SOC3126 — Sociology of Science Fiction
Science fiction is a peculiar genre that invites contemplation of human and nonhuman issues, concerns, and especially possibilities sited in futures, past, and the present. In its consideration of societies, individual identities, and purpose, it is also inherently sociological. Students in this course will explore a wide variety of texts, films, and other materials to engage with sociological ideas in fictional spaces. Beginning to see things with sociological training allows one to realize that our actions and others’ take place within larger social structure in tension with our attempts at agency. Sociology enables one to see the strange in the familiar and begin to understand this interplay, how it affects ourselves, and societal decisions at large.