SOC 105 - Topics in Race and Religion

Instructor
Marti

The purpose of this course is to gain appreciation for sociological analysis at the intersection of race-ethnicity and religion through a focus on current events, often related to social and political events in the United States. Overall, the course is intended to encourage and stimulate critical thinking beyond “common sense,” knee-jerk opinions and interpretations. As such, the course is analytical, historical, and empirically grounded in observable patterns. The class constitutes a careful exploration centering on racial and religions dynamics as they touch on our contemporary historical context such that, over the course of the semester, discussions will weave together broader considerations of race-ethnicity, religion, politics, and economics, etc., and culminate in an examination of the interrelations between race-ethnicity, religion, and broader civic society today. and identity, politics and globalization, faith and community, economics and financial pressures, citizenship and public life, prejudice and discrimination, media and technology, as well as celebrity and symbolic leadership.

Satisfies a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: North America).
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.