Presentations

This course will systematically and objectively examine the sources of American oppression and explore how it shapes the life chances of African Americans from just prior to the Reconstruction Era to the twenty-first century. More specifically, we will explore the timing and manner of their entry into U.S. society, conflicts with other groups, encounters with prejudice and discrimination, as well as the extent to which they have secured access to cultural, economic, political, and social assimilation into U.S. society.

This is a sociological assessment of intersections between race and ethnic relations, the politics of gender and employment opportunity in the 21st century American workplace. We will explore the origins and the consequences of race, gender, and workplace hierarchies that shape the employment experiences of social groups in the US. Through a combination of readings and discussions, this course is designed to help students situate the cultural and structural explanations for race and gender workplace inequality in the US workplace.

This course builds on the African American Studies curriculum to provide a solid foundation for subsequent applied work in this interdisciplinary field. As students near the completion of formal course work, an internship in the field affords the opportunity to put what was learned to practical use in applied settings, and to develop professional skills and competencies. May be repeated to a maximum of six credit hours.

This course examines the African-American experience in the U.S. with the goal of understanding how historical conditions and events shaped current circumstances. Focus is on African-Americans as situated in all major institutions (economy, polity, family, education, religion, welfare, military, criminal justice) and the consequences of their placement. The course applies sociological theories of race/ethnicity to past and current developments.

Basic theory of social stratification is presented and used in description of the stratification system in the United States and other nations. Opportunity for social mobility in the social structure is assessed and compared with rates of mobility in other countries.

This course examines the larger social forces that shape our natural environment; the social foundations of environmental problems; and the social responses to environmental issues, conflicts, and movements.

This course will introduce you to the sociological study of racial and ethnic relations in the United States. We will use historical-comparative methods to systematically and objectively examine the theoretical and empirical aspects of race and ethnicity. We will focus on the relationships among the major racial and ethnic groups of the United States: Native Americans, European Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. For each group we will compare such dimensions as their physical and cultural differences from the dominant racial-ethnic group, their timing and manner of entry into U.S. society, their respective social and cultural resources at entry, their material conflicts with other groups, their encounters with prejudice and discrimination, and the degree and process of their cultural, economic, political, and social assimilation into U.S. society. The course will also place the historical experiences of racial and ethnic groups in the United States in context with experiences of racial and ethnic groups in other countries to broaden and deepen our understanding of race and ethnicity.

Focus on the intersections between race and ethnic relations, the politics of gender, and employment opportunity in the twenty-first-century workplace.

Analysis of racial prejudice, discrimination, and other dominant group practices directed toward Native, Asian-, and African-Americans and their social movements for integration, accommodation, and separatism.

Who gets what and why? This course examines class, racial/ethnic, and gender inequality in the distribution of valued rewards (e.g., wealth, power, prestige) in society. Students will describe the distribution of rewards, explain its causes, and discuss its consequences. The focus is on the contemporary United States, and the history of social inequality under Globalization.

Comparative and historical analysis of causes, forms, and consequences of structured social inequality in societies. Examination of selected problems in contemporary stratification theory and research.