Spring 2021  |  SOC 3309 Section 001: Atheists & Others: Religious Outsiders in the United States (63642)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
Completely Online
Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Online Course
Meets With:
RELS 3624 Section 001
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
01/19/2021 - 05/03/2021
Wed 01:00PM - 02:15PM
Off Campus
UMN REMOTE
Enrollment Status:
Open (33 of 45 seats filled)
Course Catalog Description:
What does it mean to be an atheist in the United States today? Atheists comprise a small percentage of the American population, but one with an increasingly visible presence in popular culture, political discourse, & everyday life. How do atheists organize into groups oriented toward identity-formation, social connection, and political action? prereq: 1001 recommended
Class Notes:
This lecture is completely online. On Wednesdays, the lecture will meet in a synchronous format at the scheduled time. The remaining lecture material will be available online in an asynchronous format. Click this link for more detailed course information: http://classinfo.umn.edu/?edgell+SOC3309+Spring2021
Class Description:
What does it mean to be an atheist in the United States today? Atheists comprise a small percentage of the American population, but one with an increasingly visible presence in popular culture, political discourse, and everyday life. How do atheists compare with other non-religious Americans? How do atheists organize into groups oriented toward identity-formation, social connection, and political action? What are Americans' attitudes toward atheists, atheism, and non-belief, and are these attitudes changing? The course will promote a critical examination of the changing landscape of religious non-belief in the United States, placing contemporary American atheism in a sociological and historical context. Throughout the course, we focus on the varieties of religious and non-religious experience and engage with sociological debates about secularization in the late-modern context.
Grading:
Discussion/Book group Assignments - 30%
Midterm - 30%
Final - 30%
Participation - 10%
Exam Format:
A combination of short answer and short essay questions.
Class Format:
The class is primarily lecture-based, but with numerous in-class group activities and discussions.
Workload:
In a typical week, there will be 30-50 pages of reading assigned, but a there are few weeks where we will focus on book length pieces and those weeks closer to 80-100 pages will be assigned. There are no full-length papers, but students will be required to summarize some of the readings and help run book group-style discussions two times in the semester.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/63642/1213
Past Syllabi:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/edgell_SOC3309_Fall2016.doc (Fall 2016)
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
3 March 2016

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2021 Sociology Classes

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