In a May 25, 1961 address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, President John F. Kennedy establishes the goal "of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth" before the decade is out. (Image courtesy of NASA.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Susan S. Silbey
MIT Course Number
21A.245J / 17.045J
As Taught In
Fall 2005
Level
Undergraduate
Translated Versions
Course Description
Course Features
Course Highlights
This course features lecture notes, sample writing assignments and the mid-term exam in the exams section.
Course Description
Using examples from anthropology and sociology alongside classical and contemporary social theory, this course explores the nature of dominant and subordinate relationships, types of legitimate authority, and practices of resistance. The course also examines how we are influenced in subtle ways by the people around us, who makes controlling decisions in the family, how people get ahead at work, and whether democracies, in fact, reflect the "will of the people."