Course Description
Special topics in culture for advanced undergraduates.
Athena Title
SEMINAR IN CULTURE
Prerequisite
SOCI 1101 or SOCI 1101H or SOCI 2500 or SOCI 3010 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course provides advanced undergraduates who have already studied the basics of the sociology of culture with the opportunity to study and discuss in further depth topics and issues in the study of culture. Students will read recent usages of the pivotal perspectives and discuss the viability of these perspectives versus others. They will also study current topics in the study of culture-such as multiculturalism, globalization and cultural conflict-and their implications for the study of culture. Students should leave this course with an understanding of the study of culture that will allow them to engage in research on the subject.
Topical Outline
Topics covered in this class may include but not be confined to: Positivistic and non-positivistic ways of studying culture Culture industry Production, distribution, and reception of cultural products Multiculturalism Popular culture The (semi-)autonomy vs. determination of culture Tradition and transformation Habitus and cultural capital Critical Theory and the Frankfurt School Postmodernism and modernism British Cultural Studies Collective Memory Elite vs. Popular Cultural Products Culture Wars