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 origins of social inequality within the transition to agricultural society. Second, the course describes how inequality is reconfigured by the transition from agriculture to industry. Contemporary social science perspectives on industrial society are then entertained, and it is acknowledged that there is a lack of consensus about the portent of rising inequality that began during the late 20th Century. To frame this question, 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 the new social order?”