Out of the three classes I have taken from Professor Sexton, this one was my favorite. Lectures posited well-supported arguments on the forefront of the field of religion. I believe that these arguments are especially relevant to anyone who practices or is even considering practicing. Even for agnostic people this class offers value via important historical information and the ways in which religion affects the secular world. The core of this course is the research project, this is the closest experience to grad school research in the soc field that I have seen thus far at UCLA. Sourcing data from your own research and exclusively peer-reviewed sources gives the effect of progressing the field of sociology using your own faculties.

This class consisted of a quarter-long ethnographic research project (short 5 page paper OR 8-10 presentation), 3 2-page book reports, and a bluebook final on lecture content. The grading was extremely reasonable and the professor was extremely understanding with extension requests.

Highly recommend to anyone interested!

This class has broadened my mindset and allowed me to grow into a better researcher and academic. I found myself wanting to learn and investigate all that surrounds me and the systems put in place for their true origins and intentions. Dr. Sexton was a key player in these investigations, and guided me in the right directions for my research project. I am a STEM major, but his classes within the sociology discipline helped in rounding out my education and broadening my horizons. I cannot recommend this class, amongst others enough!

I took prison religion with Sexton in Winter 24'. The class isn't listed, honestly, the class was a major waste of time. The topic isn't nuanced enough for 10 weeks and attendance is mandatory. He also will take it very personally if you miss class or don't remember the material. He grades very harshly and is often rude. If you disagree with a grade he gave he simply does not care. If you want to struggle and be unhappy for a whole quarter take this class otherwise don't there are many kinder professors here at UCLA.

I really enjoyed taking this class. I am a STEM major and was concerned about writing a 10 page paper as the final ethnographic report. However, Dr. Sexton helped me so much through office hours and made it much easier and less stressful for me to write this paper. The material he teaches is fascinating and he has real experience in the prison system which makes it even more interesting listening to him teach it. He brought in a retired FBI agent to talk to us as well and a couple other guests who all had fascinating stories to tell us about. Dr. Sexton is one of the coolest professors I have had and was just so much different than my STEM professors and it was a lovely change of pace for me. I recommend taking this class if you can.

Every single class requires attendance - which is graded. He gave 3 book summary assignments that were required to be four pages SINGLE SPACED. However, this style did force me to really go through the books and take in the concepts. I came to every class, took notes, and somehow found the final super challenging. I feel like the class wasn't really THAT interesting because the repeating message was that the prison system is poor and needs to be reformed. There were a lot of off topic tangents that had me lose focus. I felt like the class was disorganized and confusing. I was expecting this class to be a 10/10 given the incredible reviews for this professor. I mean, he is a cool guy, but I was disappointed going in with high expectations. I would give this class and professor a 6/10. I also expected this class to be easier than it was. The assignments are very time-consuming, and you have to work on them well in advance to not feel overwhelmed. I recommend this class if you are passionate about the subject of crime, but don't go in with expectations of this being the best class ever.

This professor is fine, but definetly overrated. I've taken two of his classes. He is a cool guy with direct experience with the prison system, but I found the lecture to sometimes feel disorganized. There is so much wasted potential in the class that I feel could have been amazing if structured differently. I found that I often did not learn anything useful or relevent attending lecture. The weekly assignments were creating 10 questions and answers on 1/3 of a book (3 books per quarter). That assignment was kind of odd, but the TAs graded it extremely harshly. If you went over a page they would take away points. If you did not reference a page number for every question, they would take away points. These were the most time consuming homework assignments of all of my classes this quarter. I am a really slow reader, and we have to read a whole lot in this class - about 50-100 pages a week. The books he assigned I found to be hard to get through and not that interesting. He also wanted us to interview and attend meetings at a local church to ask about their relationship to the prison. Most students struggled to find someone to talk to, and this assignment was a little too ambitious to give to students just looking for major credits. That assignment felt like dissertation research for a masters degree. Every class requires attendance for credit - which is great to get points just for showing up. Although, if you are sick or miss class under any circumstance, you will lose points for not attending lecture, even if you message the professor beforehand. He will mention that there is opportunity for extra credit if you miss lecture. I took his Sociology of Crime class the prior quarter, and he used a lot of the same slides from that class. It felt like it repeated a lot of the same ideas from that class. I am disappointed considering all of the incredible reviews for this professor. I think people like how casual and nonchalant he is, which makes it feel less intimidating. But, this class is not a walk in the park. You have to attend every class and do a ton of work every week. There is a final paper and a final exam which is online at home which makes up about half of your grade combined. There are no sections for this class, so the TAs are only there to grade your work - which they did harshly to the whole class. I personally did not really enjoy this class and its assignments.

Professor Sexton is a leading academic in his respective fields of study. It's a unique opportunity to be able to learn from someone with so much contemporary knowledge of the advancements being made on a local and national level. The class is comprised of: reading three books, conducting an ethnographic research project, and a final based off of lecture content. I enjoyed the curriculum because it helped me to develop skills that are useful to a sociologist -- which not many other classes do. Additionally, Professor Sexton is a wonderful professor who is deeply committed to the success of his students, he responds to emails very quickly and is super approachable.

Professor Sexton was my favorite professor of this quarter. He is really funny/engaging with the material and makes the 8 am much more tolerable. There are three book reviews, a final research paper, and final exam for this class which is a relatively manageable work load. Definitely take this prof if you’re a sociology major!

>>Skip to end for books list/recs<<

Dr. Sexton is a cool guy who’s approachable and *offered to write letters of rec for students who asked good questions in class*. He dresses like an old-timey professor, complete with bowtie, and brings a sense of humor to some of the lectures. He writes out each of his lectures beforehand, and delivers them like speeches, though allows for questions and discussion. It’s pleasant to hear good oratory. Each lecture was full of content, and it’s important to notice any topics he mentions repeatedly and write down the way he phrases them. The final exam was a timed essay, and the prompts were based directly on some of the topics he doted on in lecture. Being able to follow his train of thought was highly useful.

He responds rapidly over email (if you put the class number in the subject line) and can direct you to further reading about many subjects involving sociology, especially in the context of California and the Indigenous peoples here, and the works of big-time decolonial theorizers. Laudably, Dr. Sexton is unafraid of challenging student assumptions and making cultural and systematic critiques that scholars in the natural and environmental sciences may shy away from. He also got me out and about in the LA environmental scene, via an individual research project on LA’s municipalities and enviro orgs, which was part of the class for everyone. I got to see how nonprofits can factor into enforcement of environmental regulations, via a boat patrol of the Marine Protected Areas off the Palos Verdes Peninsula with LA Waterkeeper, which was super super cool! That project showed me a way to take agency on an issue I care about.

The readings were hefty, though I’m glad I read them all and took my time with them. I’d never taken sociology before, and the readings both introduced me to the field/its theories and expertly applied them to environmental and social justice issues. Here’s the list:

Hartmut Rosa, The Uncontrollability of the World (Polity 2020). ISBN: **********168.
Kenneth A. Gould and Tammy L. Lewis, Twenty Lessons in Environmental Sociology, 3rd Edition (OUP 2020). ISBN: **********514. *e-copy is most affordable.
Kari Marie Norgaard, Salmon and Acorns Feed Our People: Colonialism, Nature, and Social Action (Rutgers 2019). ISBN 13: **********195. *Available free as an e-book through UCLA Library.
Ashley T. Rubin, Rocking Qualitative Social Science: An Irreverent Guide to Rigorous Research
(Stanford 2021). ISBN: **********243. *Available free as an e-book through UCLA Library.

The standout here for me was Rosa’s book on uncontrollability (and how the urge to control every aspect of life is an extension of a capital/colonial mindset). I had a super validating experience with this book: it gave me a probable external reason for my anxiety, going beyond the limited scope of my therapy experience on the self/internal world. Not what I was expecting from this class, but a welcome benefit.

All said, the class was a big time commitment, though a very worthwhile one, and Dr. Sexton led it well.

I was quite shocked going into this class after reading the reviews. This is my first sociology class but I am amazed at how biased and opinionated the material is in this class. If you are not a radical liberal, I do not recommend taking this class. As you will constantly hear about how you should feel white guilt, and all of the opinions of someone who is left-wing radical in their views. This class is based on the opinions of the professor, who seems like a very nice guy, but I am not attending UCLA to be persuaded into specific political views. Listening to the very first lecture and hearing the professor say how murderers and rapists should not be referred to as such because it dehumanizes them, I knew I was in for a ride. Writing papers on the assigned books merely consists of catering to radical left-wing viewpoints in order to get an A, in fear of disagreeing with the opinions being presented for the sake of my grade.