SOC 290 - Special Topics in Sociology

Credits: 3 in Fall or Winter, 4 in Spring
Planned Offering: Offered when interest is expressed and departmental resources permit.

Spring 2014 Topics:

SOC 290-01: Health and lnequality: An Introduction to Medical Sociology (4). An underlying premise of the class is that social factors, not just biological ones, influence health outcomes. We focus on how everyday environments affect health–both through macro-level institutions, such as how the shape of our health-care system impacts the delivery of care, to micro-level interactions, such as how doctor-patient relations vary with socioeconomic status, gender, and race-ethnicity. Questions we address include: How is the medical profession changing? What are the pros and cons of market-driven medicine? Does class have an enduring impact on health outcomes? Students should be willing to engage in sociological analysis and critical thinking about the social construction of inequalities in disease, health, and medicine. (SS4) Chin. Spring 2014 and alternate years

SOC 290-02: Contemporary Polish Politics, Society, and Culture (4). Spring Term Abroad. This topical seminar focuses on an interdisciplinary examination of the Polish society through formal study and direct exposure to its people and culture. It covers social, political, and economic issues related to the transition away from Communism that Poland and other Central European countries have been undergoing over the course of the past 20-plus years. Those issues are examined in a broader historical and cultural context The chief educational objective of the course is demonstrate to American students that the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness can be achieved (1) despite major historical, cultural, and geopolitical adversities, and (2) within a framework of political, social. and economic institutions that are markedly different from those they have known in the United States. (SS4) Jasiewicz. Spring 2014