Order and Change in Society

3 units

This course identifies and analyzes processes that create social order and forces that generate social change. What kinds of structures make social life coherent so that people can navigate a wide range of social settings? How do societies sometimes mobilize to alter the status quo, and what kinds of barriers limit those efforts to change social systems? This course engages with such core issues through a sociological lens. Specific topics include: the emergence of social roles and status systems; how social networks matter in communities, schools, and other groups; and the performance, reproduction, and, subversion of privilege and inequality. No prerequisite.