Listed in: Anthropology and Sociology, as SOCI-112
Formerly listed as: SOCI-12
Ron Lembo (Section 01)
The course introduces students to what C. Wright Mills referred to as the “sociological imagination.” Through accounts both classic and contemporary, students will learn to interrogate in a systematic way both their own lives and the lives of those around them, understanding how they are shaped in significant ways by groups, communities, institutions, and social structures, even as they remain authors of their own actions and determiners of their own fate. In this sense, the dynamics of what sociologists call “power” and “agency” are woven into every aspect of the course. Inequalities--most notably, race, class, and gender—will figure importantly as we explore important topics such as higher education, gendered expectations of parenting, mass incarceration and structural racism, cultural transformations accompanying neoliberal capitalism, and present-day opportunities for social mobility.
Limited to 35 students. Admission with consent of the instructor. Fall semester. Professor Lembo.
Section 01
Tu 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM OCTA 200
Th 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM OCTA 200
| ISBN | Title | Publisher | Author(s) | Comment | Book Store | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Lemann | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage | University of California Press | Edin & Kefalas | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Doing the Best I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner City | University of California Press | Edin & Nelson | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| The Culture of the New Capitalism | Yale University Press | Sennett | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness | The New Press | Alexander | Amherst Books | TBD |
These books are available locally at Amherst Books.