Spring 2023
Introduction to Sociology
Danilo Mandic PhD, Senior Associate Lecturer on Sociology, Harvard University
What is society? How can we understand it? What is the role of the individual in society and how does society affect individual lives? This course introduces students to the field of sociology. By surveying social theory as well as empirical studies, students acquire what C. Wright Mills calls the "sociological imagination:" the ability to think beyond our personal lives and to connect the experiences of individuals with large social structures. The course introduces students to classical theoretical traditions of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and George Simmel, as well as their contemporary theoretical heirs. Readings include prominent empirical investigations into family dynamics, class inequalities, organizations, the nation state, capitalism, democracy, and globalization. We examine common-sense assumptions about culture, politics, history, and psychology, and empower students to replace them with evidence-based reasoning. By emphasizing reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, this course helps students build the foundation for a deeper understanding of theory and methods in the social sciences.
Fall 2022
The Caribbean Crucible: Colonialism, Capitalism, and Post-Colonial Misdevelopment in the Region
Orlando Patterson PhD, John Cowles Professor of Sociology, Harvard University
Caribbean societies are largely the economic and political creations of Western imperial powers and are among the earliest products of globalization. Though in the West, they are only partly of it, and their popular cultures are highly original blends of African, European, and Asian forms. This course examines the area as a system emerging through genocide, piracy, plantation slavery, colonialism, and globalization, from a situation of great social and cultural diversity to the present tendency toward socioeconomic and cultural convergence. Patterns of underdevelopment and government are explored through national case studies (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti) and selected, region-wide modern issues (hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters; migration and transnationalism; crime and drug trafficking), as are cultural adaptations through studies of Afro-Caribbean religions, folkways, and music. America's special role in the region is emphasized.
Spring 2023
Fake News and Extremism: Propaganda and Fanatics in History and in the Present
Danilo Mandic PhD, Senior Associate Lecturer on Sociology, Harvard University - Vladimir Petrovic PhD, Core Curriculum Faculty, Boston University and Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade
Why do millions of people come to believe obvious lies? What motivates extremist violence? How can we convince a fanatic not to be fanatical? This course offers a social scientific overview of extremism and propaganda in human history and society. Using historical case studies and social scientific analyses, students become aware of major patters of how fanatical groups and movements emerge, how extremists come to power, to which ends extremists strive, what the role of propaganda in belief-formation and action is, and how violent means are justified. From medieval crusades and inquisition to contemporary terrorism and persecution, the course examines the extreme fringes of politics. It takes us from the horrors of crusades and early modern religious wars to ideological and ethnic violence, the Holocaust and post-cold war mass atrocities. Political violence in the name of race, religion, empire, class, or ethnicity and weaponization of these concepts is examined in historical and comparative perspective. Techniques of its legitimization are given particular attention, including discrimination, stereotyping, scapegoating, dehumanization, and the dissemination of fake news. As they reflect on the roots and causes of extremist politics, students are also asked to reexamine the assets and liabilities of contemporary media and democratic deficit in our world. The course concludes with historical lessons and policy recommendations aimed at breaking the cycle of extremism.
Fall 2022
Refugees: Forced Migration in Global Perspective
Danilo Mandic PhD, Senior Associate Lecturer on Sociology, Harvard University
What does it mean to lose your home? Who are refugees? Why are there so many forced migrants in our world? How are they displaced? Where do they travel, and why? This course inquires into the nature, causes, and consequences of contemporary refugee waves in our globalized world. Students survey regional dynamics in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. We examine the particularities of refugees (compared to other migrants) and the changing nature of forced migration since the second world war. Students explore historical precedents to contemporary waves, learn about different host society approaches to asylum, compare government and criminal mechanisms of forced migration, and examine the reasons refugees are the object of increasing suspicion and hostility around the world. Particular attention is paid to the recent European Union crisis, the role of refugee camps in the twenty-first century, and alternative strategies for global asylum management by bridge and destination countries.
Spring 2023
Human Trafficking, Slavery, and Abolition in the Modern World
Orlando Patterson PhD, John Cowles Professor of Sociology, Harvard University
We often think of slavery as being a dark chapter in our past, but this is a tragic oversimplification. What defines slavery in the modern world, and what are the moral, political, and social implications of its continued existence? As we explore its underpinnings, we discover that all of us may be in some way complicit in its survival. This course surveys the nature, types, and extent of modern servitude such as transnational and domestic prostitution, forced marriage, labor trafficking and forced domestic labor, child soldiering and other forms of enslavement of children, organ trafficking and other health aspects of trafficking, debt-bondage, and the forced exploitation of other vulnerable groups such as refugees and stateless persons. Throughout the course, but especially in the final part, we examine anti-trafficking and anti-slavery measures and movements and ways in which students can increase awareness or become involved. By the end of our exploration, students are able to trace the moral and ethical arguments surrounding human slavery in its various forms, understand the ways in which this problem still affects so many people, and what can and should be done about it.