SOAN 420 | Sociology Through Literature

Sociology has long sought scientific status. In the process, it has tended to squeeze out the human and personal from its vocabulary and methods. This course is designed to tackle the crucial questions of sociology by approaching them through an examination of works of literature (for novelists are often excellent microsociologists) and through personal social histories to try and arrive at the abstract and theoretical aspects of sociology from the personal and concrete. The unifying theme of the course is emancipation. This course is conducted in seminar format requiring extensive class participation.