2022-2023 Academic Catalog

Apr 28, 2024

2022-2023 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

SOC 281 - Cities and Social Change

This course explores themes - economic development, inequality, social movements, inclusive and exclusive cultural formations, and social control and surveillance - that together comprise a sociological toolkit for approaching broad questions about social justice, public culture, work, housing, crime and punishment, and service provision, both in the U.S. and across the globe. Drawing on readings from not only sociology but also urban planning, geography, history, and anthropology, we will trace how cities have shaped and been shaped by the ways humans and societies answer fundamental questions about how we should live together and why. Throughout the course, students will propose and write a term paper that develops original propositions about cities and social change and tests them through primary qualitative research (i.e., nonparticipant ethnography, interviewing, and/or historical/archival research). Capstone Seminar

Prerequisites: SOC 010 or SOC 012, SOC 201, SOC 202 and SOC 125 or SOC 265 or Permission

Anticipated Terms Offered: Bi-annually