Introduction to Social Justice

Catalog description

Quests for justice and struggles against injustice have shaped human understanding, behavior and relationships for centuries. Individuals operate within community contexts created through interactions and relationships structured by sociability, belonging, and responsibility. Probing broad questions, this signature core course will encourage students to think critically and expansively about the social world and the conditions of humanity. The course will provide a foundational exploration of social justice concepts, issues, and remedies, thereby developing the necessary analytical tools and information to assess inequality and injustice and address historical and contemporary issues. Following an interdisciplinary, case-study approach, featuring faculty from different schools and departments at CWRU, this course also will provide students with multiple frameworks for understanding the interconnections between what are often perceived as disparate and disconnected fields of study and inquiry. Three primary questions guide the course: What is social justice? Why does social justice matter? What can be done? Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course.