Intro Soc (Birk) Updated 8/12/15 Introductory Sociology for Majors – Fall 2015 Professor Lara Birk ǀ birk@bc.edu SOCY100101 ǀ MW 10:30-­‐11:45am ǀ McGuinn 415 Office Hours: Mon 2-­‐4:30 p.m. and by appointment ǀ McGuinn 420 “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”
– Nelson Mandela
“If you have come here to help me, then you are wasting your time… But if you have come because
your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
– Lila Watson
“The trouble around difference is really about privilege and power—the existence of privilege
and the lopsided distribution of power that keeps it going. The trouble is rooted in a legacy that
we all inherited, and while we’re here, it belongs to us. It isn't our fault. It wasn't caused by
something we did or didn't do. But now that it's ours, it's up to us to decide how we're going to
deal with it before we collectively pass it along to the generations that will follow ours.”
– Allan G. Johnson
Welcome to Introductory Sociology! Whether you are new to sociology or a seasoned major catching up on requirements, you should find this course challenging but reasonable. My philosophy as a professor is that you have as much to teach one other as I have to teach you. As such, discussion will be a substantial part of this course. By enrolling in SOCY100101, you hereby agree to do each set of readings **prior** to the class in which we will discuss them and that you will be an active participant in all class discussions and activities. Course Objectives: v For you to develop a sociological imagination that helps you think in new ways about society, the world around you, people who are different from you, and your own life and self v For you to strengthen the critical thinking, reading, writing, and speaking skills necessary for success in college and beyond v For us to discuss openly important if sensitive topics that affect us all as social beings v For us to practice engaging in civil discourse with one another whether we agree or not 1 Intro Soc (Birk) Updated 8/12/15 Required Texts: 1. Readings for Sociology (7th edition), edited by Garth Massey [Hereafter referred to as “RS”] 2. Seeing Ourselves: Classic, Contemporary, and Cross-­‐Cultural Readings in Sociology (8th edition), edited by John J. Macionis & Nijole V. Benokraitis [Hereafter referred to as “SO”] 3. Additional Readings in Course Reserves [Hereafter referred to as “Reserves”] Course Requirements: •
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15% Attendance & Participation* (*see me if you anticipate this will be unduly challenging for you) 10% Co-­‐Leadership of One Class Discussion (with an assigned partner) 10% In-­‐Class Quizzes (5 of 7 total unannounced quizzes worth 2 points each) 20% First Paper – 5-­‐6 page Sociological Autobiography 20% Second Paper – 5-­‐6 page Sociological Analysis 25% Final Exam (Cumulative) -­‐ in-­‐class test on last day of class + take-­‐home essay •
Perennial Questions: Is society “fair”? Why do some groups have more power than others? Are we •
Cultural Diversity: We will sustain an intense focus on race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability. •
Historical Perspective: The development of a “sociological imagination” is the heart of this course. Introductory Sociology & the Social Science Core: •
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completely free agents or does society exert some control on and influence over our lives and choices? We will examine different groups’ relations to power and attend to the many ways in which these factors intersect and affect our own lives. Throughout, we will take up C. Wright Mills’ call for us to investigate the relationship between “personal troubles” and “public issues.” In other words, we will analyze the connections between the seemingly private events of our own lives on the one hand and history and social structure on the other. Writing: While the majority of college students think of writing as something you do once and turn in, good writing is actually an iterative process—meaning it is something you return to again and again. Ideas shape writing, and writing shapes ideas. Writing and critical thinking are together the most important skills you will develop at college. Creating a Personal Philosophy: I will challenge you to use the course to critically examine your previously held assumptions and unarticulated beliefs and to develop a thoughtful and informed approach to life. You should come away with a richer sense of your own place in society and your potential to make a difference in it. A Note on Academic Integrity: Violations of academic integrity are a serious breach of the honor code implicit in the everyday operations of university life. Presenting another’s work as your own is not only intellectually dishonest but also wasteful. Engaging in any form of cheating, plagiarism, and the like only cheats you of the education you are here to get. As such, you are expected to present only your own work, ideas, and insights as your own and, in cases where you do borrow the words or ideas of another, to give credit where credit is due. For a full statement on the University’s academic integrity policies, please see: http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/integrity.html. 2 Intro Soc (Birk) Updated 8/12/15 Section 1: Introduction to Sociology Date Due Assignment Topic Mon. 8/31 Introductions Wed. 9/2 RS Ch. 2 (Mills: Sociological Imagination); SO Ch. 2 (Berger: Invitation to Sociology) & SO Ch. 4 (Miner: Body Ritual of the Nacirema) The Sociological Imagination LABOR DAY NO CLASS Mon. 9/7 Wed. 9/9 Mon. 9/14 RS Ch. 3 (Durkheim: What Makes Sociology Different); SO Ch. 6 (Babbie: The Importance of Social Research) & RS Ch. 6 (Best: Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics) SO Ch. 15 (Mead: The Self); RS Ch. 18 (Goffman: On Facework); SO Ch. 20 (Goffman: Presentation of Self in Everyday Life) What is Sociology? The Social Self Section 2: Structure & Identity: Gender, Class, Race, Sexual Orientation, & Disability Date Due Assignment Topic Wed. 9/16 Messner: Gender Ideologies, Youth Sports… (Reserves); Kimmel: Masculinity as Homophobia (Reserves) Gendering Kilbourne: The More You Subtract, the More You Add (Reserves); Lerum & Dworkin: “Bad Girls Rule” (Reserves) SO Ch. 39 (Lorber: Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender); West & Zimmerman: Doing Gender (Reserves) Social Construction of Gender Schilt & Westbrook: Doing Gender, Doing Heteronormativity… (Reserves); Herek: Beyond Homophobia (Reserves) RS Ch. 15 (Lareau: Concerted Cultivation and the Accomplishment of Natural Growth); Carter: “Black Cultural Capital” (Reserves) Sexual Orientation Mon. 9/21 Wed. 9/23 Mon. 9/28 Wed. 9/30 Mon. 10/5 Wed. 10/7 Cultural Capital Lubrano: The Bricklayer’s Son (Reserves); RS Ch. 20 (Bettie: Women without Class) Social Class Tatum: Talking about Race… (Reserves); McIntosh: White Privilege & Male Privilege (Reserves); Bonilla-­‐Silva: The Invisible Weight of Whiteness (Reserves) White Privilege & Colorblindness 3 Intro Soc (Birk) Updated 8/12/15 Mon. 10/12 Wed. 10/14 Mon. 10/19 Wed. 10/21 Wed. 10/21 DEADLINE HOLIDAY RS Ch. 22 (Waters: Optional Ethnicities); SO Ch. 44 (Brodkin: How Did Jews Become White Folks?); SO Ch. 45 (Zhou: Are Asian Americans Becoming White?) Sue, et al: Racial Microaggressions and the Asian American Experience (Reserves); Powell, et al: Toward a Transformative View of Race (Reserves) Social Construction of Race & Ethnicity Garland Thomson: Theorizing Disability (Reserves) Disability FIRST 5-­‐6 PAGE PAPER DUE SOCIOLOGICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY NO CLASS Racism Section 3: Macro Sociology: Capitalism, Democracy, & Economic Inequality Date Due Assignment Mon. 10/26 Wed. 10/28 SO Ch. 11 (Marx and Engels: Manifesto of the Communist Party); SO Ch. 49 (Mills: The Power Elite); Rothkopf: Superclass, Introduction (Reserves) RS Ch. 31 (Gans: Uses of the Underclass in America); SO Ch. 37 (Eglitis: The Uses of Global Poverty: How Economic Inequality Benefits the West) RS Ch. 23 (Ehrenreich: Nickel and Dimed); Dodson & Zincavage: It’s Like A Family (Reserves); RS Ch. 25 (Thompson: Hanging Tongues) Mon. 11/2 Topic Capitalism & Democracy Economic Inequality Labor Section 4: The Sociology of Education: The Reproduction of Inequality Date Due Assignment Topic Wed. 11/4 Mon. 11/9 SO Ch. 58 (Bowles and Gintis: Education and Inequality); SO Ch. 59 (Kozol: Savage Inequalities: Children in US Schools); Aronson: Breaking Barriers or Locked Out? (Reserves) Educational Inequalities Ferguson: Bad Boys, The Punishing Room (Reserves); RS Ch. 29 (Chambliss: The Saints & the Roughnecks) Labeling Theory Wed. 11/11 Gaztambide-­‐Fernández: Best of the Best (Reserves); Khan: Getting In (Reserves); Deresiewicz: The Disadvantages of an Elite Education (Reserves) Reproduction of the Elite 4 Intro Soc (Birk) Updated 8/12/15 Mon. 11/16 Bogle: Hooking Up, Ch. 6 (Reserves); Armstrong et al: Sexual Assault on Campus (Reserves) Hook-­‐Up Culture & Sexual Assault on Campus Mon. 11/16 DEADLINE SECOND 5-­‐6 PAGE PAPER DUE SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Section 5: Deviance & Social Control Date Due Assignment Wed. 11/18 Mon. 11/23 Wed. 11/25 Mon. 11/30 Wed. 12/2 SO Ch. 28 (Durkheim: The Functions of Crime); SO Ch. 30 (Anderson: The Code of the Streets); SO Ch. 31 (Farley: Prostitution: A Worldwide Business of Sexual Exploitation) SO Ch. 29 (Rosenhan: On Being Sane in Insane Places); Goffman: The Mortified Self (Reserves); RS Ch. 32 (Shearing and Stenning: From Panopticon to Disney World) THANKSGIVING BREAK RS Ch. 5 (Kelman and Hamilton: The My Lai Massacre); Meyer: If Hitler Asked You to Electrocute a Stranger… (Reserves) Alexander: The New Jim Crow, Introduction (Reserves); Coates: Trayvon Martin and the Irony of American Justice (Reserves); Blow: The Perfect-­‐Victim Pitfall (Reserves) Mon. 12/7 A current event/news item topic determined by class vote Wed. 12/9 In-­‐Class Test (worth 50% of the final) Mon. 12/14 Take-­‐Home Essay DEADLINE by 12 noon via email (worth 50% of the final) Topic Deviance Total Institutions & Social Control NO CLASS Obedience Criminal Justice & Policing TBA FINAL (IN-­‐CLASS TEST) FINAL (ESSAY) **I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus at any time, provided I give you fair and ample warning** 5