Youth and Society

Undergraduate

This course explores central features of children’s preschool, preadolescent, adolescent, and college peer cultures. We will discuss what it means to study youth from a sociological lens and research methods for doing so. Specific topics may include: historical views of childhood; how gender, socioeconomic class, race, ethnicity, and sexuality shape youth’s experiences; what it means to be “popular”; identity development; extended adolescence; the role of culture (through games, books, television, etc.) in youth’s lives.