Social Science and Cultural Studies

The Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies trains students to bring critical and analytical skills to bear on the social world and on their professional and artistic work. Through the perspectives of social science, history, philosophy, and cultural studies, students explore the cultural achievements of humankind and the social forces which have influenced the development of culture and human personality. A core curriculum develops understanding of historical relationships among world cultures, ideas, and institutions. Electives provide interdisciplinary approaches and intellectual diversity that foster critical examination of the political, social, and economic forces at work in the processes of cultural production.

The department offers a minor in Cultural Studies, an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the diversity of human experience in both its contemporary and historical aspects.  It examines the material expressions—objects, communities, bodies, institutions, environments—of social life.  Students minoring in Cultural Studies strengthen their grasp of the dynamics of power and knowledge by developing their ability for critical analysis.  Courses trangsress the boundaries of traditional disciplines to develop a clearer understandig of how fields of human knowledge, modes of understanding, and creative expression change over time.  The minor consists of three core courses: Cultural Studies (SS-330); Methods of Cultural Analysis (SS-430); Controversies in Cultural Theory (SS-510). Students take three additional recommended electives (3 credits each) for a total of 18 credits.