LIU'S CORNER
Larry Liu, Class of '15
Sociology Major & Online Ambassador
The opinions on this blog are Larry's personal views based on his experiences, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Sociology at Penn.
The Undergraduate's Graduate Seminar Experience
9.23.14
I am Larry Liu, and I have studied at Penn since 2012. I’d like to share one of my fondest memories since becoming a Sociology major.
I enjoyed the courses that I had taken in Sociology, and was very satisfied with the major. In order to broaden my intellectual experience, I decided that I wanted to look for even further opportunities to exchange ideas with professors. I spoke with the Undergraduate Coordinator, Nancy, about the possibility of taking a graduate course for the fall of 2013, and she strongly recommended it to me.
I discovered a course titled “Proseminar in Classical Sociology,” which was taught every year in the fall by Professor Randall Collins. Professor Collins’ book, Four Sociological Theories (1994) was a very profound introduction to the discipline for me. In order to get into the course, I had to get his permission. I decided that instead of using electronic means such as e-mail, it would be best to try to talk to Professor Collins directly. I did not know what would be the best way to accomplish this, but luckily, one day I saw him on his way walking out of the McNeil building. I made a case for why I should take his course, and he said yes. I immediately e-mailed Nancy, and a few days later I was enrolled in the graduate course!
I truly enjoyed the course. There was quite a bit more reading than I was used to (1-2 books a week), and a 10-20 page final paper at the end of the semester (my paper applied Marxian and Weberian insights of primitive accumulation and state power to the market reforms in post-1970s China). Additionally, there was a lot more discussion in the seminar than I was accustomed to.
I was grateful for the intellectual experience and challenge this course provided me. I learned much about Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Goffman and many others. Additionally, we had engaging discussions about the research subjects the PhD students were working on, along with our observations from the media, newspaper, books, and daily lives. The structure of this course was unlike anything I experienced before, which was both jarring and empowering.
Collins noted to us in the last class that knowledge production happens best in a conversational setting such as this seminar. He also said that knowledge production was always the result of collective effort. I experienced this first-hand in each class, and this sociological insight left a lasting impact on me. I am forever grateful for the opportunity I was afforded to take this graduate course; an opportunity that definitely pushed me beyond my horizons.
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