SOC 232
Symbols and Society
Last Offered Spring 2016
Division II
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

Human beings, as Kenneth Burke put it, are “symbol-using, symbol-making, and symbol-misusing” animals. Indeed, among humans, symbols help to substitute for “instincts.” Symbols guide our actions, shape our emotions, and enable us to coordinate with others. Symbols may generate solidarity across wide spaces and among people who have never encountered one another face-to-face. They may also inflame conflicts and exaggerate distinctions, even promote violence. This course will examine the role of symbols and symbolism in modern society, exploring how words, gestures, images, and icons give shape and form to social life. The first part of the course will provide a broad introduction to the sociological study of symbols. The second part of the course will pay particular attention to the role that symbols play in politics and nationhood. How do symbols such as flags, anthems, values, ideals, monuments, and memorials promote solidarity and common identity across space and time? When and why do nations struggle over symbols, and what influence do these symbolic struggles have on collective life? What role do symbols play in war, conflict, and violence? Topics will include the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the 1995 Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian, the Holocaust Museum in D.C., the “Ground Zero cross,” and the recent debates over the Confederate flag in South Carolina and beyond. We will focus primarily on the U.S., but will also work to make comparisons.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 19
Expected: 15
Class#: 3389
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: active class participation, several response papers, a short midterm essay, and a final paper with class presentation
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: Anthropology and Sociology majors
Distributions: Division II

Class Grid

Updated 2:44 pm

Course Catalog Search


(searches Title and Course Description only)
TERM




SUBJECT
DIVISION



DISTRIBUTION



ENROLLMENT LIMIT
COURSE TYPE
Start Time
End Time
Day(s)