Course Code: GGAS 113
Academic Year: 2026-2027
This advanced course critically explores the field of community and social services through a sociological lens, emphasizing the structural, cultural, and institutional forces that shape human well-being and collective action. Integrating key sociological concepts such as social stratification, power, social capital, intersectionality, and institutional inequality, the course examines how professionals in social work, counseling, advocacy, and nonprofit leadership respond to complex social problems - including poverty, racial and gender inequality, mental health, and access to housing, healthcare, and education. Through case studies, workshops, and conversations, students will analyze how social service systems both reproduce and challenge existing power structures. Students will leave the course with a nuanced understanding of the sociological foundations of service work, and the capacity to contribute meaningfully to social change in diverse organizational and community contexts.