SJS 1100 - Introduction to Social Justice
3 Credits
Explores concepts of social justice with a focus on race, power, and justice in the United States, tracing historical and contemporary structures of racism that shape social, political, economic, and environmental inequities, particularly affecting Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. The course examines points of resistance and transformation, emphasizing individual agency and the evolution of human rights as an intellectual and activist site of global social change over time.
Major Content Areas
Analyze and Critique Intersectional Systems of Racial Power and Injustice.Definitions of social justice including activist profiles and narratives. Concepts, systems, and forms of oppression (e.g., Dominance, oppression, perpetrator and bystander, implicit bias, stereotyping, identity, policing). The role of social institutions (impede or restrict, limit or enable justice). Origins and evolutions of racial bias, prejudice and stereotypes. Legal implications of social policy and implementation. Perspectives of social justice. Concepts and forms of oppression (e.g., Dominance, oppression, perpetrator and bystander, implicit bias, stereotyping, identity). Systems of oppression, empowerment, power, control, and privilege. The role of social institutions (impede or restrict, limit or enable justice). Culture, socialization origins of bias, prejudice and stereotypes.
Learning Outcomes
Analyze how race and other socially constructed identities contribute to systemic inequalities and oppression within U.S. societal structures while evaluating students’ perceptions and bias within the context of these social structures. Critically examine social injustices and inequities from various historical, cultural, and geographic settings. Assess the scholarly and activist paradigms, including intersectionality, that understand and challenge systemic social inequalities perpetuating race and other points of identity as sites of power and domination. Critically examine social injustices and inequities from a variety of historical, cultural, and geographic settings. Summarize multidisciplinary perspectives, origins and theories of social justice and injustice. Evaluate forms of privilege, oppression and power through the lens of intersectionality. Explore social movements and community organizing from a variety of perspectives and lenses.
Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MNTC) Goals
05 - Hist/Soc/Behav Sci 7B - Race/Power/Justice
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