Catalog Course Search Details

 Department:    SOC

 Course #:    204

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 IUs:    5

 CIP:    451101

 EPC:    n/a

 REV:    2019

 Course Description  

Examines the causes and consequences of inequality and social stratification in the United States. The course materials will invite you to think critically about how systems of power and privilege operate with respect to race, gender, sexual orientation, class, disability and age, why valuable resources like income, wealth, health, education and wellbeing are unequally distributed in the United States, and how this inequality is produced and reproduced through the structure of opportunities, differential life chances and social mobility.

 Prerequisite  

Prerequisite: Completed ENGL& 101 with a grade of 2.0 or higher.

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0

Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Academic Social Sciences  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

1. Read and analyze sociological works which form part of the literature on poverty with the aim of crafting a broad understanding of poverty, its manifestations, and probable causes
2. Learn to use basic sociological terminology and concepts
3. Appreciate the discipline of sociology in its contributions to the quest for self-knowledge, in developing a sensitivity to diversity, and in helping to forge and explanatory science for understanding human interactions and social forces
4. Form conclusions about the evolution of poverty, the role of government, public policy on public assistance and responses to specific cases of poverty based on evidence from the readings, sociological understands and sociological perspectives
5. Locate data on household income, poverty threshold calculations, percentage of population below the poverty line, and correlations with race, age, family status
6. Use statistical information to construct hypothesis in a sociological context as well as to make inferences based on aggregate data
7. Become actively involved through discussion, dialogue, and community service in the major issues that are crystalized as a result of sociological analysis
8. Think critically in regard to: understanding assumptions and values about stratification and social mobility; the limits of generalizations on the basis of stratification data; and evaluation of casual models
9. SOCIAL SCIENCES: Explain the variables that influence the structure of cultures and societies.

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes

Revised August 2018 and affects outlines for 2019 and later.

Think

Definition: Think analytically, logically, creatively, and reflectively.

Engage

Definition: Interact with humans and the environment informed by an understanding of equity.

Course Contents

1. Constant srutiny of the processess of economic disenfranchisement with special reference to the exploitation of lavor and its effects on special populations, e.g., women, children, the elderly and minorities
2. Historical overview of the development of poverty in the U.S. and the evolution of common understandings of poverty
3. Sociological analysis and the basic building blocks, methods and theories about poverty and wealth in Soc.
4. Racism, class prejudice, Keynesian and supply-side principles, operation of the capitalist market system, the role of government, FDR's New Deal, LBJ's war on Poverty, Reagans's retrenchment, fragmented political power, and interest groups and their relationship to commentary about poverty and status
5. Applied work in a variety of critical approaches emphasizing the importance of historical and social contexts in understanding and interpreting poverty, social mobility, and social differentiation
6. Applied work in how data on poverty is collected, how statistical probability actually works in regard to what populations are in poverty and how statistical analysis can identify issues around poverty and concentration of wealth
7. Computer data analysis for manipulation of statistical software programs in analyzing issues around poverty, and stimulizations e.g., cross-tabulation of independent variables like education and socioeconomic status
8. An appreciation of the role of diversity and pluralism in relation to stratified populations and the impact of stratification on racial, ethnic, and gender groups