Introduction
to Sociology
Sociology 10D Spring 2002
James M. Cook
Office: Sociology/Psychology
255
Phone: 660-5609 E-mail: jc29@duke.edu
Lecture:
Physics 113 MW 1:10-2:00 pm
Office Hours:
Sociology/Psychology 255 Mondays from 2 pm – 3 pm
Sociology/Psychology 255 Wednesdays from noon – 1 pm
|
Section 1 |
Kellie Hagewen |
Th
9:10 am – 10:00 am |
Social Sciences 133 |
|
Section 2 |
Alexis Franzese |
F
10:30 am – 11:20 am |
Social Sciences 219 |
|
Section 3 |
Corey Remle |
F
10:30 am – 11:20 am |
Soc/Psych 126 |
|
Section 4 |
Alexis Franzese |
F
11:50 am – 12:40 pm |
Social Sciences 232 |
|
Section 5 |
Alexis Franzese |
F 9:10 am – 10:00 am |
Gray 319 |
|
Section 6 |
Corey Remle |
F
11:50 am – 12:40 am |
Gross Chem 104 |
I. Course Overview
“Sociology is the systematic, scientific study of human society.” “Society is a collection of interacting individuals.” So go the textbook definitions. To make these definitions something other than a triviality, we must consider the following questions: What does “society” mean? What forms can “interaction” take? How do “society” and “interaction” affect one another? How does one logistically and ethically go about making a society the object of “scientific study”? These are the central questions of this course.
Sociology has a highly distinctive (and therefore highly valuable) approach. What makes sociology different?
1. While most social science disciplines (anthropology, political science, mass communications, economics) are defined according to some particular aspect of society to be explained, sociologists assert that general rules govern all forms of social life.
2. While most social science disciplines (psychology, political science, economics) are currently dominated by perspectives centered on forms of individual choice, sociologists make an alternative argument: that social context (also referred to as “social structure”) has a profound impact on the lives of individuals and the fates of societies.
3.
While many topics of sociological concern are tackled through creative
and critical approaches in the humanities, sociologists adopt a scientific
approach that involves the development and testing of theories through the
rigorous practice of research.
II. Online Course Participation via Blackboard
This class has a Blackboard web site that will act as the main out-of-class location for information and activities. Part of the skill set you must master is access to this site. In order to access the Blackboard web site, you must have an active NetID account (for help on NetID issues, visit http://www.oit.duke.edu/helpdesk/netid/ or call the OIT help desk at 684-2200).
Logging into
Blackboard is easy! Just follow these
simple steps:
1. Go to https://courses.duke.edu/ on
the Internet.
2. Press the “Login” button.
3. Enter your NetID username and password.
4. A personalized “My Blackboard” page should
appear. To enter this course’s web
site, simply follow the
link
for “Introduction to Sociology” in the “My Courses” window.
Once
you log in, you will find eight buttons on the left hand side. Their functions are described below:
Clicking on this button will lead you to dated
announcements regarding class material and class logistics. These will be saved for the entire semester,
and you are responsible for checking them on a regular basis. Announcements will include orienting advice
and questions for upcoming readings, the posting of new links and any necessary
changes and clarifications.
Clicking on this button will take you to the class syllabus, which on Blackboard includes interactive links that, whenever possible, will take you directly to on-line readings.
Staff Information
Clicking on this button will take you to a page
containing contact information and office hours for Professor Cook and the
teaching assistants.
Course Documents
I am not using this button in the course.
Assignments
Clicking on this button will take you to a page containing a list of assignments for the class, including instructions and due dates.
Communication
On this page, you can do two things. First, you can send e-mails to students and instructors. Second, you can visit discussion boards set up for assignments, exam review and section activities.
Clicking on this button will take you to a page containing links to a variety of resources for your use in the course. These resources will include data sources, additional readings, image files and simulations created for your use.
Tools
Clicking on this button, you’ll notice that another
set of buttons appears. Of importance
in this course are “digital drop box” and “check grade.” All assignments are to be “handed in” via
the digital drop box (by “adding” a file to your dropbox and then “sending” it
to mine). You can also check your
grades at your leisure, although I caution you to pay attention to what grades
have (and what grades have not) been included as of a particular moment.
II. Course
Requirements
Reading
You
will need to acquire four books for this course: The McDonaldization of
Society by George Ritzer, Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam, Understanding
Multivariate Research by William Berry and Mitchell Saunders and Sociology:
A Brief Introduction by Alex Thio.
Other readings will be accessible via as links from the hyperlinked
syllabus on this course’s Blackboard site. Readings listed below are required;
you are responsible for thoroughly reading them by the date of the class they
are listed under, not during or after
that class.
Lectures
and discussions will be based on the assumption that you have completed the
required readings in a thorough fashion, and so do not take as their primary
aim the regurgitation of reading material.
If you have questions regarding readings, I encourage you to come to
office hours to discuss them.
Grades
This
course has three kinds of work, and therefore grades are assigned in three
different ways.
Exams
are graded quantitatively, on a 100-point scale, with the following categories:
A: 92-100%, A-: 90-91.99%, B+: 88-89.99%, B: 82-87.99%, B-: 80-81.99%, C+:
78-79.99%, C: 72-77.99%, C-: 70-71.99%, D+: 68-69.99%, D: 62-67.99%, D-:
60-61.99%, F: < 60%.
Assignments
and class participation are graded on a qualitative basis, with the following
standards:
A: Excellent. In the
original sense of the word, this implies an exceptionally rare quality of
work. An A is awarded for work that
goes beyond that which is merely required to exhibit significant creativity, innovation
and uncommon insight.
B: Good. B-level work does that which
is requested without error, but does not display the exceptional qualities
described above. Alternately, a B may
be awarded for insightful work that is nevertheless moderately flawed.
C: Fair. C-level work does not display
excellence in execution, and also contains minor flaws, either of error or of
omission.
D: Poor. A D will be awarded for work
that contains major errors or omissions.
A major error is one that affects the validity of main findings or
conclusions, and a major omission occurs when a significant portion of an
assignment is missing or only cursorily treated.
F: Unacceptable. A grade of
F will be given to an assignment that does not satisfactorily complete the
majority of an assignment. Any
violation of academic integrity will also result in an F (and, depending upon
the seriousness of the act, a failing grade in the course and/or judicial
action).
Plusses
and minuses are modifiers of these categories; for purposes of calculating a
final grade, qualitative grades will be converted to the integer closest to the
middle of the numerical grade categories (for example, A- will score as 91, B+
will score as 89, and C will score as 75).
If grades are very important to you, please make sure that you come to class, read the material on time, and consult with Prof. Cook and your teaching assistant throughout the semester when you have questions or need help with the material. Do not wait until late in the semester to ask questions or seek out help. Much more can be done if you come to me before you have already accumulated a substantial proportion of your final grade. In the interest of equity among students, no special grading arrangements will be made with individual students, grade negotiations will absolutely not occur, and no extra credit assignments will be offered.
Excused Absences
A legitimate
excuse for absence in this course involves a disabling health problem, a
significant family event (death, critical illness, marriage, birth of child),
or an official Duke-related required absence (athletic team event or other Duke
activity). If you have a legitimate
excuse for absence, you must inform your teaching assistant (TA) at least
one month in advance, unless the nature of the event (illness, unexpected
death) makes that absolutely impossible.
Forgetting is not an excuse. You
must provide valid documentation to your TA of the legitimate nature of your
excuse.
Exams
will not be rescheduled except in exceptional, unavoidable and documented
circumstances. When an exam must be
rescheduled for a student, a recorded oral format will be followed. In the event of foreseeable absences on days
when assignments are due, you must nevertheless turn in those assignments by
the same due date.
If
you do not hand in an assignment, attend discussion section, or complete an
examination, and if you do not provide a documented legitimate excuse, you will
receive a zero grade for that work.
Exams
There
will be three examinations in this class, scheduled for February 10, March 3,
and April 29. Together, the exams
will account for 60% of your final grade (each exam will be counted equally).
Assignments
Throughout
the semester, you will turn in six assignments as part of work on two semester-long
projects. Spelling, grammar, clarity of
expression, and the content of these assignments are all important. Assignments must be submitted by the
due date and time through the “digital dropbox” on the course’s Blackboard
site. Late assignments lose a letter
grade immediately after they become overdue, and lose an additional letter
grade for every 24-hour period after that.
Together, the work you submit will account for 30% of your final grade.
Homework
From
time to time, you will be asked to complete some sort of online task, such as
going through a simulation, filling out a survey or completing an
evaluation. These tasks will be
announced in class and in the Blackboard announcements area. To access each of these tasks, you will
visit a web site on Blackboard, which will let me know you were there. However, and in the interest of privacy, I
won’t have any way of connecting the content of anything you write with your
name. In the additional interest of
conscientiousness, the computer will allow you to refuse (without penalty) to
answer any particular question within a task or survey. Although you will not be graded for these
activities, you will lose a point from your final grade for each task you do
not complete within the allotted time frame.
Class Participation
This class is divided into lectures and small group
sections; expectations for your participation differ between the two. Although
you will not be graded directly according to lecture attendance, it is in your
interest to attend all lectures. Lectures and readings often
cover separate material; they are not substitutes for one another. Lectures will not be repeated in the case of
unexcused absence.
Your
participation in Friday small group sections will be graded, and is judged
according to four criteria: thorough preparation, attendance, positive
participation, and quality of contribution. Missing sections, coming to
sections late, leaving early, not having prepared in the manner or to the
extent requested, participating in a disruptive manner or not participating at
all will lower your participation grade.
Consistently active, respectful, thoughtful and prepared participation
will raise your participation grade. Your
energy is crucial: simply being a warm body sitting in the room, but not
participating in activities or discussion, is an poor level of performance and
will result in a poor grade. Participation
in small group sections will account for 10% of your final grade.
The standard articulated in Duke University’s Honor Code
and Judicial Code is that every student’s work must be his or her own. For this particular course, you are
encouraged to study together for exams.
However, you may not collaborate with other students in any
way on assignments, and all writing that is not your own must be
placed in quotation marks and explicitly cited in your assignment. Similarly, you may rely only on your own pen
and brain during an examination. It is
your responsibility to consult with Professor Cook or a teaching assistant if
you have any questions regarding your academic work or standards of academic
integrity. See the assigned readings of
8/28 for more information regarding academic honor at Duke and how to meet
these expectations.
All
required readings should be completed before the section for which they
are assigned. Come to class prepared to
discuss the readings. Required readings
are available either as course texts or electronically as links on the
Blackboard site. Optional readings may
be available electronically; if not, they are in the stacks at Perkins library.
1/8 The Sociological Insight
No readings required
Thio, Chapter 1
Duke University Library:
“Plagiarism: Its Nature
and Consequences.”
“Avoiding Plagiarism: Practical Strategies.”
1/13 Elements of Sociological Theory
William M.K. Trochim:
Homework: On Blackboard: Read course syllabus, submit consent form
1/15 Competing Perspectives
Lewis Coser. “Some Functions of Deviant Behavior and Normative Flexibility.”
Ralf
Dahrendorf. “Toward a Theory of Social Conflict.”
David
L. Rosenhan. “On Being Sane in Insane Places.”
1/17 Small
Groups: tbd
Assignment 1 Due to Digital Dropbox 1/17 by 5:00 pm
1/20 Class Not In
Session in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
1/22 Baselines
and the Role of Chance
Bruce Mayhew. “Baseline Models of Sociological Phenomena.”
(Electronic Reserves)
1/24 Small
Groups: Reading Sociological Research
Catherine
Ross and Chia-ling Wu. 1995. “The Links Between Education and Health.”
1/27 Assessing
Sociological Theories: Multiple Regression
Berry and Sanders, pp. 1-39
1/29 Assessing
Sociological Theories: Multiple Regression
Berry and Sanders, pp. 41-76
1/31 Small Groups: Regression in Context
Review Catherine Ross and Chia-ling Wu. 1995. “The Links Between Education and Health.”
2/3 Assessing Sociological Theories: Multiple
Regression
Val Burris. “The Two Faces of Capital: Corporations and
Capitalists as Political Actors.”
2/5 Society, Culture
and Symbolic Interaction
Thio, Chapters 2,4
2/7 Small
Groups: Exam Review
2/10 Exam I
2/12 Socialization
Thio, Chapters 3,5
2/14 Small
Groups: The Sick Role
Parsons, Talcott. “The Sick Role”, parts 1 and 2 (Electronic Reserves)
2/17 Conformity
and Obedience
Phillip Zimbardo. “The
Stanford Prison Experiment.”
Arthur G. Miller. “The Obedience Experiments.” (Electronic Reserves)
Grant Baxter. “Solomon Asch and the Psychology of Compliance.”
2/19 Deviance
Thio, Chapter 6
2/21 Small
Groups: What Would You Do?
2/24 Dissent
Thio, Chapter 15
Aldon Morris.
“Black
Southern Sit-In Movement: An Analysis of Internal Organization.”
David Snow, Louis Zurcher and Sheldon
Ekland-Olson. “Social
Networks and Social Movements: A Microstructural Approach to Differential
Recruitment.”
2/26 Social Engineering, Deviance and Dissent
George Orwell. from 1984. (electronic reserves)
2/28 Small
Groups: Exam Review
3/3 Exam II
3/5 Social
Networks and the Small World
James Cook.
“Social Networks: An Introduction.”
William
Stevenson, Barbara Davidson, Ivan Manev and Kate Walsh. “The Small World of the University.”
H. Russell Bernard et al. “Estimating the Ripple
Effect of a Disaster.” (Electronic Reserves)
“The
Oracle of Bacon.” (Read all links
under “Interesting Facts.”)
Thio, pp. 116-125
3/7 Small
Groups: Debate Preparation
ALFRED C. SNIDER. “The Code of the Debater.”
Read all links listed under Parts One, Two and Three
3/17 Networks and
Places
Thio, pp. 399-416
Claude Fischer “Toward a Subcultural Theory of Urbanism.”
3/19 Homophily, Heterogeneity and Groups
Scott
Feld. “The Focused Organization of
Social Ties.”
3/21 Small Groups: Personal Networks
3/24 Social Capital
Putnam, Chapters 1-3
3/26 Social Capital
Putnam, Chapters 4-6, 10-15
3/28 Small Groups: Author Meets Critics
Carl Boggs.
“Social Capital and Political Fantasy: Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone.” Theory and Society 30: 281-297. (Access via Duke Library’s Electronic Journals)
Claude Fischer: “Bowling Alone: What’s the Score?”
3/31 Social Capital
Putnam, Chapters 16-22
4/2 McDonaldization
of Society
Ritzer, Chapters 1-4
Harry Braverman. “Scientific
Management.” (Electronic Reserves)
4/4 Small Group
Debate on Social Capital: Fact or Fantasy?
4/7 McDonaldization of Society
Ritzer, Chapters 5-10
John Van Maanen. “The Smile Factory: Work at Disneyland.” (Electronic Reserves)
Ted L. Nancy. from Extra Nutty! Even More Letters From a Nut (Electronic
Reserves)
4/9 Social Power
Richard
Emerson. “Power-Dependence Relations.”
John Gaventa.
From Power and Powerlessness (Electronic
Reserves)
4/11 Small Groups: Debate Preparation
Herbert Gans. “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All.”
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore, "Some Principles of Stratification.”
Tumin, Melvin. “Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis.”
Kingsley Davis. “Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis: Reply.”
Wilbert E. Moore. “Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis: Comment.”
4/14 From Power to Stratification
Thio, Chapter 7
4/16 Prejudice and Discrimination? Prejudice or Discrimination?
Gordon Allport. “The Nature of Prejudice.” (Electronic Reserves)
Ian
Ayres and Peter Siegelman. “Race and
Gender Discrimination in Bargaining for a New Car.”
Douglas Massey and Garvey Lundy. “Use of Black English and Racial
Discrimination in Urban Housing Markets: New Methods and Findings.” Urban Affairs Review 36: 452-469.
(Access via Duke’s Electronic
Journals)
John
Yinger. “Evidence on Discrimination in
Consumer Markets.”
4/18 Small Groups: Debate on the Functions of
Stratification
4/21 Glass Ceilings and Glass Escalators
Rosabeth Moss Kanter. from Men and Women of the Corporation.
(Electronic Reserves)
Christine Williams. “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the ‘Female
Professions’.” (Electronic Reserves)
4/23 Conclusion
4/29 Final Exam, 9 am - noon