American Gun Violence: Causes and Conseq

In the sociology course, we examine the American epidemic of gun violence through a sociological perspective. In the first week, we’ll look at what it means to think sociologically and explore the larger context of gun violence as a racialized and gendered phenomenon. In the second week, we will explore neighborhood gun violence, school (mass) shootings, and police violence as case studies to understand the root causes of violence and the short- and long-term impacts on many groups of people. In the third week, we’ll try to tie it all together by looking at promising solutions to various types of gun violence. One theme across the course will be a sociological consideration of grief and other emotions in the aftermath of gun violence -- as not just personal feelings, but emotions experienced socially, shaped by and through social interactions, and subject to social rules and restrictions which too often reflect larger societal inequalities. We will also highlight the kinds of resilience, resistance, and activism that emerge from individuals and communities after experiences of gun violence. We will examine policy debates as sociologists trying to understand their contours, the social issues at their core, and the ways political responses also reflect and even perpetuate social inequalities. Together, we’ll attempt to make sense of our three seemingly disparate case studies as part of a larger problem, explore the affective dimensions that shape this problem, and the way attuning ourselves to social and public emotions may help us see potential solutions