SOC 105 Social Problems

Overview of Course

This course explores social problems through a sociological lens. That means that we will look at patterns of inequity and injustice in the systems and institutions that structure our lives in the US and people’s lives across the world. We will investigate the ways that social institutions such as families, education, economy, government, healthcare, religion, and so on, shape and pattern the landscape of possibilities for people’s individual lives. In this course we take a critical perspective, seeking to understand how particular social problems endure over time with similar patterns of winners and losers. We will explore how dynamics of power and privilege are embedded into social, cultural and political life and how those dynamics create disparities among subgroups of society, leading to what sociologists call “social reproduction,” where patterns of inequities are reproduced over and over again across generations. We will also explore the avenues that people and communities take in efforts to effect positive social change in their communities, in their institutions, and in their political structures.