Department of Sociology
Spring 2005
Section 10238
Lecture: Tuesdays
and Thursdays:
Office Hours (BH 774): Tuesdays:
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. (by appointment)
Overview: This course is designed to teach
students what sociology is, and to introduce you to what we as sociologists
do. My goal is to convince you that
sociology is interesting and important. Over the semester, we will be reading original
work in the sociology of race, class, deviance, gender and religion. You will learn about how these authors did
their research, what they found, and what it tells us about our society. As you are reading these books, you will also
be conducting research on yourselves, and others. You will observe and compare two groups of
people, and you will also learn about how you, as a class, differ from the rest
of the country.
Required Books and Materials:
Jay
Macleod. 1995. Ain’t No Making It. Westview Press.
Irving Goffman. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled
Identity. Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Davidman, Lynn. 1991. Tradition in a Rootless World: Women Turn to
Orthodox Judaism.
Juergensmeyer, Mark. 2000. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise
of Religious Violence.
Schaefer, Richard, T. 2004. Sociology Matters (Selections). McGraw-Hill.
Classroom Performance System (CPS): We will be using new technology
which allows you to “vote” like the audience on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. You won’t be helping people to earn money, but
will be using CPS to demonstrate that you’re in class, answer survey questions,
take quizzes, and practice exam questions.
Because you will use them to take quizzes (and no make-ups are allowed),
it is essential that you bring your CPS remote control to class everyday. I recommend leaving it in the bag that you
carry to class permanently. There a few
things you need to know about CPS:
1.
You
will need to register yourself as a member of this class at www.einstruction.com.
Complete instructions will be provided during lecture about the process you
must follow to do this successfully. You
will need our class key, which will be
2.
Your
remote control comes with a CPS registration card (bright yellow wrapped with
the book) DO NOT THROW THIS OUT!
Replacement cost is $15.00 at www.einstruction.com.
3.
If
you lose your remote, see number 2 above.
4.
If
any student is caught with more than one remote, or using a remote that belongs
to another student, all remotes involved will be confiscated for the remainder
of the semester, and all students involved will receive a zero on all the
remaining quizzes.
Evaluation and Requirements: The grade scale for this course
is: A+ (100- 97), A (96-93), A- (92-
90), B+ (89-87), B (86-83), B – (82-80), C+ (79-77), C (76-73), C – (72-70), D+
(69-67), D (66-63), D – (62-60), F (<60). There are 500 total points for
this course:
1.
Exams:
The three exams are each worth 100 points, or 20% of the final grade. In total, the exams are worth 300 points, or
60% of the final grade.
2.
Stigma Project: The Stigma project is worth 150
points, or 30% of your final grade. Each of the two short assignments is worth
25 points, and the 3-6 page double-spaced typed paper is worth 100 points. Late
papers will lose one letter grade (from A to B to C, etc.) for every day they
are late. No late assignments will be
accepted.
3.
Quizzes: During the course of the semester, I
will give 12 quizzes. No make-ups will
be allowed for the quizzes, but I will drop your lowest three grades. Each quiz
is worth 5 points, for a total of 45, or 9% of your final grade.
4.
Class Participation: Every student must speak once during
the course of the semester. When you
contribute to class discussion, either by asking a question, making a comment,
or answering a question (on a substantive matter being covered in class), you
will receive five points toward your final grade. This is not extra
credit. If you choose not to speak, you
will be starting with 495 out of 500 points for your final grade. I will hand out note cards the first day of
class, which you will turn into your assistant the day you speak in class. The color of your note card will determine
what weeks you have your opportunity to speak (so that we don’t have 400
students trying to comment all at once). You do not get points for speaking more than
once, but you are encouraged to contribute to the class just the same! This is
a HUGE class. Please be quiet during the
lecture. As a courtesy to myself, and especially your peers, please arrive on
time and remain seated until the end of class.
If you arrive late, are seen leaving early, or answer your cell phone
(which should be turned off) your remote will be confiscated and returned after
the next quiz.
Class Schedule:
Week
|
Date
|
Topic and Assignments
|
1
|
Tuesday, January 11
|
Class 1:
No
|
|
Thursday,
January 13 |
Class 2: Chapter
1 of Schaefer and Chapter 1 of Ain’t No
Makin’ It
|
|
2
|
Tuesday,
January 18 |
Class 3: Survey
of the Class
|
|
Thursday,
January 20 |
Class 4:
Chapter 2 of Ain’t No Makin’ It.
|
|
3
|
Tuesday,
January 21 |
Class 5: Chapter
3 of Ain’t No Makin’ It
|
|
Thursday,
January 23 |
Class 6:
Chapters 4 and 6 of Ain’t
No Makin’ It
|
|
|
4 |
Tuesday, February
1 |
Class 7: Chapter
5 of Ain’t No Makin’ It.
|
|
|
Thursday,
February 3 |
Class 8: Chapters 7 and 8
of Ain’t No Makin’ It
·
Leveled Aspirations
·
Social Reproduction Theory Reconsidered
|
|
5 |
Tuesday, February 8
|
Class 9: Part Two: Chapters 9, 10 and 11 of Ain’t No Makin’ It
|
Thursday, February 10
|
Class 10:
Exam #1 |
Class Schedule Part II: Deviance
and Social Control
|
||
|
6 |
Tuesday,
February 15 |
Class 11:
Introduction to Stigma (Chapter 1) |
Thursday, February 17
|
Class 12:
Taking Field Notes
|
|
|
7 |
Tuesday,
February 22 |
Class 13:
Chapter 2 of Stigma
|
|
Thursday,
February 24 |
Class 14:
Chapter 2 of Stigma
|
|
|
8 |
Tuesday,
March 1 |
Class 15:
Chapter 4 of Stigma
|
Class
16: Chapter 5 of Stigma
|
||
|
9 |
Tuesday, March 8
|
Class 17:
Chapter 5 of Stigma
|
Thursday, March 10
|
Class 18:
Exam #2 |
|
|
|
March 15 and 17
|
Spring Break!
|
|
Class Schedule Part III: Religion
and Gender |
|||
10
|
Tuesday, March 22
|
Class 19:
What is Religion? |
|
|
|
Thursday, March 24
|
Class 20:
Secularization |
|
|
11 |
Tuesday, March 29
|
Class 21: Chapter 1 of Tradition in a Rootless World ·
Conservative Religions, Cults and Sects ·
Snake Charmers and the Amish ·
Movie: A Life Apart: Hasidim in · Stigma Paper due |
|
Thursday, March 31
|
Class 22: Chapter 2 of Tradition in a Rootless World
· Orthodox vs. Hasidic Judaism |
||
12
|
Tuesday, April 5
|
Class 23:
Chapters 3 and 4 of Tradition in a
Rootless World · The Dependent Variables ·
Differences and Similarities between Lubavitch and Orthodox Women |
|
Thursday, April 7
|
Class 24:
Chapters 5 and 7 of Tradition in a
Rootless World
|
||
13
|
Tuesday, April 12
|
Class 25:
Movie: Postville: When Cultures Collide |
|
Thursday, April 14
|
Class 26: Chapter 7 of Tradition in a Rootless World
|
||
Part IV: Religion and
Violence
|
|||
14
|
Tuesday, April 19
|
Class 27:
Chapters 1-2 of Terror in the Mind of
God |
|
|
|
Thursday, April 21
|
Class 28:
Chapter 3 of Terror in the Mind of God |
|
15
|
Tuesday, April 26
|
Class 29:
Chapter 4 of Terror in the Mind of God |
|
Thursday, April 28
|
Class 30:
Conclusion of Terror in the Mind of God
|
||
|
|
Thursday,
May 5 8:00-10:00 p.m. |
Final Exam
|
|
Stigma, Power and
Social Control:
Participant Observation of Two Social Groups
Your paper
will be a result of a study you conduct which compares two groups of people,
one of which you think experiences more stigma than another (for any
reason). You can compare: a fraternity
with a sorority, adults versus teenagers, female athletes with male athletes,
female athletes with cheerleaders, Caucasian students with African-American
students, teenage mothers to teenage girls without children, International
students with students from
1.
How big is a group? By definition, a group is at least
two people. For the purposes of our
research, those two people cannot include you, therefore, your group should
have at least three people, if you are included in the group. To be safe, I recommend that you only study
groups with at least four members.
2.
Does each of my groups have to be an
official group? While some of you will be studying official
groups such as sororities, others will be interested in comparing more loosely
defined groups, such as African-American and Caucasian students. Your groups do not have to be official, but
they should have clear boundaries and a reasonable number of members.
3.
Do my two groups have to interact?
Studying your groups as they interact with each other can be very
interesting and useful – but sometimes that just doesn’t happen all that
much. Ideally, you want to study each
group interacting with itself, as well as with individuals who are not members
of the group. However, in some
circumstances this will be difficult if not impossible. For example, if you want to study how
handicapped or disabled students are stigmatized in comparison with
“normally-abled” students, you may never have an opportunity to observe
disabled students interacting with each other.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do this for your project if you are
interested in it, but that you should make extra efforts to go to disabled
student groups, or to look for other opportunities to observe disabled students
interacting with one another, and you should be clear about what you did and
found in the paper.
Assignment #1:
This
assignment is designed to get you thinking about your topic for the paper. By now you should have completed at least one
hour of observation for each of your groups.
You should answer the following questions, in PROSE, in one page or
less:
1.
What
two groups are you comparing?
2.
Where
and in what settings will you be observing them?
3.
What
findings or observations have struck you so far during the preliminary stages
of your research?
4.
What
aspect of the groups are you going to focus on?
5.
Which
group is more stigmatized, or less powerful, than the other?
6.
Is
the stigmatization effective? Are the groups resisting or conforming? How?
Assignment #2:
Grade Criteria: 100 points (20% of Final Grade)
Date Due: Tuesday, March 29th
The final
paper should bring all that you’ve learned about stigma in class, and by
observing your two groups, together. Here
are some tips:
i.
(age,
race, sex, what they look like, sound like, etc.)
i.
Do
the stigmatized seem aware of it?
ii.
Do
they resist or reject it?
iii.
Do
they change their behavior as a result?
i.
If
yes, which ones?
ii.
If
not, why not?