Culture, Inequality and Inclusion in the United States and Beyond

SOCIOL 1190 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

In the United States and beyond, various groups are making irreconcilable claims for greater recognition on the left and on the right.  Against this background, how can we fashion more inclusive societies in a neoliberal context of growing inequality? How can we understand claims for dignity by those experiencing different types of insecurity and/or stigmatization? These questions will be explored through topics such as:  1) the role of dignity in relation to individual and collective well-being; 2) how people find hope in narratives when the future is especially uncertain; 3) how Gen Zs are dealing with the decline of upward mobility by embracing specific narratives; 4) how people bolster their dignity through work, environmental justice and politics; 5) how class cultures are changing at the top and at the bottom of the social ladder; and 6) how social movements and other agents of change provide cultural alternatives in the increasingly hybrid public sphere.

We will look at the United States through comparative lenses to improve our understanding of the social and political world as we experience it today. Empirical cases will concern immigrant groups, indigenous people, LGBTQ+ communities, and professionals and workers in different national contexts and economic sectors.