Who you are is in many ways where you are. Our friendships and romantic lives, our work opportunities and political engagement, and our sense of self and relationship to society are inextricably connected to the type of community in which we live. In this course we will attend to the sociology of place, focusing specifically on cities and communities. We will examine how cities relate to many core fields of sociology: inequality, race and ethnicity, self and identity, deviance and social control, work and occupations, immigration, globalization, and social networks, for example. We will consider differences between communities, such as the rural-urban divide, and we will consider differences within cities, including segregation, neighborhood effects, and the history of urbanization. We will engage with foundational sociological theories of urbanization and contemporary empirical studies. By the end of this course, you will have developed a critical understanding of the role that cities and communities play in maintaining social order and enabling social change.
You will understand and differentiate main theories of urban sociology:
·Evaluate claims made about cities, and interpret society through the concept of place
·Design effective arguments targeted to different audiences
·Appraise peer drafts and provide constructive, positive feedback
·Revise paper drafts in response to feedback