Comparative Social Inquiry
Semester One, 2014
Yale-NUS College
Course Description
Human beings are social and political creatures. We live in families, tribes, cities,
nations and networks, and the way that we live together plays an important role in
shaping our individual and collective patterns of feelings, thoughts and actions. In
Comparative Social Inquiry (CSI), students investigate central questions about
society and the human condition by comparing families, communities, countries,
and other social units across the globe and over time.
Course Goals
By the end of this course, students will:
1. Begin to understand their positions in the social world
2. Understand the range of approaches that exist within the social sciences and the
distinct questions they ask about individuals, groups, and social institutions
3. Understand what social institutions are and the forces that create, sustain and
alter social institutions over time and space
4. Be able to describe and evaluate different explanations of human behavior
5. Be able to evaluate, analyze, and report on qualitative and quantitative sources of
evidence
6. Become familiar with conventions of scholarly writing and citation
Assignments, Grading and Deadlines
There are five graded assignments in CSI: Three short essays, participation in a
formal debate, and a final project.
In addition to these formal assignments, students will be assessed on their
participation in seminar discussion and on two class blog entries during the
semester.
Students are also expected to attend all lectures and seminars. Attendance will be
factored into your seminar participation grade.
Grade Percentages:
Short Essays: 3 X 12.5 % each= 37.5 % total
Debate: 12.5 %
Seminar Discussion: 15%
Blog Posts: Total of 10%
Final Project: 25%
Deadlines:
All essays are due at 11:59 pm on the day specified below.
Essay 1: First Draft Due Friday, September 5
Final Draft Due Friday, September 12
Debate: Will take place in seminar on Friday, September 19
Essay 2: Sunday, November 2
Essay 3: Sunday, November 16
Final Project: Monday, December 1
Final Grade Recording:
We will assign you letter grades (A, B, C, D, F with + or -) so that you can gauge your
own performance in the course. However, these grades will not be recorded on
your transcript because the College has determined that grades are not officially
recorded for Semester 1 courses. On your transcript, your performance will be
recorded as either “Completed Satisfactory (CS)” or “Completed Unsatisfactory
(CU)”. Please note that you must earn a letter grade of “C” or better in order to
receive a grade of CS on your transcript.
Late Assignments:
a. Your assignment will be considered late if it misses the deadlines set
above.
b. You have one free pass which allows you to submit an assignment
within 24 hours after the deadline without any penalty. This pass is
nontransferable. To reiterate, you can use this free pass only once.
c. For every other late assignment, you will pay a penalty: Your grade for
the assignment will go down by 10% if you do not submit by the
deadline, and then continue to fall by 10% per 24 hours after the
deadline.
Academic Integrity: We take academic integrity very seriously in this course. We
expect all work you turn in to be your own. All student papers will be submitted to
turnitin.com for a plagiarism check. Any suspected academic dishonesty will be
reported to the Academic Integrity Committee.
In this regard, we reproduce here a passage on Academic Integrity from the College
Website:
“Yale-NUS College expects its students to abide by the highest standards of academic
integrity as a matter of personal honesty and communal responsibility. Acting with
academic integrity requires that (a) students do their own work, (b) students not
interfere with the work of others, (c) students accurately and honestly represent the
content of their work, and (d) students properly attribute others’ work.
Violations of the College’s academic integrity standards undermine both the
community and the individual growth of students. Accordingly, they will be
addressed with the utmost seriousness and sanctions ranging from grade penalties
to expulsion. Examples of violations of academic integrity include plagiarism,
copying or sharing homework answers, submitting work completed for one course
as ‘new’ work for another course, or fabricating or falsifying research data.
Professors are obligated to refer suspected lapses in academic integrity to the
Academic Integrity Committee, which follows a set of policies and procedures
approved by the faculty when investigating and adjudicating cases.”
Yale NUS College Library, “Yale-NUS Policies on Academic Integrity.” (2014). In
Avoiding Plagiarism. Retrieved from http://library.yale-nus.edu.sg/plagiarism/
Citation: Please use a standard citation style in your papers, such as APA, ASA, MLA,
or Chicago. Consult with your seminar leader on which style he or she prefers. The
College Library website includes links to citation guides for all of these styles:
http://library.yale-nus.edu.sg/citation/
Nondiscriminatory Language and Conduct: CSI has a policy of non-discriminatory
language and conduct. Students should not use racist, sexist or other discriminatory
language in class discussions or written work.
Learning Disability: Students with learning disabilities should contact the Vice
Rector’s office for support and guidance.
Weekly Schedule of
Readings, Lectures, and
Assignments
Week 1, August 12 and 15
The Social Scientific Imagination
Central Questions: What is the social? How do the social sciences inquire into
the nature of the social? What will we be doing in Comparative Social Inquiry
and why?
Lecture (12 August): The Social Scientific Imagination (or, What are we doing
here in CSI?)
Seminar 1: How did you get to Yale-NUS?
Gladwell, M. (2005).“Getting In: The Social Logic of Ivy League Admissions.” The New
Yorker, October 10, 2005, pp. 80-86.
Seminar 2: How you (really) “got in” to Yale-NUS
Berger, P. L. (1963) Invitation to Sociology: A Humanist Perspective. New York:
Anchor Books. Chapter 4.
Weeks 2 August 19-22
Social Influence I
Central questions (for the next two weeks):
How is human behavior influenced by social context? What are the social
bases of power? What are the implications of social influence for
understanding seemingly inexplicable behavior?
Lecture 1: Introduction to social influence
Seminar 1: Discussion of results from the exercise on breaking a social norm
Asch, S. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193 (5), 31-35.
Blass, T. (2002). The man who shocked the world. Psychology Today.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200203/the-man-who-shockedthe-world
Pre-class viewing:
Reenactment of Asch experiment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvK6CwaNG3I
Milgram’s obedience experiment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTX42lVDwA4
Seminar 2: Discussion of Browning
Reading:
Browning, C.R. (1992). Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final
Solution in Poland. New York: Harper Perennial. Chapters 1, 8, and 18.
Week 3, August 26 and 29
Social Influence II
Lecture : Social influence II
Pre-lecture viewing:
Stanford Prison Experiment. URL: http://www.prisonexp.org/
Zimbardo, P.G. The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. URL:
http://www.lucifereffect.com
Seminar 3: How do you get your own way?
Seminar 4: Ethics in human research
Reading:
Zimbardo, P.G. (1973). On the ethics of intervention in human psychological
research: With special reference to the Stanford Prison Experiment. Cognition, 2,
243-256.
Week 4, August 31 and September 5
Social Influence III
(First Draft of Essay 1 Due September 5, 11:59 pm)
Central Questions for this week:
What is power? In what ways are definitions of power contested, and why
should we care? How is power institutionalized (the example of education)?
How does power express itself in our own lives – can we, in other words,
recognize and act on the many forms of power around us?
Lecture: Power in Theory and Practice.
Readings (to be discussed in both seminars)
Gatto, J. (2003). “Against School.” Harper’s Magazine, September, pp. 33-38
Orr, D. (2004). “What is Education For?” Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment,
and the Human Prospect, Washington D.C.: Island Press, pp. 7-15
Sadan, E. (1997). Selections from Chapter 1, Theories of Power (pp. 33-44, 53 end), in Empowerment and Community Planning: Theory and Practice of PeopleFocused Social Solutions, Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishers [in Hebrew].
Translated from Hebrew by Richard Flantz and distributed in e-book form at
http://mpow.org
Spence, L. (2008). “Against Teaching.” The Educational Forum 66:4, 330-339
For the Ambitious
Haugaard, M. (2003). “Reflections on Seven Ways of Creating Power.” European
Journal of Social Theory 6(1): 87-113
Seminar One: The theory of power.
(Discussion of Power Map Assignment)
Seminar Two: The institutionalization of power.
The Power Mapping exercise is provided separately.
Week 5, September 9 and 12
Race/Gender I
(Final Draft of Essay 1 Due September 12, 11:59 pm)
Central Questions (for the next two weeks):
How are race and gender socially constructed?
What are the consequences of racial and gendered thinking?
Lecture: How are race and gender socially and historically constructed?
Seminar 1: The Historical Construction of Race
Omi, M. and Winant, H. 1994. “Racial Formations” in Racial Formation in the United
States. pp. 3-13.
Alatas, S. H. 1977. “Introduction” in The Myth of the Lazy Native: A study of the image
of the Malays, Filipinos and Javanese from the 16th to the 20th century and its function
in the ideology of colonial capitalism. Pp.1-34.
Seminar 2: The Gendered Body
Aulette, J. R. and Wittner, J. 2011. “Bodies and Gender” in Gendered Worlds. Ch2.
pp.26-41.
McCarthy, J. 2014. “In India, Landmark Ruling Recognizes Transgender Citizens”
from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/04/15/303408581/in-indialandmark-ruling-recognizes-transgender-citizens
McCarthy, J. 2014. “A Journey Of Pain And Beauty: On Becoming Transgender In
India” from http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/04/18/304548675/ajourney-of-pain-and-beauty-on-becoming-transgender-in-india
Week 6, September 16 and 19
Race/Gender II
Lecture: Identity and Intersectionality
Seminar 1: Identity
Steele, C. 2010. “In the Air Between Us: Stereotypes, Identity, and Achievement” in
Doing Race. Pp. 390-414.
Ferguson, A. A. 2001. “Naughty by Nature” in Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making
of Black Masculinity (Law, Meaning, and Violence). Ch4, pp.77-96.
Seminar 2 - Debate
Background Reading for Debate:
For Topic I: “This house believes that childbirth should be considered a form of
national service.”
Lazar, M. M. 2001. “For the good of the nation: `Strategic egalitarianism' in the
Singapore context.” Nations and Nationalism 7(1):59-74.
Tsang So-Yin, "The National Service for Women", Straits Times, August 17 1983
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Page/straitstimes198308171.1.9.aspx
Irene Hoe "The National Service for Women: If Childbirth is That, These Women
Leaders Should Set an Example", The Sunday Times (Singapore), August 21, 1983
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Page/straitstimes198308211.1.17.aspx
Lee Kuan Yew, “Talent for the Future”, speech, 1983
For Topic II: “This house believes that racial/ethnic quotas in public housing should
be allowed.”
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/d8fea656-d86e-4658-9509974225951607
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2011/02/race-issues-in-singapore-is-the-hdbethnic-quota-becoming-a-farce/
Chin, Y. and Vasu, N. 2010. “An Integration Grant? Sweetening the Ethnic
Integration Policy” RSIS Commentaries, 25/2010
Week 8, October 7 and 10
Markets and the State I
Central Questions for this Week:
How have people exchanged goods and services in different places and times?
What social and political norms and institutions helped to structure these
exchanges? Has the nature of exchange changed over time, and if so, how? Is
there something unique about the way people exchange goods and services in
the modern world?
Lecture: Markets and Modernity
Seminar 1: Pre-Capitalist Systems of Exchange
Polanyi, K., The Great Transformation: the Political and Economic Origins of Our Time,
(1957), pp.45-58.
Mauss, The Gift, pp 1-31.
Seminar 2 ‘Great’ Transformations
E. P. Thompson, “Time, Work Discipline and Industrial Capitalism,” Past and Present,
pp. 56-97.
Week 9, October 14 and 17
Markets and the State II
Central Questions for this week:
How is the institution of “the market” commonly conceptualized today? What
are the aims of markets as currently understood, and what forces complicate
the ability of markets to deliver on their promise? What do controversies in
three areas – inequality, climate change, and work and consumption – tell us
about the evolution of the market-as-institution?
Lecture: Blind Men, Elephants, and the Market as Institution
Seminar 1: The Idea of the Market
Cassidy, J. (2009). How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities. Picador: New
York. Chapters 2 and 3.
Goodwin, M. (2012). “Adam Smith and the Free Market,” from How our Economy
Works (and Doesn’t Work) in Words and Pictures. New York, NY: Abrams, pp. 21 –
29.
Daly, H. and J. Cobb (1989). “Misplaced Concreteness: The Market,” in H. Daly and J.
Cobb, For the Common Good. Boston, Beacon Press, pp. 44 – 60.
Seminar 2: Institutional Change: Can Markets Evolve?
Cassidy, J. (2009). How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities. Picador: New
York. Chapter 9.
National Public Radio, “Economist Says Best Climate Fix is a Tough Sell, but Worth
It,” 11 February 2014, at http://www.npr.org/2014/02/11/271537401/economistsays-best-climate-fix-a-tough-sell-but-worth-it (Listen to the 5+ minute radio
program too! Optional activity: Read the excerpt from Climate Casino, also on the
web page.) OR National Public Radio, “Economists Have One-Page Solution to
Climate Change,” 28 June 2013, at
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/06/28/196355493/economists-have-aone-page-solution-to-climate-change (Listen to the 4+ minute radio program too!)
The Economist (2014). “Of Plutocrats and Progressivism.” 24 January. At
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/01/inequality-1 OR
Galasso, N. (2014). “Why Did Oxfam Target the Billionaires at Davos?” 24 January.
At http://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/2014/01/oxfam-target-billionairesdavos/
Juliet Schor, “Sustainable Work Schedules for All,” in Erik Assadorian, State of the
World 2010: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability, New York,
NY: WW Norton, pp. 91-95.
Week 10, October 21 and 24
Markets and the State III
Central Questions for this week:
What is “The State,” and why care? How do social scientists try to make sense
of the State-as-institution? Two dichotomies and four theories of the State:
what do they tell us, what questions do they raise, and what do they leave out?
What do case studies of State evolution and behavior from countries like the
Philippines or Singapore suggest about ‘the State’ and social-science theory
about it?
Lecture: Two Dichotomies, Four Theories, and Lots of Questions
Please spend perhaps 30 minutes skimming these two websites before coming to
lecture:
Freedom House website, at http://www.freedomhouse.org/
CorpWatch website, at http://www.corpwatch.org/index.php
Seminar 1: Theorizing Domination and State Behavior
Best, Michael and William Connolly. (1982). “Perspectives on Political Economy,”
from The Politicized Economy. Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath
Weber, M. (1978 [1922]). Selections from Chapter III, “The Types of Legitimate
Domination” (pp. 212-251) in Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich (Eds.), Economy and
Society. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
Freedom House Map of Freedom 2014, at
http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/MapofFreedom2014.pdf
Seminar 2: The State: Contending Experience?
Anderson, B. (1988). Cacique Democracy in the Philippines: Origins and Dreams.
New Left Review, I/169, May/June, pp. 3-31
Low, D. and S Vadaketh (2014). Hard Choices: Challenging the Singapore Consensus.
Singapore: National University of Singapore Press. Preface, Introduction, and
Chapter One.
Week 11, October 28 and 31
Family I
Central Questions (for the next two weeks):
What is a family? What is the relationship between the family and broader
social orders and institutions?
Lecture: What is a family?
Seminar 1: Kinship systems
Sahlins, M. (2013). ‘Preface’ (selection), What Kinship Is – and is Not.’ Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, p. ix.
Stack, C. B. 1974.“Personal Kindreds” in All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black
Community. pp.45-61.
Video: “The Complicated Chinese Family Tree”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCFRoILS1jY
In-Class Exercise: Present a kinship chart for your family that you created outside of
class
Seminar 2: Changing Family Structures
Powell, B., Bolzendahl, C. Geist, C. and Steelman , L. 2014. “Family Counts” in Counted
Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans’ Definitions of Family, pp.1-15.
Accompanying Statistics: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/12/26/howdo-we-define-a-family/
Net Resources on same-sex marriage in Taiwan
Two News Analysis pieces:
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21591232-move-legalise-same-sexmarriage-provokes-surprisingly-large-backlash-going-nuclear
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/02/27/2003584466
An Op-Ed piece from the Taipei Times:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2013/12/17/2003579186
/1
A timeline of legislation and other events:
http://purpleunions.com/blog/tag/taiwan
A chart listing legal status of same-sex unions in a selection of Asian nations (not
entirely up to date): http://www.marriageequality.org/Asia
Net Resources on Same-sex marriage in the US
Pro Gay Marriage:
Freedom to Marry Website www.freedomtomarry.org
Why Marriage Matters http://www.whymarriagematters.org
Anti-Gay Marriage:
National Organization for Marriage Website www.nationformarriage.org
Focus on the Family http://www.focusonthefamily.com
Assignment: Essay on the impact of same-sex marriage on family
(Limit: 1000 words)
Week 12, November 4 and 7
Family II
(Essay 2 Due on Sunday, November 2, 11:59 pm)
Lecture: Public and private over time and space
Seminar 1: Gender and work in the household
Ulrich, L.T. (1991). A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary,
1785-1812. Vintage Books. Chapter 2.
Lan, P.-C. (2006). Global Cinderellas: Migrant Domestics and Newly Rich Employers in
Taiwan. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Chapter 3
Additional Resources: www.dohistory.org (companion website to Ulrich’s book)
Seminar 2: Marriage: What’s love got to do with it?
Coontz, S. (2005). From Yoke Mates to Soul Mates: Emergence of the Love Match and
the Male Provider Marriage. In Stephanie Coontz, Marriage, a History: From
Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage. New York: Viking.
Allendorf, K. (2013). Schemas of Marital Change: From Arranged Marriages to
Eloping for Love. Journal of Marriage and Family 75 (April 2013): 453 – 469
Week 13, November 11 and 14
Religion I
Central Questions (for the next two weeks):
What do we mean by religion? What are its elementary forms? How does
religion organize society (and vice-versa)?
Lecture: The Elementary Forms
Seminar 1: Durkheim’s “elementary forms” of religion
Readings
Durkheim, E. (2013). The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Simon & Brown1 pp
7-15 (Introduction I), 106-129 (Ch. 1, I-III), 431-457 (Ch.6 I-III)
Recommended
Malinowski, B. (1931) “The Role of Magic and Religion” in “Culture,” in Encyclopedia
of the Social Sciences, MacMillan. pp 37-46.
Seminar 2: Structure and Function. Or, why can’t I eat my neighbor?
Exercise
Come to class with a particular thing, picture of a thing, or description of a thing you
find disgusting or polluting. This should have some relevance to the readings: a
picture of a barbequed dog would be entirely appropriate; an ingrown toenail less
so (arguably). Why do we consider this thing gross? Might it be OK in other
contexts? What might Harris say? What might Douglas say?
Readings
Douglas, M. (2002[1966]). Purity and Danger. New York: Routledge, pp 1-6, 41-57
1
Here, for the sake of clarity, I use the version that our bookstore carries.
Week 14, November 18 and 21
Religion II
Essay 3 Due Sunday, November 16, 11:59 pm
Lecture: The social organization of religion
Seminar 1: New Religious Movements
Pereira, S.N. (2008). A new religious movement in Singapore: Syncretism and
Variation in the Sathya Sai Baba Movement, Asian Journal of Social Science, 36, 250–
270.
Reader, I. J. (2002). Dramatic confrontations : Aum Shinrikyo against the world. In
Bromley, D., & Melton, G. (Eds.), Cults, religion and violence. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. pp. 189-208.
Seminar 2: Religion and identity: What role does organized religion play for
migrant groups?
Chong, K.H. (1998). What it means to be Christian: The role of religion in the
construction of ethnic identity and boundary among second-generation Korean
Americans, Sociology of Religion, 59 (3), 259-286.
Kurien, P. (1998). Becoming American by becoming Hindu: Indian Americans take
their place at the multicultural table. In Gatherings in Diaspora: Religions
Communities and the New Immigration, S.R. Warner and J.G. Wittner (eds).
Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Pp37-70.