Soc 1a: Order and Change in Society
M, W, Th 1-1:50pm
Spring 2014
Mandel G3
Prof. Carmen Sirianni
Pearlman 210, x62652; sirianni@brandeis.edu
Office Hours: Mon, Wed 5-6pm and by appointment
Teaching assistants:
Rachel Madsen: rmadsen@brandeis.edu
Julia Bandini: jbandini@brandeis.edu
Rohan Bhatia: rohan.bhatia@hotmail.com
Holly Rutledge: hrutledg@brandeis.edu
This course analyzes patterns of social organization and change in a variety of different arenas of
social and institutional life: work, family, gender, community, poverty, wealth, race,
environment, social movements, politics, organizations. It focuses on the contemporary United
States, though it also examines longer patterns. Broad normative questions of democracy and
equality run throughout all topics.
ABSOLUTELY NO USE OF LAPTOPS OR CELL PHONES DURING CLASS
All cellphones and laptops will be shut off and stored out of sight. Get a paper notebook for
note taking, if you do not typically utilize one. (I will make an exception only if there is a dire
emergency, such as a family member in surgery. You must inform me of such an emergency
ahead of class.)
The required reading will be discussed most intensively in your discussion sections, and
everyone is required to attend these and do all of the readings beforehand. Assigned sections will
be developed within the first 2 weeks or so of the course.
Two sets of take-home essays, plus participation in section, will determine final grades. ALL
essays are due in hardcopy, stapled, paginated, double-spaced, 12-point or so font.
1. Midterm take home essays, 2 essays, 10 pages total: DUE March 3 (35 percent of
grade).
2. Final take home essays, 3 essays, 15 pages total: DUE April 28 (50 percent of grade).
3. Participation/preparation in section: 15 percent of grade.
4. Service Learning Option: Students engaged in community service, social action, or
campus leadership projects may opt to write one of their essays for the final on their
experiences. This may require supplemental reading appropriate to the nature of the
student’s active engagement. Students wishing to choose this option should discuss it
with their TAs and/or the instructor as early in the semester as possible, present a short
written proposal (1 page), and must receive formal approval by Feb 3.
Prof. Sirianni, Soc 1a: Order and Change, Spring 2014 - 1
Disabled students requiring specific arrangements in completing course work should see their
TA and/or instructor.
Required readings: at Bookstore, on reserve, or on LATTE
Required books:
Thomas Shapiro, The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates
Inequality (Oxford University Press, 2005).
Bill McKibben, Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist (Times Books 2013).
Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican
Conservatism (Oxford University Press 2012).
Katherine K. Chen, Enabling Creative Chaos: The Organization Behind the Burning Man Event
(University of Chicago Press 2009).
January 13: Introduction: Overview of course topics, readings, assignments.
January 15-30: Family, Gender, and Work
Inequality and gender at the intersection of work, family, children. Negotiating equity and
flexibility. Family myths, gender ideologies and strategies, economies of gratitude, networks
of care. The challenges of work-family policy.
Reading:
Arlie Hochschild, The Second Shift (Penguin 2012 edition), chapters 4-5, pages 35-78.
Karen Hansen, Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, and Networks of Care (Rutgers
University Press, 2005), chapter 5 (“The Beckers,” pages 98-123).
Cameron Macdonald, Shadow Mothers: Nannies, Au Pairs, and the Micropolitics of
Mothering (University of California Press 2011), chapters 6-7.
Kathleen Gerson, The Unfinished Revolution: How a New Generation is Reshaping Family,
Work, and Gender in America (Oxford UP 2010), chapter 3 (“The Rising Fortunes of
Flexible Families”), pages 46-71.
Mindy Fried, Taking Time: Parental Leave Policy and Corporate Culture (Temple UP
1998), chapter 3 (pages 29-62: “The Decision to Take Time”).
Feb 3-13: The Changing Nature of Work: From Industrial to Postindustrial Society
The organization and meaning of work; scientific management and industrial work;
recognition and power in service workplaces, gender, race; postindustrialism and information
technologies.
Readings:
Frederick Taylor, “Scientific Management,” in Frank Fischer and Carmen Sirianni, Critical
Studies in Organization and Bureaucracy, second edition (Temple UP 1994), pages 4454.
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Susan Eaton, "'The Customer is Always Interesting': Unionized Harvard Clericals
Renegotiate Work Relationships," in Cameron Macdonald and Carmen Sirianni, eds.,
Working in the Service Society (Temple University Press, 1996), 291-332.
Deborah Osnowitz, Freelancing Expertise: Contract Professionals in the New Economy
(Cornell UP 2010), chapter 5 (“Collegial Networking, Occupational Control”), pages
120-44.
Rachel Sherman, Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels (University of
California Press, 2007), chapters 3-5 (pages 110-222).
February 17-20: Winter Break, no classes
February 24-27: Racial Inequality: Income and Wealth
What are the dynamics of race, wealth, and income in the U.S., and what might these entail
for public policy? What have been the effects of the financial crisis on equality and strategies
for equity?
Readings:
Shapiro, The Hidden Cost of Being African American.
March 3: Midterm essays due in class: 10 pages, double-spaced, paginated, stapled
March 3-13: Community and Urban Politics: Religion, Race, Immigrants
How do people act through religious congregations and civic associations to build social
capital, enhance power, revitalize their communities, incorporate recent immigrants?
Readings:
Richard Wood, Faith in Action: Religion, Race, and Democratic Organizing in America
(University of Chicago Press, 2002), chapter 1: “Faith-Based Organizing in Action: The
Local Organizing Committee at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church” (pages 23-52).
Carmen Sirianni, “Neighborhood Planning as Collaborative Democratic Design: the Case of
Seattle,” Journal of the American Planning Association 73:4 (December 2007), 373-87.
Irene Bloemraad, Becoming A Citizen: Incorporating Immigrants and Refugees in the United
States and Canada (University Of California Press 2006), Chapter 5.
Kim Voss and Irene Bloemraad, eds., Rallying for Immigrant Rights: The Fight for Inclusion
in 21st Century America (University of California Press 2011), selected chapters.
Walter Nichols, The Dreamers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the
Immigrant Rights Debate (Stanford UP 2013), chapter 5.
March 17-27: Climate Change and Environmental Movements
The emergence and development of a multi-dimensional climate movement, comprised of
contentious as well as collaborative politics. Challenges for civil society, government,
markets. The institutional field of environmentalism.
Readings:
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Carmen Sirianni and Stephanie Sofer, “Environmental Organizations,” in Lester M. Salamon,
ed., The State of Nonprofit America, second edition (Washington, DC: Brookings Press
2012), pp. 294-328.
Jason Corburn, “Tapping Local Knowledge to Understand and Combat Asthma” (chapter 4
of Street Science (MIT press, 2005), pages 111-44.
Bill McKibben, Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist (Times Books 2013).
March 31-April 3: Political Sociology and Polarized Politics
Power and politics in society; how can we understand recent conservative movements and
the polarized turn in American politics? The Tea Party.
Readings:
Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican
Conservatism (Oxford University Press 2012).
April 7-14: Bureaucracy and Beyond?
Why has bureaucracy been such a powerful force in society and economy? What happens in
the ideal type, as well as in street-level practice? In what ways is bureaucracy being
reinvented and transformed?
Max Weber, “Bureaucracy,” in Fischer and Sirianni, Critical Studies in Organization and
Bureaucracy (second edition1994), pages 4-19.
Michael Lipsky, “The Rationing of Services in Street-Level Bureaucracy,” in Fischer and
Sirianni, Critical Studies in Organization and Bureaucracy (second edition1994), pages
264-81.
Katherine K. Chen, Enabling Creative Chaos: The Organization Behind the Burning Man
Event (University of Chicago Press 2009).
April 15-22: Spring Break (no classes)
April 23-24: Review
April 28: Final papers due in class: 10-pages, double-spaced, paginated, stapled
.
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