| source Georgetown (X) |
level |
department Sociology (X) |
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
This course will introduce you to a variety of current social problems in the United States and it will help you develop critical and sociological thinking through the analysis of these issues. The course uses popular media as well as sociological materials to examine a range of issues, including but not limited to race, class, gender, crime, and inequality. Many of these topics are closely intertwined, so you will find throughout the semester that we will return to issues already discussed, approaching these issues from a somewhat different angle. We will examine human behaviors and social conditions that violate the dominant norms and values in society or that represent potential threats to the general quality of life. Much of the material presented in this course will challenge your values and beliefs since adopting a sociological perspective entails looking at the world from a different vantage point than the one you typically use. Whether your ideas ultimately change or remain the same, this course should help you clarify why you believe what you believe, help you understand the implications and consequences of those beliefs and help you to compare your perceptions with empirical studies of the social world. Fall.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
This course will examine the history and development of hip-hop culture, paying special attention to its social, cultural, racial, political and spiritual dimensions. We will probe the origins of hip-hop culture in political crisis and racial conflict, charting its evolution as a form of collective self-expression among black and brown youth. The course will engage the internal debates in rap music â i.e., underground versus commercial rap, gangsta vs. conscious rap â as well as the class tensions within hip-hop. The course will also examine the political controversies around hip-hop culture, including rap musicâs misogyny and homophobia, and the attempt of politicians and other authority figures to suppress its public consumption and expression. Finally, we will explore the interracial and global dimensions of hip-hop culture and probe the implications of its consumption by white Americans and citizens around the world.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
This course applies sociological theory and research findings to the American interactional, structural, and cultural response to dying and death. The definition of death, medical technology-induced social issues; society's response to death; dying process and dying setting; social interaction patterns during the dying experience, and near-death experiences are examined by applying sociology principles and analytical evidence to these phenomena. The student should develop an understanding about how to apply sociological knowledge to current social situations, to develop a clearer understanding of the social situation, and to formulate policy as a result of evaluating the evidence. Some practical advice about the death and dying experience is also given.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
This is a survey course in social demography. We will cover a "traditional-yet-expanded" sequence of topics: population theory and the demographic transition; death rates, birth rates, and migration (and the causes and consequences of each of them, including changes therein); sex ratios; birth-order effects; issues of population, development, and ecology; and population policies. We will deal with some modestly technical issues--population pyramids, life tables and their elements, and age-specific rates--and become comfortable with a variety of demographic measures. The course will also include historical readings (e.g., on infanticide and on sex ratios). Demography is a deeply comparative field, often involving the study of many societies and time-periods, and our course will be no exception, including comparisons in the present, the recent past, and some longer-term historical analyses. (Not Offered 2005-06)
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 4
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
The seminar will serve as the forum for a systematic analysis of global religious trends, for a critical discussion of contemporary debates on religion and politics around the world, and for the presentation of student research papers on related themes. Among the topics covered will be: Religion as a global category and the religious dimension of processes of globalization, secularization and global religious trends, private and public religions, religious fundamentalisms and fundamentalist secularisms, Catholic and Muslim politics and aggiornamenti compared, transnational migrations, transnational religions and diversity, and the emerging global denominationalism. We will dedicate the first seven sessions to a discussion of these general issues. The remaining sessions will be dedicated to the presentation and critical discussion of the seminar participantsâ research papers.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
In this course we undertake an introduction to urban sociology apply these perspectives to our surrounding community of Washington, D.C. It is designed as a community based learning course, which means that you will be utilizing an active learning pedagogy to experience the city and apply the course materials to the city to enhance your learning. The city will be the context through which you will be able to test the concepts, theories and findings presented in the course readings and lectures. The purpose is to discern the knowledge and theory that will help improve the lives of people living here and, in the long run, your own life and that of your surrounding communities. For those in the fourth credit community based learning lab, you will be working directly with a nonprofit organization to contribute to an ongoing social change project designed to improve the quality of life for a disadvantaged group in D.C. Rather than seeing the city as a resource to be exploited for the sake of knowledge, or as a charity case in need of our help, our approach will be to work with community members as partners in our quest for knowledge and in the struggle to remedy injustices.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
This class explores how categories of difference with regard to race/ethnicity, social class, sex/gender, and sexuality are constructed and transformed into systems of social inequality. We will investigate what and who creates these categories, how they are constructed, and some explanations as to why these categories are created. To aid in this exploration, the concept of critical thinking will be emphasized and you will be introduced to the social construction theory. To fully understand the process of transforming difference into inequality, the interrelationships between systems of oppression will be examined. We will examine the role various social institutions--such as the family, education, the economy, the state, and the media--play in creating and maintaining systems of stratification based on the construction of difference. The role of ideology in maintaining inequality by endorsing the interests of the dominant group is also discussed. Finally, we will examine how people working within individual and institutional contexts transform systems of oppression and privilege into a system of equal access to opportunity. Various aspects of social change will be explored, including the factors and sources that precipitate such change.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Sport is a matter of common concern in contemporary American culture. Its presence can be felt daily through its connection to the major spheres of social life, including the media, the family, the economy, politics, education, and religion. In other words, sport is an important part of our everyday lives. This course examines the role of sports in the United States, focusing on sports as social and cultural phenomena. We will use sociological concepts and critical thinking to examine a variety of issues and topics. The class is designed to mesh your personal experiences and current level of knowledge with empirical evidence and sociological theory related to competitive physical activity or sport. Typical and traditional sociological concepts such as race, class, gender, political economy, socialization, and culture will be applied to and illustrated by the various contexts that sports can take. Prerequisite: A course in sociology. Fall.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
This course examines "the family" as a complex set of ideals, ideologies, and social practices. We will look at American families in historical perspective, and explore cross-cultural and alternative family forms. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between families and broad social influences, as well as to issues such as diversity in mate selection, love, sexuality, singlehood, marriage, divorce, parenting, conflict resolution, and violence.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
The purpose of this course, as the title indicates, is to study and explain the nature of social inequality as it relates to contemporary American society. Although inequality has many dimensions, economic, political, racial, gender, socio-cultural and global, this course's emphasis is on will be on economic (class) inequality with a special focus on poverty. We will deal with issues such as how social scientists theorize equality, study various forms and structures of inequality in the U.S., analyze social movements that resist it, and, finally the role of public policy and dominant ideology in maintaining or reducing inequality.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
In this course we will consider relationships between the state and civil society. The course is organized around two different axes of distinction. First, we will consider how the organization of civil society influences the operation of the political system. On the other hand, we will also consider how the state's activities in turn can shape the social order. The second axis of distinction involves what sociologists call levels of analysis. We will spend the first part of the course "looking up" at the political system from the individual's point of view, in particular the individual in civil society who is a member of different social groups and categories: class, race and ethnic group, gender, religion, and other interest groups. Later, however, we will spend some time analyzing, at the macro level, entire political systems: "looking down" at the origins and persistence of states, and at the determinants and consequences of democratic, authoritarian, and totalitarian types of political regimes. Among the topics to be considered are: various paradigms in political sociology; the role of ideology; social correlates of voting; political elites; the state and its apparatuses; democracy and democratization; and poltical crises, including revolutions.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
In this course students will examine critical topics and sociological research on schools and education from both classic and contemporary scholarship. Issues to be surveyed include the development and application of social and cultural capital; the effects of racial segregation and resource inequality; the effects of tracking; the role of gender, class, and race in structuring educational opportunity; the effects of schooling on life-course outcomes; the significance of a school's institutional environment; and the sociology of school-reform movements.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Can college students make a difference in and for society? What kind of societal impact have college students had in the last 40 years? What can the current generation of college students do to help bring about positive social change? These are the key questions that shape this course, which attempts to examine theories of social change and the role students play in social change movements. Course material comes from a variety of perspectives, historical, social scientific and ethical. The course is geared to student participation through discussion, interaction with resource personnel from campus and community, and participation in experiential learning opportunities, including a semester-long community-based learning option and/or one in data analysis.
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page
What is a social entrepreneur? What makes them different from everyone else working for social justice? This course combines academics with work in the community to understand the concept, meet role models, and be hands-on in the creative process. A combination of theory, biography, guest speakers, simulations, journaling, research and class discussion give the student a foundation for their small team project working with a community-based organization where they will practice teamwork, solve real problems, and work hand in hand with local social entrepreneurs. (4 credits)
Score: 8.134331 Details | Listing | Web page