Searching…

Print Page



Contemporary American Culture: Survival in a Changing World (AMST 1100)

Total Credits: 3
Lecture Credits: 3

Description: This course focuses on the study of social, cultural, economic, ecological, technological, institutional and psychological needs, demands and issues as American society hurries toward the future. Accelerated change and the overstimulation of high-speed life in America are examined. The “limits to growth” debate on projections of the interrelationship of population, food, industrialization, pollution and the consumption of nonrenewable resources is examined.

Topical Outline:
1. Institutional Change: growth and importance of corporations
2. Globalization: influences of and on American cultures
3. Impact of environmental change on American cultures
4. Computerization and digital technology
5. Concern with Security--ranging from personal to national and international
6. Groups working for change

Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify, describe, analyze and interpret the role of institutional, environmental, and social change on contemporary American culture
2. Know and can apply the major theoretical perspectives for the study of culture
3. Identify, describe and analyze the impacts of globalization on American cultures
4. Identify, describe, analyze and interpret the role of technological change on contemporary American culture

Prerequisites:  Placement into READ 0200 or ESOL 0052 or completion of READ 0100 or ESOL 0042

MnTC: Goal 5: History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences