How does access to various social policies, programs, and protections vary by citizenship status? Paying careful attention to differences linked to sociodemographic variables such as gender, race, and class, we will explore how the meaning of, and attitudes about, immigration and citizenship have varied over time; assess inclusion and exclusion in various social policies by legal and illegal immigration status; and explore how lack of citizenship affects everyday life for immigrants who work in the dairy farms of upstate New York and in the fruit fields along the west coast. We will employ a variety of theoretical frameworks and scholarly disciplines to address issues related to citizenship and social policy. To balance this macro-level approach, we will explore the individual, everyday experience of citizenship through documentaries, guest speakers, and group projects.  Visit our Courses website to view this course in the schedule.

Madonna Harrington Meyer is University Professor at Syracuse University.  She is professor of sociology at the Maxwell School of Public Affairs and Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence.  She is senior research associate at the Center for Policy Research and faculty affiliate at the Aging Studies Institute.  She is co-editor, with Ynesse Abdul-Malak of Grandparenting in the United States (2016).  She is co-editor with Elizabeth Daniele of Gerontology: Changes, Challenges, and Solutions (2016).  She is  author of Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs (2014), winner of the Gerontological Society of America’s Kalish Book Award.  She is co-author with Pamela Herd of Market Friendly or Family Friendly? The State and Gender Inequality in Old Age (2007), which also won the Gerontological Society of America’s Kalish Book Award.   She is editor of Care Work: Gender, Labor, and the Welfare State (2000).  She has published over 50 scholarly articles; her work appears in leading journals including American Sociological review, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Gender & Society, and Social Problems. Her research has been reported in the media including New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, and LA Times.  In 2016 she was named winner of the American Sociological Association (ASA) Section on Aging and the Life Course (SALC) Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award.