Topics in Sociological Analysis (476-0-21)

Topic

Social Science Fiction

Instructors

Quincy Stewart
Quincy Thomas Stewart is a Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University. He completed his undergraduate training at Norfolk State University, earned his graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Stewart is interested in the dynamic processes that create inequalities in socioeconomic status, health, and mortality. He has published on quantitative methods for studying inequality and estimating mortality, as well as on racial and ethnic disparities in socioeconomic status, health, and mortality. Stewart's current work includes analyzing theories of racial inequality using agent-based models, examining the role of disease prevalence in mortality outcomes, and studying racial disparities in a range of outcomes including attitudes, socioeconomic status, and health.

Meeting Info

Parkes Hall 222: Mon 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

"Social Science Fiction: Methods, Models and Stories"

Social Science Fiction is a class that centers on methods, models, and storytelling. Indeed, it is not concerned with the latest, greatest analytic methods or the hottest, super models stalking the academic milieu. Rather, the course reviews how social scientists use fictional simulations—demographic methods and agent-based models—to explore social phenomena, and how authors incorporate social science into their storied, fictional representations of our world. To this end, we will review the ways social scientists use simulations to tell stories about social systems, study the methods that authors use in literary stories to connect and convey information to readers, and investigate the ways that scholars can utilize fictional storytelling to recognize and communicate novel insights about their research.

Registration Requirements

Course is open to Sociology graduate students. Anyone who falls outside of this description should contact the instructor for consent to enroll.

Learning Objectives

At the end of the course, students will have a basic understanding of simple demographic and agent-based simulations, greater familiarity with the nuanced forms and functions of storytelling used by social scientists and literary authors, and gain valuable experience in the practice of writing stories that connect the data points in our methods and models.

Teaching Method

Discussion and Lecture

Evaluation Method

Participation, weekly reaction papers, lead discussions, and final paper/story

Class Materials (Required)

This course will have required books/other materials.

Du Bois, W.E.B. 1920. Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Howe.

Everett, Percival. 2021. The Trees: A Novel. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press.

Jerng, Mark. 2018. Racial Worldmaking: The Power of Popular Fiction. New York, NY: Fordham University Press.

Kafka, Franz. 1915(2021). The Metamorphosis. Project Gutenberg.

Larsen, Nella. 1929(2003). Passing. New York: Penguin Books

Rubin, Daniel Joshua. 2020. 27 Essential Principles of Story: Master the Secrets of Great Storytelling, from Shakespeare to South Park. New York: Workman Publishing Group.

Saunders, George. 2022. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.

Stewart, Quincy Thomas. 2023. Race in the Machine: A Novel Account. Stanford, CA: Redwood Press.