Sociology of Home

Course Description

Summary

What is home? What does it mean to have a home? What does it mean to leave home or to lose one’s home? To return home? To make a new home? How can we begin to explore these questions sociologically? In this class, we will move towards a sociology of home, as we read and grapple with many different meditations on and conceptualizations of home. Some topics we will explore include the forms homes might take, homelessness, experiences of social mobility, prisoner reentry, refugee and immigration crises, the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic, and the removal of Native Americans from their homes. Throughout the term, we will use sociological frameworks to further illuminate what each of these examples has to teach us about home as sociological concept. Possible texts include Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, bell hooks’ Belonging, and Bruce Western’s Homeward, among others.