Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Provides an overview of the social psychological study of intergroup relations, considering classic and contemporary theory and research in the field. It includes discussions of the application of these ideas and findings to important social contexts, and explores ways in which the social psychological study of intergroup relations can help us understand and inform efforts to influence relevant social change.

COURSE DETAILS:

In this course, you will gain an understanding of psychological group-based processes including stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. You will learn about how groups inform our sense of identity, and how the identities we take on are often dictated by our motivations and social context. You will learn that it is through these shared social identities that individuals are able to work together to achieve their collective goals, or to commit some humanity’s worst atrocities. And you will learn how these psychological processes relate to, and are manifest by, a sociohistorical context which has afforded (and continues to afford) certain groups privilege at the expense of others’ oppression. The lessons you learn in this course will allow you to intelligently discuss social movements and intergroup conflicts and to understand some of the psychological processes that motivate collective actors. To this end, we will spend time discussing several current real-world intergroup contexts, such as the climate movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and North American political movements.

Topics:

The self, identity, and social categorization; stereotypes and stereotype threat; prejudice, inclusion and exclusion; the social identity approach and collective action; poverty stigma and economic inequality; sexism and the #MeToo movement; institutionalized racism and the Black Lives Matter movement; specieism and environmental activism; political polarization, conspiracy theories, and extremism; the Contact Hypothesis and prejudice reduction

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: