Straight forward class. Not as bad as his other classes but the TAs help ease the burden. This class has a fair amount of readings so set aside enough time to read through them. Midterm wasnt too bad but make sure to do a class study guide. Final was the same. He had a book report but it was pointless for the class. Not too bad of a class. I will not take him ever again though. I say if you want to read a lot then go ahead and take this class. Its a lot of work to prepare for the midterm and final. I didnt read a few of the readings but I still got a decent grade.

He uses clickers so you cannot skip class but it's pretty engaging. He shows lots of videos and gives interesting examples and tells cheesy jokes. He doesn't allow tech so take good paper notes. workload is kinda tough with a 2 pg memo every week, a 7ish page book report which is definitely the worst part and was graded a little harshly, and a midterm and final which were kinda straightforward if you take good notes.

Professor Walker is incredibly knowledgable and helpful. This course covers a lot of his own research and research done by his peers, so he can answer any questions and provide a ton of extra detail. Most of your grade revolves around a final project (a research proposal), which you work on for most of the course. Professor Walker encourages you to meet with him one on one throughout the course to give suggestions and guide you through the process. He is very clear with what he expects and provides a thorough framework for how to do well in the class. I would absolutely take another course with him.

Walker is a great professor! I started the quarter very overwhelmed by the reading because it was very dense and a lot was assigned. As soon as I accepted that I would need to put aside a good amount of time at least twice of week, I started to really enjoy this class. If you do the reading and still confused, Walker goes over it clearly in class and you also do in your section. Each week there is a 1-2 page writing response due in section that I believe was helpful in grasping the concepts. There is a book analysis report that isn't too difficult if you don't leave reading the book to the day before it's due. As for the midterm and final, he gives you a very clear study guide with what you need to know and it is reflected pretty clearly in the tests. Multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answers, and an essay. Walker is very smart and he knows what he is talking about. I highly recommend.

Straight forward class. Not as bad as his other classes but the TAs help ease the burden. This class has a fair amount of readings so set aside enough time to read through them. Midterm wasnt too bad but make sure to do a class study guide. Final was the same. He had a book report but it was pointless for the class. Not too bad of a class. I will not take him ever again though. I say if you want to read a lot then go ahead and take this class. Its a lot of work to prepare for the midterm and final. I didnt read a few of the readings but I still got a decent grade.

I'm in the process of taking this class. The discussion papers (worth 6% total, 1% each) were a living hell because my section ended up having three different TAs due to "technical" complications. Without this complication, the papers and the class is straight forward. There is one 6-7 pg book analysis worth a lot of your grade. The midterm (and I'm assuming the final) is easy if you study the study guide he gives. You don't have to read the readings (just skim for discussion questions) and can still succeed as long as you take notes/pay attention in class. Reading would make it way easier though and probably a lot more interesting... I wouldn't know. I felt this class kind of had a political science approach, which was harder for me because I think sociologically (if its your first time in a soc class, I feel like its not very representative of sociology as a field). We went over sociological theory, but for some reason I felt the readings and lectures had a political science edge to them. Can you tell I'm sleep deprived and procrastinating?

I think the previous reviews are by people who forget that your classes are supposed to be challenging you. With that being said, Professor Walker's class is one of my favorites that I have ever taken. His lectures were engaging, and you can tell he really cared about students understanding the material. Doing well on the midterm and final is completely doable, it just requires a lot of studying and memorizing the material from lectures. The book report is also not challenging at all, as long as you show that you read the book and answer the questions in the prompt then you're fine. I would highly recommend taking Walker!

Despite the many positive reviews posted about Professor Walker, I highly advise anyone wanting to take this class to NOT. The grading is extremely unclear as it seems everything is graded based on opinions and no actual rubric, therefore leaving grading to be extremely unequal and irregular, and largely dependent on your TA. His final is cumulative and has a massive unhelpful “study guide” which he then asks us to look at our past midterm study guide on top. It’s majority things we are expected to know and conclude based on what he’s taught us, but the minority of it is straight forward topics we have actually learned. It will leave you tickling your head wondering if you were in the same class all these lectures as the study guides for the midterm and final are worded so annoyingly and different. The final has 2 essays, 4 “short answer” (quotes because they’re basically essay length, anything less you will not get full marks), and multiple choice questions. Tests are again harshly graded and seem to have no rubric or empathy instilled as some leave with a 100% and others with a fairly similar test leave with a 75%. No regularity and rightful reasoning. The actual professor is an epitome of what you would believe a UCLA professor being, very well endowed in knowledge of the course, intimidating, and talks far to fast for anyone to hand write everything important he is saying (no computers allowed). His lecture notes are an outline at best, and due to his fast talking and vast vocabulary skills, he often leaves us with little time to even process what he was speaking of. Often asking if we have any questions during the middle of lecture, students often never ask simply because they wouldn’t know what to ask since the information is being thrown so fast and at such depth it’s hard to necessarily pin point what we have a question about. Reading is as dry as the Sahara desert, and boy there’s a lot of it. Getting an A is not impossible as I have seen classmates doing so, but I’m unsure how they are (besides the adderall). Good luck to those who venture to take this course, and I promise you by the end of it you will be questioning why you embarked on being a sociology major to begin with and might have quite a distaste for social movements as it has been analyzed in such depth, not getting tired of it is nearly impossible unless you were Monsieur Walker himself. Also, save some money for some hair dye by the end as you will get some grey hairs.

Took this course and truly enjoyed Prof. Walker. His lectures are engaging and the readings are interesting and relevant. Highly recommend. Selling the course reader for $30. **********.

The Lectures themselves are fine and the workload outside of exams is doable. The professor really lacks a clear syllabus and rubrics. Walker was never clear if a student can make up points and the information we received on exams was not the best (study guide). He never sent out a grading rubric for anything. He was also not fair in regards to the deadlines of assignments as half of students had more time than the other half for assignments (which mattered in the discussion sections). Exams took a long time to complete, even considering the window of opportunity to complete them. I don't think he's a terrible teacher and I hope he fixes these issues for future classes.

Summary: Class was okay, Structure needs a fair amount of improvement.