SOC363

This course will pursue a critical, sociological account of punishment that links its power and practice with broader social and historical factors. By doing so, we will explore the effects, meanings, and realities structured by punishment as a social institution. Special focus will be given to carceral punishments in the U.S. context: mass incarceration, solitary confinement, and the death penalty. The overall aim of this course is to demonstrate how theory and research offer new ways of understanding and therefore critiquing penal practices.