SOC SC 210Data in Theory and Practice
Social Science · 4 units · Graduate courses (200-299)
Big data is touted as revolutionizing social science by providing researchers unprecedented access to information about every aspect of social life, from micro-level social interactions to global health trends. The availability of large-scale datasets, along with the development of new analytic tools to organize and analyze data, holds the promise of accelerating the growth and accuracy of social scientific knowledge. But data itself is a fundamentally social phenomenon, with a distinctive history of development and usage. Consideration of the meaning and significance of data for the social sciences. Exploration of the intertwined histories of data and the mode of power Michel Foucault famously identified as “governmentality”. Consideration of recent debates about the uses (and abuses) of data in the social sciences.
Letter grading.
When it runs
Not on the schedule for any of Fall 2025 through Spring 2027. UCLA publishes only that window, so this does not mean the course is gone — check the official listing.
Requisites
UCLA lists no requisites for this course.
Requires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
Nothing — this is an entry point.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.