Sociology 100

Course Outline

Instructor: Dr. Lorna L. Zukas

Phone: (800) 628-8648, ext. 5408

(714) 429-5408

Email: [email protected]

Office Hours: By Appointment

Required Text

David M. Newman. Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life. 4^th edition

To access the University's textbook information, enter your class number at http://mvsa.nu.edu/CLSMS2.

Course Description: Students in this course will undertake the study sociology. Students will be asked to examine and analyze the micro-interactions among people and macro-structural forces that make up the social world. The course will provide students with an opportunity to appreciate the nature of sociological inquiry. Through sociological inquiry students will examine how humans are able to form a society and inspect what happens when things become disordered. Students will utilize sociological methods to answer important questions about society and to demonstrate that society does not exist independent of individuals. Through readings and class assignments students will be expected to answer questions such as: why do some aspects of society change while others stay the same? What are the compelling problems that face human societies and why do these problems exist? Course assignments will serve to engage students in the process of critical thinking and by doing so show them that intelligent men and women can produce plausible, yet very different, explanations of how social life operates. This will enable students to realize that generating answers to sociological questions is an ongoing process, one in which they can play a part by carefully and critically assessing the relative merit of different theoretical explanations.

Learning Outcomes: When this course is over students will be able to:

Understand the kinds of questions sociologists have typically addressed and the role sociology plays in contributing to our understanding of social reality.
Understand the connection between the individual and society.
Use the methods sociologists use to answer important questions about society.
Use the sociological imagination to understand their role in making, maintaining, or changing society.

Course goals:

To have students analyze the continuous process of socialization in daily life.
To examine critically cultural norms and subcultures, to understand "difference" in American society and the ramifications for social interaction.
In this class students will expand their "ways of seeing" gender, class and race relationships in the United States and in a global context.
Students will analyze the rise of the cultural of capitalism to understand how this has shaped current consumer, labor and everyday social practices.

Student Competencies:

Understand the difference between macro institutions and mico-interactions in the practice of everyday life.
Identify and analyze the major agents of socialization.
Analyze norms and sanctions to explain social behavior.
Interpret the impact of race, class and gender on individuals and within institutions.

General Course Structure

The course is divided into three units. Each unit contains a set of modules, focusing on a particular issue or set of issues. Student participation and interactivity are structured into each module. At the conclusion of each reading assignment, students will have an opportunity to engage in questions and answers about the material through a Threaded Discussion. In the Discussions, the subject matter will usually include an analysis of the covered material, a written expression of one’s own position, and the critique of the positions of one’s fellows. The Threaded Discussions are graded items. For more information on completing these items read Course Requirements. In each unit students are asked to undertake a short research assignment related to the reading for the unit. The research assignments are graded. At the end of each unit, students will complete a Unit Exam. These are graded items.

Overview of Requirements:

1. Threaded Discussions 20% of Grade

Each module has a Threaded Discussion. Your participation and your engagement in the course are evidenced by Threaded Discussion participation. You must complete each Threaded Discussion and respond to at least two other postings from different students of the same Threaded Discussion. You must post your response to the questions and your responses to your classmates by the due date. Late discussion posts are not accepted. This is the minimum participation required. If you only do this you will earn a C in discussion. Each Threaded Discussion is worth 2% of your total grade. For more information on completing the Threaded Discussion please review the Course Requirements link.

2. Unit Exams: 50% of grade

Each student must complete the Exam for each unit.

Unit 1 = 10%

Unit 2 = 20%

Unit 3 = 20%

3. Research Assignment 30 % of your grade.

In each unit students are asked to undertake a short research assignment. You must complete each of the research assignments in the course. Each research assignment is worth 10 % of your final grade.

All assignments are due by midnight on the completion date and each student should strive to finish work on time. Please note that late postings to the Threaded Discussions will not be accepted--no exceptions. Exams must also be submitted on the due date. Research assignments will be accepted late, however, one letter grade will be deducted from the final score on any assignment that is late. If you have a medical emergency or other documented reason for not completing the assignment on time, you must send documentation to the instructor within one week of the assignments due date.

Students may request a grade of "Incomplete" only if they have a valid reason and have already completed 2/3rd of the course work, including threaded newsgroup participation. No exceptions.

Meeting Schedule:

Unit 1: The Sociological Imagination

September 29-October 4

Module 1: Breaking it down: The Individual and Society

1. Students read through course to orient themselves. This includes the syllabus, the course goals, the course description and the grading policies. Students must also read “How to succeed in this class.” Students should spend a significant amount of time looking around the course at this time to make sure that they understand the structure of the course as well as what is expected of them to complete the course. This is a good time to ask any questions. Your questions can be emailed to your instructor.

2. Students should then post an introductory message and read and respond to other’s introductory posts. Spend a few minutes getting to know one another.

3. Students should read chapter one in the textbook and the web reading and respond to the questions in the discussion group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than September 30.

Module 2: Seeing and Thinking Sociologically

Students should read chapter two in the textbook and the web reading and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 3.
Complete the Research Assignment in Unit 1
Students should review and prepare for an exam on Unit 1.

Unit 1 exam and research assignment must be submitted no later than midnight on Saturday October 4.

Please note that the unit 1 exam is closed book and it is timed. You may only access the exam once. If you have any questions email your instructor before you take the exam.

Unit 2: The Construction of Self and Society

October 5-15

Module 1: Building Reality: The Social construction of Knowledge

Students should read chapter three in the textbook and the web reading and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 7.
Don’t forget to plan your time to complete the research assignment.

Module 2: Building Order: Culture and History

Students should read chapter four in the text and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 9.
Don’t forget to plan your time to complete the research assignment.

Module 3: Building Identity: Socialization

Students should read chapter five in the textbook and the web reading and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 11.
Don’t forget to plan your time to complete the research assignment.

Module 4: Building the Image: The Presentation of Self

Students should read chapter six in the textbook and the web reading and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 13.
Complete the Research Assignment in Unit 2
Students should review and prepare for an exam on Unit 2.

The Unit 2 exam and research assignment must be submitted no later than Wednesday October 15.

Please note that the unit 2 exam is closed book and it is timed. You may only access the exam once. If you have any questions email your instructor before you take the exam.

Unit 3: Social Structure, Institutions and Everyday Life.

October 16-25

Module 1: The Structure of Society: Organizations and Social Institutions

Students should read chapter nine in the textbook and the web reading and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 17.
Don’t forget to plan your time to complete the research assignment.

Module 2: The Architecture of Stratification: Social Class and Inequality

1. Students should read chapter ten in the textbook and the web reading and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 19.

2. Don’t forget to plan your time to complete the research assignment.

Module 3: The Architecture of Inequality: Race and Ethnicity

Students should read chapter eleven in the text and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 22.
Don’t forget to plan your time to complete the research assignment.

Module 4: The Architecture of Inequality: Sex and Gender

Students should read chapter twelve in the text and respond to the questions in the Discussion Group. Don’t forget to respond to one another’s postings. The questions must be answered no later than October 24.
Don’t forget to plan your time to complete the research assignment.

The Unit 3 exam and research assignment must be submitted no later than Saturday October 25.

Please note that the unit 3 exam is closed book and it is timed. You may only access the exam once. If you have any questions email your instructor before you take the exam.

Grading Criteria:

Written Work: This is a university level undergraduate course and your writing will be evaluated at this level. In addition to adhering to proper format, style, grammar, and spelling count. Include references in everything you write, i.e. Threaded Discussions and other Interactive Assignments. Make sure you proofread your work.

Grading Criteria for Writing Assignments:

Note: Letter grades may be assigned to student work for any or all of the following reasons.

"C" range work is:

Acceptable achievement; meets minimum standards for course. Retains over-all focus; generally solid command of subject matter. Subject matter well explored but may show signs of under-development. Significance is understood; competent use of examples. Structure is solid, but an occasional sentence or paragraph may lack focus. Quotations and citations are integrated into argument and references are provided. Transitions between paragraphs occur but may lack originality. Competent use of language; sentences are solid but may lack development, refinement, style. Occasional minor mechanical errors may occur, but do not impede clear understanding of material. The work contains few serious grammatical or spelling errors.

"B" range work is:

Commendable achievement; exceeds minimum standards. Specific, original focus; content well-handled. Significance of content is clearly conveyed; good use of examples; sufficient support exists in all key areas. Has effective shape (organization); effective pacing between sentences or paragraphs. Quotations and citations are integrated into argument to enhance the flow of ideas. Have competent transitions between all sentences and paragraphs. Conveys a strong understanding of standard English; the writer is clear in his/her attempt to articulate main points, but may demonstrate moments of "flat" or unrefined language. The work contains very few mechanical errors.

"A" range work is:

Outstanding achievement; significantly exceeds standards. Unique topic or unique treatment of topic; takes risks with

content; fresh approach. Sophisticated/exceptional use of examples. Original and "fluid" organization; all sentences and paragraphs contribute; sophisticated transitions between paragraphs. Integration of quotations and citations is sophisticated and highlights the author's argument. Confidence in use of standard English; language reflects a practiced and/or refined understanding of syntax and usage. Sentences vary in structure; very few if any mechanical errors.

"D" range work is:

Marginal in achievement; it fails to not meet minimum standards. Significance of content is unclear. Some ideas may lack support, elaboration. Lacks sufficient examples or relevance of examples may be unclear. Support material may not be clearly incorporated into argument. Expression is occasionally awkward (problematic sentence structure). Mechanical errors may at times impede clear understanding of material. May have a few serious mechanical errors.

"F" range work is work that:

Ignores assignment. Lacks significance. Lacks coherence. Lacks focus. Difficult to follow due to awkward sentence or

paragraph development. Mechanical errors impede understanding. Problems with writing at the college level. Any work that is plagiarized.

Plagiarism:

The World Wide Web makes it easy to access vast amounts of information quickly. It also makes it easy to plagiarize that information, both accidentally and intentionally. Just to remind you, plagiarism is the presentation of someone else's ideas or work as one's own. An obvious form of plagiarism is intentionally stealing someone else's words. Using another person's sentence, phrase, or even a word that a person coined requires students to acknowledge the source of the sentence, phrase, or coined word. To acknowledge the source, students can either use quotation marks or paraphrase the author. In both cases, students must cite the source of the information properly. Please refer to the National University Catalog for a much longer discussion on plagiarism. Any form of plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the course.

Important Note: Students are required to cite the use of materials written by others in all communications for this course. Remember, the use of ideas, words, or phrasing without proper attribution constitutes plagiarism. The burden of proof rests on the student, not the instructor; in other words, the student will be required to prove that plagiarism has not occurred. Inadequately or improperly cited work will receive no points.

Grade Distribution

95-100 = A, 90-94 = A-

87-89.5 = B+, 83-86 = B, 80-82 = B-

77-79 = C+, 73-76 = C, 70-72 = C-

67-69 = D+, 63-66 = D, 60-62 = D-

below 60 = F

Guidelines for Assignments

Unit 1 Research Assignment

Stanford Prison Experiment: The purpose of this assignment is to have you explore both the built environment and the role of expectation in our daily lives. Please go to: http://www.prisonexp.org/ read through the whole experiment (might take ½ hour). Write a short paper answering the following questions (remember to keep Newman’s ideas on socialization and self-image in mind (chapters 5-6). You might also wish to review chapter 2 of our text. You do not need to answer all sixteen questions; the questions are intended to help you pick out the most critical issues in the experiment. The key thesis that you should address in this paper is noting that the relationship between the individual and society is a reciprocal one. 1.What police procedures are used during arrests, and how do these procedures lead people to feel confused, fearful, and dehumanized? 2.If you were a guard, what type of guard would you have become? How sure are you? 3.What prevented "good guards" from objecting or countermanding the orders from tough or bad guards? 4.If you were a prisoner, would you have been able to endure the experience? What would you have done differently than those subjects did? If you were imprisoned in a "real" prison for five years or more, could you take it? 5.Why did our prisoners try to work within the arbitrary prison system to effect a change in it (e.g., setting up a Grievance Committee), rather than trying to dismantle or change the system through outside help? 6.What factors would lead prisoners to attribute guard brutality to the guards' disposition or character, rather than to the situation? 7.What is "reality" in a prison setting? This study is one in which an illusion of imprisonment was created, but when do illusions become real? Contrast consensual reality and physical or biological reality, and explain the implications of the following poem (by PGZ):

Within the illusion of life,

Death is the only reality,

but

is Reality the only death?

Within the reality of imprisonment,

Illusion is the only freedom,

but

is Freedom the only illusion?

8.What is identity? Is there a core to your self-identity independent of how others define you? How difficult would it be to remake any given person into someone with a new identity? 9.Do you think lower-class, ghetto kids would have broken down in the same emotional way as did our middle-class prisoners? Why? What about women?

10.After the study, how do you think the prisoners and guards felt when they saw each other in the same civilian clothes again and saw their prison reconverted to a basement laboratory hallway? 11.Moving beyond physical prisons built of steel and concrete, what psychological prisons do we create for ourselves and others? If prisons are seen as forms of control which limit individual freedom, how do they differ from the prisons we create through racism, sexism, ageism, poverty, and other social institutions? Extend your discussion to focus on:

· The illusion of prison created in marriages where one spouse becomes "guard" and the other becomes "prisoner"

· The illusion of prison created in neurosis where one aspect of the person becomes the prisoner who is told he/she is inadequate and hopeless, while another aspect serves as a personal guard

· The silent prison of shyness, in which the shy person is simultaneously his or her own guard and prisoner

12.Was it ethical to do this study? Was it right to trade the suffering experienced bynot take this issue lightly, although the Slide Show may sound somewhat matter-of-fact about the events and experiences that occurred). 13.How do the ethical dilemmas is this research compare with the ethical issues raised by Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments (see page 21-22 in Newman)? Would it be better if these studies had never been done? 14.If you were the experimenter in charge, would you have done this study? Would you have terminated it earlier? Would you have conducted a follow-up study? 15.How can we change our real institutions, such as Attica Prison, when they are designed to resist critical evaluation and operate in relative secrecy from taxpayers and legislators? 16.Knowing what this research says about the power of prison situations to have a corrosive effect on human nature, what recommendations would you make about changing the correctional system in your country?

Unit 2 Research Assignment

Gender Bender: Sex refers to anatomical or other biological differences between males and females that originate in the human gene. The term Gender is used to refer to Behavioral difference between males and females that are culturally based and socially learned. Now that you have read the Baby X story you will begin to see how important gender is in everyday life. Since Baby X's sex was unknown, no gender role could be ascribed to the child. That is the normative expectations concerning appropriately "masculine" or "feminine" behavior are applied to the child. Baby X had an androgynous identity, that is combining both masculine and feminine traits. The people who came in contact with Baby X had a difficult time adjusting to Baby X. Without a gender identity they did not know how to act and react towards the child.

The purpose of this assignment is to get you to start thinking about gender as something socially constructed by the rules and norms of society, not as something inherent in every individual at birth. By consciously observing the rules and norms under which gender is created, reinforced and maintained, you will have a better understanding of the difference between "sex" and "gender," and a better appreciation of how everyday behaviors and activities are actually complex expressions of the rules of society. After reading the Baby X article, you should begin to consider the emphasis that society places on gender in the construction of social identity. This will encourage you to think about the relationship between the individual and society, as well as how many things that are seemingly personal or "natural" have been socially constructed.

For this assignment you must first begin by thinking about the difference between behaviors/mannerisms considered to be masculine, and the behaviors considered to be feminine. Then pick one behavior to "perform" in public. Your performance should be based on a behavior atypical to your normal gender performance. That is, if you define yourself as a man, then you should pick a "feminine" behavior; if you define yourself as a woman, then you should pick a "masculine" behavior. (Note: the behavior you pick should violate a norm, not break a law or violate a taboo!!)

Remember the sociological definitions:

Norm: Implicit or informal social expectations that govern individual behavior.
Law: Formalized rules with preset consequences for their violation.
Taboo: Behavior that is so socially repugnant to a society, that often, formal laws are unnecessary. A typical example of taboo behavior is incest or cannibalism.
Mores: Norms that are governed by the moral codes of society, often defining what a society believes is "good" and "right."

To complete the assignment you must write a short response paper. You must answer the following questions:

Section 1: Public Response:

1. What did you do to break the norm?

2. What would you have had to do not to break the norm?

3. Why do you think society asks us to abide by this norm?

4. What do you think the behavior of the norm you have chosen looks like to outsiders?

5. What kinds of impressions do you think an outsider to our culture might get from our behavior of this particular example?

6. Do you know of any other cultures that are different in regards to this particular norm?

7. Finally, consider the advantages and disadvantages to having norms, rules, and laws regarding gender in society. What would happen if society did not have any rules or laws concerning masculine and feminine behavior? What might our society be like if we had more rules and laws concerning masculine and feminine behavior?

Section 2: Personal Response

1. How did you decide on what norm you would break?

2. How did you have to prepare yourself to break this norm?

3. What did you feel like when you where engaged in breaking this norm?

Unit 3 Research Assignment

In another’s shoes: In this unit we have studied a number of issues including social class and inequality, race, ethnicity and inequality and sex and gender and inequality. For this assignment you must write a 2-3-page paper addressing the impact of social forces on private lives. In this assignment you are to demonstrate C. Wright Mills’ proposition that: to explain why people are the way they are, we must understand the interpersonal, historical, cultural, organization and global environments they inhabit.

1. Using your sociological imagination, the information in the unit 3 reading--Newman chapters 9, 10,11 and 12--and perhaps some of the additional web resources that are made available to you in the course, describe how your life might be different if you were born as a different person. You can choose to be a different sex, from a different social class or of a different race or ethnicity. This is obviously an imaginative exercise, however, as you write an essay walk through the various stages of life from birth to the present of your new character. Your essay should be informed by the reading and statistical data available.