SOCY1001.02: Introductory Sociology, Spring 2016
Tuesday and Thursday 9:00-10:15AM | Gasson Hall 303
"We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe” - Frantz Fanon (1925-1961)
“Life is about responsibility” – John Trudell (1946-2015)
Instructor: Bobby Wengronowitz (wen-grahn-uh-wits), PhD candidate in sociology
Email: wengronr@bc.edu | Office: 410A McGuinn, 617-552-4148
Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 10:30-11:30, by appointment
Welcome to Introductory Sociology! Sociology is a sprawling discipline, studying everything
from the functioning of small groups, up through nation-state formation. This course will
provide a survey of different areas within sociology as well as methodological approaches
(how the research happens). Our main objective: develop our sociological perspectives, our
lenses to understanding the world and our place in it.
A sociological perspective asks us to connect individual stories to larger structures
and histories. Consider addiction. On the one hand, addiction can be seen as a personal
problem, reflecting a deficit in character. Alternatively, we might consider the upbringing,
education, and overall wellbeing of an individual dealing with dependence. Going further in
this direction, we might ask “cui bono” or “who benefits” from the drug trade and the socalled war on drugs. Taking an historical view, one could even ask why some drugs are
(il)legal? A sociological perspective seeks to weave together the different forces at play, be
they individuals or small groups, nation states or even non-human actors.
Poverty, racism, war, hunger, ecological degradation, sexual violence, patriarchy,
homelessness, the growth of prisons and the arms industry: these are all collective social
problems faced by millions or billions of people, even while individuals face them in their
own ways. These problems involve large institutions and have powerful vested interests. To
understand the complexity of such issues means to understand the challenges in alleviating
or eliminating them. Sociology departments, especially the one at BC, take pride in acting on
one of Marx’s famous lines: “philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways;
the point is to change it.”
Social Science Core
Exploring the interplay between individuals and society is one of the perennial
questions. We’ll regularly counterpose individual and social responsibility (structure and
agency in the language of sociology). How much is success in life about working hard and
making good decisions? How much does society provide some with opportunities and
constrain others? Who has power and why?
This course mostly focuses on contemporary social problems, but some historical
perspective is necessary to understand the present. As historian Howard Zinn said: “if you
don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday.” We’ll also learn how sociology has
changed over time.
Cultural diversity is an important component of this course. We will spend a great
deal of time discussing how patterns of experience emerge along lines of race, class, and
gender. This is especially the case regarding unequal access to power and resources. Other
identities and characteristics like language, age, and ability join together with race, class, and
gender as powerful forces, which influence daily life, socioeconomic outcomes, mannerisms,
social networks, and more. It is important to understand how our individual perspectives
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 1
have been shaped and to be able to see others’ perspectives.
The materials covered draw on a range of different methodologies, from
ethnographic explorations of a few individuals to large-scale quantitative studies to more
cultural and historical accounts. This is meant to provide a sense of the diverse ways
sociologists research and understand social problems.
This course is writing-intensive. You’ll write five reflection papers as well as an
autobiographical essay. These are not purely for evaluation. Engaging and effective writing is
an important skill, in just about any path you take. And the only way to become a better
writer is practice. For many, writing is also a way of learning, about oneself and the world.
This course will help you create a personal philosophy. You will be drawn to some
perspectives more than others. Try to be aware of what you are drawn to and why that might
be. You’ll be able to reflect on this in your weekly papers as well as your two essays.
The Readings
You do not have to purchase any texts! All the readings are in a flashdrive I’ll pass around.
You can also bring your own flash drive to get the readings. All the readings are also
uploaded in this folder (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5i8aT_in0nMTN2aW1ULVJmNkU) called “Wengronowitz 2016 intro to sociology readings”.
Most academic articles are difficult to read. There are excellent books, but these are
longer. I’ve intentionally limited reading and worked hard to avoid difficult pieces. It is critical
that you read them before the class, please do so!
While you don’t need to purchase books for this course, if you need help purchasing
books in other courses, contact the Montserrat Coalition (Montserrat.coalition@bc.edu).
Request for Accommodations/Accessibility
Advance notice and appropriate documentation are required for accommodations. If you
have an accessibility issue or otherwise will be requesting accommodations for this course,
please contact Kathy Duggan (617-552-8093, dugganka@bc.edu) at the Connors Family
Learning Center regarding learning disabilities and ADHD. Contact Paulette Durrett (617552-3470, paulette.durrett@bc.edu) in the Disability Services Office regarding all other
disabilities, including temporary ones.
Academic Honesty
Your work must be your words and ideas. When writing papers, use quotation marks around
someone else’s exact words and identify whose words they are. If you come across a good
idea, use it, but be sure to acknowledge that person. Failure to comply will result in (a)
automatic failure of the assignment, and (b) a report to the Dean and the Committee on
Academic Integrity. For further information, please review the College’s policies here:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/integrity.html
Grading scale
A+ none at Boston College
B+ 87-89%
C+ 77-79%
D+ 67-69%
F below 60%
A 93-100%
B 83-86%
C 73-76%
D 63-66%
A- 90-92%
B- 80-82%
C- 70-72%
D- 60-62%
Task
Participation
Autobiographical Essay
Due Date
Throughout
Draft: Jan. 28 Final: March 3
Percentage of grade
25%
25%
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 2
5 reflection papers
Final Exam
Before Tuesday classes*5
Draft: Mar. 22 Final: May 5
25%
25%
Assessment
Participation: Your participation grade is made up of your attendance and participation
during class. You may miss two classes without any repercussions. However, each missed
class after that lowers your grade by one percent. If you miss a substantial part of any class
(more than 15 minutes), I will consider if a whole class unless you have a legitimate excuse.
Participation in class discussion is necessary to receive a high mark. I know different
people have different styles and patterns of contribution. Those who dominate class
discussions, leaving others without opportunity to speak, do not receive a gold star. Neither
do students who say nothing in class. You should aim to contribute at least once during each
class period, though I will not tally when so and so spoke. Please consider our community
agreements as highly relevant to your participation. For example, interrupting someone else
will lower your grade; respectfully highlighting a different perspective will raise your grade.
Autobiographical Essay: You’ll write a 3-4,000 word autobiographical essay describing the
intersection between your biography and history using what C. Wright Mills called the
“sociological imagination.” How do you situate your own biography in relation to historical
changes and larger structural forces in society? What has shaped your life? How has your
background—race, gender, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation—influenced your position in
society as well as the person you are. I’m not looking for your whole life history. I am
looking for you to sociologically discuss some of the significant aspects of your story.
In the essay, please consider three themes: 1) Reflect on your own social
background—childhood, current state, future prospects—and how it has influenced your life
chances. You must discuss the effects of race, class, and gender on your life, and you may
bring up other aspects. You should also discuss the resources you have access to (economic,
social, and cultural). 2) Discuss how a major social institution has affected your life
(government, religion, education, movements, military, etc). How are you dependent and
how are you constrained by that institution? 3) Think about social roles you might occupy:
sibling, friend, student, child, employee, activist, athlete, etc. How do these roles shape your
life? What are the rules and scripts in these roles? How do they influence each other and
create conflicts and opportunities? How do you internalize the social world and understand
yourself? That is, what is your self-identity and how did you come to it?
Should you wish to write a draft, it’s due January 28. The final draft is due March 3.
Please print double-sided and bring to class. Organize the paper however you see fit. Feel
free to visit office hours and discuss.
5 Reflection Papers: For 4 of the 5 papers, react to the readings in 500 words or less.
Please feel free to include current events and personal reflections. If you summarize the
material, do so very briefly. These assignments are meant to make sure you understand the
readings, so try to comment on the bulk of the pages for any given week. These reflection
papers are also an opportunity to try out themes for your autobiographical essay. You can do
a reflection paper any week we have two classes. They are due before class starts (no
exceptions). Please upload them to Canvass. Email them to me if you have trouble. You may
also bring a printed copy to class.
For the 5th reflection paper, please relate a given week’s readings to a story you heard on
Democracy Now! or another independent news program. Independent means no
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 3
government funding, corporate underwriting, or advertisements. Please feel free to talk to
me about any media you are considering. Be prepared to discuss how the program is funded.
Final Exam: Our last class (May 5) will consist of an in-class final exam. The exam will be
cumulative. The exam will consist of short answer essays and possibly multiple-choice
questions. These will not be “gotcha;” rather, I’m interested in you utilizing the knowledge
you’ve accumulated over the semester. More information will be forthcoming.
Community Agreements
☺ With your help, we will try to maintain a supportive and safer space for all those present,
regardless of biological sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, cultural
background, physical and mental ability, or age.
☺ Respect others and their ideas; no insults or judgments. We all can air our views in a safe
and open atmosphere. We will not verbally attack persons; we will engage with their
arguments.
☺ No one dominates discussions.
☺ No one interrupts when someone is speaking.
☺ We will try to maintain relevance to the issue being discussed.
☺ We will turn off our cell phones, pagers, and other sound making devices in class.
☺ Please respect the role of the instructor as the main moderator and facilitator of the class.
☺ We live in a digital age. I don’t want to make a blanket rule excluding electronic devices
(computer, phones, etc.) because I personally like to take notes on a laptop. However, I will
do so if they become an issue. I expect you to be taking notes and that’s all. Violation of this
policy will result in harm to your grade and potentially class-wide changes.
☺ What would you like to add?
Note well: I may modify the syllabus and will let you know in class and via email if I do so.
Please consult the Canvas page for this course regularly for announcements, grades, course
materials, a copy of the syllabus, etc. Please, look before you email. If you email me and don’t
receive a response within a week, it’s because you don’t need me to tell you the answer to
your question.
Week One – January 19, 21 – Sociological Imagination
Mills, C. Wright. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press. | [42
pages] Please read chapters 1 (3-24) and 8 (143-164).
King, Martin Luther, Jr. April 4, 1967. “Beyond Vietnam.” | [11 pages] audio is here:
http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietn
am/
King, Martin Luther, Jr. April 4, 1967. “Beyond Vietnam, Questions and Answer” | [2
pages]
Goffman, Erving. 2003. “On Face-Work: An Analysis of Ritual Elements in Social
Interaction.” Reflections 4(3):7–13. | [7 pages]
Week Two – January 26, 28 – Foundations of sociology
Draft of autobiographical essay due by 11:59 PM, January 28.
Keane, John. 2015. “Why Read Tocqueville’s Democracy in America?” The Conversation, April
27. | [13 pages]
Alatas, S. F. 2006. “Ibn Khaldun and Contemporary Sociology.” International Sociology
21(6):782–95. | [14 pages]
Becker, Howard S. 1967. “Whose Side Are We On?” Social Problems 14(3):239–47. | [8 pages]
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 4
Elwell, Frank. 2005. “The Classical Tradition: Malthus, Marx, Weber, & Durkheim.” | You
don’t have to read this, but Elwell provides a readable overview. Skim it, read what
interests you, and save it as a reference document.
Sociological classics, should you wish to pursue them. You don’t have to read these!
Durkheim, Emile. 1994 (1933). The Division of Labor in Society.
Weber, Max, 1930.The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
Marx, Karl. 1852. 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte.
Marx, Karl. 1976. Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy. London: Penguin.
Good collection for Marx and Engels- Tucker, Robert. 1978. The Marx-Engels Reader. New
York: W.W. Norton and Company. Most important pages: 3-6, 70-105, 148-167, 172175, 186-193, 203-217, 302-308, 319-329, 397-403, 411-415, 473-491, 499-500, 577-578.
Freud, Sigmund. 1966 (1920). Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. New York: W.W.
Norton and Company. Most important pages: 318-468.
Smith, Adam, 1996 (1776). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. Most important: 7-25, 72-79, 207-209, 275282.
Goffman, Erving, 1967. Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. New York:
Pantheon Books.
Geertz, Clifford. 1972. “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.” Daedalus. 101 (1), pp.
29-86.
Parsons, Talcott. 1954. Essays in Sociological Theory. New York: Macmillan, pp. 177-196
Week Three – February 2, 4 – Gender, sexuality, feminism
Friedan, Betty. 1963. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton. | [18 pages] Chapter 1
Fetters, Ashley. 2003. Four Big Problems with ‘The Feminine Mystique.’ February 12. The
Atlantic. | [10 pages]
Steinem, Gloria. 1978. “If Men Could Menstruate.” Ms, 41. | [1 page]
West, Candace and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1(2):125–
51. [26 pages]
Week Four – February 9, 11 – Gender, sexuality, feminism cont’d
Rampton, Martha. 2008. “Four Waves of Feminism.” Pacific. | [4 pages]
Rich, Adrienne. 1980. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs 5(4):631–
60. | I gave you two versions, the original article (~30 pages) and an abridged version
(~15). The original will give you a better sense, but the shorter one captures the
important elements and I’d rather have you read that closely than skim the longer one,
but take your pick.
Lorber, Judith. 1994. “‘Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender.” in Paradoxes
of gender. New Haven: Yale University Press. | [9 pages]
Molotch, Harvey. 1988. “The Rest Room and Equal Opportunity.” Sociological Forum 3:128–
32. | [5 pages]
Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2003. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. | [20 pages] Chapter 1.
Week Five – February 16, 18 – Race and ethnicity
Survey handed out in class—simply for feedback purposes.
Du Bois, W. E. B. 1920. Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil. Harcourt, Brace and Howe. |
[23 pages] I’ve given you the whole book because it’s excellent and out of copyright.
Please read Chapter 2, the souls of white folk, pages 29-52.
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 5
Fanon, Franz. 1967. Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove Press. |[24 pages] Please
read Chapter 1, “The Negro and Language” pages 17-40.
Allan, Kenneth. 2011. A Primer in Social and Sociological Theory: Toward a Sociology of Citizenship.
Los Angeles: SAGE/Pine Forge. | [23 pages] Chapter 8 on race.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. 2003. “‘New Racism,’ Color-Blind Racism, and the Future of
Whiteness in America.” in White out: the continuing significance of racism, edited by A. W.
Doane and E. Bonilla-Silva. New York: Routledge. | [15 pages]
Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. 1986. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to
the 1980s. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. | [8 pages] Excerpt.
Week Six – February 23, 25 – Race and ethnicity cont’d
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. 2014. “The Case for Reparations: An Intellectual Autopsy.” The Atlantic,
May 22. [8 pages]
Alexander, Michelle. 2012. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New
York: The New Press. | [58 pages] Intro and Chapter 1.
Week Seven – March 1, 3 – Class
Final autobiographical essay due March 3 by 11:59 PM.
Piketty, Thomas. 2014. “Dynamics of Inequality.” New Left Review (85):103–16. | [14 pages]
Norton, Michael I. and Dan Ariely. 2011. “Building a Better America—One Wealth Quintile
at a Time.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 6(1):9–12. | [4 pages] Video that nicely
explains the study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
Fitz, Nicholas. 2015. “Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think.” Scientific
American, March 31. | [2 pages]
Rank, Mark R. 2003. “As American as Apple Pie: Poverty and Welfare.” Contexts 2(3):41–49.
| [9 pages]
Gilens, Martin and Benjamin I. Page. 2014. “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites,
Interest Groups, and Average Citizens.” Perspectives on Politics 12(03):564–81. | [18 pages]
Geier, Kathleen. 2014. “Proof of Wealth’s Power Over Policy.” The Baffler. April 10. | [3
pages] This is commentary on the Gilens and Page article.
Sternheimer, Karen. 2007. “Class Consciousness.” | [3 pages]
Schor, Juliet B. 1998. “Keeping up with the Trumps: How the Middle Class Identifies with
the Rich.” The Washington Monthly, 34–37. | [4 pages]
Newman, Katherine S. and Victor Tan Chen. 2007. “The Crisis of the Near Poor.” Chronicle
of Higher Education 54(6). | [6 pages]
Swasey, Benjamin. 2016. “Report: Boston Ranks No. 1 For City Income Inequality.” WBUR.
| [4 pages] Explore more here:
http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/01/14-income-inequality-citiesupdate-berube-holmes And here: http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/
March 8, 10 SPRING BREAK!
Week Eight – March 15, 17 – Intersectionality, Privilege
McIntosh, Peggy. 1998. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Race, class, and
gender in the United States: An integrated study 4:165–69. [4 pages]
Hill Collins, Patricia. 2000. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of
Empowerment. Rev. 10th anniversary ed. New York: Routledge. | [19 pages] Chapter one.
Graham, Lawrence Otis. 2014. “I Taught My Black Kids That Their Elite Upbringing Would
Protect Them from Discrimination. I Was Wrong.” The Washington Post, November 6. |
[6 pags]
Gans, Herbert J. 2005. “Race as Class.” Contexts 4(4):17–21. [4 pages]
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 6
Polletta, Francesca. 2005. “How Participatory Democracy Became White: Culture and
Organizational Choice.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 10(2):271–88. | [17 pages]
hooks, bell. 2006. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. New York: Routledge. | [6 pages]
“Love as the practice of freedom”
Incite! Women of Color Against Violence. 2007. The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the
Non-Profit Industrial Complex. Cambridge, MA: South End Press. | [18 pages] Please read
Chapter 1, (“incite2011..”)
Week Nine – Mach 22, 24 (NO class on the 24th, Easter) – Body and BC
Explore the Disability Awareness Committee at Boston College:
https://www.facebook.com/BC.disabilityawareness?_rdr=p
Anonymous. 2009. “I Suffer Alone While Suffering with Many.” Contexts 8(2):78–79. [2
pages]
Johan Hari, June 2015, “Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong.”
(http://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addi
ction_is_wrong) | I’ve uploaded the transcript of the 15 minute talk as well
(“Hari2015..”).
Aaron, Kwesi. 2015. “Boston College Serves a Kinder Supremacy.” Verge Campus.
Friedman, J. M. 2003. “A War on Obesity, Not the Obese.” Science 299(5608):856–58.
Week Ten – March 29, 31 – Social institutions: family
Lareau, Annettte. 2008. “Excerpts from Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life.”
in American Families: A Multicultural Reader, edited by S. Coontz. New York: Routledge. |
[15+4 pages] Please read the whole excerpt as well as the question and answer with
Lareau.
Dodson, Lisa and Wendy Luttrell. 2011. “Families Facing Untenable Choices.” Contexts
10(1):38–42. | [4 pages]
Week Eleven – April 5, 7 – Social institutions: education
Korn, Sandra Y. L. 2013. “Don’t Teach For America.” The Harvard Crimson, October 23.
Retrieved January 18, 2016 (http://www.thecrimson.com/column/the-redline/article/2013/10/23/dont-teach-for-america/). | [2 pages]
Khan, Shamus Rahman. 2013. Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. | [17 pages] Chapter 1.
Zweigenhaft, Richard L. 1993. “Prep School and Public School Graduates of Harvard: A
Longitudinal Study of the Accumulation of Social and Cultural Capital.” The Journal of
Higher Education 64(2):211-225. | [13 pages]
Gladwell, Malcolm. 2005. “Getting in: The Social Logic of Ivy League Admissions.” The New
Yorker, October 10. | [6 pages]
Freire, Paulo. 2000. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30th anniversary edition. New York: Continuum.
| [17 pages] Read all of chapter 2, though you have the whole book, which is excellent.
Chomsky, Noam. 2014. “The Death of American Universities.” Jacobin, March 13. Retrieved
April 20, 2015 (https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/03/the-death-of-americanuniversities/). | [14 pages]
Week Twelve – April 12, 14 – Social institutions: religion
Possible guest lecture!
Sternheimer, Karen. 2012. “Civil Religion.” Everyday Sociology. Retrieved January 14, 2016
(http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2012/06/civil-religion.html). [3 pages]
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 7
Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2002. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological
Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others.” American Anthropologist 104(3):783–
90.
Haluza-DeLay, Randolph. 2014. “Religion and Climate Change: Varieties in Viewpoints and
Practices.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 5(2):261–79.
Francis, Pope and Naomi Oreskes. 2015. Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality: On Care for
Our Common Home. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House. | The required reading is Oreskes’
intro (see “Oreskes..”) and optional is as much of the encyclical as you like. No need to
buy the Pope’s encyclical, you can get it online for free.
Week Thirteen – April 19, 21 – Climate change
Oreskes, Naomi. 2004. “Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate
Change.” Science 306(5702):1686. | [1 page]
McCright, Aaron M. and Riley E. Dunlap. 2011. “Cool Dudes: The Denial of Climate
Change among Conservative White Males in the United States.” Global Environmental
Change 21(4):1163–72. | 10 pages
McKibben, Bill. 2012. “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math: Three Simple Numbers
That Add up to Global Catastrophe - and That Make Clear Who the Real Enemy Is.”
Rolling Stone, July 19. | [13 pages]
Eshel, G. and P. A. Martin. 2006. “Diet, Energy, and Global Warming.” Earth Interactions
10(9):1–17.
Week Fourteen – April 26, 28 – Climate change and environmental
justice
Film! Lewis, Avi and Naomi Klein. 2015. This Changes Everything. (90 minutes, we’ll get
through it during class)
Bullard, Robert D. 2007. “Co-Op America: Getting to Zero Waste: Robert Bullard.” | [7
pages]
Solnit, Rebecca. 2014. “Call Climate Change What It Is: Violence.” The Guardian, April 7. |
[3 pages]
Allen, Paul, Christina French, Lisa Hopkinson, and Philip James. 2016. Zero Carbon: Making It
Happen, a Multi-Disciplinary Investigation into Overcoming the Barriers to a Zero Carbon Future.
Initial Findings. Powys, Wales: Centre for Alternative Technology. | Reading is titled
“zero carbon…” [40 pages, easy to read, has pictures] A nice overview, in clear language,
about how different disciplines think about climate. As the title suggests, the report
focuses on getting to zero carbon emissions, which can be done, but requires large and
small changes.
Brulle, Robert. 2016. “America Has Been Duped on Climate Change.” The Washington Post,
January 6. |[2 pages]
Caldeira, Ken. 2016. “Stop Emissions! A Climate Scientist Argues That It Should No Longer
Be Acceptable to Dump Carbon Dioxide in the Sky.” MIT Technology Review, 40–43. | [4
pages]
Week Fifteen – May 3, 5 – Activism, Organizing, and Civic Engagement
In-class video of Trudell, John, on Democracy Now!, December 9, 2015. “RIP John
Trudell, Longtime Native American Activist; Hear Him Read One of His Poems in
1998.” | I placed a partial transcription in the readings (“Trudell1998…”) but please
listen/watch to the 20 minute talk here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/12/9/rip_john_trudell_longtime_native_america
n
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 8
Stoecker, Randy. 2009. “Community Organizing and Social Change.” Contexts 8(1):20–25.
Essig, Kate. 2014. “Activism Or Slacktivism? How Social Media Hurts And Helps Student
Activism.” St. Louis Public Radio. | [5 pages]
Kaufman, Cynthia C. 2003. Ideas for Action: Relevant Theory for Radical Change. Cambridge,
Mass: South End Press. | Selections to be determined.
Andersen, Kurt. 2011. “Person of the Year 2011: The Protester.” Time, December 14. | [14
pages]
Gottesdiener, Laura. 2014. “A Glimpse Into the Zapatista Movement, Two Decades Later.”
The Nation, January 23. Retrieved January 17, 2016
(http://www.thenation.com/article/glimpse-zapatista-movement-two-decades-later/).
[10 pages]
Jacobs, Tom. 2013. “Study: Everyone Hates Environmentalists and Feminists.”
(http://www.salon.com/2013/09/26/study_everyone_hates_environmentalists_and_fe
minists_partner/). | [3 pages]
Warren, Mark R. 2010. Fire in the Heart: How White Activists Embrace Racial Justice. Oxford;
New York: Oxford University Press. | [6 pages] We’re reading a short overview that
Mark wrote in a newsletter, pages 1-2, 10-13.
Final exam on May 5 or during the university’s predetermined time
Possible guest lecture on rapid emissions reductions! Laurence Delina, Postdoctoral
Associate on Sustainable Energy Transitions at Boston University. If that happens, we’ll
have two readings. First, skim this one: Delina, Laurence L. and Mark Diesendorf. 2013.
“Is Wartime Mobilisation a Suitable Policy Model for Rapid National Climate
Mitigation?” Energy Policy 58:371–80. Second, read the intro and conclusion of Delina,
Laurence L. 2016. Strategies for Rapid Climate Mitigation: Wartime Mobilisation as a Model for
Action? New York: Routledge.
Wengronowitz – Introductory Sociology – Spring 2016 9