He is an amazing teacher and all of his classes are equally amazing. He requires a lot of studying and a lot of learning, so if you are lazy, do not take him. If you want to learn, he is the best teacher you will ever have.

Very interesting course and I liked John a lot. The tests were tough and you really have to do the reading, but its worth it.

Great teacher and an amazing speaker(you can count his mistakes on one hand). However, he requires us to memorize little inane details from past lectures that really aren't important. However, overall my experience with him was beneficial and you should take his class if your soc. major.

Enthusiastic about subjects, tests are detailed, all of his classes have the same format- if you like his style take his other classes, tests are mainly about spitting out factual information but you study it so much that you remember the information after the class is over, keeps you entertained

so good. extremely excited about teaching, and it shows! he buzzes around the room, and keeps you awake in the early hours of the morning. be prepared to do some reading, but it's at least interesting.

Very tough class

Simply the best soc professor on campus, you'll learn a lot and you won't be condesendingly sermonized to (like many others in the department).

3 Midterms and Cumulative final. All essay tests. Doesnt grade tests, has graders who suck and are not consistent. I dont recommend.

BORING BORING BORING! Class from hell. Not a good SOC class. Not a bad teacher but a bad class.

WONDERFUL CLASS

Loved this class, probably one of the best ive taken at ucsb. jannete and john are super sweet, and make class extremely interesting. midterms and final were not too bad, as long as you go to lecture, read the textbook and study, you will be just fine. open response and multiple choice. i ended up taking 152B after, since i liked them so much.

I don't know why people hype up 152A, it's a really poorly taught class, probably the most disorganized class I've taken in 3 years here. The lectures are unnecessarily graphic to the extent that it doesn't even contribute to the course material. I don't get why they haven't retired yet, they cancel class like half of the days.

Follow the study guide and textbook and you'll do fine. Lectures were unnecessarily graphic so I never went and still did fine. My biggest gripe was the heavy generalization of men throughout the course and little to no mention of male SA victims. And when it did come up it felt very patronizing. Course can be triggering for SA victims!!!!

At first, I did enjoy the concept of the class as it's important material, however, the professors and how this class is structured did not prepare the students for success. Most lectures were CANCELLED, leaving us to asynchronously watch videos and teach ourselves. 2 midterms (30%) and one final (40%) for the overall grade. Outdated info as well.

The classroom culture and the material are outdated. This year, they changed the grading criteria from three to two midterms (30% each) and one final (40%). The professors missed most of the lectures due to medical emergencies and they offered no extra support for students. It's time for them to retire...

Prepare to put in the work for this challenging but interesting course. Attend lectures, study the textbook, and utilize resources like unstuckstudy ai to ace the exams. The material is engaging, but the tests require serious preparation.

Outdated content. Sweet guy, but the class is just not really relevant anymore. Don't think he realizes how many people are part of the LGBTQ+ community nowadays. Also he interrupted the other professor quite often.

John was very dismissive during lectures. He never had a clear, backed-up response when questions arose in class, he just disregarded questions tbh. Shows how outdated their content is. They just read from the slides. Added a bunch of unnecessary and offensive comics that wasted time. Also, he would start lecture before the class started. AVOID

3 midterms and a final and they aren't easy due to the unclear lectures. the concepts are interesting, but not taught in a way that's helpful for the exams. the textbook is required and is hard to find for cheap or for free. the review sessions are helpful and the graders for try to give points in any way they can, but overall really hard class.

I took this class as an elective, BIG MISTAKE. Get ready to learn a lot of useful information. But you NEED to go to lecture or else you will fail. They grade based on 3 midterms and a final all in person and questions are from lecture. Don't recommend taking this as a GE.

Not as hard as some of the reviews say, just go over the charts and vocab before each test and you will be fine. Fairly interesting material

avoid!! this class is outdated and the amount of materiel is absurd. they don't give sources for the information provided and half of it is simply not true. the lectures were pointless it was just half naked pictures and memes half the time. freaky professors with outdated views lol. I learned absolutely nothing and just stressed about my grade:/

This was the worst class I have taken at UCSB. They require you to buy their (expensive) textbook and ramble in lecture and read off random "funny" cartoons and expect you to cover the bulk of material yourself by reading their book. They use offensive and outdated terms and are not inclusive. Had to study for this class more than any other.

I really enjoyed the content of this class and learned a lot. There is a lot of reading and the tests are hard, it really is helpful to go to review sessions and form study groups with friends. There is a pretty decent sized curve, so don't stress too much about your grade.