Race, Family & the State
Examines the politics of state involvement in American family life, focusing on poor and minoritized families. Investigates how criminal justice, immigration, and welfare systems regulate families and shape legal possibilities.
Summary
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.48 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=28 letter grades).
What you’ll be able to do
Identify and describe key social science theories of race, ethnicity, and racism.
Articulate how the concept of family is a social construct.
Enumerate the ways state institutions intervene in family life, and how the role of race and racism these processes.
Explain how cultural assumptions about the meanings and purpose attached to families influence policy making.
Apply sociological research findings to evaluate family policy positions
Communicate contemporary family policy issues to non-specialists through public speaking and writing.
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapJunior standing
- Junior standing
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Prerequisite text tree
- Junior standing
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
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Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.48 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=28 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Topics
- State regulation of family through criminal justice, immigration, and welfare systems.
- Structural influences on the experiences, choices, and legal possibilities for families of color.
- The concept of family as a social construct.
- Cultural assumptions about families and their influence on policy making.
Skills
- Critically assess structural influences using sociological, historical, and legal scholarship.
- Identify and describe key social science theories of race, ethnicity, and racism.
- Apply sociological research findings to evaluate family policy positions.
- Communicate contemporary family policy issues to non-specialists through public speaking and writing.
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
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Raw records
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Student reviews
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Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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