Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Contemporary Social Problems Fall 2015 University of California, Berkeley Facilitators: Irving Salas Barrios | [email protected] Mary Lin | [email protected] Bradley Afroilan | [email protected] Description: Social theory offers tools for thinking about our society and about the forces and actors that have changed our communities, society, and world. Using a variety of classical and contemporary material, this course offers a basic "sociologists’ toolkit" orientation in order to take a critical look at contemporary social issues in America. We will touch upon issues including the problems of race, poverty, gender and sexuality, drug abuse, crime, and violence. Objectives: 1. Upon successful completion of class, students will identify how the discipline of sociology is relevant to the study of contemporary society, critically analyzing current societal-level problems impacting the United States. 2. Students will demonstrate a reasonable knowledge about current social problems, including the ability to describe their effects on individuals as well as society at large. Format: Class meetings will take place every week for two hours and will follow a combined lecturediscussion format. Each week will focus on a particular issue raised in the media (both local and national) and scholarly works. Students are expected to complete all readings before the start of class. Readings are designed to provide commentary and background on the issue at hand. During the first few weeks, we will give an introduction and overview of major theorists and perspectives through lectures, with remaining class time for discussion and possible guest speakers. Once we reach week 4, class will begin with student-led current event discussions on how contemporary examples might reflect content covered in previous weeks. If there is a film or video scheduled, we will allocate time for that. The remainder of the class will be more discussion. When feasible, guest lectures from professors and/or student leaders on the UC Berkeley campus will frame our conversations. Regular participation and preparation is expected. Grading: This class is graded on a one-unit pass/no pass (P/NP) basis. All assignments are designed to provide background context, clarity, and theoretical working knowledge of the social issues introduced and discussed in class. Assignments (25%): Students will be given 2 assignment prompts connected to the course throughout the semester, each of which will require a thoughtful (minimum) 2 page response. Each assignment must be typed, 12 point font, and double-spaced. Participation (40%): Each week, discussion will revolve around a few questions presented in class to guide students in their interpretation and analysis of the given articles and series episodes. Active contribution to the classroom dialogue will, accordingly, constitute a significant portion of the final course grade. 10% of this will come from written reflections after each class meeting. Attendance (20%): Students who miss more than two class meetings will automatically fail the course (NP). In cases of documented family or medical emergency, students may present the course facilitators with appropriate documentation and receive an alternate assignment. Students who miss more than two classes will receive a NP. Final Project (15%): All students will complete a final project in the form of a 4 page doublespaced paper that reflects upon one topic of the class they found interesting and analyzes how that topic’s portrayal in the show compares to analogous real-life historical or contemporary situations. Students who fail to turn in a final project will not pass the class (NP). Accommodations: Students with verified disabilities should be enrolled in the Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) which helps coordinate students’ needs in various aspects of Campus life. If you are a member of the DSP, please contact the facilitators within the first two weeks of class so we are able to implement any necessary accommodations and make the course as accessible as possible. Also, if you have emergency medical information you wish to share with us, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please let us know Class Schedule: Unit 1: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PROBLEMS Week 1: Introduction & Overview After setting community guidelines and playing an icebreaker, we will begin by broadly discuss the major theoretical perspectives and theorists associated with each perspective. In Class: Most Important Problems: Then and Now | CBS News/New York Times Poll Reading(s): None Week 2: Analyzing Social Problems: Sociological Theory In-Class: Structural-functional theory vs. Social conflict theory vs. Symbolic Interactionism theory handout Week 3: Analyzing Social Problems: Sociological Theory – Continued In-Class: Applying Structural-functional, Social conflict, Symbolic Interactionism theory handout Unit 2: RACIAL INEQUALITY Week 4: The Problem of the Color Line: Discrimination & Prejudice Video(s): The social construction of race explained; The Backwards Brain Bicycle - Smarter Every Day 133 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0; Brown eyes & blue eyes Racism experiment Children Session) Jane Elliott | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLAqAtW1h-o; Reading(s): The Souls of Black Folks excerpt | W.E.B. Du Bois; Bonilla-Silva, E. (2003). Racism Without Racists: Color Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the U.S. Laham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Ch. 1, 2 (R) Week 5: Black Lives Matter: A Moment or a Movement? Video(s): Students block Sather Gate to protest police brutality | Daily Cal; Black Lives Matter: Oakland Speaks On Ferguson | AJ+; "Black Lives Matter" shuts down Sanders event | CNN Reading(s): A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement | Alicia Garza Week 6: Reproducing Inequality - Assignment 1 Due Videos: White Names vs. Black Names: Freakonomics Movie clip; Readings: Lee, Robert G. 1999. “The Cold War Origins of the Model Minority Myth.” Pp 145-179 in Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.; Unit 3: GENDER & SEXUALITY Week 7: What is Gender?/Gender Stratification Video(s): Killing Us Softly Part 4 video excerpt Reading(s): Doing Gender excerpt | West & Zimmerman; Unfinished Revolution excerpt; "The Weaker Sex." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 07 Mar. 2015. Web. http://www.economist.com/news/international/21645759-boys-are-being-outclassed-girls-bothschool-and-university-and-gap Week 8: Understanding Sexuality Video(s): TBA Reading(s): The History of Sexuality excerpt | Michel Foucault; "Answers to Your Questions For a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality." (2006). PsycEXTRA Dataset. Week 9: Barriers Faced by the LGBTQ Community Video(s): Transparent: bathroom scene; Transsexual Man Insulted by Employee | What Would You Do?; It Gets Better | Jamey Rodermeyer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1CaGMdWk Reading(s): Daily Cal article compilation; Cowan, Sharon. 2009. “We Walk Among You": Trans Identity Politics Goes to the Movies.” Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 21 (1):91-117.; "Answers to Your Questions About Transgender Individuals and Gender Identity." (2006). PsycEXTRA Dataset Unit 4: POVERTY & WEALTH Week 10: Power and Privilege Video(s): TBA Reading(s): Gilbert, D. (2011). “Social Class in America”. In The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. Pp. 1-19. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, Sage Publications Week 11: Problems Linked to Poverty - Assignment 2 Due Video(s): Stop Saying “I’m So Broke | College Humor; The Line | Sojo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZxjb4gB93A Reading(s): Reich, R. (2011) “Why Inequality is the Real Cause of Our Ongoing Terrible Economy”, Sept. 4, 2011. http://robertreich.org/post/9789891366; Murray, C. (2012) “The New American Divide”. Wall Street Journal, Jan. 21, 2012. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577170733817181646.html Unit 5: DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL Week 12: Norms, Law, and Crime Video(s): Getting to The Top: A Family's Struggle with Drugs and Poverty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHC1Eo13k_4; Reading(s): The Elementary Forms of Religion excerpt | Emile Durkheim; Mcbride, D. C., and C. B. Mccoy. 1993. "The Drugs-Crime Relationship: An Analytical Framework." The Prison Journal 73.3 : 257-78.; Week 13: Social Policy: How’re We Responding to the Drug Problem? Video(s): War on Drugs by Alice Goffman | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgPFfRsL0oM; Reading(s): Alexander, Michelle. 2012. Introduction. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New, 1-19. Print.; On The Run excerpt | Alice Goffman; Pogrebin, M. R., and Paul B. Stretesky. 2007. Unit 7: PHYSICAL & MENTAL HEALTH Week 14: The Seen & The Unseen – Final Project Due Video(s): Elephant Man clip; “Now, After” | Kyle Hausmann-Stokes; Schizophrenia Simulation | UC Davis Medical School Reading(s): Stigma excerpt | Erving Goffman; Elliot Rodger Report Details Long Struggle with Mental Illness | Santa Barbara Independent;