Soc 446: Sociology of Criminal Organizations
(Online Instruction—Fall 2014)
Instructor:
Email:
Office:
Dr. Sheldon Zhang szhang@mail.sdsu.edu
NH 215
Office Hour:
Class Location:
Tuesday 1800-1900 (and by appointment)
Blackboard (online)
Login Instructions: Blackboard http://blackboard.sdsu.com/
Your account is available one day after you register for a class.
If you are new to SDSU, you must enter the SDSU web portal and reset your PIN before entering Blackboard. Wait 6 hours after you have reset your PIN and then log into
Blackboard. If you have questions about this login and PIN information visit the SDSU web portal page at https://sunspot.sdsu.edu/pls/webapp/web_menu.login.
Once you log in, you will be taken to the My SDSU page. From here you can enter your
Blackboard courses, send email and check grades.
Support : http://its.sdsu.edu/blackboard .
Students with Disabilities :
If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your responsibility to contact Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473 . To avoid any delay in the receipt of your accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive, and that accommodations based upon disability cannot be provided until you have presented your instructor with an accommodation letter from Student Disability Services. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Attendance/login Policy :
The Blackboard software keeps detailed records of your visits to every component of the course.
Therefore you activities are tracked! Your class participation is required and will affect your grades. Students are required to login regularly and submit all assignments on time. If you decide to drop the class, do it officially by following the instructions of the SDSU’s Office of
Admissions. Otherwise you will receive an “F” for the class, which is a lot more difficult to remove at a later time.
WARNING
This is a reading and writing intensive class. Except for flexibility in access and schedule, this class offers no other benefits over the traditional format of in-class instruction. On the contrary, the amount of writing far exceeds that of a regular in-person class because you cannot “sit”
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quietly in class. Furthermore, because the discussion topics and essay questions are specific to the reading materials, it is important that you read the texts. Successful completion of this class requires self-motivation and discipline. If you have doubts about whether you can stick to the pace and rigor of the course, you should drop it.
Course Overview:
Many of you have seen the Godfather trilogy and the popular HBO drama series the Soprano s.
Some may have watched another HBO drama series, the Wire . While the entertainment industry and the news media are always fascinated by the many exploits of criminal organizations, most of us pay little attention to the socioeconomic, cultural and historical contexts within which criminal organizations emerge and persist, and the how illicit enterprises flourish in some business sectors and some countries but not others.
In the last two decades, globalization has elevated organized crime into a truly international phenomenon, with criminal groups forging transnational alliances and raking in immense profits.
Drug trafficking, counterfeiting, smuggling of firearms and endangered species, blood diamond trade, labor and sex trafficking are just a few examples. Through corruption, weak law enforcement oversight, intimidation, and violence, these organizations adapt effectively to political and legal constraints in different transnational settings and create serious threats to the ordinary market activities and the civic societies in general.
During this course, we will examine the socio-cultural contexts, within which criminal organizations emerge, and how they manage to carve out lucrative businesses and survive in hostile market environments not only competing among rivals but also managing constant threats from the authorities. After an overview of the basic concepts and development of American organized crime (i.e., the main text by Jay Albanese), specific texts are assigned to examine the
Sicilian mafia, Japanese Yakuza, and Chinese criminal organizations. The main theme of instructional activities will revolve around the examination of their social organizations, operations, group identities, and individual roles from a socio-cultural development and global perspective.
Some may wonder why the Russian mafia are not included in this class. Mainly it is because there are already four texts that students have to purchase and one more book may create undue financial burden; secondly Russian mafia have not received adequate research attention and I am still searching for a good text to describe and explain organized crime in Russia or elsewhere.
Perhaps in the near future, we will include the topic of Russian mafia.
Course objectives:
1.
Examine social origins, cultural/historical backgrounds of major criminal organizations;
2.
Understand the socioeconomic and cultural conditions that sustain these criminal social organizations;
3.
Develop an appreciation of the complex relationships between the mainstream society and criminal social organizations.
4.
Identify and explain the roles and identities of the individuals inside these criminal organizations;
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5.
Discuss different theoretical perspectives at explaining how these social entities assume different organizational structures and acquire certain operational attributes;
6.
Understand the importance of global forces in shaping and changing these social organizations;
7.
Discuss, analyze and evaluate existing government policies in response to these criminal social organizations and their enterprises.
Required Texts:
(Check Amazon.com for used copies; except for the first text, all other books should have plenty used copies around. Students are also encouraged to share texts, or borrow from libraries.)
1.
Organized Crime in Our Times, by Jay Albanese, Elsevier, 6th ed., 2011.
2.
The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection , by Diego Gambetta, Harvard
University Press, 1996.
3.
Chinese Human Smuggling Organizations , by Sheldon Zhang, Stanford University Press,
2008.
4.
Tokyo Vice—An American Report on the Police Beat in Japan . Jake Adelstein. Pantheon
Books. 2009. ISBN: 0307378799.
Course Format:
Traditional lecturing, memorizing, and regurgitating will be kept to minimum in this online class.
Although the instructor will provide reading guidance through PowerPoint slides (for Organized
Crime in Our Times ) and prompts and short essays for discussion forums, students must take an active role in seeking information and materials relevant to the specific questions posted by the instructor. The instructor will not serve as the gatekeeper of “knowledge,” but as a moderator to guide discussions and direct students to find relevant information, and as a referee to judge the level of mastery of the materials and quality of their academic products (i.e., exams, essays and papers). Therefore, students are expected to spend a significant amount of time reading and reviewing course materials, as all quizzes, the exam, essays, and discussion forums are tied to specific books and chapters. Multiple data points in Blackboard will be captured to monitor students’ learning activities. For instance, when you log on to view the PowerPoint slides and any other posted documents, your access records are tracked by Blackboard.
This course emphasizes collective learning by utilizing Blackboard forums to explore critical and essential issues about criminal organizations. Essential elements, which students are expected to learn and understand, are presented in the PowerPoint slides and framed in essay questions, as well as discussion topics.
The class is heavy on reading and writing assignments. Successful completion of the class requires significant commitment in reading and writing. Students may form study groups to share the reading load, and are encouraged to use the Blackboard forums to develop major points to facilitate their writing tasks. Although collaborative work is encouraged, all writings must be done individually.
Attendance:
Again, online participation and discussion contributions are tracked by Blackboard, which
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includes the frequency and duration of your access to the class.
Reading the Assigned Texts:
Students taking this upper division class are presumed to be mature enough to recognize the importance of completing assigned readings and to allocate time wisely to complete the required tasks on time.
Communication and virtual office hours:
The instructor will use students’ official email address registered in the Blackboard as the primary channel to deliver instructions and announcements. Be sure to check the mailbox of your registered email address in the university system. Do not call the instructor’s office as the voicemail cannot handle the volume of messages nor will it be checked regularly. Pay attention to the posted announcements as they will answer most common questions. Students with confidential or private matters to discuss with the instructor (that cannot be resolved via email) can schedule an appointment with the instructor to meet in person on campus.
Chapter Quizzes on Albanese text:
To ensure a basic understanding of key concepts about criminal organizations and illicit enterprising activities, multiple-choice and/or short-answer quizzes will be posted in Blackboard for the text— Organized Crime in Our Times , after each chapter. These quizzes are not timed so you can take your time and look up the answers for learning purposes. Also you can complete the readings and take all the quizzes ahead of time. There is no structure on when you must complete these quizzes, as they are intended to prepare you for the final exam. However it is always wise to prepare yourself ahead of the time.
Final Exam on Organized Crime :
There will be a final exam for the text Organized Crime in Our Times , with questions selected from the quizzes already given as well as a test bank. This final exam will be timed and you will only have one attempt. Be sure to have a reliable internet connection before you begin the exam.
If you are unsure of your internet reliability, use a campus library computer. Please check the class schedule and make the necessary arrangement so you can have a dedicated period of time on the exam day. Make-up exam WILL NOT be given except for documented medical or family emergency .
Two 5-Page Essays:
There will be one 5-page double-spaced essay on Gambetta’s Sicilian Mafia , and one 5-page double-spaced paper on Zhang’s Chinese Human Smuggling Organizations . Go to the
Assignments folder to see the essay topics. All essays must be turned in via Turnitin inside
Blackboard. Students should compose their essays offline in a word processing program. You are welcome to turn in your essays ahead of the deadline. The assignments are live now on
Blackboard. If you are disciplined enough, you can get start ahead.
The instructor will be using a similar grading rubric as those used in the Collegiate Learning
Assessment as posted by the Council for Aid to Education
( http://www.collegiatelearningassessment.org/files/CLAScoringCriteria.pdf
).
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Please review the three key components for evaluating a written assignment: (1) analytic reasoning; (2) writing effectiveness; and (3) writing mechanics. Briefly, the instructor will be grading on your ability to assemble relevant information and frame your argument. You will be graded on analytical reasoning and ability to evaluate the evidence (or facts) that you have gathered from the assigned readings. You should pay special attention to how the information you have identified is relevant to your theme of discussion and how it supports the position you are taking. It is important to cite evidence or provide examples to make your points. The instructor will look at how you organize the essay and how you construct a coherent argument.
Basic writing mechanics must be observed such as spelling and grammar. Essays will be graded on relevancy to the questions, demonstration of knowledge based on assigned reading materials, conceptual clarity, structure and syntax, and transitions. Points will be deducted for poor grammar, spelling and structure. Please use the grammar and spell check options in your word processing programs. Write complete, well-structured paragraphs, but do not write run-on paragraphs. As a general rule, short sentences and paragraphs are more effective than long ones.
All essays must be submitted into Blackboard prior to their deadlines. Late submissions will not be allowed!
Blackboard Discussions:
Be sure to check the grading policy for different levels of efforts required to attain different grades. You do not have to participate in this phase of the course if you just want to do the minimal to pass the class.
Each week there are two forums (a & b) for the two special topic books (i.e., Gambetta’s Sicilian
Mafia and Zhang’s Chinese human smuggling organizations), and you must participate in both.
Discussion topics are posted in each forum for the class to post responses. These topics are meant to help students delve into the details of the subject matter and develop more nuanced understanding of the cultural and social contexts within which criminal organizations emerge and operate. Students are required to proactively seek answers to the prompting questions. However, students do not have to follow the discussion prompts and are free to bring up any other materials that they find interesting from the assigned chapters. You are not restricted by these discussion prompts. Discussion forums are a place for students to share their thoughts/reflections and respond to each other after reading the assigned chapters.
The instructor will post short essays on specific theories or conceptual frameworks of organized crime, highlight key points in the discussion forums, or discuss a limited set of issues in depth.
However, students must take an active role in the learning process, exploring and searching for answers to the discussion topics, which are tied to specific reading materials.
As for participation, there are TWO types of contributions to each discussion forum. First , students are required to write at least ONE original message with no less than 100 words to
EVERY prompting topic (or a topic of your own choice) in each forum. All original messages must be submitted by Monday (i.e., before 11:59pm) for the week’s discussion. Each forum will be open on Sunday at noon. You should spend the previous week and the weekend to complete your assigned reading and the original message. Second , students are required to post a minimum of THREE replies/comments to others’ postings (each with at least 4 to 5 complete
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sentences). All replies must be completed by 11 pm on Wednesday for the week’s forum. Be sure to arrange your time accordingly and complete your readings early. This peculiar schedule is designed to ensure a steady pace and progress in completing your reading and responding.
The instructor does not grade on your writing style or grammar for forum replies. However, complete sentences and substantive statements are required. Simple agreements and exultations to one another’s postings do not count as substantive contribution. Furthermore, the frequency and quantity of your contributions will be monitored (thanks to Blackboard) and considered for grading purposes.
10-Page Reflection Paper on Tokyo Vice:
For students who want to go all the way in this course. There is a separate guideline posted in the
Course Documents folder for this assignment.
Grading Scale:
Be sure to study the following grading policy to understand what is required for different levels of efforts. You do not have to do everything well to pass the class. In fact, it is fairly easy to pass the class. However, a decent amount of work is expected if you want good grades.
1. Review all PowerPoint slides on Organized Crime 15%
2. Quizzes on Organized Crime 15%
Satisfactory completion (90%) to this point, you will receive a “C”
3. Final exam on Organized Crime
4. 5-Page Essay on the Sicilian Mafia
10%
15%
5. 5-Page Essay on the Chinese Human Smuggling 15%
6. Blackboard discussion on all prompting topics 20%
Satisfactory completion (90%) to this point, you will receive a “B”
Satisfactory completion (90%) to this point, you may receive an “A”
7. Reflection paper on Tokyo Vice 10%
_______________________________________________
Total: 100%
Levels of Effort Expected and Associated Grading Policy:
The grading practice in this class is intended to offer flexibility in accommodating students’ varied academic needs. As shown in the call-out textboxes above, there are three tiers of efforts and associated grades from which the students may choose depending on their academic needs:
Syllabus Quiz: Before you can proceed to any of these levels of work, you must take the syllabus quiz to ensure you understand thoroughly what is expected of you in this course. Syllabus quiz will not be factored into your final grade, and you can take it unlimited times. However, you must pass it with 100% correct answers, or you will find this class difficult to follow and perhaps should not take it.
Level 1
—you only want to pass the class with a “C” to meet your academic requirement. You really don’t want to spend too much time in this class. You just want to do the minimum to get by, or you just need one more upper division elective to graduate. In this case, you need to (1) pay attention to the text Organized Crime in Our Times by Albanese, (2) do well (90%) on all quizzes, (3) do well (90%) on the final exam on the Albanese text, (4) read Gambetta’s Sicilian
Mafia and write a 5-page essay, and (5) read Zhang’s book on Chinese human smuggling
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organizations and write a 5-page essay. For this level of work, you may do the readings and complete the quizzes at any time. But the final exam and the essays have deadlines. To receive a
“C” grade, you need to achieve a minimum of 90% on all assigned tasks within this category.
Level 2
—you are moderately motivated in this class and want to receive a “B.” You are interested in this topic but you are taking many other important classes this semester. The lack of energy and time prevent you from devoting too much attention to this class, but you want to do better than a “C”. If so, you must complete all Level-1 work, plus participate in ALL discussion forums. As you may notice, the discussion forums are highly structured with regard to the discussion topics and what you need to write and contribute (i.e., ONE original messages and
THREE thoughtful responses to others’ postings). Each forum has a specific time period within which all discussion activities must be completed to keep the course on track. To receive a “B” grade, you need to achieve a minimum of 90% on all assigned tasks specified in this category.
Level 3
—you are excited about this subject and willing to spend significant amount of time and effort to achieve an “A.” In this case, you will have to satisfactorily complete both Level-1 and
Level-2 assignments, plus a 10-page double-spaced reflection paper on Tokyo Vice . The reflection paper must be completed by the stated deadline (see below). If you are disciplined enough, you can finish this assignment ahead of time. A separate instruction for this reflection paper is posted in the Course Document folder in Blackboard. To receive an “A” grade, you need to achieve a minimum of 90% on all assigned tasks specified in this category.
Warning: Quality matters. Simply fulfilling the quantity in writing the essays/paper or participating in discussion forums will not guarantee a good grade. Refer to the specific requirements for each of the assignments.
A Few Words on Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is a capital crime in academics. To avoid the academic equivalent of the gas chamber
(i.e., getting an “F,” being put on academic probation, or even face expulsion), AVOID the following situations:
 Submit someone else's work as your own.
 Buy a paper from a paper mill, website or other source.
 Copy sentences, phrases, paragraphs, or ideas from someone else's work, published or unpublished, without giving the original author credit.
 Replace select words from a passage without giving the original author credit.
 Copy any type of multimedia (graphics, audio, video, internet streams), computer programs, music compositions, graphs, or charts from someone else's work without giving the original author credit.
 Piece together phrases, ideas, and sentences from a variety of sources to write an essay.
 Build on someone else's idea or phrase to write your paper without giving the original
 author credit.
Submit your own paper in more than one course.
For more information, take the tutorial online. Click here to start:
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http://infotutor.sdsu.edu/plagiarism/what.cfm?p=graphic
Class Schedule : ( Because this is an online class, readings and class assignments are set on a weekly basis. Holidays will not imply any postponement of the assignments. Therefore, you need to budget your time accordingly for these class activities .)
Date
Week 1 (Aug. 25-29) 1. Orientation
Assignments
2. Review PowerPoint slides
3. Complete Assigned Reading
4. Take quiz on Syllabus
4. Take quizzes on Albanese text
Week 2 (Sep. 1-5) 1. Review PowerPoint slides
2. Complete Assigned Reading
3. Take Quizzes on Albanese text
Related Readings
Albanese, Ch1-3
Albanese, Ch4-6
Week 3 (Sep. 8-12) 1. Review PowerPoint slides
2. Complete Assigned Reading
3. Take Quizzes on Albanese text
Albanese, Ch7-9
Week 4 (Sep. 15-19) 1. Review PowerPoint slides
2. Complete Assigned Reading
3. Take Quizzes on Albanese text
Note: Because of the intensity of this online course, the entire Albanese text is assigned for the first four
Albanese, Ch10-12 weeks of the semester, you can take more time to complete the readings and the quizzes. However, you should finish reading all the chapters and taking all the quizzes before the final exam on the
Albanese text.
Week 5 (Sep. 22-26) 1. Complete Assigned Reading
2. Discussion1-Forums 1a&1b open on Sunday at noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm.
Note: Online discussions begin this week, with
Gambetta Chapter 1 (Forum 1a) and Zhang
Chapter 1 (Forum 1b). There are two forums (a&b) and you have to participate in both. Be sure to read
Gambetta, Ch1
Zhang, Ch1 the guideline on the two types of postings—(1) original reflection and (2) replies. You will need to post your original reflections by Monday (i.e., before 11:59pm). Your relies to others’ postings must be posted by Wednesday 11pm. In other words, we will only conduct our online discussions
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three days a week.
Week 6 (Sep.29-
Oct.3)
1. Complete Assigned Reading Gambetta, Ch2
2. Discussion2— Forums 2a&2b open on Sunday at Zhang, Ch2 noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm.
Week 7 (Oct. 6-10) 1. Complete Assigned Reading Gambetta, Ch3
2. Discussion3— Forums 3a&3b open on Sunday at Zhang, Ch3 noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm.
Week 8 (Oct. 13-17) 1. Complete Assigned Reading Gambetta, Ch4
2. Discussion4— Forums 4a&4b open on Sunday at Zhang, Ch4 noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm.
Week 9 (Oct. 20-24) 1. Discussion5— Forums 5a&5b open on Sunday at Gambetta, Ch5 noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm. Zhang, Ch5
Week 10 (Oct. 27-31) 1. Complete Assigned Reading Gambetta, Ch6
2. Discussion6— Forums 6a&6b open on Sunday at Zhang, Ch6
Deadline for 5-page noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm. essays: 3. Deadline to submit the 5-page essay on
11:00 pm on Oct. 31 st Gambetta’s Sicilian Mafia AND the 5-page essay on Zhang’s
Chinese Human Smuggling
Organizations by 11:00 pm on Oct. 31 st
.
Note: The two 5-page essays must be submitted through “Turnitin,”which is open now, and you are encouraged to turn in your essays early. But
Week 11 (Nov. 3-7)
Final Exam goes live on November 7 th for
24 hours. this is the last day you can submit the essays.
Final exam preparation week on Organized Crime in Our Times (you need to review and practice all chapter quizzes); the exam goes live on November
7 th for 24 hours. You must find time during this period to take the exam. No make-ups will be given.
Note: All questions are selected from the practice quizzes. Be sure to have a reliable internet connection, as you will have only one chance.
Once you start, you must complete the exam in one setting. All exam questions are randomly deployed so no one has the same sequence of questions.
Only one question is displayed at a time and you are not allowed to backtrack. You have exactly
100 minutes for 100 questions.
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Week 12 (Nov. 10-14) 1. Complete Assigned Reading
2. Discussion7— Forums 7a&7b open on Sunday at Gambetta, Ch7 noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm. Zhang, Ch7
You should finish reading Tokyo Vice by the end of this week if you want to do the 10-page reflection paper.
Week 13 (Nov. 17-21) 1. Complete Assigned Reading Gambetta, Ch8
2. Discussion8— Forums 8a&8b open on Sunday at Zhang, Ch8 noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm.
Week 14 (Nov. 24-28) 1. Complete Assigned Reading Gambetta, Ch9
2. Discussion9— Forums 9a&9b open on Sunday at Zhang, Ch9 noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm.
Week 15 (Dec. 1-5) 1. Complete Assigned Reading
2. Discussion10— Forums 10a&10b open on
Sunday at noon and close on Wednesday at 11 pm.
Week 16 (Dec. 8-12)
December 12 th
Reflection paper on Tokyo Vice due by 5:00 pm on
December 12 th your paper.
(Friday). Use Turnitin to turn in
Zhang, Ch10-11
Final paper due this week!
Remember:
The instruction reserves the right to modify the syllabus and instructional activities at any time during the semester.
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