educational organization and of stratification can be related to each other. C. Bidwell, R. Dreeben. Spring.

397. The Institution of Education (=Educ 217/317, Sociol 275/337). This course is a general survey of the properties of education considered as an institution of historical and contemporary societies. Particular attention is given to institutional formation and change in education and to education's role in processes of social control and social stratification. C. Bidwell, R. Dreeben. Winter.

403. Urban Political Economy and Resource Allocation (=SSA 482, Sociol 222). This course draws from a broad interdisciplinary literature to create frameworks for analyzing the functioning of urban institutions and the formation of public policies. Using the city of Chicago as a laboratory for empirical study, the course examines economic, political, and sociological perspectives of cities; analyzes the role of government and of the private sector in the creation and implementation of public policies; and discusses the role of political influence in policy formation and administration. Questions of real and symbolic allocation, race and poverty, and political empowerment are examined to enable the student to design and implement better strategies for social change. P. Cafferty. Autumn.

405. The Sociology and Politics of Community Development (=SSA 484, Sociol 224). This course studies specific Chicago-area communities so that students may examine the creation and implementation of public policies from the perspective of their impact on individual and community. We also explore the role of political and public institutions as well as private agencies and community-based organizations in bringing about social change. We perform research in the field to evaluate opportunities for community-based problem solving and strategies for change. P. Cafferty. Spring.

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