Sociology 101, Spring 2014
Introduction to Sociology
Recitation Section 9, 10 & 12
Instructor: Ying-Chao Kao (Email: ykao@sociology.rutgers.edu)
Section 9
Tuesday 5:15 – 6:10 p.m.
(Tillett Hall 253)
Section 10
Thursday 1:55 – 2:50 p.m.
(Tillett Hall 105)
Section 12
Thursday 5:15 – 6:10 p.m.
(Tillett Hall 253)
Office Hours: Thursday 2 – 3 p.m. at Livingston Campus Center (location to be assigned via email), or
meeting at another time in my office (Davison Hall 046, Douglass campus), by email appointment.
Instruction
The recitation sessions are designed to supplement the main course lectures, assisting students in
exploring the knowledge of sociology in more interactive, cooperative, and multi-media ways. In
contrast to lecture-based regular classes, the recitation sessions are discussion-based. Students are
expected to finish reading, watching, or listening to the materials required for the week, and be ready to
discuss and answer questions. Our discussion will highlight the meanings and implications of concepts,
build relations among concepts and theories, and apply sociological knowledge to your daily “private
orbits.”
Recitation Structure
The recitation includes the following activity formats:
1. Active discussion:
Our discussions will focus on required materials. We will
review the main argument(s) of the readings, connect them with concepts or theories learned from Dr.
Clarke’s lecture, and critically discuss them from various perspectives. To facilitate our discussion,
students have to finish all the required reading or listening BEFORE the recitation. Students have to
show in class in person AND on time for answers to the questions on instructor’s handouts.
2. Film screening and criticism:
To enhance students’ understanding and application of
sociological knowledge, we will watch several carefully selected documentaries or parts of films in
recitation. After screening, we will use concepts and theories learned from Dr. Clarke’s lectures to
analyze the films and extend their implications to daily social worlds. Critical interpretations of visual
representation are welcome in class. Because of the limitation of class time, we may not watch every
film in full length. Students are encouraged to independently learn from visual assistance in the Media
Center at the Mabel Smith Library (Douglass campus) or online (optional). See the Appendix for my
recommendation of documentaries.
3. Quiz:
In every class, I will ask students to generate written answers
to a few questions deriving from our discussion or the lecture. The format of questions could be
multiple-choice questions, definition, short answer, matching items, or discussion questions. The
number of question ranges from one to five, depending on the question format.
Quizzes will contribute to 10% of your final grade. While each quiz will contribute to 1% of final
grade, the HIGHEST 10 scores will be included as your quiz grade. As long as you take the quiz, you
will earn 0.5% of final grade. You will earn an additional 0.5% of final grade if all your answers are
correct. See the section of Evaluation for grading system in details. Note: Some quiz questions may
show in your tests, if Dr. Clarke considers they are good enough to be included.
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Evaluation
1. All of your work in recitation sessions (e.g., raising and answering questions, sharing ideas, and
taking quizzes) will contribute to 15% of your final grade for the course.
2. Of all weekly recitation sessions, your performance of BEST 10 weeks will be selected as your
recitation grade. This means that the full credit that you will earn from the ten selected sessions
will be 1.5% of final grade.
3. The grade of each of ten selected sessions is composed of three parts:
Item
Attendance
Quiz-taking
Quiz performance
Total
Grade
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
1.5%
Attendance
I will take attendance at the very beginning of each class by
collecting written question(s). Please bring a piece of paper every
week. To do this environment-friendly, I encourage students to use
one-sided blank recycled paper.
Quiz-taking
You will earn this simply by taking the quiz and showing me your
readable name. Quiz time may be held in the middle or the end of
session, depending on weekly instructive objectives. As long as you
are in class, you won’t miss it.
Quiz performance
Offering all correct answers will earn full credit. The points of each
question equal 0.5% divided by the number of questions in each quiz.
For example, if a quiz has two questions, the points of each question
are 0.25% of final grade (0.5% / 2 = 0.25%).
4. No make-up will be granted for any excuses of absence. If you get a zero in recitation
participation, you will FAIL the whole course. See Dr. Clarke’s website for more detail on that.
Important Dates
Test
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2
3
Time for All Sections
Feb 25 (Tue) 3:35 – 4:30 p.m. (Beck Auditorium)
Apr 3 (Thu) 3:35 – 4:30 p.m. (Beck Auditorium)
May 9 (Fri) 12:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Beck Auditorium)
Email and Sakai Interaction
I may send out instructions and/or reminders via Sakai announcement and email within 24 hours prior
to the recitation session every week. Students are expected to regularly check Sakai for announcements
and their emails that they registered on Sakai, to keep on track and stay prepared for class. The
instructor will publicize documents in the section-special folder (Sakai > Class materials > Kao_Sec 9–
10, 12).
Students are welcome to communicate with the instructor via email, ykao@sociology.rutgers.edu.
Please note (1) SOCY 101 in the title; (2) your name and section number somewhere in the body of the
message. During weekdays, the instructor will response within 48 hours, while no email activity would
be expected in weekends.
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Appendix:
Documentary recommendation*
* We may not have sufficient time to screen all of the following in recitation. Students are encouraged to watch them
independently for additional exposure to the topic covered in this course.
Week 3
o
Socialization & authority
The Stanford Prison Experiment. 29 min.
http://youtu.be/760lwYmpXbc
Week 5
o
Race & ethnicity
True Colors. 1991. 19 min. Media Library (Douglass Campus). Call number: 2-3199. (VHS)
In the 1960s Black Americans were promised that this country would no longer judge an individual solely on the
basis of his skin color. In this program, ABC’s Prime Time host Diane Sawyer follows two college educated men
in their mid-thirties, one Black, one White, as they involve themselves in a variety of everyday situations to test
levels of prejudice based on skin colors.
o
Rosa Parks Story: A CBS TV movie 2003. 100 min. Dana Library (Newark): 260. (DVD)
Dramatic biography of Rosa McCauley Parks, who in 1955 created the spark that began the modern Civil Rights
Movement.
Week 10
o
Stratification
American Ruling Class. 2005. 100 min. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455906/)
In this first of its kind “dramatic-documentary-musical”, Lewis Lapham takes two young Ivy-League graduates on
a tour of the corridors of power. The novice careerists must decide: Should they seek to rule the world, or to save
it?
Week 14
o
Society & formal organizations
The Wave. 2008. 46 min. Media Library (Douglass Campus). Call number: 10-1199 (DVD)
Based on the experience of a high-school history class in April, 1967, in Palo Alto, Calif. Explores what happened
when a teacher started a Nazi-like movement called The Wave in his history class to show the students the effects
of such a movement.
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