The focus is on both legal and illegal drugs, including the effects on mind and body embedded in particular social contexts. We examine how drug use became a social problem to be addressed by government intervention and explore some of the controversial issues related to American drug policy. This course examines some of the public problems Americans face today, as well as the tools we have for recognizing and attempting to solve them. The aim is to create knowledgeable, critical citizens capable of understanding and contributing to public debates. We examine the influence of social, political, economic, and cultural factors in generating and shaping social problems.
Special attention is paid to selected problems each semester.
Identical with V97.0511. This course examines the social nature of sexual expression and the variation in human sexuality. The course reviews past and contemporary theories of sexual variation in order to frame historical and topical questions about sexual behaviors, attitudes, and ideals. We consider the importance of race, class, and gender in shaping the way Western societies have understood and misunderstood sexuality as a physical, psychic, and cultural force.