Race and Class in America

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Through readings and discussion in this senior seminar, you will develop a better understanding of causes and consequences of race and class inequalities by looking at how racism and capitalism have shaped American history and society. We will explore how both capitalism and racism have evolved and how sociologists have understood the relationship between capitalism (and resulting class inequalities) and racism (and resulting racial inequalities). Among the historical periods we will look at our Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement era, and the current Black Lives Matter and abolitionist movement. Important topics that we will discuss are slavery, exploitation, discrimination, reparations, the carceral state, white privilege, racial resentment, public goods, immigration, genocide and settler colonialism. We will be reading excerpts from the following books: Abrajano, Marisa A., and Zoltan L. Hajnal. 2017. White Backlash: Immigration, Race, and American Politics. Alexander, Michelle. 2020. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Coates, Ta-Nehisi. 2015. Between the World and Me. Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt. Black Reconstruction in America: Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880. Kaba, Mariame. 2021. We Do This Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice. Haymarket Books. . Kendi, Ibram X. 2019. How to Be an Antiracist. Klein, Naomi. 2015. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate. McGhee, Heather. 2021. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. Ruffin, Amber, and Lacey Lamar. 2021. You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism.