SOC281

Description

Section information text: 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