This course examines the central tensions underlying race and ethnic relations in the United States. For more than sixty years, sociologists have been preoccupied with the study of intergroup relations, assimilation, and racial and ethnic conflict. Indeed these issues have grown more complex and nuanced as the United States becomes more racially and ethnically diverse. Our primary goal is to examine the social processes that facilitate or impede intergroup relations. We will devote attention to:
1.) theoretical debates in the conceptualization and analysis of race and ethnicity
2.) developing an historical understanding of the antecedents of society’s most pressing social problems
3.) analyzing how various racial and ethnic groups construct and use their social identity.