Course Spotlight: Sociology of Taste
MET ML 716, Sociology of Taste, with Dr. Connor Fitzmaurice, will be offered as a hybrid class in the spring 2022 semester.
Taste has an undeniable personal immediacy: producing visceral feelings ranging from delight to disgust. As a result, in our everyday lives we tend to think about taste as purely a matter of individual preference. However, for sociologists, our tastes are not only socially meaningful, they are also socially determined, organized, and constructed. This course will introduce students to the variety of questions sociologists have asked about taste. What is a need? Where do preferences come from? What social functions might our tastes serve? Major theoretical perspectives for answering these questions will be considered, examining the influence of societal institutions, status seeking behaviors, internalized dispositions, and systems of meaning on not only what we enjoy–but what we find most revolting.
This course is a graduate level seminar where discussion and class participation are central to student success. As such, this class will feature weekly zoom meetings on Thursday evenings throughout the semester from 6:00 pm to 8:45 pm (with a mid-class break!).
Students will be able to take advantage of three in-person learning opportunities during the spring 2022 semester. During these weeks there will be no Thursday evening Zoom meeting:
- Saturday, March 19, 10 am to 12:45 pm – Project workshop, on campus
- Saturday, April 16th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm (Rain date April 23rd) – Farm visit
- Saturday, April 30th from 10:00 am to 12:45 pm – Final research presentations, on campus
Opportunities for asynchronous participation will be available via blackboard.
This class is open to graduate students and upper level undergraduates. Non-degree seeking students may register here.