SOC 3090 is also offered in Spring 2025
SOC 3090 is also offered in Fall 2024
SOC 3090 is also offered in Spring 2024
SOC 3090 is also offered in Spring 2022
SOC 3090 is also offered in Fall 2021
Fall 2024 | SOC 3090 Section 001: Topics in Sociology -- Sociology of the American Housing Crisis (32989)
- Instructor(s)
Nicholas Graetz
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Repeat Credit Limit:
- 6 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person
- Class Attributes:
Online Course
Topics Course
- Enrollment Requirements:
- soph or jr or sr
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
Tue,
Thu 09:45AM - 11:00AM
UMTC, West Bank
Walter F. Mondale Hall 40
- Enrollment Status:
Open (13 of 80 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Topics specified in Class Schedule.prereq: 1001 recommended; soc majors must register A-F; cr will not be granted if cr has been received for the same topics title
- Class Notes:
- The goal of the course is to equip students to better understand the contemporary American housing crisis - its causes, its entanglements with other issues, and policies surrounding housing - from a critical social science perspective, anchored in sociology. Students will be introduced to the current landscape of housing inequality by reviewing reports covering the latest data. We will then dive into the history of commodified land and property markets in the US. We will move through the 1930s to present, covering important historical inflection points as well as how housing has shaped American inequality in wealth and health. We will conclude with an exploration of where we are headed in the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the looming climate crisis, including how housing is being centered in contemporary social movements. Students will engage with books, academic articles, journalism, podcasts, and video documentaries throughout the course. Evaluation will largely be based on participation, weekly reflection assignments, and a final written project of the student's choosing (I will provide several template options).
- Class Description:
- This course guides students through developing a critical sociological understanding of housing, including key concepts, historical perspectives, social policies, and the latest empirical data. We will engage with academic work, but we will also engage with essays, policy reports, podcasts, and more from community organizers, journalists, and think tanks working across the housing space - including examples of how the larger housing issues we discuss manifest locally here in Minneapolis. Students will develop a frame work for considering different meanings of housing - as home, shelter, commodity, investment, community, and how these meanings diverge and intersect across common narratives of housing and the goals of different social policies.
- Grading:
- 40% Weekly Reflections
30% Interactive Sessions
30% Final Project
- Class Format:
- Class will meet twice a week. Most meetings will include lecture and videos, but several meetings throughout the semester will be interactive sessions (engaging with an interactive resource during class, participating in discussions, and very brief written reflections submitted during class time.
- Workload:
- 2 Hours Readings / Podcasts / Videos per week
Weekly Short Written Reflections
1 Final Project
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/32989/1249
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 21 March 2024
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2024 Sociology Classes