SOC 6834 - Sociology of Race

This graduate-level seminar, an elective within the Sociology Department's Global and Comparative Sociology (GCS) area of specialization, provides an overview of research on the sociology of race in the contemporary world. This course uses three mechanisms to challenge common assumptions about race and to clarify its significance in society: first, it explores the development of race as a social and legal construct; second, it situates race within specific historical, political, and economic contexts; and third it explores race comparatively, drawing on examples from within the United States and around the globe. The course examines how racial divisions relate to topics such as ethnicity, nationalism, class, gender, colonialism, migration, incarceration, employment, education, and the state.