Cluster Four: Social and Cultural Processes (7 credits)

PHOTO - Jackson Hall

Acting Coordinator: Dr. Raymond Hyser

 

Description:

Cluster Four courses help students become critical thinkers about their own societies and the larger global community. These courses examine the key social and cultural processes and structures that shape the human experience.

 

Requirements:

Cluster Four consists of two courses that may be taken concurrently or in any order. Students must take one course from both the American Experience and the Global Experience areas of Cluster Four, and the two courses must be from two different disciplines (such as GPOSC and GANTH).

  • Complete one course from each of the two areas below:
  1. The American Experience
    • GHIST 225 U.S. History
    • GPOSC 225 U.S. Government
    • GJUST 225 Justice and American Society  

      Each of the American Experience courses provides students with an understanding of the major themes and concepts that structure American life today. GHIST 225 does so through a contextual and document-based study of the American historical experience that emphasizes the interaction of people, ideas and social movements. GJUST225 frames questions regarding historic and contemporary events in terms of issues of justice, highlighting how societal structures interact with individual lives and vice versa. GPOSC 225 focuses on the evolution and contemporary operation of the American political system by examining its fundamental principles and current dynamics.

      The Global Experience
    • GAFST 200:  Introduction to Africana Studies
    • GANTH 195: Cultural Anthropology
    • GECON 200  Macroeconomics
    • GGEOG 200  Geography: The Global Dimension
    • GPOSC 200  Global Politics
    • GSOCI 110   Social Issues in a Global Context  

      Each of the courses in the Global Experience is an investigation into a series of global issues that are of great importance to the human community. Topics discussed will vary from course to course. Issues are examined in a systemic context that allows students to see connections between disciplines. The unifying theme is an analysis of overarching structures at the global level that condition people's behavior and which are shaped by that behavior. From this perspective the study of global issues requires more than studying current events; it involves placing these global issues in a systemic context.

      Cluster Four Course Descriptions

 

Learning Objectives:

Students completing an American Experience course of Cluster Four will be able to identify, conceptualize and evaluate:

  • Social and political processes and structures using quantitative and qualitative data
  • Key primary sources relating to American history, political institutions and society
  • The nature and development of the intellectual concepts that structure American political activity
  • The history and operation of American democratic institutions
  • The history and development of American society
  • The history and development of American involvement in world affairs

Students completing a Global Experience course in Cluster Four will be able to identify, conceptualize and evaluate:

  • Basic global problems
  • Global political, social, cultural and economic systems
  • The issues involved in analyzing societies different from one's own
  • The global forces that shape societies
  • Theoretical models used in studying global problems
  • The strengths and limitations of alternative solutions to global problems across and within cultures