Social Sciences Department

Academics

American Studies	Education	Psychology
Anthropology	Family Resources	Social Science
Asian Studies	Geography	Sociology
Economics	Political Science	Women's Studies
International Studies Certificate

Featured Courses

SSCI 260 Social Science of Food and Nutrition

An interdisciplinary social science journey exploring issues from cannibalism to marketing of baby food and eating disorders to politics of genetic modification.

• Rice festivals and sacred cows. Traditions, customs, rituals and ideologies based on food.
• Famine - understanding the complex economic and political roots of food shortage and hunger.
• Sushi in New York, curry in London. How globalization of food affects our diet and perspective.

Read the Syllabus to learn more

ECON 131 Principles of Economics (Macroeconomics)

Learn about money! Want to understand unemployment, inflation, government spending, and budget deficits? In ECON 131, students learn to think critically about government policy proposals and gain practical knowledge of how the economy operates and adjusts to changing economic conditions.

• What is the subprime mortgage mess and why does it matter?
• Fedspeak and the prime rate, how the Fed tunes the US economy.
• Voodoo economics and economic stimulus (more spending is better!) .

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POLS 207 Politics of the Middle East

Will World War III begin in the Middle East? Nowhere on earth does history, nationalism, and international dependence intersect in such an explosive mix.

• Oil, democracy, and Iraq. Myth and politics.
• One God, three religions. Why the hatred?
• "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Strange bedfellows.

 

Read the Syllabus to learn more