LAA0030 - Travel Abroad and Introduction to Sociology – US and UK Society and Culture
Course Description
This experience allows you to utilize a sociological perspective to analyze the interrelations among human societies, individuals, organizations, and groups to understand human behavior and human societies. Define and analyze social structure, culture, social interaction, social institutions, social stratification, community, and various social change strategies. You’ll discuss contemporary social problems and issues including racial and ethnic relations, sexism, and class inequality. Your study will be enhanced by a 10-day visit to London led by Harper College sociology and theatre professors. Activities include a Shakespearean play at the Globe Theatre, a canal cruise, the Migration Museum, Westminster, a London scavenger hunt, and visits to neighborhood markets in Borough, Brick Lane, and Camden. Registering in this class puts you in the for-credit class offered by the Sociology Department, however you will not be graded.
Course Outline
- Sociology, Social Facts, and Social Determinism (Watch by 4/03)
- Sociological Thinking – Émile Durkheim
- Sociological Paradigms
- Social Processes – Connecting the Self and Structure
- cial Inequality and Micro-Social/Macro-Social Processes
- Overview of Social Stratification
- Problems in Work and Economy
- Poverty
- Overview and Historical Roots of Race and Ethnicity
- Racism and Discrimination
- Racial and Ethnic Stratification
- Sex, Gender, and Gender Roles
- Discussion: Women’s Jobs, Men’s Jobs: Discrimination in Gender-Atypical Occupations
- Micro-Social Processes – Socialization and the Self
- Sociological Conceptions of Self – Self as Social Process by 4/29)
- Sociological Conceptions of Self – Self as Social Structure
- Sociological Conceptions of Self – Self as Dramatic Effect
- Self-Presentation and Impression Management
- Discussion: I Am Who I Think You Think I Am: Role Taking and the Self*
- Macro-Social Processes – Deviance
- Macro-Social Processes – Collective Behavior
- Field Program: The Social and Cultural Environment of the UK Capital
- Itinerary: Arrive in London (LHR)
Learner Outcomes
Upon successfully completing this course, you should be able to:- demonstrate an ability to think sociologically and to engage in complex and critical reasoning;
- demonstrate an understanding of the nature and consequence of social structure and culture;
- demonstrate an understanding of the scientific nature of sociology, empiricism, and how science is used in sociology;
- demonstrate an understanding of and ability to assess the empirical support for—and logical consistency of—arguments and claims about the social world;
- demonstrate an understanding of the centrality of stratification and inequality to social organization and outcomes;
- describe the interdependence and interconnectedness of world systems and their components;
- explain how race, class, gender and other categories of difference are socially constructed, flexible, and overlapping; how identities and their representations change over time; and/or how different identities intersect with one another and are shaped by power, privilege and systemic discrimination; and
- demonstrate an understanding of race and racism in the U.S.