REBECCA G. ADAMS
Introduction to Sociology
RCO 274-01 Spring 2008
Time: MW 9:30-10:45 am Instructor:
Dr. Rebecca G. Adams
Class Room: Mary Foust 128 Office Hours: MW
11:00-Noon or by appointment
Email: Rebecca_Adams@UNCG.edu Office:
Graham 333
Telephone: 336-334-3578 Web Page:
http://www.uncg.edu/~r_adams
Required Textbooks:
Babbie, Earl,
1999, The Sociological Spirit: Critical Essays in a Critical Science, 2nd
edition,
Macionis, John
J., & Benokraitis, Nijole V., 2006, Seeing Ourselves, 7th
edition, Prentice-Hall, can be purchased or you can access the assigned
chapters electronically through Blackboard. These articles are indicated by a
"MB."
Goodwin, Jeff,
& Jasper, James M, 2008, The Contexts Reader,. W.W. Norton, can
be purchased or you can access the assigned chapters electronically through
Blackboard. These articles are indicated
by a "GJ."
All other
supplementary readings are available electronically through Blackboard. They
are indicated below with an "*." Printing a copy of each of these readings for
your personal use is strongly advised.
All videos
assigned to be viewed outside of class are on closed reserve at the Teaching
and
Students should
complete assigned readings and videos before the class period for which they
are scheduled unless otherwise indicated below.
INTRODUCTION
January
14: Introduction
to the Course: Review of Syllabus and Introduction to Sociology
January 16: Introduction to
Sociological Theory
Babbie,
Sociological Spirit, pp. 1-27.
Merton,
"Manifest and Latent Functions," MB, pp. 40-41.
Mills, "The Sociological Imagination
(The Promise)," MB, pp. 1-5
Berger,
"Invitation to Sociology," MB, pp. 6-9.
Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley, "Women
and the Birth of Sociology," MB, pp. 14-18.
January 23 &
28: Introduction to
Sociological Research Methods
*Babbie,
Observing Ourselves, "Qualitative or Quantitative?," pp. 85-94.
Weber,
"The Case for Value-Free Sociology," MB, pp. 23-24.
Babbie,
"The Importance of Social Research," MB, pp. 25-27.
Review
for Test #1
January 30: Test #1
SOCIAL IDENTITY
February 4: Identity: Functionalism
Babbie,
Sociological Spirit, pp. 28-45.
*Babbie,
Observing Ourselves, "Paradigms," pp. 29-40.
*Durkheim,
"What is a Social Fact?"
Video to be Viewed Before Class: League
of Their Own, 127 minutes
February 6: Identity:
Conflict Theory
Marx
and Engels, "The Manifesto of the Communist Party," MB, pp. 55-62.
Video
to be Viewed Before Class: Norma Rae, 117 minutes
February
11: Identity: Symbolic Interactionism
Goffman,
"Presentation of Self," MB, pp. 108-113.
Tannen,
"You Just Don't Understand," MB, pp. 118-123.
February
13: Identity:
Symbolic Interactionism
Video to beViewed Before Class: Ground
Hog's Day, 101 minutes
February 18: Identity: Socialization
Mead,
"The Self," MB, pp. 75-82.
*Cooley,
"The Looking-Glass Self"
Cooley,
"Primary Groups," MB, pp. 130-33.
Mead,
"Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies," MB, pp. 237-242.
Kilbourne,
"Socialization and the Power of Advertising," MB, pp. 95-100.
Lorber,
"Night to His Day," MB, pp. 243-248.
February
20: Identity:
Socialization
Video to be Viewed During
Class: American Tongues
Review for Test #2
February
25: Test #2
SOCIAL
RELATIONSHIPS
February
27 & March 3: Social
Relationships: Dyads, Groups, and Networks
Required
Babbie, Sociological Spirit, pp.
46-61
Simmel,
"The Dyad and the Triad," MB, pp. 106-108.
Erikson,
"Social Networks: The Value of Variety," GJ, pp. 12-17.
Wellman,
"Connecting Communities: On and
Offline," GJ, 18-25.
Optional
*
Select One Video to View Before Class:
You've
Got Mail before February 27, 114 minutes or
The Mighty Ducks March 3, 104 minutes.
March 5: Social
Relationships: Work Organizations
Babbie,
Sociological Spirit, pp. 62-78
Weber,
"The Characteristics of Bureaucracy," MB, pp. 134-137.
*Hochschild,
"The Managed Heart"
*Thompson,
"Hanging Tongues"
Ritzer,
"McJobs: McDonaldization and the Workplace," MB, pp. 138-142.
March 17: Social Relationships: Work Organizations
(continued)
Videos
to beViewed During Class: Modern Times, up through Charlie being taken to
a mental institution, first 20 minutes; Job Switching, assembly line
sequence only, 10 minutes
March
19: Institutions
Babbie,
Sociological Spirit, pp. 79-107
March 24: Culture and its
Variations
Miner,
"Body Ritual of the Nacirema," MB, pp. 19-23.
Peterson,
"Roll Over Beethoven: There's a
Video
to be Viewed During Class: Deadheads: An American Subculture
March 26: Review for Test #3
March 31: Test #3
SOCIAL
STRUCTURE
April
2 & 7: Inequality in Society
Babbie,
Sociological Spirit, pp. 107-134
Mills,
"The Power Elite," MB, pp. 335-341.
Davis
& Moore, "Some Principles of Stratification," MB, pp. 215-222.
Rank,
"As American as Apple Pie: Poverty and
Welfare, GJ, pp. 159-165.
Berkman,
"The Health Divide," GJ, pp. 337-344.
Jackson,
"Inequalities," GJ, pp. 147-152.
Gabler & Kaufman, "Chess,
Cheerleading, Chopin: What Gets You into
College?," GJ, pp. 103-108.
April 9: Inequality:
Age, Gender, and Race
April 14: Inequality:
Age, Sex, and Race (continued)
Benokraitis,
"How Subtle Sex Discrimination Works," MB, pp. 249-254.
Jacobs, "Detours on the Road
to Equality: Women, Work, and Higher
Education," GJ, pp. 239-246.
April 16: Inequality: Age, Sex, and Race (continued)
DuBois,
"The Souls of Black Folk," MB, pp. 261-265.
Collins, "Controlling Images & Black
Women's Oppression," MB, pp. 266-273.
Farkas, "The Black-White Test Score Gap,"
GJ, pp. 85-94.
Lee & Bean, "Beyond Black and White:
Remaking Race in
Herring, "Is Job Discrimination Dead?,"
GJ, pp. 183-189.
Farley & Squires, "Fences and
Neighbors: Segregation in 21st
Century
Video to be Viewed During Class: True
Colors
SOCIAL DYNAMICS
April
21 & 23: Freedom vs. Order
Babbie,
Sociological Spirit, pp 135-148
Rosenhan,
"On Being Sane in Insane Places," MB, pp. 157-169.
*Becker,
"Becoming a Marijuana User"
Durkheim, "The Functions of
Crime," MB, pp. 154-156.
Western & Pettit, "Beyond
Crime and Punishment: Prisons and Inequality," GJ, pp. 377-383.
Goode, "Legalize It? A Bulletin
from the War on Drugs," GJ, pp. 384-391.
Select One Video to View Before Class:
One
Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest for class on April 21 or
Pleasantville for class on
April 28.
April 28 & 30: Social
Change
Babbie,
Sociological Spirit, pp. 149-163
Tönnies, "Gemeinschaft and
Gessellschaft," MB, pp. 63-65.
Freeman,
"On the Origins of Social Movements," MB, pp. 480-492.
Meyer,
"How Social Movements Matter," GJ, pp. 421-426.
May
5: Review
and Evaluation
TBA: Final Examination
Class
Grade: Class
Attendance and Participation 10%
Test #1 15%
Test #2 25%
Test
#3 25%
Final 25%
Grading Scale for Class Grade:
|
98-100 |
A+ |
|
74-75 1/2 |
C |
|
94-97 1/2 |
A |
|
70-73 1/2 |
C- |
|
90-93 1/2 |
A- |
|
66-69 1/2 |
D+ |
|
86-89 1/2 |
B+ |
|
64-65 1/2 |
D |
|
84-85 1/2 |
B |
|
60-63 1/2 |
D- |
|
80-83 1/2 |
B- |
|
Below 60 |
F |
|
76-79 1/2 |
C+ |
|
|
|
Learning Goals for the Course:
1. To familiarize you with the major
micro and macro theoretical perspectives, concepts, methodologies, findings,
and resources in the field of sociology.
2. To
help you compare and contrast the implications of the various theories for our
interpretation of the structures and processes within our society.
3. To
help you evaluate the usefulness of various sociological theories for helping
us understand the world in which we live.
4. To
help you evaluate the appropriateness of various sociological methods for
answering different kinds of empirical questions.
5. To help you use sociological theory
and methods in gaining perspective on your life and the lives of those around
you.
6. In
summary: To help you think like a sociologist.
Other Information:
1.
Class
Attendance and Participation:
Class attendance is very important. Lectures will not always cover the same
material that is in the readings and the PowerPoint Presentations. Each day
after the first test, each student must sign the attendance sign-up sheet
during class or at least before leaving the classroom. If a student wishes to
be excused from class, he or she must email the instructor before the
date he or she expects to be absent. The student will be notified by email
about whether his or her excuse is acceptable. (The following excuses are
generally acceptable: sickness; death of a close relative, partner, or close
family friend; participating in a wedding or attending a wedding of a nuclear
family member; family emergency (including pets); taking a child to a doctor
for an illness; car accident; called into court as a witness; surgery; partner
or child giving birth; emergency doctor visits. The following excuses are
generally not acceptable: any extra-curricular activity such as sports, performances
or the like; attending a wedding of a friend or member of non-nuclear family;
job interviews or orientation; oversleeping; leaving to go home early for one
of the breaks; alarm clock not working; power outage; visiting colleges;
attending traffic court; non-emergency doctor's appointment; obligations for
other classes). Students are responsible for obtaining notes from their
classmates if they miss class whether the absence is excused or not. Students are allowed to miss two classes
without excuses and without penalty. A half percent will be deducted from
the student's class attendance grade for each additional unexcused absence. Note that part of your grade will be based on
class participation. In order to
participate effectively, you will need to come to class prepared. In other words, you will need to read the
material and view the videos scheduled for each meeting before coming to
class. You must also be prepared to discuss
them and ask questions about them.
2.
Tests
and Final: The three
tests will not be cumulative, but the final will be. All examinations will be
given, as scheduled, in class. To each examination, students should bring notes
or clippings from their optional Sociological Exercises (described below),
notes on any films viewed since the last exam, an unmarked copy of the
vocabulary list downloaded from the instructor's webpage or from Blackboard; and
a #2 pencil.
3.
Missed
Tests: Under extreme
circumstances (illness, death in the family, severe stress) students may
arrange to take a test on an alternative date.
Except in very unusual circumstances (being run over by a truck on the
way to class), a student who does not show up to take the examination without
making prior arrangements will receive a 0.
Also except in very unusual circumstances, tests must be made up before
class starts a week after they are given.
Students who miss tests or plan to miss them must explain why in
writing.
4.
Cheating
and Plagiarism: All
students are expected to abide by the Academic Integrity Code. Cheating and plagiarism
will not be tolerated.
- Class Materials: From the instructor's web page or
from Blackboard, students can obtain copies of the syllabus, supplemental
class materials, optional Sociological Exercises, Power Point
presentations, and the vocabulary list. With the exception of the
syllabus, copies of these materials will not be distributed to students.
- Sociological Exercises and Test
Essays: These
optional exercises are available on the instructor's web page or through
Blackboard. They will help students understand sociology and society
better. On each test or exam after the first one, if the student has done
a sociological exercise in preparation for the test, he or she will have
the option of answering an essay question about it. Students may do one or
more of these exercises in preparation for test #2, test #3, and the final
examination. Of course, the more of these exercises students do, the more
they will learn, and the wider choice of essays they will have. Students
who have not prepared to write one of these essays in advance should
answer the true-false questions instead.
- Vocabulary List: There is a vocabulary list
available on the instructor's web page or through Blackboard that includes
all of the terms defined in class. Students should print off a clean copy
to bring to the tests and exams. (Note that it is acceptable for students
to highlight or star terms already covered in class so they can find them
more efficiently during tests). Students should not memorize the
definitions, but make sure they understand them, can give examples of
them, and can use them in context.
- Note Taking: Students are urged to print off
copies of the PowerPoint presentations with three slides to a page before
coming to the relevant class so they can take notes to the right of each
slide during class. Take special care to take notes on the instructor's
examples and of her interpretations of readings, tables, and graphs. When
reading assigned articles, the student should highlight key points made by
the author(s) and then summarize the article in a paragraph or two. The
student should then compare this summary to the instructor's class
discussion of the article. If they are not similar, the student should
reread the article. If he or she still does not see what the instructor
saw in the article, he or she should mention this to the instructor,
either during class or during her office hour.
- Students
with Disabilities: UNCG
seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based
on a disability must be registered with the Office of Disability Services
in 215 Elliott University Center (336-334-5440).
- Extra Credit: Each student is encouraged to
attend sociology presentations outside of class. The instructor will
announce events as they are scheduled. Please let her know about
appropriate events in advance so that she can announce them to the class. If
the student writes a one-page summary of an event, noting why a
sociologist would be interested in the topic, it is worth up to 2-1/2 points extra
credit. A student may do two of these extra credit summaries. It is
advisable to do these extra credit assignments early in the semester,
because there are usually not many opportunities during the latter part of
the semester. Extra credit will not
be given for anything that is not announced as an opportunity in class, on
Blackboard, or via email..
- Blackboard and Email: Students are responsible for
checking Blackboard at least once between class meetings. The address is: blackboard.uncg.edu.
Use your Novell username and password to log in. Class materials and
access to electronic reserves are available through Blackboard, and the
instructor will sometimes make important announcements on Blackboard
(e.g., solutions to problems that have emerged, last-minute extra-credit
opportunities, cancellation of class when the University is open). The
instructor will assume that students check their UNCG email accounts
regularly.