SOC 250 - Diversity and Inequality in the United States

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FA, SP. This course analyzes the social meanings of our various identities (i.e., race-ethnicity, class, and gender), how these identities affect our self-concepts, and the impact of these identities upon our social and societal relationships. The primary objectives of this course are to study the social definitions of gender, race, and class, to examine the impact of these social constructs on human behavior, identity, and interactions with other persons, to develop a sociological understanding of the nature of structured inequality and patterns of discrimination, to become familiar with social-scientific methods appropriate for the studying of diversity and inequality, and to understand the promise and challenge of biblical reconciliation for seeing ourselves as image bearers of God and for easing the social tensions associated with diversity and inequality in the United States.