Childhood and Society

3 units

This discussion-based course will focus on the social context and critical analysis of childhood as a social construct and as a valuable site of sociological research, social inquiry, and social action. The course will discuss critical questions about how social inequalities and social institutions shape life chances and outcomes from early childhood through young adulthood. The breadth of the analytic framing of this course will range from the prenatal context and birth to early childhood, school age, pre-teen and teen stages and will also importantly consider how the social transition to adulthood is both socially constructed and has concrete impacts and outcomes. Students will consider intersections of inequality and childhood including but not limited to economic inequalities, race, gender, sexuality, education, criminal justice, health, disability, immigration, media, environment, and social change as the course highlights an intersectional lens. Students focus on an applied sociological perspective of childhood and will emphasize social action and social change. Prerequisite: successful completion of an introductory-level Sociology course or consent of the instructor. Graduate students should enroll in the 500-level offering.