What is “the body” and how can we think, talk, and write about it? This class approaches these questions from the perspective of sociology. Students will be introduced to different ways in which the body has been conceptualized in sociology: as socially meaningless vs. meaningful, as a biological given vs. as a social construct, as a white male body vs. as “the other,” as an independent unit vs. as relational, as the locus of the self and agency vs. as a site of subjection and a source of resistance, as static and unchangeable vs. as in motion and malleable. Building on this, we will discuss different ways the body is implicated in societal dynamics from the micro to the macro level and from everyday life to the state of exception. We will, for example, examine our bodily habits and where they come from; how categories frequently associated with the body like race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexuality, age, and disability shape our experience of everyday life in New York City and elsewhere; the relationship of our bodies to the institutions we form part of like the (chosen) family, the school, and the state; the relationship of our bodies to the socio-economic system we inhabit; the role of our bodies in the digital realm; the role of our bodies in states of emergency like war and climate catastrophe; and, finally, the role of our bodies as sites of dis/identification, exploration, and experimentation. Students will engage with these topics through texts, films, podcasts, and artworks. Through exercises and assignments, they will be prompted to think through issues surrounding the body ranging from the intimate to the global.