• SOC 3380: Social Inequality

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  This course examines the degree of inequality along characteristics such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, age, physical ability, and sexual orientation. By describing trends over time within the United States, this class uses a comparative approach to emphasize the societal factors that explain why some groups suffer economic, political, and social (dis)advantage relative to other groups. Students will be encourages to think critically about the ways that these advantages and disadvantages are reproduced both intentionally and inadvertently through actions and interactions at the individual, organizational, and institutional levels.
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• SOC 3381: Inequal thru Music&Film

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  During the election campaign for President Barack Obama, our forty fourth President and our first African American President, one of candidate Obama's famous campaign mantras were the words "Yes We Can!" Soon the catch-phrase, reminiscent of other calls to action such as "we shall overcome" and "si se puede" for underserved populations and populations of color in U.S. history facing issues of social inequality, became a popular music video released by hip-hop musician and rapper Will.i.am. This wedding of issues of social inequality in U.S. politics and society with popular culture media such as music and film is the central focus of this course. Fundamentally, this course is a historical, theoretical, and ultimately, sociological exploration of race, ethnicity, class, and gender as axes of inequality in the United States, through the lens of music and film media. Materials examine the interaction between personal experiences and social structures as students explore how individuals carry varying degrees of penalty and privilege depending on their position within a complex matrix along axes of race, ethnicity, class, and gender that affects everyone in society. Students will be invited to explore the ways that people experience and respond to the matrix, that is, structures of racial/ethnic, class, and gender inequality, and the ways that people help to reinforce and reshape those structures.
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• SOC 3383: Latina&Latino Sociology

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  Latinos are currently the largest minority group in the United States. What challenges have they faced in the past? What obstacles do they face today? How do they express cultural connections and mobilize in the struggle for equality? Moving between different historical periods and geographic locations, this class explores the debates, methodologies, and research that shape the field of Latino Sociology. using a sociological approach to the study of Caribbean, Central American, Mexican, and South American communities living in the United States we will examine not only the connections between Latino groups but also the differences that sometimes divide them. Throughout the semester, lectures and assignments will focus on themes including: immigration, social movements, figures of resistance, education, language, popular culture, and globalization.
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• SOC 3410: Special Topics

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  No course description available.
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• SOC 3422: Social Movements

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  Social movements are an organized effort by a significant number of people to change some major aspect of society. Movements can mobilize around any number of issues, and they employ a large range of tactics that range from lobbying and picketing to armed insurrection and revolution. Under what conditions do social movements emerge and decline? What makes some movements more successful than others? We will address these questions through the application of various theoretical perspectives to several prominent social movements in American history, focusing on the domestic and international conditions that gave rise to these movements and shaped their relative success or failure. The goal of the course is to explain the structural conditions and tactical strategies that render collective action more or less effective in achieving their stated goals.
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• SOC 3436: Globalization

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  This course explores the processes, causes, and consequences of globalization in its varied forms: economic, political, cultural, and social. Topics to be considered include the expansion and intensification of a capitalist world economy; the rise and diffusion of national states, together with the creation of an interstate system; the emergence, content, and impact of a common 'world culture'; and the dynamic relationship between globalization and social movements. The course will encourage students to think critically about globalization: to assess its potential benefits for societies as well as the social problems it generates. The course is organized into four modules aligning well with the varied forms of globalization identified above. The Modules are economic globalization; political globalization; cultural globalization; and social globalization.
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• SOC 3440: Sociology of Religion

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  Presents comparative and critical approaches to the understanding of religious institutions and practices. Analyzes religion and its impact upon societies, global-international events, and personal well-being. It emphasizes the diversity and nature of "religious experience" in terms of different groups, classes and individuals. Surveys Western, Eastern, New Age, and Native American religions, as well as unaffiliated groups in terms of their defining beliefs and practices. Explores religion in terms of social processes and phenomena that include, socialization, social control, social identity, authority, power, law, political behavior, stratification, culture, social change, deviance, and gender. The course contributes to an understanding of the functioning, and diversity or religion important to making more discerning decisions regarding cultural, political, and moral issues that are often influenced by religion.
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• SOC 3446: Political Sociology

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  The modern state touches nearly every aspect of our lives, but we usually spend little time thinking about it. The existence of states seems natural, as does their authority to collect taxes, raise armies, wage wars, regulate economies, build infrastructures, and provide services. This course analyzes how states acquired these powers over time. Topics include the emergence, development, and possible decline of modern states; war; democracy and its spread around the world; nationalism; globalization; citizenship; and human rights. The overarching goal of this course is for students to develop a better understanding of the state, society, and power in the modern world, with a focus on how history shapes current events.
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• SOC 3448: Cities and Communities

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  Examines how cities and city life are shaped by social, cultural, political, and economic forces operating at many different levels. It also deals with how diverse groups of citizens in particular urban places relate to changes in their cities. The course also explores how different urban environments, such as different neighborhoods, influence the lives of city residents. Topics covered include the emergence of cities in different historical periods, spatial aspects of urban growth, urban power and politics, social diversity and inequality, and various issues currently confronting cities, such as residential segregation by race and class, deindustrialization, concentrated poverty, affordable housing, homelessness, sprawl, gentrification and urban renewal/displacement, and urbanization in low-income countries of the world.
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• SOC 3480: Environmental Sociology

  3.00 Credits

  University of Utah

  
  In this course we will take a social scientific approach to critically discuss and evaluate societal changes and their impact on local environmental conditions as well as the global ecosystem. We will primarily (but not exclusively) focus on structural issues in macro-comparative context since these are the professor's areas of expertise. Environmental sociology is a relatively diverse area that crosses trivial disciplinary boundaries-it would be impossible to introduce all its key theoretical perspectives and research agendas in one quarter. Thus, we will address some of the most salient macro-level human/environment topics in contemporary environmental degradation, contemporary theories in environmental sociology, systemic causes and social consequences of environmental disruption, collective responses to environmental disruption, global challenges to climate change policy, and the effects of globalization on environmental degradation (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water pollution) and human well being (malnutrition, hunger, infant mortality). Indeed, we will see that the structural causes of environmental degradation and human suffering are often not mutually exclusive.
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