{"id":2,"date":"2013-11-23T23:21:22","date_gmt":"2013-11-23T23:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coolsociology.net\/SOAN324WP\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2024-04-07T23:54:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T23:54:31","slug":"home-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.mcguire-spickard.com\/SOAN324WP\/","title":{"rendered":"Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

This course is designed to deepen our understanding of <\/span>hunger and homelessness in the United States<\/b>, mainly as a consequence of severe poverty. \u00a0Through classroom study and field experi\u00adences, we will explore the social, economic, and political causes of these prob\u00adlems.\u00a0 I have organized the course around five core questions:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What is life like for the hungry, the homeless, and the near-homeless in the U.S?<\/li>\n
  2. How many homeless and near-homeless are there?<\/li>\n
  3. What are the major and minor causes of homelessness and hunger?<\/li>\n
  4. What are individuals, small organizations, and governments doing to help?\u00a0 What can<\/span> they do to help?<\/li>\n
  5. What does it take to solve these problems?\u00a0 What can governments, organizations, and private citizens contribute?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The course combines in-class and out-of-class work in unusual ways.\u00a0 We will begin with an in-class overview, led both by the course leader and by student presentation teams.\u00a0 We will then shift our learning to out-of-class activities of two types.\u00a0 Working as research teams, we will seek answers to the core questions, using class time to process our out-of-class results.\u00a0 Working individually, each student will volunteer time with a local agency aiding the hungry and homeless.\u00a0 At the end of the semester, we will develop projects that draw on our experiences to teach others what we have learned.<\/p>\n

    COURSE GOALS<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Every course has both topical<\/strong> and instructional<\/strong> goals. \u00a0Topically<\/em>, we will:<\/p>\n