Download introduction to sociology, spring 2k

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY, SPRING 2K
Professor: Lee Clarke
Phone: 732.445.5741
Office: Lucy Stone Hall A-351, Livingston Campus
Office hours: Tuesday 11:20-12:20, after class, Douglass student center
Course number: 920:101:12-17
Lecture: Tuesday, Period 2, 9:50-11:10, Loree 22
Home page for the course: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~lclarke/intro.htm
I will introduce you to the key aspects of thinking sociologically. The course does
not cover the field of sociology, for two reasons. First, it’s impossible to introduce
an entire discipline in one semester. Second, to try to cover a field of study
presumes that it is important for students to know the formal debates within a
profession. I don’t make that presumption, so I spend most of the time
understanding how some parts of society work. The excitement in sociology is not
in what this or that group of scholars have to say to each other about society. The
excitement is in the general perspective they bring to analyzing how and why
people think and behave as they do.
Teaching Assistants
N ORIKO M ATSUMOTO
Phone: See TA syllabus
Office: See TA syllabus
Office hours: See TA syllabus
Section 13: F1, 8:10-9:30, Hickman 205
Section 14: F2, 9:50-11:10, Hickman 205
Section 16: F3, 11:30-12:50, Waller 203
A MITA PATEL
Phone: See TA syllabus
Section 12: TH1, 8:10-9:30, Hickman 202
Office: See TA syllabus Section 15: F2, 9:50-11:10, Hickman 202
Office hours: See TA syllabus Section 17: F3, 11:30-12:50, Hickman 202
Required:
1. Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia’s Dead End Kids, Donna Gaines,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. Gaines will be available
at the Coop Bookstore. Be sure to buy the version from University
of Chicago (light cover), and not Harper Perennial (dark cover).
This book may also be available at New Jersey Books.
2. Sociology, Jon Shepard, Wadsworth, 7 t h edition. Also available at
the Coop Bookstore. This book may also be available at New Jersey
Books.
Exams
1
The 2 exams are multiple choice, and are not cumulative. I do not give extra-credit
assignments, nor will I allow make-ups on the exams without a superb, legitimate
explanation (bring me medical records, phone numbers of surviving relatives, etc.).
Weddings, personal holidays, the Rutgers bus system, etc. are not acceptable
excuses for missing exams or sections. Drop the course now if there is a conflict
between the test days and your personal schedule. The makeups are essay tests,
consisting of three questions for the midterm, four for the final. Since these tests
must replace a 30 (or 40, in the case of the final) question exam, the answers for
the makeup must be extremely thorough to warrant a high grade. It is not to your
advantage to miss my scheduled tests.
Completing the course
You must complete all parts of the course to pass. This means you must complete
both the midterm (worth 30%) and the final (worth 40%) and you must receive a
grade in section (worth 30%) to avoid an F. To put this another way: not receiving
a grade in recitation section means you will fail this course, even if you have
perfect grades on the exams. Put yet another way: blow off section, fail the entire
course, no exceptions. If you can’t attend section, drop this course now. I make no
exceptions for people who work or have other scheduling conflicts that prevent
them from completing the requirements of the course.
Sections
You must attend the section you are registered for. That is, you can’t trade across
sections. The sections are large enough as it is, so we can’t make them larger by
allowing cross-attendance.
Readings
Be sure to read the calendar of class meetings, readings, and exams. You should do
the reading before the day on which they’re listed. Sometimes, I won’t cover the
readings in class, because you’ll spend time on them in recitation. But the lectures
will make more sense if you’ve done the reading ahead of time.
Week number
1
Introduction To The Course & To Sociological Thinking
What is the sociological perspective? Why is it important? This lecture
covers some of the key ideas in the course, focusing especially on the notion
of social structure.
2,3
Social Structure & Suicide
Read for third week of class: all of Gaines, Teenage Wasteland
2
How can suicide, an intensely personal act, be a collective phenomenon?
After looking at recent data on who is most likely to kill themselves in
America, I develop one notion of social structure with an illustration from
Emile Durkheim’s classic study of suicide. Then, I push those ideas further,
using as an example Donna Gaines’ Teenage Wasteland.
4,5
The Self & Social Context
The great philosopher René Descartes once said, “I think, therefore I am.”
Sociologists say, less elegantly, “I am socialized, therefore I am.” These
lectures are concerned with central ideas and theories on formation of self,
agents of socialization, and resocialization. A central point of the lectures is
that individual identity comes from social processes.
6
Language, Meaning, & Culture
What is culture and what does it do? Explains what sociological concept of
culture is, and the crucial place of language in shaping social reality.
7
NoN-nOrMaLiTy
What is social about deviance? Outlines basic approaches to studying and
theorizing what deviance is and how we recognize it. I also address the
question: Are we suffering a drug epidemic?
8
MIDTERM
The test will have 30 multiple choice questions, roughly half from reading,
roughly half from lecture, with some from section. Bring a #2 pencil. You
are responsible for all notes and all readings, even if I didn’t cover the
readings in class.
9,10
Social stratification
A widely believed ideology holds that with hard work and determination
people can be anything they want to be. Sociologists, however, have
discovered this is true only under certain conditions. The key condition has
to do with a college degree, yet research shows most people don’t directly
apply the knowledge they glean in college. So what are the connections
between a college education and social sorting? Covers some key ideas,
theories, and data on how and why people are stratified. Also covers some
sociological ideas about discrimination.
11,12 Organizations & Rationalization
3
From cradle to grave organizations shape our lives, yet people are often
unaware of the main forces behind organizational functioning. This is an
introduction to the main ideas of organizational sociology, including the
sometimes dry but always important ideas of Max Weber. I then use these
concepts to analyze how the Nazi Holocaust developed.
13
Politics & Symbolism
What does “political” mean? And how do culture and social structure shape
political struggles over valued resources?
14
Risk & knowledge
Why are some things considered more dangerous that other things? One
answer is that those things are, in fact, more dangerous. A more sociological
answer has to do with power, resources, and social organization
Final Exam: Wednesday, May 10, 8-11am, location to be announced,
Bring pencils.
4