SOC 385
The Foundations of American Society Fall 2013
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

An examination of the social, cultural, epistemological, and moral foundations of contemporary American society. This seminar will pay special attention to the: economic and social consequences of the de-industrialization and concomitant globalization of the American economy and America’s new debtor-nation status; social and cultural effects of ongoing massive immigration, legal and illegal; increasing bureaucratization of every sphere of life, especially the growth of the leviathan state apparatus; proliferation of claims on public and private bureaucracies fueled by adroit and competing advocacy; clashes between the manifold cultural frameworks that give meaning to personal experiences; institutionalization of adversary political cultures, on both the left and right; entrenchment of centrifugal ideologies of multiculturalism and diversity; polarization of our elites and stalemating of America’s political system; and the remarkable multiplicity of moral codes that often conflict with presumably common laws. In all, the course addresses a crucial question: who are we now as a nation? It proceeds entirely through discussion and student presentations of lively contemporary materials. Students are expected to have read certain classical sociological and political texts before the class begins.