Teaching
Professor Kangsan Lee offers courses on economic sociology, cultural studies, entrepreneurship, and social networks at NYU Abu Dhabi. With a focus on empowering students to develop critical perspectives and excel academically, he provides engaging learning experiences that foster intellectual curiosity and societal engagement.
SOCSC-UH 1010Q
Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
This course introduces students to the basics of statistics and probability, which are building blocks for much of the research that is done in Social Science. The course gives students an overview of descriptive and inferential statistics, with emphasis on conceptual understanding and statistical thinking. There is heavy concentration on the big picture: What questions are we trying to address and what can we conclude from our analysis. Throughout the course real data from several social science disciplines will be integrated and studied using state of the art software tools. At the end of the semester students should know the difference between populations and samples, how to design experiments, how to summarize and analyze the results of a statistical experiment, how to test basic hypotheses and how to communicate statistical insights.
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Majors > Social Research and Public Policy, Economics, Political Science, Business, Organizations and Society > Required Social Science Courses
SRPP-UH 1617
Sociology of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the principal source of economic development, technological innovation, and creation of wealth and jobs in market economies. This course is concern with entrepreneurship, with a special emphasis on the recent work by sociologists and sociologically-oriented organizational theorist that investigates central questions in entrepreneurship. Throughout the semester, we will understand various ways in which the social sciences have provided theoretical insights into entrepreneurial behavior in its broader social, institutional, technological and cross-national contexts. Furthermore, we will also understand entrepreneurship from more practical view by utilizing case studies. Additionally, we will explore timely important topics related to entrepreneurship, and identify sources of data / information during the last few classes.
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Majors > Business, Organizations and Society > General Business Electives
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Majors > Social Research and Public Policy > Institutions and Public Policy
BUSOR-UH 2110
Creativity and Creative Industries
From aspiring directors refining their cinematic worlds to visionary chefs crafting novel dishes, creativity permeates everywhere, continuously reshaping industries. This course delves into the intricate facets of creativity, its evaluation, and the underlying mechanisms that drive soaring success and imbalanced distributions within creative sectors. In this course, students will endeavor to understand the diverse interpretations of creativity, its valuation, and the interplay of factors, such as market dynamics, networks, strategies, entrepreneurship, and technology. Open to all students interested in studying creativity and creative industries, offering contemporary insights into these subjects in management and organization, sociology, and entrepreneurship. The course unfolds in two phases: firstly, mastering theoretical foundations and analytical tools, followed by industry-specific topics and applications in domains like arts, fashion, music, cuisine, film and TV series, and NFTs. Students culminate their journey by contemplating the evolution of creativity in the age of big data and AI.
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Majors > Business, Organizations and Society > General Business Electives
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Majors > Social Research and Public Policy > Society and Culture
SRPP-UH 2627
Organizations and Society
We live in a society of organizations. We are born inside organizations (hospitals), we are educated inside organizations (schools, universities), we work inside organizations (companies, non-profits, government), and when we die, we may be buried by organizations (funeral service firms, religious organizations). Hence, we cannot really understand what drives economic, technological, social, and political change without reference to organizations. In this course, students will endeavor to understand the organizations that comprise society by looking at how they are shaped by their environment and propose solutions to organizational problems arising from external challenges and internal dynamics. This course has two primary units. First, students will learn the organizational decision-making process and organizational structures to understand the concept of organization as an independent entity. Then, students will explore the major organizational theories that guide contemporary understandings of the relationships between organizations and their environments, such as institutional norms, social capital (or networks), and organizational learning and cognition.
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Majors > Business, Organizations and Society > General Business Electives
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Majors > Social Research and Public Policy > Institutions and Public Policy