Course Descriptions
Core Courses
Electives
- Aging and Disability Policy
- Democracy and Social Justice
- Dynamics of Discrimination and Inequality
- Family and Child Policy
- Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Social Justice
Core Courses
1) SOC 123b
Crisis of the Welfare State
The basic programs of the "welfare state" are being challenged everywhere. Can societies such as ours support extensive public pension programs, health care, and income support for the poor and unemployed? This fundamental question is discussed with reference to contemporary American society.
2) An additional capstone course which must be approved by the program director.
Electives
Aging and Disability Policy
HS 124a
Dilemmas of Long-Term Care Fifty million Americans have a disability. What kinds of help do they want? What are the responsibilities of families, friends, and communities to help? Current U.S. approaches to service delivery, financing, and organization are reviewed, and alternatives considered. Usually offered every second year.
HS 524a
Long Term Care
One of the most important health policy issues facing the nation is how to finance and provide long-term care for persons with chronic illness and disabilities. Uses historical and political economy frameworks to analyze the origins of current long-term care policies and programs. Primary focus will be on the aged, but other populations with disabilities will be considered.
HSSP 192b
Sociology of Disability
May not be repeated for credit by students who have taken SOC 192b in previous years. In the latter half of the 20th century, disability has emerged as an important social-political-economic-medical issue, with its own distinct history, characterized as a shift from "good will to civil rights." Traces that history and the way people with disability are seen and unseen, and see themselves. Usually offered every third year.
SOC 177b
Aging in Society
Explores the social context of old age by using sociological theory, empirical research, and literature. Examines such topics as aging in residential settings, the aging experience of minority groups, health and illness, the economics of aging, gender, work, and retirement. Also examines the definition of old age in other societies in order to understand the contemporary Western response to aging. Contains a field research component.
Democracy and Social Justice
ED155b
Education and Social Policy
Examines the various functions schools perform in a community, with special attention to the intended and unintended consequences of contemporary policies such as special education, desegregation, charter schools, and the standards/accountability movement.
HIST163a
Socialism and Communism in American History
Examines the aspirations, achievements, and failings of radicals who articulated a socialist or communist vision for the United States. Readingss will focus on the life stories of radicals at the turn of the 20th century, the 1930s and the 1960s.
HS 300a
Social Context of Policy Issues
Serves as a foundation for the "Work, Inequality, and Social Change" specialization, but is open to all Heller students. Develops theoretical perspectives on social policy, social values, and social change, and a framework for analyzing and developing social policies. Identifies major institutional systems present in any society, which are the variables of social policy and societal change practice.
PHIL 20a
Democracy and Disobedience
Focuses on the relation of the individual to the state and, in particular, on the theory and practice of non-violent resistance, its aims, methods, achievements, and legitimacy. Examines the nature of obligation and the role of civil disobedience in a democratic society. Explores the conflict between authority and autonomy and the grounds for giving one's allegiance to any state at all. Examples include opposition to the nuclear arms race, disobedience in China and Northern Ireland and at abortion clinics.
POL 154a
Citizenship
Liberal theory presumes the progress of history to be, in the words of John Stuart Mill, a gradual "doing away with privilege." The course examines the frontiers of social and political justice through readings drawn from literature, political science, and history.
Dynamics of Discrimination and Inequality
ECON56b
Social Priorities and the Market
Examines the strengths and limitations of free markets in promoting major social goals: efficiency, equity, and technological advance.
HS 110a
Paradox of Wealth and Poverty
Examines why the gap between richer and poorer citizens appears to be widening in the United States and elsewhere, what could be done to reverse these trends, and how the widening disparities affect major issues of public policy.
HS 528a
Law and Society: Race and Class
Explores how race has been defined by law and used to
uphold or undermine the principles espoused in the constitution and other
sources of law in the United States. Issues discussed range from treatment
of American Indians at the nation's birth to the modern concept of affirmative
action. Examines the significance of race in our society and explores
the potential for connection between the findings of the President's Council
and existing or potential law and policy. Explores racial inequality as
an integrated social problem.
LGLS120a
Sex Discrimination
Traces the evolution of women's rights in the family, in employment, and in the reproductive process, as well as constitutional doctrines. Examines gender inequalities and assesses if and how the law should address them. Legal cases studied emphasize how law reflects society.
LGLS 121b
Law and Social Welfare
The U.S. welfare system has changed dramatically. Examines
the legal implications of recent debates and changes in social welfare
policy at federal and state levels. Concentrating on welfare reform, child
welfare, and disability welfare, the class explores the lives of welfare
recipients, looks at history, examines statutes and legal cases to challenge
assumptions of our social welfare policy and tries to create better solutions.
Family and Child Policy
HS 544a
Children and Youth at Risk
Examines the status of and our response to the problems
of children and youth who are at-risk of not becoming self-sufficient
as young adults. Examines topical issues from a variety of perspectives,
borrowing from recent literature on pre-school programs, education programs,
second chance job training programs, teen parenting programs, comprehensive
community change initiatives/community development, and anti-poverty initiatives.
SOC 104a
Sociology of Education
Examines the role of the institution of education as a
force for social change versus the idea that education's function is to
reinforce prevailing social conditions.
Health Care Policy
HS 104b
American Health Care
This course will examine and critically analyze the United
States health care system, emphasizing the major trends and issues that
have led to the current sense of "crisis." In addition to providing a
historical perspective, this course will establish a context for analyzing
the current, varied approaches to health care reform.
LGLS 114a
American Health Care: Law and Policy
Highlights issues of access, quality, and cost. Introduces
laws and regulations that affect every aspect of American health care
from planning and finance to patient treatment. Traces development of
Medicare and Medicaid. Discusses malpractice, "birth of the Blues," expansion
of HMOs, and influence of employer-purchased insurance on cost and delivery
of health care. Portrays the important role courts, Congress, and administrative
agencies play in organization and delivery of health services.
LGLS 131b
Autonomy and Self-Determination in Critical Health Care Decisions
Examines how decisions are made to treat critically ill patients. Ethical and philosophical aspects of the physician-patient relationship, the doctrine of informed consent, "medical futility," "physician-assisted suicide," and "right-to-die" cases will be explored. Usually offered every second year.
SOC 190b
Caring in the Health Care System
An analysis of the structural arrangements of medical
practice and medical settings, focusing on societal and professional responses
to illness.
SOC 191a
Health, Community, and Society
An exploration into interrelationships among society,
health, and disease, emphasizing the social causes and experience of illness.
Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Social Justice
AAAS 80a
Economy and Society in Africa
Perspectives on the interaction of economic and other
variables in African societies. Topics include the ethical and economic
bases of distributive justice, models of social theory, efficiency and
equality in law, the role of economic variables in the theory of history,
and world systems analysis.
AMST 188b
Justice Brandeis and Progressive Jurisprudence
Brandeis's legal career serves as model and guide for
exploring the ideals and anxieties of American legal culture across the
20th century. Focus on how legal values evolve in response to new technologies,
corporate capitalism, and threats to personal liberty.
LGLS 124b
International Law and Development
Surveys public and private forms of international law with special application to developing countries, and to political and social development in the global economy. Examines basic legal concepts of property, contract, and rule-of-law in the context of national and cultural transformations. Usually offered every second year.
PHIL 13b
The Idea of the Market: Economic Philosophies
Historical survey of philosophical assumptions in the defense and critique of market capitalism, starting from Adam Smith's views on value, self, and community. Explores philosophical alternatives in Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Dewey, and Nozick, including debates on justice and individualism. Usually offered every second year.
SOC 176a
Nature, Nurture, and Public Policy
This course examines the impact of heredity or genetic
theories of human problems on developing public policy, including the
viability and validity of theories and evidence. Historical and contemporary
cases such as gender, IQ, mental illness, and alcoholism are studied.
Internships and Independent Research
SJSP 89a Social Justice and Social Policy Internship and Seminar
Permission of instructor required. Signature of program administrator also required.
Biweekly seminar and supervised internship in a public agency or nonprofit organization. Time commitments depend on the site, up to a maximum of two days per week. In cooperation with the Brandeis faculty advisor and the internship site supervisor, students will complete an individual research project. Internships must be arranged through the instructor. Usually offered every year.
SJSP 98a and b Social Justice and Social Policy Independent Research
Permission of the instructor required. Signature of the program administrator also required.
Guided readings and research on an independent topic that builds upon and integrates the particular course work completed in the SJSP Program. Research may be directed by a member of the program committee, or by another faculty member with the approval of the program director. Usually offered every semester.