3 CreditsArts/HumanitiesRace, Power, and Justice in the United StatesWriting Intensive
Critical theory combines deep philosophical questioning with an imperative for progressive social change. Unlike traditional philosophy, the field focuses on diagnosing and challenging oppressive histories, ideologies, and systems of social power. It originated in the 1920s and 1930s with a group of Marxist intellectuals who critiqued the rise of fascism, mass violence, and the inequalities produced by industrial capitalism. Today, the field encompasses the study of structural racism and gender inequality, the analysis of debt, employment, and incarceration as forms of social control, and the critical analysis of AI, big tech, and emerging forms of state violence.
Gopher Grades is maintained by Social Coding with data from Summer 2017 to Summer 2026 provided by the University in response to a public records request