Winter 2012 Renison University College University of Waterloo Social Development Studies Course Number: SOC 223 Course Name: Sociology of Deviance Instructor: Dr. Sharon Roberts Office: 0101A Phone: 519 884 4400 ext. 28676 Email: serobert@uwaterloo.ca (please put Soc 223 in title of email) Lecture: Thursday 1PM– 4PM Room: Renison 2107 Office hours: by appointment please Course Description and Objectives: This course provides students with a fundamental grounding in sociological perspectives, theories, and methods to help us understand social deviance. What is social deviance? How do we respond to acts of deviance, and do those responses change with differing social contexts? The course will apply theoretical and methodological approaches to a number of topics including sexual deviance, mental health, and stigma. My goal is to make students think about the nature of deviance in contemporary society by examining, critically, the social circumstances that surround numerous forms of “deviant” behaviour and their associated definitions of deviance. Students should be able to critically assess social deviance in terms of its purported function, in terms of the power structures that define “deviant” situations, and in terms of the social constructions of deviant behaviour. At its conclusion, the student should possess the tools to examine thoughtfully her or his own “deviant” world through a sociological lens. My goal is to help you to explore academia within the contexts of the classroom, independent learning, and the “real” world. Course Prerequisites: You are responsible for ensuring that you have the appropriate prerequisites for your classes. Course Materials: Goode, E. (2011). Deviant Behavior. Ninth Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Evaluation: Presentation 17% Test 35% Final Exam 45% Take-home assignment 3% Lecture Schedule Date Topic Thur Jan 5 Thur Jan 12 Introduction/Outline Theory I Film Thur Jan 19 Theory II Thur Jan 26 Alcohol Thur Feb 2 Sexuality Thur Feb 9 Mental Health – Eating Disorders Lecture **Guests are welcome Violent Behaviour Film Thur Feb 16 Thur Feb 23 Thur Mar 1 Thur Mar 8 Thur Mar 15 Thur Mar 22 Chapter Reading in Deviant Behavior Reading Week Test Cognitive Deviance Assignment Handed Out Guest Speaker Assignment Due Erving Goffman - Stigma Thur Mar 29 Goffman II PAD awards Final Exam during exam period – TBA Schedule of Presentations No Presentation Goode 1 Goode 2 Goode 3 Recommended: Goode 4 Goode 7 Goode 8 Goode 9 Goode 6 Recommended: Goode 5 Goode 11 Goode 13 Goode 12 Goffman 1-2 Goffman 3-5 Use the “find a group” discussion board to help you find a group No Presentation Call “dibs” on your presentation via D2L Jan 5th evening *see below for important details Group Presentation 1 Group Presentation 2 Group Presentation 3 Group Presentation 4 Group Presentation 5 Group Presentation 6 No presentations Group Presentation 7 Group Presentation 8 No presentations No presentations Group Presentation 9 Group Presentation 10 Group Presentation 11 Group Presentation 12 Group Presentation 13 Group Presentation 14 Reserved for Catch-up Course Format: The class meetings will be a mixture of lectures, student seminars, and films. Perceived Acts of Deviance (PAD): Each week, we’ll take a few minutes at the beginning, middle, or end of class to discuss perceived acts of deviance that you have witnessed or heard about. I encourage you to keep a small notebook with you to keep track of them. You are also encouraged to report PADs on D2L. Let’s have some fun with this! You can also create your own act of social deviance (ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ILLEGAL!!!! I don’t do bail.) by yourself or in a group and report the reactions of others. For example you could wear your Halloween costume on a regular day, order 5 desserts instead of dinner, face the wrong direction in an elevator, etc. These are social acts of deviance, not illegal acts of deviance. Please do not do anything unsafe. At the end of the course we will vote on the class favourite. Lectures: Regular attendance at lectures is essential as many lectures will cover material not in the text. If you miss a class (and this includes classes where films are shown), you should make arrangements to obtain notes from another student. I will not supply students with copies of my lectures. For logistical reasons, films cannot be shown out of class. Partial lecture notes can be found on D2L. Presentation: Each student will work in a group of three or four. Choose a topic in which you are interested. The presentation should take 20-25 minutes. Students are encouraged to be creative. The main goal of the presentation is to facilitate a class discussion about the selected topic. Be critical. Be insightful. Be academic. Let your presentation and discussion questions show that you have given the topic/theme some thought. Based on attendance, the presentations may or may not be testable material. Missed presentations will be treated in the same way as missed exams. Some ideas for presentations: School Shootings, Suicide, Suicide Bombing, Terrorism, Self Injurers, Animal Cruelty, Intimate Stalking, Online Male Escorts, Serial Murder, Drug Use on Campus. Please do not choose eating disorders or furries (will be voided). I have some articles in my office that you can look at if you need help with ideas. Presenting an argument or a position to a large group can be an invaluable experience that can assist you in your career pursuits (reminder for CV/résumé, presentation with 40+ audience). Mastering “good presentations skills” can be the “advantage” that will get you the job, or at least put your résumé on the top of the pile. I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to hone your presentation skills and add to your résumé at the same time. IMPORTANT: Dibs on Presentations This is your chance to call “dibs” on the presentation you want to do. This will be a first-come firstserve affair. Thur Jan 19 Thur Jan 26 Thur Feb 2 Thur Feb 9 Thur Feb 16 Thur Feb 23 Thur Mar 1 Thur Mar 8 Thur Mar 15 Thur Mar 22 Group Presentation 1 Group Presentation 3 Group Presentation 5 No presentations Group Presentation No presentations No presentations Group Presentation 9 Group Presentation 11 Group Presentation 13 Group Presentation 2 Group Presentation 4 Group Presentation 6 No presentations Group Presentation 8 No presentations No presentations Group Presentation 10 Group Presentation 12 Group Presentation 14 Decide on your topic and week. Beginning at 10:00PM on Jan 5th, you can sign up for a presentation slot. Please state in the title of post: 1) Presentation Date 2) Presentation Number 3) Presentation Topic e.g., Jan 19th, Presentation 2, Goths In the body of the message list the first and last names of all members of the group. Remember that you need to have at least 3 people in a group. If any of these instructions are not followed, the entry is void. Remember, you can only sign up AFTER 10PM on Jan 5th. If you sign up before then, your entry is void. If someone has posted the presentation date, presentation number, and topic, and they have at least 3 people in their group, then they have successfully called “dibs” on it. NOTE: If you make a mistake on this information (i.e., you input the wrong date or number or do not have at least 3 people listed in the group), then you have not called dibs, and the topic is still up for grabs. Any disputes will be resolved in favour of accuracy. Exam Information: The test and final exam will be multiple-choice and/or short answer. The tests will cover lectures and readings (potentially including one question from each presentation). To ensure fairness in grading, all/any short-answer components of exams will be marked with student numbers as the student identifier. The format will be discussed during class in the weeks prior to the examination dates. The test will be held in class and the final exam during the exam period. You should not finalize your travel plans until the exam schedule has been announced and you are certain about the date and time of your final exam. Exam dates, once they have been set by the Registrar’s Office, are firm and will not be changed. Final Exam: The final exam is cumulative (text) and will cover all selected chapters from the Goode text in the course (second half weighted more heavily). It will also contain one question from each presentation following the first test (read: the presentations are not cumulative). Specifically, the final exam contains questions selected from the readings from the first half of the course, and the lectures, readings, and films covered in the second half of the course. You will also need to read Goffman’s book for the final exam. More details will be given in class. Take Home Assignment: You will have a take home assignment worth 3%. Details will be given during class. Accommodation for Illness or Unforeseen Circumstances: The instructor follows the practices of the University of Waterloo in accommodating students who have documented reasons for missing quizzes or exams. See http://www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/students/accom_illness.html Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. Academic Integrity website (Arts): http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts/ugrad/academic_responsibility.html Academic Integrity Office (UW): http://uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/ Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity [check www.uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/ ] to avoid committing academic offences and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or Renison’s Administrative Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71, Student Discipline. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to this policy www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm . For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties, www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/guidelines/penaltyguidelines.htm . Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm Appeals: A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if grounds for an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 Student Appeals www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm . Accommodation for Students with Disabilities: The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each academic term. Turnitin.com: Plagiarism detection software (Turnitin) may be used to screen assignments in this course. This is being done to verify that use of all material and sources in assignments are documented. In the first week of the term, details will be provided about the arrangements for the use of Turnitin in this course. See: http://uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/Turnitin/index.html for more information. Software designed to detect cheating may be run on the exams, where computer-marked multiple choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.