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)
Course Objectives
The objective of this course is for students to 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. In addition, the course utilizes a term research project in which each student collects and analyzes 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