ClassInfo - Spring 2025 Sociology Classes

Spring 2025 | SOC 4106 Section 001: Crime on TV (64858)

Instructor(s): Joshua Page
Class Component:: Lecture
Credits:: 3 Credits
Grading Basis:: Student Option
Instructor Consent:: No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:: In Person
Enrollment Requirements:: soph or jr or sr
Times and Locations:: Regular Academic Session

01/21/2025 - 05/05/2025

Mon, Wed 09:45AM - 11:00AM

UMTC, West Bank
Enrollment Status:: Open (0 of 80 seats filled)
Also Offered:: Spring 2025
Fall 2022
Fall 2021

Course Catalog Description:

This course uses television shows to explore sociological perspectives on crime and punishment. We will critically examine how (and to what extent) four television series represent or distort prevailing knowledge about crime and punishment. prereq: recommended [1001 or 1011V, 1101 or 3101 or 3102]; Soph or above or instr consent; soc majors/minors must register A-F.

Class Notes:

Click this link for more detailed course information: http://classinfo.umn.edu/?page+SOC4106+Spring2025

Class Description:

This course uses television shows to explore sociological perspectives on crime and punishment. The premise of this class is that we can learn a great deal about lawbreaking and social control from watching (and analyzing) television shows. (It is also true that much television misrepresents the nature and consequences of crime and punishment.) We will critically examine how (and to what extent) several television series represent or distort prevailing knowledge about crime and punishment. Topics will include the social origins and functions of crime, causes and consequences of lawbreaking, policing, race and the war on drugs, mass imprisonment, the culture and social relations of prisons, prisoner re-entry, and reimagining justice. Featured shows include: Breaking Bad, The Wire, and Orange is the New Black (the exact line up is subject to change). Disclosure. The shows we will watch graphically depict poverty, sexuality, drug-use, and violence. Several of the shows include profanity and vulgar language. As such, students who may be offended or uncomfortable with such language and themes may not wish to take this course.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the course, you will:

1. be able to think critically about law, crime, punishment, justice, politics, and media.

2. have mastery of a significant body of knowledge about how criminal legal institutions work, how they reinforce or counter social inequalities, and alternative visions of justice;

3. have the ability to interpret and evaluate your own ideas and experiences related to law, crime, and justice within a broader sociological context.

Exam Format:

See "Grading"

Class Format:

30% Lecture
55% Discussion
15% Small Group Activities

Workload:

About 4 television episodes and 60 pages of reading per week.

Textbooks:

https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/64858/1253

Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:

7 April 2022

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2025 Sociology Classes

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