Spring 2027

Topics in Sociology

Intensive study of selected topics in sociology, focusing on analyzing social phenomena, reviewing literature, and constructing arguments.

offering recorded1–3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jason Nolen4.5/5Joseph ContiLyn Macgregor +1 more

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Martin Eiermann

The course required a reasonable amount of reading, with texts discussed in detail during lectures.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Critically analyze received explanations of social phenomena.

  • Conduct searches of extant sociological literatures related to the course topic using appropriate journals, books or other sources; articulate the differences among types of sources such as monographs and peer-reviewed articles.

  • Analyze strengths and and limitations of a variety of sociological research methods for answering research questions about the course topic.

  • Articulate sociological questions about the course topic and construct arguments answering them referring appropriately to sociological research findings and literatures.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Junior standing or (SOC 181,C&E SOC/​SOC 210, or 211)

SOC 496

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Jason Nolen

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.68/5 from 87 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.65 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.35 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=30 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2015: 3.08 GPA, 62.5% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.63 GPA, 82.6% A/AB (n=23 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.50 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=8 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JASON NOLEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JOAN FUJIMURA is recorded teaching in Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JOSEPH CONTI is recorded teaching in Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2015, Fall 2023, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KATHERINE JENSEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LYN MACGREGOR is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARCIA CARLSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2013, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARIA-FATIMA SANTOS is recorded teaching in Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARTIN EIERMANN is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL LIGHT is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL MASSOGLIA is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 006Classroom Instruction0 / 400
LEC 004Classroom Instruction0 / 400
LEC 010Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LEC 042Classroom Instruction0 / 250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Martin Eiermann

Martin Eiermann described the course as engaging and worthwhile, noting that lectures were interesting and well-prepared for exams.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.36 GPA, 61.1% A/AB (n=95 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.81 GPA, 93.8% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.51 GPA, 72.5% A/AB (n=51 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Martin Eiermann

The course required a reasonable amount of reading, with texts discussed in detail during lectures.

Past student reviews · Martin Eiermann

Students found the lectures engaging and the professor prepared them well for assessments.

Topics

  • Selected topics in sociology
  • Analysis of social phenomena
  • Sociological research methods

Skills

  • Searching and evaluating sociological literature
  • Analyzing sociological research methods
  • Constructing sociological arguments

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 4 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.17 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
SOC 496 · Spring 2027

Topics in Sociology

Recorded 2026-10-29
SOC 496 · Spring 2027

Soc of Companion Animals

Recorded 2026-10-29
SOC 496 · Spring 2027

Penitentiary GlobalPerspective

Recorded 2026-10-29
SOC 496 · Spring 2027

Surveillance Cultures

Recorded 2026-10-29
SOC 496 · Spring 2027

Undergraduate Colloquium

Recorded 2026-10-29
SOC 496 · Spring 2027

Sociology of International Law

Recorded 2026-10-29
Raw records 
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    "source_subject_id": "900",
    "title": "Soc of Companion Animals",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017594.104",
    "source_subject_id": "900",
    "title": "Surveillance Cultures",
    "credits_min": 1,
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  },
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  },
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    "course_uid": "course_468c4fa5d3e269def4299cb8",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017594.81",
    "source_subject_id": "900",
    "title": "Sociology of International Law",
    "credits_min": 1,
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  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-29

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "b6f92925d3cbaefc10da8087e3f13d8262d18d9f290e98338b89500fb4b04623",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "c9cd06eaa45f9ddf7e69faa38b89ff3d3dd995dd",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00"
}