Spring 2013

Thinking Differently about Culture

Listed in: Anthropology and Sociology, as SOCI-332

Formerly listed as: SOCI-32

Faculty

Ron Lembo (Section 01)

Description

In this course, we will focus attention first on the dynamics of cultural difference which characterize the civil rights era in the United States and use our sociological assessment of them to frame an analysis of culture leading up to and following from this tumultuous time, paying particular attention to what is now commonly referred to as a “post civil rights era.” Some of the important questions we will ask are: How adequate are conventional sociological ideas of culture—ideas that presume “cohesion” and “commonality,” among other things—when it comes to conceptualizing, documenting, and theorizing cultural difference? What are the consequences of accounting for cultural difference as something to be incorporated into what is, or could be, held in common by people? What is at stake, sociologically speaking, when aspects of cultural difference--previously ignored or marginalized in hegemonic accounts--become the focal point of intellectual inquiry or political practice? How do we distinguish among discourses of cultural difference? How are they subject to cooptation, assimilation, or exploitation?

Limited to 20 students. Not open to first-year students. Spring semester. Professor Lembo.

SOCI 332 - L/D

Section 01
Tu 01:00 PM - 03:30 PM BARR 102

ISBN Title Publisher Author(s) Comment Book Store Price
The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America Steinberg Amherst Books TBD
The Fire Next Time Baldwin Amherst Books TBD
Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness Jackson Amherst Books TBD
Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right McGirr Amherst Books TBD
Turning Back: The Retreat from Racial Justice in American Thought and Policy Steinberg Amherst Books TBD
Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle Over American History Lapore Amherst Books TBD
Working toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Become White Roediger Amherst Books TBD

These books are available locally at Amherst Books.

Offerings

2024-25: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013