Current Events and Social Issues
Fall 2004
The goal of this seminar is to have open discussions of controversial political and social issues and raise awareness of current world events in an informal setting. Discussions for the first part of each class will focus on current events from that week, while in the second part of class students will discuss a scheduled issue in greater detail. Scheduled issues include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the regulation of marijuana, how our society should punish criminals, genocide in Rwanda and Sudan, discrimination in our society today, the future of social security, whether pornography is sexist, and where we can go from here in the Arab/Israeli Conflict. Discussions will be supplemented by readings, films, and public speakers. Students will also be encouraged to read news media from around the world.
Readings
- Pugh v. Locke, 406 F. Supp. (1976).
- Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. (1981).
- Wilson v. Seiter, 111 S. Ct. (1991).
- Overton v. Bazzetta 02-94 (2003). Kennedy opinion.
- Rey, Joseph M., and Christopher C. Tennant. “Cannabis and Mental Health.” British Medical Journal (2002): 1183-4.
- Optional Reading
- Becker, Howard S. “Becoming a Marijuana User.” American Journal of Sociology (1953): 235-242.
- Sen, Amartya. “How to Judge Globalism.” The American Prospect 13, no. 1 (2002).
- Friedman, Thomas L. “The Great Indian Dream.” New York Times , March 11, 2004.
- Ikerd, John. “Societal Effects Make Outsourcing a Real Issue.” Columbia Daily Tribune , August 15, 2004.
- Zuckerman, Mortimer. “The Price of Intransigence.” U.S. News and World Report, December 12, 2003.
- Sprengel, Mark K. “Fundamental Issues.” Heritage House, 1999.
- Supplemental Reading, Strongly Recommended
- Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families . New York, NY: Picador, 1999. ISBN: 9780312243357.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗Historical OpenCourseWare
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.