DSOC 3700 - Comparative Social Inequalities

(crosslisted)
(also SOC 3710) (SBA) (D)

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: introductory social science course.

T. Hirschl.

The course begins by identifying the historically high level of inequality within the United States today, and entertains various explanations to account for this social fact. It is acknowledged that the social sciences do not share an agreed upon explanation for rising inequality since 1970. Second, the course reviews the broad contours of inequality across human history, and identifies the origins of inequality and transitions between inequality systems. Finally, the course embarks upon a comparative historical analysis of industrialization to determine where society may be heading. Because the trend in inequality suggests that a new social order is in the making, the course ultimately asks, “What might be contours of a new social order?”