Sociology
Southwest College
Course # and Course Title
CRN46495---Spring 2015
Stafford Campus, SW Learning Hub-STF3
—Room Number-220| 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Saturdays
3 hour lecture course | 48 hours per semester | 16 weeks
Instructor: Linda DiCindio, M.A.
Instructor Contact Information:
E-mail: linda.dicindio@hccs.edu
Office location and hours
I am available to meet with students either before or after class; you may contact me by e-mail as well. Please identify yourself as a student when corresponding by e-mail because I delete any mail unopened if I do not recognize the address.
Instructional Materials
Text: Ritzer, George, Introduction to Sociology, Second Edition, Sage Publications,
Inc,California, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4833-0294-2.
Reader: Contemporary Readings in Sociology, Edited by Kathleen Odell Korgen, Sage
Publications. ISBN 978-1-4129-4473-1.
Please note that there are two different texts used for SOCI 1301, be sure to buy the correct text and reader for this class as listed above.
Be sure to buy a package of scantrons for the exams. The HCC bookstore is only open on Saturday the first week of class. It is not open on Saturday after the first week and you will not be able to buy scantrons the day of the exams. Scantrons are not sold at the front desk.
Student Resources www.edge.sagepub.com/ritzerintro2e
Course Calendar
I. Using Your Sociological Imagination
Week One
1/24/15 Review of Syllabus; Ch. 1-Sociological Imagination: An

Week Two
1/31/15
2/2/15
Week Three
2/7/15
Introduction to Sociology in the Global Age.
Ch. 14-Politics and the Economy, pp. 484 to 485, the
Industrial Revolution.
Ch. 13 Religion, pp. 434-436, early sociologists and religion
Ch. 2-Thinking Sociologically
Reader, Ch. 2-Differences Between Actual and Perceived
Student Norms, pp. 14-17.
Ch. 3-Researching the Social World
Class exercise-deviance survey
Date of Record
Ch. 7-Deviance and Crime
Reader: Ch. 13-Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course:
Race and Inequality in U.S. Incarceration, pp. 99 to 106.
Review for Exam 1
Week Four
2/14/15
Week Five
2/21/15 Ch. 17-Social Change, Social Movements, and Collective
Action, pp.616-618-Social Change: Globalization,
Consumption, and the Internet
Class exercise on Culture (international conversation
Week Six partners)
Ch. 5-Socialization and Interaction.
2/28/15
Week Seven
3/7/15
Exam #1-Ch. 1, 2, 3, 7, 13 (pp. 434-436), 14 (pp. 484-485) and reader articles
Ch. 4-Culture
Ch. 5-Socialization and Interaction.
Ch. 6-Organizations, Societies, and the Global Domain.
Ch. 6-Organizations, Societies, and the Global Domain.
Class exercise on privacy vs. technology
Review for Mid-Term
II. Social Divisions and Inequality
Week Eight
3/14/15 Ch. 8-Social Stratification
MID-TERM EXAM-Ch. 1-7, 13 (pp. 434-436), 14 (pp. 484-485),
17 ( pp.616-618) ; reader articles
3/21/15 SPRING BREAK- NO CLASS
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3/24/15
Week Nine
LAST DAY TO WITHDRAW
3/28/15 Ch. 8- Social Stratification
Reader, Ch. 15: Doing Class in a Coffee Shop, pp. 117-124.
Ch. 14-Politics and the Economy, p. 494:
Barbara Ehrenreich and Being Nickel and Dimed at Work.
Ch. 14-pp. 490-503: Deindustrialization in the U.S. through
McDonaldization Today.
Class exercise on occupational prestige.
Week Ten
4/4/15 SPRING HOLIDAY-NO CLASS
Week Eleven
4/11/15 PAPER DUE
Ch. 9-Race and Ethnicity.
Reader, Ch. 17: Race as Class, Herbert, J. Gans,
pp. 133-135
Ch. 9-Race and Ethnicity.
Ch. 10-Gender and Sexuality.
Week Twelve
4/18/15 Ch. 10-Gender and Sexuality.
Ch. 15 -The Body, Medicine, Health, and Health Care.
pp. 528-535: Inequalities in U.S. Health Care through
Consumerism and Health Care
Ch. 16-Population, Urbanization, and the Environment, pp. 579-580: Decline in Fresh Water
Review for Exam 3
III.
Institutions of Society
Week Thirteen
4/25/15 EXAM #3-CH. 8, 9, 10, 14 (pp. 490-503), 15 (pp. 528-535),
16 (pp. 579-580).
Ch. 11-Family
Week Fourteen
5/2/15 Ch.11-The Family
Reader: Ch. 21-Divorce Culture, pp. 163-167.
Week Fifteen
5/9/15 Ch.12-Education, pp. 411-419, Inequality in Education
Review for Final
Make-up Exams
3 pp. 371-375. pp. 261-266.

4 a.
5/22/15
Week Sixteen
5/16/14 FINAL EXAM-10:00 am
CH. 8-12, 14 (pp. 490-503), 15 (pp. 528-535)
16 (pp. 579-580); reader articles
Don’t forget to bring:
A scantron that is not crumbled or wrinkled
A #2 pencil
A good eraser
Do not be late.
Grades available to students @hccs.edu
Written Assignment
Choose ONE of the following assignments:
1. The Hurricane Katrina disaster is an unfortunate example of the interaction of environmental and social factors. Go to the following website: http://understandingKatrina.ssrc.org/ which contains a wealth of social science research on the storm. Be sure to include information in Ch. 8-Social Stratification, Ch. 9-Race and information discussed in class in your paper. a. b.
Discuss the social factors that made this storm so devastating.
What policies need to be changed or established to keep this from happening again? c. Why were some evacuees encouraged to return while others were prevented from returning?
2. Health is often determined by race, class and where one lives rather than life style choices such as refraining from smoking, exercising and eating right. Houston has been designated as the nation’s “Fattest City” several times in recent years. This was determined by the number of “health indicators” such as the number of gyms, sidewalks, hike and bike trails, sporting goods stores, grocery stores to get fresh produce and the like. “Health detractors” were the lack of sidewalks or safe playgrounds for children, the number of fast food outlets, liquor stores and lack of access to fresh produce. Examine the Everyday Sociology
Blog entry of 7/18/11 by Janis Prince Inniss titled Food: What’s
Class Got To Do With It, which addresses this subject.
Examine your own zip code or use the school zip code which is 77477. Use the U.S.
Census bureau website to get demographic values such as the race, gender, age, annual income and occupation categories for the zip code. You can use the internet to

5 b. access information about the median value of homes or crime rates for your zip code as well. Be sure to identify which zip code you are using.
Take a walk or drive around your neighborhood to identify the number of health indicators vs. health detractors in the area. c. Using the information you gathered, do you think the number of health indicators or health detractors is based on demographic values such as race or social class?
Whether you answer yes or no, be such to qualify your answer with information from the text, reader and the class. Other useful websites include the PBS website, New York
Times website or the California Newsreel website http://www.newsreel.org.
3. Global gender inequalities need to be addressed before the problem of poverty can be solved. Examine the following websites: www.unicef.org/sowc07/profiles/equality.php/ http://www.nytimes.com2009/08/23/magazine/23Women-t.html# and http://www.halftheskymovement.org/ .
These websites provide a wealth of information on global gender inequalities. Be sure to include information from the text, the reader and class when making your analysis. a. b.
What countries have the highest rates of poverty?
What are the differences between high income countries and low income countries in terms of gender inequalities? Examples can include information on average number of children a women has, average life expectancy, infant mortality rates, income, years of education, etc. c. Is there a relationship between gender inequality and poverty?
Whether you answer yes or no, please support your answer with information from the websites above or information from class, the text or the reader. d. What policies have been used to combat both gender inequality and poverty successfully?
Develop a 2 to 3 page-typed essay. Hand-written papers will not be accepted. Be sure to answer all of the questions. Identify all outside sources used, including Internet sources, in a works cited page at the end of the paper. You must use websites listed in the assignment. You may use others but must include the sites listed. Points will be taken off if the websites listed are not used. Papers should be double spaced with a one-inch margin all around. Font size should be 12 points. The papers should be stapled with one staple in the upper left hand corner. Please do not use any plastic covers or other bindings. Points will be taken off for spelling errors, grammatical errors, not answering all questions, not using the websites listed in the assignment, papers shorter than two pages or longer than three pages. Be sure to have an introduction and a conclusion to your paper. Papers must be IN YOUR OWN WORDS . If papers are not in your own words, you will receive an F in the paper. You will not receive an opportunity to redo the paper. Papers must be written in American Standard English, no slang or text expressions such as U for you. This paper is due 4/11/15 . Late papers will not be

6 accepted.
Being absent the day the paper is due is not an excuse for lateness. You may email the paper to me if you will not be in class on the due date. It is worth 20% of your grade. If you e-mail the paper, be sure to bring a hard copy to class. This grade will not be dropped.
If you do not hand in a paper on or before the due date, the grade will be averaged in as a
0, which may cause a failing grade in the class. You may turn your paper in early to insure that it will not be late and to insure that you will not receive an F in the course for lack of a paper. Please feel free to consult with me to discuss to your paper and answer any questions you may have. You may turn in a rough draft to be sure that you are on the right track, but this draft must be turned in at least one month prior to the due date.
Small Group Activities and In-Class Writing Assignments
There will be a total of ten small group activities and in-class writing assignments, worth
10 points each, for a total of 100 points, worth 20% of your grade. Some of these activities and writing assignments will be random, unscheduled throughout the semester. You must be present to complete the group activity or assignment and they
CANNOT be made-up.
Ritzer provides a student website http://www.edge.sagepub.com/ritzerintro2e with chapter summaries, flash cards and practice quizzes. If you complete FIVE of the practice tests for the chapters covered during the semester, get at least 80% and they are submitted (if you provide my e-mail when working on the quizzes, they will be emailed to me when completed) before the last day of class on 5/9/15, you will receive 10 points which may be substituted for ONE missed class participation exercise or in-class paper assignment. Please note you may make up only ONE missed exercise and all five of the practice tests must be completed before the deadline, no exceptions. It is best if you do this as the chapters are assigned, not all at once on 5/9/15 at the last minute.
For those of you who have good attendance and have participated in all the class participation exercises, you may complete five of the practice tests as above for extra credit of 10 points for class participation. This is optional. This is the only extra credit option that is available other than the extra credit question that is on the exams.
Five-Minute, Half Page Paper
Students will have five minutes (and only five minutes) to answer a question posed that will reflect the current topic discussed in class that day. You will have five minutes to write one or two paragraphs answering the question. You may use your notes, but must use your own words.
Inclement Weather Class Cancellations
In case of inclement weather such as hurricanes, snow or flooding, check the school website at http://www.hccs.edu
or local news stations for information about school closings. In the event of school closing, read the assigned chapter and readings. If an exam was scheduled on that date, it will be given on the next class day, unless there was a major city wide disaster such as a hurricane.

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