Gil Eyal

Eyal's Theory lecture is highly enjoyable. You go over the foundations of Sociological theory, Marx/Weber/Durkheim. These are essential knowledge for anyone who wishes to study sociology. Course is also good for people interested in social theory in general. Professor's slides are quite well equipped but it's still good to do the readings. All in all a great class.

Gil was passionate and the course material was interesting. Gil did a really incredible job of opening the lecture up to discussion in a room with 100+ students. I would definitely suggest taking the class. My only complaint was that his lecture slides seemed seriously disorganized to me. Some of his slides were just massive blocks of text and quotes. Other slides were just a couple words and some random stock images that didn't seem to have any meaning. It was kind of funny, but also annoying when trying to go back and study from them.

This was a wonderful class in so many ways. First, Eyal is a fantastic lecturer. Second, his lecture is pretty much all written in power point form, so it's easy to take notes and to know what is important. then again, everything is important, so you should take very detailed notes. I loved the course material. we studied Durkheim, Weber, Marx. Very manageable reading that you don't really have to do. When i say manageable, i mean hardly anything. 3 take-home exams that we could work on with peers and use the books etc. straightforward questions but hard to get completely right because the concepts can be challenging. It is very important that you attend lecture because the concepts make so much sense when Eyal is lecturing, yet is difficult to grasp by reading the texts alone. So i highly recommend that you attend class if anything. although everything is very simple, it is not easy to get an A. I consistently got in the A- and B+ range on the exams, without doing much reading but always going to lecture. Overall I highly recommend this class. In my opinion, it is essential for any humanities major!

I enjoyed Gil's section of Social World. He was a terrific lecturer and possibly one of the most approachable and nicest professors I've encountered at Columbia. Despite the size of the class (>100), Gil still managed to turn his lecture into a discussion. I have never seen a professor teaching a class of such size to be so open to questions and to be so eager to facilitate discussion among members of the class. I think, with the exception of maybe one or two times, I have never seen Gil turn down a single question or not call on someone who has raised their hand in the middle of lecture. Some of the questions and things said by people in the class were downright inane, and it really testifies to Gil's dedication and character when he seems to take every question seriously and provides the person asking the question (and the whole class) with a really in-depth answer. Gil has a remarkable understanding of social theory, which he tends to ground his lectures in, and you should keep in mind that Gil's version of Social World is more social theory-oriented than that of other sociology faculty members teaching the same class; you may want to keep that in mind before you sign up for the class. (If you're not into this stuff, you may find it boring. So know what you're getting yourself into.) Gil's class exposes you to the work of a lot of big names in the field (e.g., Mead, Mills,…

Professor Eyal is a wonderful lecturer and the most helpful professor. Even if you don't care much about the material, you'll find his lectures interesting. If you care about learning the material, you'll be heartbroken when the class is done. The course is well structured, class discussions dynamic, and lectures phenomenal. This is crucial because Marx/Durkheim/Weber texts have a lot more than meets the eye. Readings are necessary but you can fall behind and still understand the lectures. It's not a lot in quantity, but you'll get so much more out of the lectures if you read in advance and come with questions. He will answer them. Not only is he a good lecturer, he is also a good listener. I went to the office hours several times for advising. He was straight forward with the facts and honest with his opinions, without sugarcoating but also not condescending.

This course is a great survey of sociology. It's a pre-req for both the major and minor. It's an easy A and provides you with opportunities to explore a bunch of different facets of the field.

Professor Eyal is an extremely smart and comical professor, and he really makes the class interesting. The topics are pretty boring for a non-sociology major, but Professor Eyal does a good job with presenting the material in very basic terms and trying to explain the main concepts thoroughly. The TAs in the class play a big role in the grading of the exams, and they are not very easy graders. I did not do very well on the first take-home exam, but then again, I didn't do all the reading. It's not completely necessary to do all of the reading; you just have to be succinct and specific in your exam questions. The TAs are always available for questions, along with the professor. I wouldn't recommend this class to someone who is not interested in sociology, because it can get pretty dry.

I really enjoyed how the course was divided into the four sociological concepts of Socialization, Embeddedness, Performance and Power. I was able to learn more about these 4 aspects of sociology and see how everyday life can be applicable to them.

Gil is a nice person and an great professor. First of all, he knows his shit. He knows Marx, Weber and Durkheim like its his job (oh wait I guess it is his job). He and his T.A. were always available for help and they always reponded to e-mails. I especially like the fact that class attendence was critical. I have taken too many classes at Columbia where unappreciative undergrads blow off going to class but still manage to get decent grades. Go ahead and try that with this class and I think you'll get a big fat F. The formula for success is simple. Go to every lecture, take extensive notes and you will find the take home exams easy. I did that and I got an A.

Introductory sociological concepts (intertwined with psychology and philosophy in many ways).