SOCIAL JUSTICE STUDIES

Catalog description

Introduction to Social Justice Studies is an interdisciplinary course introducing students to the history, psychology and sociology of racial, ethnic, class, gender and sexual oppression in the United States and the history, strategy and structure of movements for social justice and liberation. It will explore the major theories of race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality as they are linked to social structures and institutional processes. Specific examples of persecution, segregation, and asymmetric power relations will be drawn from the testimony of the oppressed throughout American history - in art, film, literature and music. The practices of oppression and resistance in the United States will be compared and contrasted to the experiences of other nations and cultures.