DESCRIPTION

This course unflinchingly looks at the dynamics between cause and effect of prejudice and discrimination. Students are exposed to different groups, with the intention of exposing them to a similar mechanism used to oppose people, regardless of the color of their skin color/sexual identity/age/ability/etc. This course has been offered for three years and continues to reach capacity long before the semester starts.

OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Examine the history of racial formations and social construction.
2. Evaluate major psychological theories on privilege, prejudice, and discrimination.
3. Distinguish what elements of social structure work to maintain systems of stratification based on constructions of difference.
4. Define and analyze the dimensions of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism.   
5. Recognize patterns of ethnic relations, such as assimilation and pluralism.
6. Evaluate the systemic relationship between social class and ethnicity.
7. Examine the relationship of gender-based stereotypes to heterosexism.   
8. Analyze patriarchy and the system of sexism.
9. Compare the consequences of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism on Native American, African American, Mexican/Latino, and Asian/Pacific Island American populations.    
10. Identify ways to bridge differences, dismantle systems of oppression, and become agents of change.

For more information

email: wdowney@santarosa.edu

See PSYCH 34 in the Schedule of Classes