Sustained attention is given to processes of human, social, and cultural capital development, discrimination, workplace organization, and spatial inequality. This course focuses on the theories which explain the development, maintenance and changes in gender stratification. We address gender as a social structure, its historical roots, contemporary patterns in both personal and public spheres, and the possibilities for change in feminist directions. This class focuses on the nature of racism, discrimination, prejudice, racial conflict, and racial oppression in American society. Special emphasis will be given to the relationship between race and social class.
Race is one of the most important organizing principles in our society.
Therefore, it is essential that graduate student in sociology be exposed to theories and perspectives that shed light on race, racial inequality in particular. To this end, this class will explore the diverse theoretical perspectives and sociological research on race. This course draws primarily on ethnographic research to examine how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by, and serve to reproduce or challenge, various kinds of inequalities. The premise of the course is that inequalities are created and maintained by the actions of hinking and feeling human beings, and therefore it is impossible to understand the existence or persistence of inequality without taking the actor, interpretation, and interaction into account. Barbara J. Risman is Professor of Sociology at NCSU and Director of the Graduate Program in the Women's and Gender Studies Program.