Spring 2025

Analysis of race and the economic, political, gender, and social dimensions of contemporary Los Angeles including topics such as residential segregation, economic inequality, and city politics.

Examination of the constructions of American ethnicity/race in film.

Survey of the impact of public institutions, private interests and cultural practices on health and the delivery of health care.

Exploration of the major social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical disagreements that exist between scholars, leaders, and citizens concerning today's most serious environmental issues and problems. Not available for credit to environmental studies majors and minors.

U.S. motion pictures as both a response to and comment upon major events, problems, and themes in 20th century America.

A thematic approach to California history from precontact to present; focus on peoples, environment, economic, social, and cultural development, politics, and rise to global influence.

Historical background and responses to the Holocaust, withspecial emphasis on ethical implications.

Discourse patterns among diverse social groups in institutional and interpersonal settings; interrelationships among language practices and gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity; social structures and cultural values as reflected in language policies and practices.

The study of the nature and role of professionals in life and society, forces that shape and direct them, foundations and applications of professional ethics.

Interaction between law and politics; overview of the American legal system; value conflicts and public policy questions which arise within it.

The peculiarity of the "modern" Western family system in historical and cross-cultural perspective; focus on the "postmodern" family crisis in the United States.

Science and technology change society and how we understand ourselves. In turn, social struggles influence science. We will explore the interplay between these forces.

Sociological and demographic concepts focusing on the causes of disease, health and wellness. Empirical analysis of population composition and its connection to health.

The influence of sustainability science on public policy and vice versa in the context of social/ethical theories, analytical methods and solutions.