Ever wonder what family tree your native language belongs to? And what languages share similar characteristics? How culture influences language? Well then this is the class for you. Learn more about sociolinguistics and language ideology, the fields that study the relationship between culture, languages, and society.

Scientists can surely figure out what things are and how they work - whether it is a chemical bond or a human. But they cannot really explain why a thing is. This class is for the observers, the thinkers, the criticizers: learn about the underlying, deep structures that govern our existence and our society. We will be looking at the thought of a few thinkers (mostly 19th/20th-century Europe, but there may be some medieval/classical ones as well) throughout. It is sure to be a fun, engaging, and rewarding discussion-based class!

Ever wonder what family tree your native language belongs to? And what languages share similar characteristics? How culture influences language? Well then this is the class for you. Learn more about sociolinguistics, the field that studies the relationship between culture, languages, and society.

Interested in philosophy and social theory? This class will give you an overview and insight into some of the important political and social theorists of the past few hundred years, such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith.