University Bulletin (2021-2022)

• Minor

Concepts of justice play a profound role in clarifying human needs for health and well-being. Such basic social problems as inequality, poverty, and discrimination pose a constant challenge to policies that serve the health and income needs of children, families, people with disabilities, and the elderly. The public response to such problems, in America and elsewhere, rests on contested definitions of social obligation and social citizenship. The program in social justice and social policy examines these essential connections between social values and practical policies. It unites elements in liberal arts study to bridge the analytic gap between ends and means. It also brings together an unusually broad spectrum of faculty and curriculum—combining the academic perspectives of arts and sciences departments with professional expertise from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Students are encouraged to explore policy areas in concrete detail, focused variously on particular groups (children, the elderly, people with disabilities) or particular services (health care, income support). Students can also select courses that deal thematically with problems of social equity (poverty, discrimination), as well as courses that approach social justice from historical, philosophical, and comparative perspectives. Key elements of the program include a foundation course, a capstone course, and a research-based internship in a social policy setting.

The concern with social justice speaks to the core educational commitments of Brandeis. This program does not seek to promote a particular ideological agenda, but rather to spark creative thinking about complex social problems. It carries the search for norms and principles into the wider arena of practical experience. By providing models for critical reflection, it challenges students to articulate their own value commitments in a spirit of constructive debate.

The Social Justice and Social Policy (SJSP) Program links the university's commitment to social justice with the academic curriculum. The program provides a common place for students in all disciplines to engage with issues of justice and equity. While many of the program’s courses offer a primary emphasis either on justice or policy concerns, SJSP strives to deepen understanding of the essential connections between social values and practical policy. Students are encouraged to select courses that approach social justice from historical, philosophical, legal, and comparative perspectives, as well as to explore policy areas in concrete detail. The program provides students with the flexibility to focus on a range of issues and arenas, including civil rights, domestic violence, environmental justice, health inequities, ethnic and religious conflict, slavery, and core questions of democracy, citizenship and disobedience. Key elements of the program include a foundational course and a research-based internship in an academic or social policy setting.

Social justice concerns speak to the core educational commitments of Brandeis. This program does not seek to promote a particular ideological agenda, but rather to spark creative thinking about complex social problems. It carries the search for norms and principles into the wider arena of practical experience. By providing models for critical reflection, it challenges students to articulate their own value commitments in a spirit of constructive debate.

Knowledge

Students completing the minor in SJSP will understand how to:

1. Rigorously engage with core questions of liberty, equality, and justice
2. Recognize and locate major philosophical, legal, and analytic conceptions of liberty, equality, and justice
3. Relate frameworks from multiple disciplines to pressing social, economic, philosophical, legal, and political issues and policies
4. Identify how policy approaches are shaped by and bear upon racial, gender, ethnic, religious, cultural, and political difference
5. Locate and classify the points of intersection between social values and practical policies

Core Skills

As an interdisciplinary program, the SJSP minor encourages students to explore varied perspectives on the intersection of values and action. As students take courses in the various disciplines, they are exposed to diverse methods of inquiry. SJSP minors from Brandeis will be well prepared to:

1. Creatively compare and assess foundational philosophical, theoretical, and analytic conceptions of justice
2. Interrogate the historical, structural, and cultural contexts that shape the dynamics of discrimination and inequality in a range of institutions
3. Clearly communicate theories, analyses, and policy solutions, both orally and in writing
4. Apply generalized principles to a range of real-world issues and settings
5. Deploy analytic frameworks and tools to develop effective policy approaches to specific social problems
6. Adeptly consider and respond to objections to proposed policy solutions
7. Collaborate with local agencies and communities to develop policy strategies that address pressing issues

The program in social justice and social policy (SJSP) is open to all Brandeis undergraduates who enter Brandeis prior to June 1, 2022.  Students may begin the minor at any time, but are encouraged to complete the foundation course within the first two years of study. To enroll in the minor, students must fill out the declaration forms from the Office of the University Registrar and meet first with one of the members of the program committee. A minor adviser will then be assigned by the director to help plan a course of study, including the timing of the internship/independent research and capstone requirements. Students who enter Brandeis after June 1, 2022 will not be admitted.

Melissa Stimell, Chair
(Legal Studies)

Richard Gaskins 
(American Studies; Legal Studies)

Laura Goldin
(Environmental Studies)

Andreas Teuber
(Philosophy)

Derron Wallace
(Education Studies)

Affiliated Faculty (contributing to the curriculum, advising and administration of the department or program)
Richard Gaskins (American Studies)
Laura Goldin (American Studies)
Thomas Shapiro (Heller)
Melissa Stimell (Legal Studies)
Michael Strand (Sociology)
Andreas Teuber (Philosophy)
Gowri Vijayakumar (Sociology)
Derron Wallace (Education Studies)

1. A core course: SOC 155b (Social Movements and the Political Process). This course is strongly recommended as an introduction to the program, and normally should be taken within the first two years of study. However, the core course is not a formal prerequisite for other courses in the program.

2. Students must complete any four elective courses from those listed below. Electives are grouped into topical fields, but students may choose courses from any group. No more than two electives from the Heller School or from any single department may be counted toward minor elective requirement.

3. Either (1) an internship approved by the Chair of SJSP and the successful completion of a related 89 seminar; or (2) successful completion of IGS/LGLS 185b (Brandeis summer program in The Hague), LGLS 161b (Advocacy for Policy Change), SJSP 103b (Social Policy: Frameworks and Analysis), an applied research methods course, or WMGS 89a (When Violence Hits Home). For option (1) above, the internship experience and the internship seminar combined count as one academic course.

4. No course taken pass/fail may count toward the program requirements.

5. No grade below a C- will be given credit toward the minor.

SJSP 89a Social Justice, Social Policy Internship
To obtain an internship for the fall term, students should discuss their placements with the SJSP internship supervisor.
Supervised internship in a social justice, social service, social policy, or social research organization. Students will meet as a group and will complete research assignments. Usually offered every year in the fall semester.
Melissa Stimell

SJSP 98b Social Justice and Social Policy Independent Research
Prerequisite: SOC 123b or permission of the program director.
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.
Staff

SJSP 103b Social Policy: Frameworks and Analysis
[ ss wi ]
Provides and introduction to social policy, frameworks and analysis, and criteria for evaluation policy options. Topics include quantitative and qualitative techniques for policy analysis and contemporary social problems: poverty, aging, disability, health care, early childhood development, and housing. Provides experience using policy frameworks and analysis techniques to think about social problems, analyze policies intended to address them, and suggest alternatives. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

SOC 155b Protest, Politics, and Change: Social Movements
[ deis-us ss ]
Introduces major sociological theories about leadership, political context, culture, and identities in social movements in transnational perspective. Examines historical and contemporary cases of social movements through the lenses of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Usually offered every second year.
Gowri Vijayakumar

LGLS 161b Advocacy for Policy Change
[ oc ss wi ]
This hands-on course invites students to address concrete social problems through public policy reform. It provides background in theories, advocacy skills, networks, and key players that drive the legislative process. Focusing on policy change at the statehouse level, students engage with elected officials and community organizations to advance key legislation affecting social welfare, health, education, and economic justice. Usually offered every year.
Melissa Stimell

SJSP 89a Social Justice, Social Policy Internship
To obtain an internship for the fall term, students should discuss their placements with the SJSP internship supervisor.
Supervised internship in a social justice, social service, social policy, or social research organization. Students will meet as a group and will complete research assignments. Usually offered every year in the fall semester.
Melissa Stimell

SJSP 103b Social Policy: Frameworks and Analysis
[ ss wi ]
Provides and introduction to social policy, frameworks and analysis, and criteria for evaluation policy options. Topics include quantitative and qualitative techniques for policy analysis and contemporary social problems: poverty, aging, disability, health care, early childhood development, and housing. Provides experience using policy frameworks and analysis techniques to think about social problems, analyze policies intended to address them, and suggest alternatives. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

SOC 82a Applied Research Methods
[ dl qr ss ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took SOC 182a in prior years.
Provides an introduction to research methods and quantitative analysis commonly used in sociology. Using quantitative data, the class explores how higher education reflects the social stratification found in U.S. society. Participants will read peer-reviewed journal articles; design their own survey and analyze the results; and conduct analysis on a national data set focused on education. The course assumes no prior knowledge of research methods, but it does assume a curiosity about why we conduct research, how research studies are designed, and a willingness to analyze the results of different research studies. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

SOC 140a Investigating the Past: Historical Methods in Sociology
[ dl ss ]
Examines the ways historical questions are posed and answered within sociology. Using the case of U.S. history, it evaluates sources of evidence from the federal government, land maps, Native American accounts, African American oral histories, written documents and personal narratives. Usually offered every third year.
Karen V. Hansen

WGS 89a When Violence Hits Home: Internship in Domestic Violence
Combines fieldwork in domestic and sexual violence prevention programs with a fortnightly seminar exploring cultural and interpersonal facets of violence from a feminist perspective. Topics include theories, causes and prevention of rape, battering, child abuse, and animal abuse. Internships provide practical experience in local organizations such as rape crisis, battered women's violence prevention, and child abuse prevention programs. Usually offered every fall.
Deirdre Hunter

AAAS 158a Theories of Development and Underdevelopment
[ nw ss wi ]
Humankind has for some time now possessed the scientific and technological means to combat the scourge of poverty. The purpose of this seminar is to acquaint students with contending theories of development and underdevelopment, emphasizing the open and contested nature of the process involved and of the field of study itself. Among the topics to be studied are modernization theory, the challenge to modernization posed by dependency and world systems theories, and more recent approaches centered on the concepts of basic needs and of sustainable development. Usually offered every second year.
Wellington Nyangoni

AMST 60a The Legal Boundaries of Public and Private Life
[ ss ]
Examine civil liberties through landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases. Explores confrontations between public interest and personal rights across four episodes in American cultural history; post-Civil War race relations; progressive-era economic regulation; war-time free-speech debates; and current issues of sexual and reproductive privacy. Close legal analysis supplemented by politics, philosophy, and social history. Usually offered every second year.
Daniel Breen

BUS 10a Business Fundamentals
[ dl ss ]
Prerequisite: BUS 6a. BUS 6a may be taken concurrently with BUS 10a.
Introduces the internal complexity of modern businesses and the various roles they play in society. First examines the internal workings of firms--marketing, operations, finance, and other functions. Subsequently, the relationships between businesses and their context--the economy, social issues, and government are studied. Usually offered every semester in multiple sections.
Ed Bayone, Sharon Thomas, and Philippe Wells

COML/ENG 70b Environmental Film, Environmental Justice
[ djw hum ]
Examines films that address nature, environmental crisis, and green activism. Asks how world cinema can best advance the goals of social and environmental justice. Includes films by major directors and festival award winners. Usually offered every third year.
Caren Irr

HS 110a Wealth and Poverty
[ ss ]
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 this trend, and how the widening disparity affects major issues of public policy. Usually offered every year.
Tom Shapiro

LGLS 130a Conflict Analysis and Intervention
[ oc ss ]
Examines alternatives to litigation, including negotiation and mediation. Through simulations and court observations, students assess their own attitudes about and skills in conflict resolution. Analyzes underlying theories in criminal justice system, divorce, adoption, and international arena. Usually offered every second year.
Melissa Stimell

LGLS 130aj Conflict Analysis and Intervention
[ oc ss ]
This hands-on course invites students to address social problems in immigration policy and practice through public policy reform, community organizing and legal representation. It provides background in the theories, advocacy skills, networks, movements and measures of institutional change that comprise social change practice. Students explore conflict resolution in the context of social justice advocacy, including litigation, community organizing, political advocacy, international institutions, negotiation, peace-making and mediation. Through simulations, court and community group observations, guided representation of immigrants and work with immigration advocacy groups, students assess their own attitudes and skills in conflict resolution, as well as the processes by which conflict resolution institutions and roles help construct the communities of which they are a part. We will analyze underlying theories of conflict and advocacy in domestic immigration and international arenas, as well as the relative efficacy of various modes for social change, such as big case litigation, coordinated ground-level litigation, cultural change approaches, peacemaking, grassroots organizing, direct action, political advocacy (lobbying) and business and other institution-building strategies. Offered as part of the JBS program.
Douglas Smith

PHIL 111a What Is Justice?
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or political theory.
This course is a survey of important claims, theories, and arguments about justice in the Western philosophical tradition. Questions we will discuss include: What is justice (and injustice)? What makes someone a just person? What makes for a just society, and a just government in particular? How does justice interact with other things we care about, like equality, liberty, and personal relationships? What does justice require of us in how we treat people from different social groups? We will address these questions through interrogating both classic and contemporary philosophical texts. Usually offered every second year.
Marion Smiley

PHIL 116b Politics and Markets
[ hum ]
What legal limits, if any, should a state impose on the market exchange of particular goods and services? Are there some things that money should not buy? How about "babies for sale?” or “kidneys for cash?" Why not permit the sale of one's place in prison or allow citizens to sell their votes to the highest bidder? Would that not be more efficient? The course will look closely at the distribution of particular goods and services as they are embedded in actual, concrete cases where arguments have been made for publicly limiting private exchanges between consenting adults. It is after “big game,” aiming to discover a set of principles that mark a line between what’s public, what’s private, between goods and services that should be free from public prohibition, oversight, regulation or control and those that should not be allowed to be bought and sold privately on the open market. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

PHIL 126a What Does it Mean to be a Global Citizen?
[ hum wi ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took PHIL 20a in prior years.
Focuses on the relation of the individual to the state and, in particular, on the theory and practice of nonviolent 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, and disobedience in China and Northern Ireland and at abortion clinics. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

POL 10a Introduction to Political Theory
[ ss ]
Open to first-year students.
Examination of classical political texts and modern writings for insights on central problems of political discourse, such as power and authority, human nature, freedom, obligation, justice, and the organization of the state. Usually offered every year.
Bernard Yack or Jeffrey Lenowitz

POL 15a Introduction to International Relations
[ ss ]
Open to first-year students.
General introduction to international politics, emphasizing the essential characteristics of the international system as a basis for understanding the foreign policy of individual countries. Analysis of causes of war, conditions of peace, patterns of influence, the nature of the world's political economy, global environmental issues, human rights, and prospects for international organizations. Open to first-year students. Usually offered every semester.
Kerry Chase

SJSP 103b Social Policy: Frameworks and Analysis
[ ss wi ]
Provides and introduction to social policy, frameworks and analysis, and criteria for evaluation policy options. Topics include quantitative and qualitative techniques for policy analysis and contemporary social problems: poverty, aging, disability, health care, early childhood development, and housing. Provides experience using policy frameworks and analysis techniques to think about social problems, analyze policies intended to address them, and suggest alternatives. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

SOC 124a Gender, Sexuality, and Globalization
[ djw ss ]
Introduces theories of gender, sexuality, and transnational feminism. Uses sociological research to examine labor, social movements, politics, and culture in global perspective, emphasizing Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Usually offered every second year.
Gowri Vijayakumar

WGS 171a Transgender Studies
[ deis-us ss ]
Introduces students to key terms and debate in the field of transgender studies, while critically interrogating how ideologies of race, class, gender, and sexuality have informed the category's rapid institutionalization. Usually offered every year.
V Varun Chaudhry

AAAS 156a #BlackLivesMatter
[ deis-us ss ]
Explores the evolution of the modern African American civil rights movement through historical readings, primary documents, films and social media. Assesses the legacy and consequences of the movement for contemporary struggles for black equality. Usually offered every second year.
Chad Williams

ANTH 156a Power and Violence: The Anthropology of Political Systems
[ deis-us dl nw ss ]
Political orders are established and maintained by varying combinations of overt violence and the more subtle workings of ideas. The course examines the relationship of coercion and consensus, and forms of resistance, in historical and contemporary settings. Usually offered every second year.
Elizabeth Ferry

CAST 125a Confronting Gender-Based Violence
[ ca deis-us djw ]
Engaging with multiple forms of creative expression and several different social change frameworks as they address and counter various aspects of gender-based violence in discrete cultural and historical contexts, this course explores gender-based violence as a grave violation of human rights, and the creative, innovative and meaningful methods through which particular communities and individuals counter such violation, including as it intersects with race and socioeconomic status. These methods might range from art installations in galleries or public spaces to formal theatrical productions, from the choreography of street protests to graffiti, films, pop-up concerts and podcasts, many involving survivors of gender-based violence in the creative process. We’ll focus in particular on the experiences of those who identify as women, have been assigned to or perceived of as members of that category, or who identity and present as femme. Usually offered every third year.
Toni Shapiro-Phim

HS 528f Law and Social Justice: Constructions of Race and Ethnicity and Their Consequences
Meets for one-half semester and yields one-half course credit.
Explores race in American society from the framework of civil rights law. Using the case method, it attempts to facilitate a multicultural inquiry into antidiscrimination law by presenting civil rights issues as integrated social problems. Though the cases are organized around the traditional civil rights categories of education and housing, it also offers exploration of emerging areas such as the rights of language minorities and people with disabilities. Usually offered every year.
Anita Hill

LGLS 133b Criminal Law: Liberty and Justice For All?
[ ss ]
Far from the typical lecture-based experience, this course will be conducted more like a series of hands-on workshops designed to have students learn criminal law by actively doing as opposed to passively listening. Students will have fun while building a practical understanding of how the legal system actually works. Usually offered every year.
Aaron Bray

SOC 1a Order and Change in Society
[ ss ]
An introduction to the sociological perspective, with an emphasis on an analysis of problems of social order and change. Topics include gender, work and family, poverty and inequality, race and ethnicity, democracy, social movements, community, and education. Usually offered every year.
Wendy Cadge, Sarah Mayorga, or Michael Strand

SOC 112b Social Class and Social Change
[ ss ]
Presents the role of social class in determining life chances, lifestyles, income, occupation, and power; theories of class, inequality, and globalization; selected social psychological aspects of social class and inequality; and connections of class, race, and gender. Usually offered every second year.
Gordon Fellman

SOC 113b Sociology of Race and Racism
[ deis-us ss ]
Provides an introduction to the study of race and racism and focuses on specific socio-historical issues surrounding racial inequality in the United States. A variety of media to examine topics such as the institutionalization of white privilege, the social construction of "otherness", racial formation processes, and racial segregation are used" Usually offered every third year.
Sarah Mayorga or Derron Wallace

SOC 138a Sociology of Race, Gender, and Class
[ deis-us oc ss ]
Examines race, class and gender as critical dimensions of social difference that organize social systems. Uses a variety of media to analyze how race, class and gender as axes of identity and inequality (re)create forms of domination and subordination in schools, labor markets, families, and the criminal justice system. Usually offered every third year. Usually offered every third year.
Derron Wallace

SOC 147a Sustainable and Resilient Cities
[ oc ss ]
Studies innovations in the U.S and around the world that enhance urban sustainability, healthy communities, environmental justice, climate resilience and adaptation. Grassroots sustainability and climate movements, as well as environmental, health, and urban planning practice are examined. May be combined with internships and action research. May be combined with internships and action research. Usually offered every year.
Staff

WGS 5a Women, Genders, and Sexualities
[ deis-us dl oc ss ]
This interdisciplinary course introduces central concepts and topics in the field of women's, gender, and sexuality studies. Explores the position of women and other genders in diverse settings and the impact of gender as a social, cultural, and intellectual category in the United States and around the globe. Asks how gendered institutions, behaviors, and representations have been configured in the past and function in the present, and also examines the ways in which gender and sexuality intersect with many other vectors of identity and circumstance in forming human affairs. Usually offered every fall.
ChaeRan Freeze, Sarah Lamb, or Harleen Singh

AAAS 80a Economy and Society in Africa
[ nw ss wi ]
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. Usually offered every third year.
Wellington Nyangoni

AMST 188b Louis Brandeis: Law, Business and Politics
[ ss ]
Brandeis's legal career serves as model and guide for exploring the ideals and anxieties of American legal culture throughout the twentieth century. Focuses on how legal values evolve in response to new technologies, corporate capitalism, and threats to personal liberty. Usually offered every second year.
Daniel Breen

AMST/MUS 39b Protest Through Song: Music that Shaped America
[ ca oc ss ]
Open to music majors and non-majors. Does not fulfill the Main Currents in American Studies requirement for the major.
Examines 20th and 21st century protest music to better understand the complex relationships between music and social movements. Through class discussions, reading, writing, and listening assignments, and a final performance students will discover how social, cultural, and economic protest songs helped shape American culture. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 181b Red Flags/Black Flags: Marxism vs. Anarchism, 1845-1968
[ ss ]
From Marx's first major book in 1845 to the French upheavals of 1968, the history of left-wing politics and ideas. The struggles between Marxist orthodoxy and anarchist-inspired, left Marxist alternatives. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

HUM/UWS 2a Crime and Punishment: Justice and Criminality from Plato to Serial
[ hum uws ]
Enrollment limited to Humanities Fellows. Formerly offered as COML/HOI 103a.
Examines concepts of criminality, justice, and punishment in Western humanist traditions. We will trace conversations about jurisprudence in literature, philosophy, political theory, and legal studies. Topics include democracy and the origins of justice, narrating criminality, and the aesthetic force mobilized by criminal trials. This course also involves observing local courtroom proceedings and doing research in historical archives about significant criminal prosecutions. Usually offered every year.
Eugene Sheppard and David Sherman

WGS 6b Sexuality and Queer Studies
[ djw dl hum ss ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took SQS 6b in prior years.
Examines cross-cultural and historical perspectives on sexual meanings, experiences, representations, and activist movements within a framework forged by contemporary critical theories of gender and sexuality. Usually offered every year.
V Varun Chaudhry

WGS 105b Feminisms: History, Theory, and Practice
[ deis-us oc ss ]
Prerequisite: Students are encouraged, though not required, to take WGS 5a prior to enrolling in this course.
Examines diverse theories of sex and gender within a multicultural framework, considering historical changes in feminist thought, the theoretical underpinnings of various feminist practices, and the implications of diverse and often conflicting theories for both academic inquiry and social change. Usually offered every year.
ChaeRan Freeze, Keridwen Luis, or Faith Smith

AAAS 125b Caribbean Women and Globalization: Sexuality, Citizenship, Work
[ djw ss wi ]
Utilizing perspectives from sociology, anthropology, fiction, and music to examine the relationship between women's sexuality and conceptions of labor, citizenship, and sovereignty. The course considers these alongside conceptions of masculinity, contending feminisms, and the global perspective. Usually offered every second year.
Faith Smith

ANTH 144a The Anthropology of Gender
[ djw nw ss wi ]
Anthropology majors have priority for enrollment.
Examines gender constructs, sexuality, and cultural systems from a comparative perspective. Topics include the division of labor, rituals of masculinity and femininity, the vexing question of the universality of women's subordination, cross-cultural perspectives on same-sex sexualities and transsexuality, the impact of globalization on systems, and the history of feminist anthropology. Usually offered every year.
Anita Hannig, Sarah Lamb, Keridwen Luis, or Ellen Schattschneider

ANTH 158a Urban Worlds
[ dl oc ss ]
Explores some of the essential concepts of urban theory and conducts an in-depth study of urban experiences around the world. Topics include the city and marginality, urban modernity, gender and public space, gentrification, suburbanization, transgression, and urban nature. Case studies may be from cities such as Mumbai, Lagos, New York, Paris, Dubai, and Rio de Janeiro. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Anjaria

ECON 23a Latin American Economic Development
[ djw ss ]
Prerequisite: ECON 2a or ECON 10a.
Introductory survey of the economic, financial, and institutional forces that drive Latin American economic development. The course combines economic theory, empirical evidence, and a historical approach to develop students’ ability to analyze these forces. Topics include poverty and inequality, human capital, geographical determinants, institutions, debt crises and the macroeconomy. Usually offered every second year.
Oriana Montti

ECON 69a The Economics of Race and Gender
[ deis-us ss ]
Prerequisite: ECON 2a or 10a.
The role of race and gender in economic decision making. Mainstream and alternative economic explanations for discrimination, and analysis of the economic status of women and minorities. Discussion of specific public policies related to Elizabeth Brainerd

ED 158b Looking with the Learner: Practice and Inquiry
Does not satisfy a school distribution requirement--for education studies core course credit only. Lab fee: $40.
Links theory to practice in learning through the visual arts through three types of experiences: 1) looking at art; 2) museum-based interactions with students from Stanley Elementary School in Waltham; and 3) documenting our experiences as lookers, learners, and teachers. What can we learn about art, artists, ourselves, and young learners through the processes of looking at art? How can we best support students in their own encounters with art and learning? How can museums serve as a model for education in various settings? Usually offered every year.
Staff

ENG 52a Refugee Stories, Refugee Lives
[ hum nw ]
Examines the functions of storytelling in the refugee crisis. Its main objective is to further students' understanding of the political dimensions of storytelling. The course explores how reworking of reality enable people to question State and social structures. Usually offered every third year.
Emilie Diouf

ENG 151a Queer Studies
[ hum ]
Recommended preparation: An introductory course in gender/sexuality and/or a course in critical theory.
Historical, literary, and theoretical perspectives on the construction and performance of queer subjectivities. How do queer bodies and queer representations challenge heteronormativity? How might we imagine public spaces and queer citizenship? Usually offered every second year.
Thomas King

HISP 160a Culture/Media and Social Change in Latin America
[ djw fl hum nw wi ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
The central topic of this class is the role of the creative arts (creative writing, visual arts, music, film, performance) in their role as fostering political change in Latin America. We will examine key eras of 20th and 21st century cultural production in relation with shifting mass-media landscapes, from the revolutionary impetus of the early 20th century avant-gardes in literature and visual arts, popular music in the 1940s, documentary film during and the 1960s guerrillas, artistic resistance to the dictatorship, to the street art accompanying human rights and grass roots identity movements of the 2000s. Usually offered every second year.
Fernando Rosenberg

HIST 171b Latinos in the U.S.
[ ss ]
History of the different Latino groups in the United States from the nineteenth century when westward expansion incorporated Mexican populations through the twentieth century waves of migration from Latin America. Explores the diversity of Latino experiences including identity, work, community, race, gender, and political activism. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HSSP 192b Sociology of Disability
[ ss ]
In the latter half of the twentieth 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 disabilities are seen and unseen, and see themselves. Usually offered every year.
Steve Gulley

NEJS 148b Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Jews and Christians: Sources and Interpretations
[ hum ]
Introduction to the classical Jewish and Christian sources on same-sex love and on gender ambiguity and to a variety of current interpretations of them, to the evidence for same-sex love and gender fluidity among Jews and Christians through the centuries, and to current religious and public policy debates about same-sex love and gender identity and expression. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

BIOL 17b Conservation Biology
[ sn ]
Considers the current worldwide loss of biological diversity, causes of this loss, and methods for protecting and conserving biodiversity. Explores biological and social aspects of the problems and their solutions. Usually offered every year.
Colleen Hitchcock

CAST 180a Creative Approaches to Conflict Transformation and Sustainable Development
[ ca djw ]
Explores creative approaches to contemporary complex challenges, focusing on conflict transformation and sustainable development. The course introduces theories of complexity, and considers how modes of understanding and engaging through arts and culture cultivate the capacities required to constructively address complex challenges. Through the course, students will consider key concepts, review and assess case studies, collaboratively design and advocate for initiatives. Students will engage with members of a global community of inquiry making the case for arts- and culture-based approaches to complex contemporary challenges. Usually offered every year.
Cynthia E. Cohen

ECON 57a Environmental Economics
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: ECON 2a or 10a.
Investigates the theoretical and policy problems posed by the use of renewable and nonrenewable resources. Theoretical topics include the optimal pricing of resources, the optimal use of standards and taxes to correct pollution problems under uncertainty, and the measurement of costs and benefits. Usually offered every year.
Linda Bui and James Ji

ED 155b Education and Social Policy
[ oc ss wi ]
Examines the various functions that 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. Usually offered every second year.
Leah Gordon

ED 170a Race, Power, and Urban Education
[ deis-us oc ss wi ]
Examines the nature of urban schools, their links to the social and political context, and the perspectives of the people who inhabit them. Explores the historical development of urban schools; the social, economic, and personal hardships facing urban students; and challenges of urban school reform. Usually offered every year.
Derron Wallace

ENVS 18b Global Sustainability and Biodiversity Conservation
[ ss ]
Studies the development of international environmental law and policy through a historical lens. Examines how early diplomatic initiatives have--and importantly, have not--shaped the contemporary structure of international environmental relations. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Chester

HS 104b American Health Care
[ ss ]
Examines and critically analyzes the United States healthcare 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. Usually offered every year.
Stuart Altman

HS 143a Social Justice and Philanthropy
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.
Examines the role of philanthropy in American society including individual, institutional, and societal-level factors that affect philanthropic efforts to create social change and the relationship between social justice and philanthropy. Students explore philanthropy from both theoretical and practical perspectives using an academic framework grounded in sociological theory and a semester-long experiential learning exercise in real-dollar grantmaking. Usually offered every year.
Staff

LGLS 114a American Health Care: Law and Policy
[ ss ]
Closed to first-year students.
Focuses on individual rights, highlights how our laws and policies affect American health care. Traces the evolution of the doctor-patient relationship; explores access issues, including whether health care is or should be a fundamental right; assesses the quality of care and the impact of malpractice; and examines the cost of having (or not having) adequate health insurance. Concludes with options and prospects for meaningful reform. Usually offered every year.
Sarah Curi

LGLS 114aj American Health Care: Reform
[ ss ]
Nine years after the historic passage of the ACA, the United States and our health care system are at a crossroads. While the ACA seems to have weathered most of the significant implementation challenges, even its most ardent supporters acknowledge that the law provides only a partial fix for our nation's health care system. While access should improve appreciably, particularly for those who are currently uninsured, many will still remain without access to needed care. Moreover, among advanced nations our costs are the highest by far and the quality of our care is no better than that found in these less costly nations. We will explore the ACA, the events leading up to its passage, the policies the law was designed to further, its impacts so far--and the potential repeal and replace efforts. Offered as part of the JBS program.
Alice Noble

LGLS 124b Comparative Law and Development
[ nw ss ]
Surveys legal systems across the world with special application to countries in the process of political, social, or economic transition. Examines constitutional and rule-of-law principles in the context of developing global networks. Usually offered every second year.
Daniel Breen

LGLS 129a Global Justice and Societies in Transition
[ djw ss ]
Introduces transitional justice, a set of practices that arise following a period of conflict that aim directly at confronting past violations of human rights. This course will focus on criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, and the contributions of art and culture. Usually offered every second year.
Melissa Stimell

LGLS 131b Patient Autonomy: Law, Medicine, and Ethics
[ ss ]
Focuses on patient rights, examines how health care decisions are made, and by whom. Explores a range of current issues in the field of biomedical ethics, including the legal and ethical aspects of the physician-patient relationship, the doctrine of informed consent, medical futility, assisted reproduction, physician-assisted suicide, personhood, the right-to-die, clinical research, and emerging technologies. Analyzes hard and often tragic choices involving life, quality of life, and death. Assesses the ability of the legal system to set standards and resolve conflict. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

LGLS 131bj Patient Autonomy: Law, Medicine and Ethics
[ ss ]
At the heart of our evolving health care system are the doctor and the patient. Related to the doctor-patient relationship are often complex issues related to patient autonomy, life and death treatment decisions, and the cost of and access to care. They implicate questions of justice and the just distribution of care, a key goal of health care reform. We will explore ethical, legal, and social issues (including end-of-life-decision making, physician assisted suicide, procreative liberty, cloning, and genetic therapies) from the micro level of patient care at the patient's bedside to the macro issues of the health care system in which patient care is delivered and financed. Offered as part of the JBS program.
Sarah Curi

LGLS 132b Environmental Law and Policy
[ oc ss wi ]
Provides students with an understanding of complex environmental issues from a policy perspective. We begin by considering the broad origins of environmentalism in the U.S and then focus on federal and some state and international treaties and policies. We’ll survey major environmental laws, environmental justice, risk and recent cross-cutting issues. Finally, we’ll discuss current environmental issues ripped from the headlines, like fracking, lead in drinking water as in Flint, Michigan, and the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

POL 108a Seminar: The Police and Social Movements in American Politics
[ deis-us ss wi ]
Analyses American mass political movements, their interaction with police, and their influences on American politics. Topics include the relationship between social movements and various political institutions. Explore various theories with case studies of specific political movements. Usually offered every third year.
Daniel Kryder

SOC 84a Health, Community, and Society
[ ss ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took SOC 191a in prior years.
Reviews sociological theories of medicine as an institution of social control. Explores the relationships between social inequalities and health disparities. Examines how race and gender ideologies are embedded in medical and public health practice and knowledge production. Usually offered every year.
Siri Suh

SOC 104a Sociology of Education
[ deis-us ss wi ]
Examines the role of education in society, including pedagogy, school systems, teacher organizations, parental involvement, community contexts, as well as issues of class, race, and gender. Usually offered every year.
Derron Wallace

SOC 175b Environmental Movements: Organizations, Networks, and Partnerships
[ ss ]
Studies environmental movement organizations and field strategies, national advocacy organizations, as well as community-based and civic approaches to environmental problem solving. Case studies draw from sustainable and climate resilient cities, watersheds, coastal adaptation, forests, ecosystem restoration, environmental justice, renewable energy, and the greening of business. May be combined with internships and action research. Usually offered every year.
Staff