In my courses, which span introductory and advanced sociology, students rigorously engage with a diverse range of theoretical and empirical texts and test their relevance for making sense of the social world around us.

Columbia University, New York, New York, 2019 (PC: K Griesbach)

My Teaching Philosophy

As a sociology instructor, I facilitate a classroom environment for examining social problems and uncovering broad patterns of inequality, prioritizing inclusivity in both my course design and teaching practice. Incorporating rigorous analysis of sociological texts with concrete cases in the world, my courses are a setting for students to think critically across texts and experiences and flex their sociological imaginations. My classroom work—as Instructor of Record for Intro to Sociology, Social Theory, and my seminar Work, Life, Time and Space: From the Factory to the Gig Economy among other teaching—matches my approach to research: to find the best methodologies and theories for tackling a given social problem. I have honed three strategies to improve student learning and foster critical thinking about the world within and beyond the classroom: 1) adapting learning activities to the teaching context; 2) engaging students in the learning process by incorporating a wide range of contemporary examples into my teaching; and 3) scaffolding activities and assignments to build skills and reward improvement.

New York, New York, 2013 (PC: K Griesbach)

Recent Courses

Introduction to the Study of Society

Instructor of Record. Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023. UT Austin.

This course will introduce you to how sociologists think and some of the methods they use to research the social world. Thinking sociologically means understanding ourselves and others as affected by the cultures and social forces of our time, rather than as free-floating individuals. It means uncovering social patterns, questioning the inevitability of much of what we observe in the world around us, and thinking about when and how social change happens as well as when and how things stay the same.

We will cover major sociological themes such as the social construction of reality, the relationship between individual agency and social structure, and the causes and consequences of social inequality. The course will cover, among other topics, education, work, family, race and ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and time and space in social experience. The syllabus will sample some “classic” and many contemporary book chapters and articles. We will examine the different methodological approaches scholars have taken, and not taken, to address pressing questions, and the frameworks they have used to make sense of their findings.

Work, Life, Time and Space: From the Factory to the Gig Economy

Instructor of Record. Fall 2019. Columbia University.

This 4-credit class explores experiences and perspectives of work, life, and the often blurred boundary between them. We focus on how work is situated in, and shaped through, space and time. We begin with a set of theoretical and historical texts, and then turn to case studies of work and life. The goal is to understand and make sense of how work, and its relationship to home, has evolved historically and how it is experienced today. The theories of space, time, and work which we begin with provide frameworks for making sense of the varied cases we explore. The course culminates in each student’s analysis of a case of their choosing, for which they conduct small-scale sociological fieldwork and draw on the texts in class to make sense of their findings.

Social Theory

Instructor of Record. Summers 2018 and 2020. Columbia University.

Social theory is what we use to explain why things happen (or don’t happen). In other words, it helps us make sense of how the world works. This course is designed to provide students with a general overview of several of the most influential “classical” sociological theories. These thinkers are some of the foundations on which sociologists today develop and apply theory to address pressing social questions and make sense of their data. The theorists we read will provide us with a set of lenses for analyzing the world. For example, we can apply them to answer questions such as: why is there so much inequality in our society, and why is it patterned in certain ways? What brings and holds groups of people together, and what tears them apart? How can we understand the still-unfolding effects of COVID-19 on different groups across society? What might the future of work look like? We will try on the distinct sets of lenses each theorist offers by carefully reading their work, discussing it, and applying their frameworks to contemporary social problems.

Translation: “Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.”

Humboldt University Berlin (License: Creative Commons)

TESTIMONIALS

“Professor Griesbach organized both the syllabus and the classes in a way that made it both possible and exciting for us to tackle a question like “what is space?” in a two-hour seminar. She struck a great balance between heady theoretical texts about what it means to work and more grounded readings that looked into, for example, what it’s like to work at Walmart. Texts like these made each other more accessible and engaging, and the way Professor Griesbach organized our discussions allowed us both to cover the larger themes and dive into the parts we were most drawn to. Education can often feel like a passive process, but by making use of our pre-class discussion posts and letting students lead some discussions, Professor Griesbach made us active participants in the learning process.” ~Amy, former Work, Life, Time and Space student