SOC 343 - Sociology of Race and Racism

What is race? Race is a social construction. But what does it actually mean for race to be a social construction? In this seminar, we will examine how sociologists, social scientists, and legal scholars in the United States have theorized, debated, and researched the constructions of race and the practices and consequences of racism. Struggles over the meaning of race are entanglements over assertions of power so we will engage with scholars who demonstrate the coconstitution of race with other structures of power such as class, gender, sexuality, law, and colonialism. Students will gain an understanding of key paradigms that explicitly center or decenter race, including internal colonialism, the “underclass,” racial formation theory, and women of color feminisms.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): SOC 211
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): CRES 343
Not offered: 2023-24
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.