Individual and Society (SOC*3410)

Code and section: SOC*3410*01

Term: Winter 2025

Instructor: Mervyn Horgan

Details

Course Description
Like it or not, as individuals, we are all members of society. The relationship between individual and society may be too complicated to analyze coherently. Just as complex but more accessible, are relations between individuals in society. In this course, we treat everyday life as a life lived with others, using this as our primary source of data for examining the complex web of interactions that form and are formed by society.

Focusing on embodied encounters between individuals in a wide range of public, private, institutional, and leisure settings, we will learn about collective life by studying the ways that individuals interact, express themselves, and interpret one another, in love, work, art, conflict, crises, and everyday life.

**Please note** Social interaction is a cornerstone of the course content and of my pedagogy. If you’re willing to participate actively in lectures, this will be a good (and maybe even fun!) course to take. If you’re not, it will be difficult to get a good grade.

Evaluation
May include: Weekly Quizzes; Mid-term Exam; Interview Assignment; Take Home Exam; Regular, Enthusiastic, and Generous Participation

Course Texts 
I am committed to the use of open educational resources, so there is NO TEXTBOOK for this course. None. Nada. Zilch. All readings will be made available through library e-reserves, or as links to freely available material on the web. In exchange for the substantial preparation that this involves on my end, I ask that everyone commits to completing all assigned readings in advance of each class, and engaging thoughtfully and meaningfully with one another, with me, and with course content.

This outline is for information purposes only and may change. The final and full syllabus will be distributed in our first class on January 8, 2025..

Syllabus

Attachment	Size
SOC3410 W25web outline Horgan.pdf	81.01 KB