Disclosure: Global Peace Careers may be compensated by course providers.

5 Courses about Inequality and Social Injustice

As our world becomes more unequal, it’s important to learn about the origins and effects of social injustice. These courses will help you understand the systemic causes of inequality and explore ways to challenge and change them. You’ll examine case studies from around the globe and develop skills in research, critical thinking, and effective communication. With this knowledge, you’ll be better prepared to take action against inequality and make a difference in your community.

Fighting for Equality: 1950–2018

Fighting for Equality: 1950–2018 is a free online history course offered by Columbia University in the United States. Self-paced, the class can be completed at a rate that is convenient and manageable for each student who enrolls. The instructor does recommend that the class be completed over a 10-week period with students devoting about two to three hours each week to watching the lecture videos and completing readings, assignments and quizzes. This course can be taken as a standalone class, but it is also the final course in the university’s Women Have Always Worked series that focuses on gender equality in the United States.

Challenging Wealth and Income Inequality

Challenging Wealth and Income Inequality is an online course offered by the Open University. An introductory course, the class assumes that students have no previous educational or work experience or prior knowledge of the topic. The class explores what wealth and income equality are, particularly focusing on the baby boomer generation. Taught through online videos, the class consists of four weekly modules. Each module takes approximately three hours to complete. Although the class is free, those who require a certificate of completion at the end of the course will need to pay a $54 fee.

Understanding Gender Inequality

Understanding Gender Inequality is a free online sociology course offered by the University of Exeter in England, United Kingdom. This introductory class is intended for individuals who are at least 16 years of age and are getting ready to enroll at an institute of higher education or to enter the work place. To succeed in the class, students will need to have a basic understanding of how gender inequality issues are presented in the media. The class lasts for four weeks and is taught through online videos. Students should expect to devote roughly three hours of study time to the class each week.

Improving Children’s Lives: Reducing Child Poverty and Inequality

Improving Children’s Lives: Reducing Child Poverty and Inequality Around the World is a free online economics course offered by the University of York in England, United Kingdom. By the end of this introductory course, students will be knowledgeable about the trends in child well-being across rich countries, major international resources for the analysis of children’s lives, debates about the measurement and conceptualization of child well-being and major policy debates relating to children’s lives. The class lasts for four weeks. Students should expect to spend about four hours watching videos and completing readings and assignments during each week of the course.

Global Inequality

Global Inequality is a free online sociology course offered by Wellesley College in the United States. Although this class has no educational prerequisites or work experience requirements, students are strongly encouraged to take the college’s Global Sociology course prior to enrollment. The course is entirely self-paced, but the instructor suggests that students divide the coursework into four weekly units. With this schedule, most students can complete all of the coursework by investing two to three hours of time in studying each week. Course content is presented through lectures as well as interviews and a documentary.

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