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M.A. or Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies (SCS)
Social and Cultural Studies has two broad areas of focus. First, SCS is dedicated to studying the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of public schooling. We are particularly concerned with the impact of globalization, migration and immigration, and the changing political economy of U.S. cities on urban education in this country. We are also concerned with understanding the role of schooling in sustaining a democratic society in the face of social inequality, economic restructuring, and changing relations of race, ethnicity, class, and gender.
Second, SCS is committed to studying learning and education that take place beyond the borders of regular public schooling--for example, popular, adult, community, labor, and political learning and education that occur in the context of community organizations and social movements, workplaces and labor unions, youth groups, and immigrant centers. We believe that the learning and education that occur in such diverse sites play a critical role in social and cultural transformation, and also help us rethink and re-imagine possibilities for public schooling. SCS seeks to provide students with a solid grounding in social theory and qualitative (ethnographic) research methods. The program aims to provide a unique space within the university for students and faculty to work together on developing innovative approaches to studying and transforming learning and education, in the broadest sense possible.
Our vision for the program has led us to develop the following four areas of scholarship:
• Social theory and ethnography. The program emphasizes the use of critical social analysis in conjunction with intensive ethnographic research to study a wide range of communities of learning. We analyze sociocultural learning issues through theoretical lenses from multiple disciplines including cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, geography, political economy, history, and philosophy.
• Education and social change. We examine relationships between schooling and social structures, as well as sites of non-institutional learning and work, to explore core concerns such as the role of schooling in social reproduction; economic transformations; agency; the possibilities for democratic social change; the development of culture and knowledge; and inequalities enforced by power relations.
• Urban education. Our approach places urban education within the context of larger social structures, cultural processes, and political economy. We work theoretically and empirically to analyze the way urban education is shaped by race and ethnicity, class, gender, and nation-state structures.
• International and global studies. In theoretical and field studies, we explore the impact of global economic transformations on learning and education. We illuminate both American and international education issues by studying changing relations of globalization and transnational migration.
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