Overview of Course

This is a course that explores and investigates the vast social problems facing our world. Throughout the voyage, we will critically examine issues of power, difference and inequality, and we will do so by utilizing comparative, historical, global and other critical perspectives. In an age of widening social polarization, the intersections of power, structure and agency are at the heart of sociological inquiry. This course will consider these issues in local, regional and global contexts, with an orientation towards social justice. Topics covered will include stratification, social change, and struggles for peace and justice as they relate to issues of class, race, gender, sexuality and citizenship. Selected social problems in port countries on the itinerary will be highlighted along with themes such as socio-economic structures, state and power, poverty and economic inequality, ethnic and racial disparities, and social and economic development.