ENROLL

Wes Markofski

American sociology has a rich tradition of focusing the ethnographic eye on the American experience. We will take advantage of this tradition to encounter urban America through the ethnographic lens, expanding our social vision and investigating the nature of race, place, meaning, interaction, and inequality in the U.S. While doing so, we will also explore the unique benefits, challenges, and underlying assumptions of ethnographic research as a distinctive mode of acquiring and communicating social knowledge. As such, this course offers both an immersion in the American experience and an inquiry into the craft of ethnographic writing and research.

Prerequisite: The department strongly recommends that 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above

Wes Markofski

Does social difference always lead to conflict and inequality? Can we forge common ground with justice across deep differences? What forms of respect, recognition, reciprocity, and redistribution do democratic citizens owe one another? We will explore these and related questions through a roughly equal mix of democratic theory and empirical studies of race/class/gender/religion diverse grassroots democratic movements in the U.S. We will consider the demands and challenges of "different types of difference" (racial-ethnic, gender-sexuality, class-culture, citizenship, language, and religion) for fighting inequity and pursuing ethical democracy in the United States (and beyond). 

Prerequisite: The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses number 200 or above

Not open to students who took SOAN 350

Wes Markofski