Duncan, C.M. (2014). Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America, 2^nd edition. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN: 978-0-300-19659-7

Gunter, V., and Kroll-Smith, S. (2007). Volatile Places: A Sociology of Communities and Environmental Controversies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. ISBN: 978-0-7619-8750-5

Palen, J.J. (2015). The Urban World, 10^th edition. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0-19-937196-9

A survey of the relationship between urban and rural areas with particular attention to historical transformations and urban and rural renewal.  Prerequisite: SO101.

Upon successful completion of the course, each participant should be able to:

1. Compare historical and contemporary patterns of urbanization and suburbanization in different regions.
2. Explain how politics, economics, demographics and culture affect communities and the life experiences of people in those communities.
3. Gain a sympathetic and critical understanding of the lived experiences of people in poverty in both urban and rural regions. Explore the forces which both create and sustain poverty.
4. Understand the basic political forces involved in community planning (both urban and rural), and appreciate the different forms of urban and rural living.
5. Using the sociological imagination, explore ways community affects the concepts of self and identity.