Dr. Maritza C. Flores

Background

Maritza C. Flores is a Senior Instructor in the Department of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University. Her main areas of interest are in medical sociology, race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality as well as sociological theory. Dr. Flores' teaching philosophy is underpinned by the argument that race, class, gender, and sexuality are socially constructed.

Students who enroll in Flores' Race Class Gender and Sexuality as well as her Gender Power and Relationships course will discover how categories of difference are created, portrayed and learned. In addition, these courses highlight dimensions of inequality that are often invisible and taken for granted. This often poses some challenges to students. However, by incorporating the “sociological imagination” in discussing these social identities and inequalities, students learn to recognize the levels of social stratification and their consequences. Flores' use of the sociological perspective, in general, entails explicitly articulating, questioning, or challenging aspects of our lives and worlds that most people take for granted. In addition, students will be able to recognize and make connections between their own personal experiences and these structured social inequalities.