About the Social Sciences course block
Social sciences include a variety of academic disciplines that study the communities or societies in which people live, including anthropology, criminology, economics, linguistics, political science, social history, and sociology. The Social Sciences course block provides methods, tools, and concepts to help you understand human behavior and social interaction in a broad range of contexts, from interpersonal communication to cultural identification to global patterns. In these courses, you learn to think critically about how culture and group identities are created, maintained, and changed; how social structures and institutions affect the lives of individual people; and how social problems are defined and addressed by different groups.
Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree courses in the Social Sciences course block are offered on an accelerated (8-week) schedule. Courses in the block are largely asynchronous with some optional synchronous sessions to be scheduled by the instructors.
All Penn LPS Online courses offer academic credit.*
*Academic credit is defined by the University of Pennsylvania as a course unit (c.u.). A course unit (c.u.) is a general measure of academic work over a period of time, typically a term (semester or summer). A c.u. (or a fraction of a c.u.) represents different types of academic work across different types of academic programs and is the basic unit of progress toward a degree. One c.u. is usually converted to a four-semester-hour course.
The Social Sciences course block prepares you to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts and analytical tools used in social sciences
- Learn conceptual frameworks to enable you to make connections between courses in different fields
- Introduce key concepts and theories to contextual global studies
- Think critically about social behavior in a wide range of contexts and at different scales, from interpersonal to global
- Understand current sociological research on social problems, intercultural communication, globalization, and more
- Study complex issues incorporating ideas from multiple disciplines, including history, economics, and politics as well as sociological research
- Explore and examine the underlying social and cultural influences on a range of cultural perspectives
Meet the Faculty
- Senior Learning Designer, Arts and Sciences Online Learning, University of Pennsylvania
- Affiliated Faculty, Penn LPS Online Certificate in Organizational Culture and Collaboration
- Faculty Director for Curricular Programs, Partnership for Innovation, Cross-Sector Collaboration, Leadership, and Organization
- Professor of Practice in Public Leadership and Administration, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania
- Faculty Director, Penn LPS Online Certificate in Organizational Culture and Collaboration
Courses
- APOP 2700: Flourishing and Well-Being in Resilient Communities
- CLCH 2100: Introduction to Disaster Management
- DIGC 1600: A History of Digital Culture
- ICOM 1000: Intercultural Communication
- GLBS 1000: Introduction to Global Studies
- GLBS 2000: Globalization: Social, Economic, and Political Aspects
- LEAD 2020: Leadership Lessons from the Social Sciences
- ORGC 1600: Introduction to Team Culture
- ORGC 2010: Virtual Collaboration
- ORGC 3010: Anthropology of Organizations
- ORGC 3300: Building Influence Across Cultural Boundaries in Organizations
- SDEI 1100: Introduction to Social Difference in American Society*
- SDEI 1600: Race and Ethnicity in Organizations
- SDEI 2100: Cultural and Social Identity
- SOSC 1020: Addressing Contemporary Social Issues*
*This course may not be offered every academic year. Check the course page or our course guide to see when upcoming terms are added.
Courses are subject to change.
