SOCI 614: Sociology of Culture

SOCI 614-001: Sociology of Culture
(Spring 2018)

01:30 PM to 04:10 PM T

Lecture Hall 2

Section Information for Spring 2018

Just as we give little thought to the air we breathe, even though it sustains our physical being, we pay too little attention to the culture that helps shape—and is shaped by—our political, economic, and social being.  Culture is centered around the deep meanings that give form to our collective lives.  How does culture help ground politics, economics, and civic life; and how do they in turn help ground culture? Politics and economics are realms of compulsion; within limits of ecological constraint, culture is a realm of relative freedom. Cultural analysis cuts through to the root issues of freedom and necessity, existence and identity. Culture is of special relevance to power, economics, and civic life because it has the capacity to de-naturalize and re-envision categories of understanding them. The concept of culture is no less contested than culture itself.  Does culture inhibit or enable agency? Is culture instrumental or expressive? Essential or constructed? Global or local? Repressive or emancipatory?  How are the various cultural systems—religion, science, art, collective memory, popular culture, digital culture—related to each other?  How are they related to structures of “rational” practice?  Through readings, class discussions, and sharing the results of individual research and reflection, this course will engage those questions. Course requirements include reading seminal texts, class discussion of writing exercises based on those texts, and a five- to eight- page final paper.    

Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Analyzes 20th-century debates in American culture and cultural politics, with emphasis on art and popular culture, news media, and competing notions of "the public." In-depth readings in cultural sociology cover variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. May not be repeated for credit.
Registration Restrictions:

Enrollment limited to students with a class of Advanced to Candidacy, Graduate, Junior Plus, Non-Degree or Senior Plus.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate, Non-Degree or Undergraduate level students.

Students in a Non-Degree Undergraduate degree may not enroll.

Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.