In this video lecture titled Free Will vs Determination, part two of a six part lecture series on Race and Ethnic Inequality, Dr. Sam Richards discusses the sociological impacts of Free Will vs Determination and how these topics allows students to apply it to both current and future discussions about all aspects of the causality of human behavior. This in-depth lecture covers a wide variety of topics related to how an individual's free will (decision making) as well as outside forces impact the life path they follow, and how an individual’s determination to create different circumstances can alter or change that path.
Bio: Dr. Sam Richards is a sociologist and award-winning teacher who has been inspiring undergraduate students at Penn State since 1990. Every semester 725 students register for his race and ethnic relations course, one of the most popular classes at Penn State and the largest of its kind in the country. Through his natural facility with seeing a subject from many angles, Sam encourages students to engage more fully with the world and to think for themselves — something he did not do until his third year in college. Because of his passion for challenging students to open their minds, an interviewer recently referred to him as “an alarm clock for 18-year-olds.”