SOC33:SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN THE U.S.
Class Information Sheet
Instructor: Marcy Williams
Spring 2007
mwilliams@deltacollege.edu
OFFICE: Shima 234 (954-5587)
Office hrs.: M 1-2; W & F 11-12;
T & Th 1:15-2:15
TEXTBOOKS:
1. David M. Newman. 2007. Identities and Inequalities: Exploring
the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, & Sexuality. NY:
McGraw-Hill.
2. Ruben Martinez and J. Rodriguez. 2005. The New Americans:
Seven Families Journey to Another Country. NY: New Press.
COURSE CONTENT
UNIT 1:
DEFINING SOCIAL INEQUALITY
UNIT 2:
PHYSICAL & SOCIAL DIFFERENCE: AGE,
GENDER, HETEROSEXISM, AND ABLEISM
UNIT 3:
CLASS STRATIFICATION: BLAMING THE VICTIM
UNIT 4:
RACIAL AND ETHNIC STRATIFICATION
UNIT 5:
GLOBAL STRATIFICATION AND THE FUTURE
OBLIGATIONS OF STUDENTS:
1. Students must attend class without excessive absences. I will drop students
who have excessive absences within the first 4 weeks of the semester.
AFTER THE 1st FOUR WEEKS, STUDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
DROPPING THE COURSE THEMSELVES.
2. The 2 midterms & final exam consist of "definitions” and essay questions
based on course materials. To help students prepare for these, I will
distribute study guides for each unit of the course. The study guides
contain the 2-4 essay questions that I will use on the exams.
3. Students will not take makeup exams in the event that they miss a
scheduled exam, since all students are allowed to drop one of the midterm
exam grades. Thus, students who miss a midterm simply drop that "O.”
4. Students need to bring a set of 4X6 cards to every class meeting. You
will use these cards for two purposes. 1) As a part of your “participation”
grade, you will do several in-class, five-minute written responses to course
materials to help prepare you for exams. 2) Additionally, I will use the 4 x 6
cards to get feedback (anonymously) regarding course concepts and
mechanics.
5. Students will be placed in small groups of 4-5 students (“Social Action
Groups”) to discuss readings & participate in 10-12 class-room “exercises.”
The idea is to feature classroom discussion the last 30-40 minutes of
every Friday. I’ll give you a handout next week describing the tasks
involved in these groups.
6. All students will write a “field” paper analyzing social inequality as
illustrated by family histories. I will provide a detailed description of this
paper later.
7. Plagiarism/Cheating Policy: I will view exams and papers that are “too”
similar as cheating and papers that “copy” ideas or sources without citation
as plagiarism. I WILL FOLLOW SCHOOL POLICY which is to file an
"ACADEMIC DISHONESTY FORM" AND GIVE YOU A "O" FOR THAT
ASSIGNMENT.
8. The last day to drop the course without a grade of "W" is Feb. 9th. The last
day to drop with a "W" is April 26th.
METHOD OF EVALUATION:
MIDTERM #1 (Units 1 & 2; week 8)
OR
MIDTERM #2 (Unit 3; week 12)
FINAL EXAM (Units 1-5)
--35%
“Field” Paper
Social Action Group reqs
Participation
--25%
50 points
70 points
--20%
40 points
--10%
20 points
--10%
20 points
-100%
200 pts.