SOAN 2130-01
EDUC 4750-02
Sociology of Children and Families
Spring 2011
Instructor: Caroline Ellender
Office: SH341
Email: ellencs@millsaps.edu
Office Hours: TTH 12:00 – 1:00 pm or by appointment
Time: TTH 1:00—2:40 pm
Place: SHH 221
Class Description
In this class, we examine the social construction of childhood in the United States and how such constructions
affect the socialization of children. We also consider how race, class, and gender, intersect with age to affect and
shape children’s everyday lives. This course approaches childhood from the current sociological movement to
investigate children as active social actors who respond to, create, and change culture through their own cultural
styles and social competencies. Throughout the semester, we will be concerned both with childhood as an
ideological and cultural construct, one that is shaped by historical and political factors, and children themselves, as
people with rights, points of view, and the capacity to speak and act for themselves. We will apply what we’ve
learned in our scholarly investigation of childhood in a service-learning project involving children in two after
school programs.
Class Objectives
1. Understand the history of childhood and changing societal definitions of childhood and children’s ―place‖
in society
2. Become familiar with various child-centered methodologies and the ethical issues involved in research with
children
3. Understand and apply theories contributed to the new sociology of childhood
4. Develop an understanding of the larger economic, political, and social forces that affect and influence
children’s lives
5. Consider the possibilities for the future of childhood in the United States
Required Texts
Chin, Elizabeth
Sternheimer, Karen ed.
Tobin, Joseph
Purchasing Power: Black Kids and American Consumer Culture
Children in American Society: A Reader
―Good Guys Don’t Wear Hats:‖ Children’s Talk about the Media
***Assigned Readings. Assigned Readings are designated in the syllabus with asterisks (***). To download the
assigned readings, go to Course Connect: http://courses.millsaps.edu and follow the directions below.
* Login using your Millsaps username and password.
* Scroll down and select Sociology of Childhood and Family SOAN 2130-01_2011sp.
* The first time you visit the course, you will be asked to enter an enrollment key. The enrollment key for
this course is childhood.
* Contact the Helpdesk at 1144 or email helpdesk@millsaps.edu if you have any problems.
Class Attendance
Students are allowed 2 unexcused absences throughout the semester. Excused absences include such events as
intercollegiate athletics, Ford Fellowship Conferences, and Model-UN. It is the student’s responsibility to contact
the instructor before being absent from class for such events. Simply being sick does not count as an excused
absence unless accompanied by a doctor’s note. After two unexcused absences, the student’s final grade will be
lowered a letter grade.
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Grading Criteria
Each requirement is worth the point value indicated below. The total point value for all assignments is 500 pts.
Final Grade Scoring
A= 450-500 points
B= 400-449.9 points
C= 350-399.9 points
D= 300-349.9 points
F= 299.9 and below
Class Assignments
Class Participation
25 pts
This course is discussion-based, although I will present brief lectures and interject with historical backdrops and
overviews at times. You are expected to come to class having completed the assigned readings and be ready to
actively engage in class discussions. The success of this class depends on your active participation and regular
attendance. Tardiness and in-class cell phone usage are disruptive to class and will negatively affect your
participation grade.
Discussion Leader
35 pts
You will be required to lead class discussion for one class during the semester. As the discussion leader, you must
come prepared with questions and issues pertinent to the day’s readings in an effort to help facilitate an in-depth
dialogue with your classmates on the material. You will prepare a handout for the class detailing the questions you
wish to explore.
Activities
20 pts each (total 140 pts)
There will be 7 activities that you will complete throughout the course of the semester. The due date for each
assignment is stated in the syllabus calendar.
1. Reflection on childhood: Write a brief reflection on your childhood (2 to 3 double-spaced pages). How does
your experience influence your opinion of what childhood should be like?
2. Parenting Magazine Writing Assignment: Browse through an issue of a key parenting magazine and write a brief
reaction to what you find (2 to 3 pages) (magazines will be on reserve at the library). What messages do the
magazines have about parenting? What images of childhood are portrayed? What do the ads look like? What
products are being sold?
3. Watch Cover Girl Culture in class. Write a brief (1 to 2 pages) reaction to the film, including what messages
girls receive about gender, femininity, sexuality, and consumption.
4. Watch Ma Vie en Rose in class. Write a brief (1 to 2 pages) reaction to the film, including how the film portrays
gender transgression zones and patrolling behaviors.
5. Visit prominent children’s stores on-line or in person, if you prefer. (Suggestions: Toy’s R Us, Old Navy,
Children’s Place, Gymboree, Target) Try to find birthday gifts for a four year old boy AND a four year old girl.
You’re trying to find one clothes outfit and one toy for each child. Describe what you find. What options are there
for the girls’ clothes? For the boys’ clothes? What toys are available to boys and girls? Write a 2-3 page
summary of your findings.
6. Watch Mickey Mouse Monopoly in class. Write a brief (1 to 2 pages) reaction to the film.
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7. Play Laser Tag with the class. Write a brief reflection on your experience (1 to 2 pages), including how it felt
to play an aggressive game and whether or not playing aggressive or violent games might make you more
aggressive or violent.
Mid-term Exam
The exam will include short answer and essay questions.
100 pts
Service Learning Project Journal and Final Paper
Journal
75 pts
Final Paper 125 pts
In this course, you will explore children as active social actors and learn child-centered methodologies and ethical
considerations in research with children. To put these theories and methods into action and make linkages between
class material and the world beyond the classroom, you will participate in a service-learning project with children
in two after school programs. This service learning exercise will allow you to explore sociological theories of
childhood in real life settings and practice particular methodologies appropriate for children. This project is
mandatory and will be the focus of your project journals and final paper; both of which make up a substantial
portion of your grade.
You will participate in two five-week sessions (total of ten weeks) to help teach children in two after school
programs about photography and autobiography by making a photo book about their lives. This project will allow
you to explore a central theme of this course; namely how children construct their lives, here through pictures and
words. We will conduct our first session at the Stewpot After School Program and our second at St. Anthony’s in
Madison. Since after school programs meet, well—after school, you will be required to participate in this project
outside of class time. We will have time in class to discuss and plan these activities and you and your classmates
will rotate leading the weekly project lessons. You will receive a handout outlining the weekly schedule of duties
as we prepare for the project.
Since children (and adults) construct their lives through the give and take of social interaction and not just in
structured activities, you will be required to keep a journal of your weekly experiences in the project. This journal
is meant to help you think critically about your interactions with the children, the social dynamics you observe
between children, and help you engage with the reading material or augment it. The format of the journal is wide
open. They often need to include writing, but they do not always or necessarily have to be structured, narrative
prose (however, I do need to understand them). You may include drawings, collages, pieces of magazines, links to
websites, etc. This journal can be two dimensional like a notebook, but it can also be three-dimensional. Or even
a web site. You will turn in your journal 3 times during the semester so I can make comments and grade your
material. I will announce these times in class.
You will write a final research paper in this class based on the photo books children create in the service-learning
project. You will analyze these pictorial autobiographies in context of class materials. While the photo books will
be the primary text you will analyze using class readings, you may also use your journal entries or other outside
sources for your paper. You will receive a handout regarding the details of the assignment.
If you would like to learn more about the relationship between service and learning or discuss your own
professional/vocational plans, please contact the Millsaps Faith & Work Initiative.
Academic Integrity
As Millsaps students, you have each agreed to uphold the Millsaps Honor Code and are expected to
meet the Honor Code’s high standards of academic honesty in this class. All work that students turn in must be
their own and all sources used to support your work must be properly cited, including ALL internet sources. If a
student plagiarizes, copies another student’s work, or conducts other acts of academic dishonesty, the instructor is
required by college policies to report the student to the academic dean.
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Disclaimer
Some adjustments may be made in the schedule during the course of the semester. All changes will be announced
in class.
Week 1: Historical Context
Jan 11
Introduction
Jan 13
Reader:
Ch. 1---From Child Labor to Child Work
Ch. 3---Childhood in America Past and Present
Ch. 5---In Search of the Child
Zelizer
Fass & Mason
Buckingham
Week 2: The New Sociology of Childhood
Jan 18
Reflection on Childhood assignment due
Reader
Ch. 8---Children’s Interpretive Reproductions
Corsaro
Ch. 9---A Window on the “New Sociology of Childhood” Matthews
Ch. 10---A New Paradigm for the Sociology of Childhood Prout & James
Jan 20
***
Children and the Politics of Culture in “Late Capitalism” Stephens
Week 3: Methods & Ethics
Jan 25
Reader
Ch. 11---―Yeah, You’re Big Bill:” Entering Kids’ Culture Corsaro
Ch. 13---Researching Children and Childhood
Wyness
Jan 27
***
Empowerment Through Photo Novella
Wang & Burris
Week 4: Parenting Ideologies
Feb 1
***
The New Momism
Douglas & Michaels
***
Dilemmas of Involved Fatherhood
Gerson
***
Bloodmothers, Othermothers, and Women-Centered Networks
Collins
Feb 3
***
Parenting Magazine exercise due
From Rods to Reasoning
Week 5: Gender & Sexuality
Feb 8
Reader
Constructing “Opposite Sides”
***
Becoming a Gendered Body: Practices of Preschools
Feb 10
Week 6:
Feb 15
Week 7:
Feb 22
Thorne
Martin
Watch Cover Girl Culture
***
***
Feb 17
Hays
Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers’ Assumptions,
Talk, and Strategies with Young Children
Playing in the Gender Transgression Zone
Martin
McGuffy & Rich
Cover Girl Culture reaction paper due
Watch Ma Vie en Rose in class
Race & Class
Reader
Ch. 19---Using Racial and Ethnic Concepts
Van Ausdale & Feagin
Ch. 20---Constructing and Negotiating Racial Identity in School
Lewis
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Feb 24
Ma Vie En Rose reaction paper due
Ch. 21---The Collaborative Emergence of Race in Children’s Play
Ch. 24---Girls, Race, and Identity
Bettie
Reader
Week 8:
Mar 1
Consumption
Mar 3
***
Ambivalence and Allowances
Pugh
Week 9:
Mar 8
***
The Alchemy of Desire into Need
Pugh
Chin
Shopping reflection due
Ch. 2---The Shadow of Whiteness Chin
Moore
Mid-Term Exam
Mar 10
Week 10
SPRING BREAK
Week 11:
Mar 22
Chin
Ch. 3---“What Are You Looking At, You White People?”
Ch. 4---Hemmed In and Shut Out
Mar 24
Chin
Ch. 5---Anthropologist Takes Inner-City Children on Shopping Sprees
Ch. 6---Ethnically Correct Dolls
Week 12:
Mar 29
Mar 31
Watch Mickey Mouse Monopoly
Tobin
Ch. 1 & 2
Week 13: Children’s Play and Media
Apr 5
Mickey Mouse Monopoly reaction paper due
Tobin
Ch. 3 & 4
Apr 7
Tobin
Ch. 5 & 6
Week 14: Children and Violent Play
Apr 12
***
The Role of Violent Video Game Content in Adolescent Development
Apr 14
Laser Tag at The Park
Week 15: The Future of Childhood
Apr 19
***
Caring Neighborhoods: Bringing Up the Kids Together
Apr 21
***
Week 16
April 28
Olson et al
Laser Tag reflection paper due
The Future of Childhood
Bould
Corsaro
Final Paper due in my office by 4:00 pm
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