Course Description
Examines the sociological study of lives: socialization over
the life span, the stratification of lives, cross-cultural
comparisons of aging and human development, family patterns
across time, careers in crime, health across life, religious
expression in lives, and lifetime consequences of education.
Athena Title
Lives in Time and Place
Prerequisite
SOCI 1101 or SOCI 1101H or SOCI 2600 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- Students will develop a comprehensive understanding of this sociological specialty, including characteristic modes of inquiry, key arguments and debates, and prevailing societal trends.
- Students will be expected to engage themselves in the scholarly practice of reading, criticism, and argumentation.
- Students will complete a term research project in which they collect and analyze two life histories based on comparing and contrasting original interview data. The research component places a special emphasis on analysis, evidence, and argument to direct and develop the creative, analytical, and interpretive skills of research.
- Students will be asked to demonstrate their mastery of the course content in written work that is appropriate for an
academic context.
- Students will be asked to demonstrate their mastery of the course content in speech that is appropriate for an academic
context.
Topical Outline
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Development of the Life Course as a Field of Sociological Inquiry
- 3. Life Phases
- 4. Methods of Life Course Research
- 5. Methodological Considerations in Life Course Research
- 6. Cultural Constructions of the Life Course
- 7. Age Norms
- 8. Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Age and Aging
- 9. Aging across the Life Span: Stratification
- 10. Childhood and the Life Course
- 11. The Family and the Life Course
- 12. Deviance and the Life Course
- 13. Health and the Life Course
- 14. Education and the Life Course
- 15. Research Projects in Life Course Analysis
Institutional Competencies
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
