DSOC 3700 - Comparative Social Inequalities

(crosslisted) SOC 3710
(D-AG, SBA-AG)

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: introductory social science course.

T. Hirschl.

This course offers a sociological understanding of social inequality and the social construction of difference. Designed from the perspective of comparative historical analysis, we will examine the ways in which class, gender, race/ethnicity, religion, and sexuality differences work across place and time within a shared set of global dynamics. The course will pay special attention to how difference is constructed, institutionalized, and experienced. Thus, the course will not only address inequality based on economic and labor relations, but also emphasize complicated notions of difference and identity to offer an analysis that links inequality to power and forms of rule.

Outcome 1: Explain systems of social inequality from different sociological perspectives.

Outcome 2: Assess different assumptions about the determinants of inequality.

Outcome 3: Apply an understanding of inequality and difference to everyday current events.