Download Summer 2017 TENTATIVE Course Descriptions by session

Summer 2017 TENTATIVE Course Descriptions by session
Four Week One (4W1) May 9 through June 2
Instructor – J. Miller
SOC-S 100 (4822) - INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
In this course, we will examine key concepts in the study of human social interaction. Through topics
such as cultural tastes, class inequality, romantic relationships, and the social construction of reality, we
will discuss the ways in which individuals shape and are shaped by society. This course will serve as an
introduction to the field of sociology, applying its central concepts and ideas to our own lives.
Instructor - Manago
SOC-S 110 (7588) - CHARTS, GRAPHS & TABLES
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
We are surrounded by social science on a daily basis. For example, you may have heard that women
make 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. Or, perhaps you heard that when applying for a job, white
criminal offenders are more likely to get called back than black applicants without a criminal record. You
might start to wonder how we know these facts and where they come from. How did researchers get
this information, analyze the data, and why did they choose to present it in this way? The goal of this
course is to help you understand and analyze social science research. In this course, you will learn how
to assess an argument's logic and the research methods and statistics that are used to support it.
Specifically, this course will cover: (1) hypothesis testing and logical fallacies, (2) different research
methods used to gather data, (3) statistical analyses used to understand data, and (4) how to
understand and design charts, graphs, and tables.
Instructor - Wright
SOC-S 324 (13777) - MENTAL ILLNESS
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
Americans have a particular fascination with mental illness, but often discuss it exclusively at the
individual level. In SOC 324, we will explore mental illness as a social phenomenon from the sociological
perspective. We will discuss the definitions of what constitutes mental illness, where those definitions
come from, and how they differ based on time and place. We will consider the ways in which members
of different communities are more or less likely to be identified as mentally ill, seek and/or receive
treatment, and experience social stigma and other consequences of mental illness. This course will also
address the degrees to which policy interventions have alleviated and/or exacerbated some of the social
costs of mental illness, as well as the ways that mental illness and the mentally ill are portrayed in policy
and popular culture. In short, we will address mental illness not just as an individual issue, but as a social
one.
Six Week One (6W1) May 9 through June 16
Instructor - Alderson
SOC-S 100 (13778) - INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
ONLINE
This on-line course has three general objectives: (1) to introduce you to the field of sociology; (2) to help
you to acquire a broad understanding of the social forces that influence the world in which we live; and
(3) to equip you with some of the tools that will be useful in the future, in your career and as a citizen of
your own country and of the world.
My goal in this course is to help you develop an informed perspective on contemporary U.S. society.
However, only part of the course will directly address the American experience. Our approach to the
study of human society will be comparative and historical. The guiding assumption of the
comparative/historical method is that we can better understand our own society by learning more
about other societies, past and present. Through discussions, readings, assignments, and mini lectures,
we will engage a great deal of information on a broad range of human societies. As one of the course
requirements, you will also pursue a study of your own family history. These educational experiences
are designed to help you to gain a new understanding of your own society and to help you develop a
number of useful skills.
Instructor - Turner
SOC-S 101 (8312) - SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND POLICIES:
Topic: Medicine in America
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
In this course, students will be introduced to medical sociology and will examine issues of health, illness,
and healing from a sociological perspective. Using theoretical and empirical work, class discussions, and
a variety of media, we will cover several topics including: the goals of medical sociology, the social
construction of health and illness, the social origins and distributions of disease, the social causes and
consequences of stress, the organization of health care, and treatment seeking. Students will be
encouraged to think critically about these topics so that they may challenge taken for granted
assumptions about what it means to be sick, the causes of health disparities, and the roles that both
medical providers and patients play in clinical encounters and in shaping medical knowledge.
Instructor - Groggel
SOC-S 316 (7212) - THE FAMILY
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
We will study families by exploring topics such as the transition from childhood and adolescence and
rituals of dating and mate selection. It will introduce you to how sociologists study families and
scientifically explore topics of ideals about love, marriage, gender, parenthood, sex and sexuality. We
consider both the "public" and "private" dimensions of contemporary U.S. families. We will consider the
many ways families have changed over the last 60 years in particular in the U.S.
Instructor - Sevell
SOC-S 325 (13801) - CRIMINOLOGY
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
ONLINE
This course will not only address issues typically related to crime and criminal justice, but also question
the meaning and definition of crime more broadly. Instead of assuming crime has a clear and stable
meaning, we will view it as a process – a struggle over who gets to determine who/what is evil and what
we should do about them/it. Rather than concern ourselves with the way the world is “supposed” to
work, we will focus instead on how it actually works. Students will be introduced to both mainstream
and more radical research with the Sociological and Criminological traditions, and subject matter will
include topics diverse as Graffiti, the War on Drugs, Disney
World, and much more. From the labeling of glass pipe makers as
terrorists to the criminalization of Black bodies, this course will
engage students with a range of issues that pervade our strange
and complex social world.
Instructor – J. Kennedy
SOC-S 651 (8574) - TPCS IN QUANTITATIVE SOCIOLOGY
Topic: Survey Methods
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
Course Description
Social surveys are using new procedures, sampling methods, and technologies to address current social
and technological changes. To prepare students to develop effective surveys, S651 focuses on the
current standards for survey design and procedures. Some topics covered in the course are Internet
surveys, question construction and questionnaire design, new types of survey sampling, including
practices used to compensate for survey nonresponse, and survey research ethics. The course will
provide many practical applications and is targeted to students who want to design and conduct their
own surveys.
About Dr. Kennedy
John Kennedy directed the Indiana University Center for Survey Research from 1987 to 2011. He earned
a PhD in sociology from Penn State University and worked at the U.S. Census Bureau for four years. He
has written a chapter on managing survey projects for the second edition of The Handbook of Survey
Research and was the founding editor of Survey Practice.
Six Week Two (6W2) June 19 through July 28
Instructor - Lista
SOC-S 100 (4824) - INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
This course will introduce you to the academic field of Sociology, and more broadly to the sociological
perspective. You will be asked to think critically about social inequalities and the social structures that
enable them to persist over time. Moreover, you will learn to address many of the taken-for-granted
assumptions built into everyday life. At the end of the semester you will be able use sociological
research and theory to better understand your place in the social world.
Instructor – P. Jackson
SOC-S 101 (13235) - SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND POLICIES
TOPIC: Racism as a Social Problem
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
This course will explore the history of racism in the United States, as well as from a comparative
perspective. We will study the way racism intersects with other systems of privilege (particularly gender)
to produce unequal outcomes. This course will also cover the role played by culture and law/politics in
the social construction of racial identities over historical time. Course lectures, active-learning based
class discussion, and case study-based class participation will draw attention to questions such as: What
factors are associated with exposure to racism? What is white privilege? Can racism be “undone”? Who
is impacted by the #blacklivesmatter movement? Students are required to read assigned materials and
participate in classroom discussion.
Instructor - Caplan
SOC-S 110 (13779) - CHARTS, GRAPHS & TABLES
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
The structure of this course mirrors the process of doing social science research. In the first part of the
course, you will learn to think like a sociologist and to see everything, including scientific research, as a
product of society. You will apply this mindset to the different ways social scientists define and measure
race, class, and gender. Next you will learn about different methods of collecting data, including
sampling procedures and research methods. You will learn to use excel to turn raw data into meaningful
information about the social world, as well as how to best present this information to others (this is
where Charts, Graphs, and Tables comes in). The last few classes of the course will be spent learning
about structural inequality, and about past social science research related to race, class, and gender.
You will have a few occasional readings and regular in and out-of-class assignments. These assignments
will guide you in developing and answering your own research question related to race, class, or gender
inequality and will become the basis of your final paper.
This course is NOT recommended for social science majors, as it overlaps greatly with Introduction to
Sociology, Research Methods, Statistics, and Race, Class, and Gender.
Instructor - Kelley
SOC-S 316 (13780) - THE FAMILY
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
In this course, you will learn to use scientific knowledge to assess taken-for-granted beliefs and practices
about families. We will discuss love, marriage, parenthood, and sexuality from a scientific perspective.
We will examine how American family forms and practices have changed over time and consider
diversity among the current American “family.” For example, we may discuss single families, divorced
families, same-sex families; how family practices differ across social class, race, and ethnicity; how family
practices create gender inequality; and how social policies impact families.
Instructor - Nicholson
SOC-S 339 (8618) - THE SOCIOLOGY OF MEDIA
IU Bloomington - Summer 2017 (4175)
Who controls our ability to shape meaning in society? In what ways does the information we consume
affect the way we interact with the world around us? Should we, as consumers, be worried about
#fakenews or #alternativefacts? This class addresses these questions, along with others related to the
power of mass media and how our perceptions regarding things like race, class, and gender are shaped
by the messages we receive. Using clips from major media outlets, YouTube, and other digital sources,
as well as print media, this class will add to your ability to understand and make sense of the
information you receive, as well as how society responds and changes as a result of media influence.