CRN 11970—Sociology 100-04
Introduction to SociologyTR 8:00-9:22 12-12:52, Coleman 221
Prof. Milofsky, Office Hours Wed 10:30-11:30
Office: Coleman 204; Phone: 73468 email: milofsky@bucknell.edu
Web: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/milofsky/ ERES Password=introsocSociology is the study of social life. We discuss organizations, institutions, and communities and we talk about patterns and problems people have relating and interacting. Sociology is an extremely broad field. It covers all level of human aggregation. We talk about individual perceptions and experiences in the field of social psychology. We talk about societal problems at the level of the nation. We also talk about societies other than America and about problems and policies that exist at the international level.
Sociology also covers a huge array of settings, organizations, institutions, communities, and identity groups. We talk about education, law enforcement, health care, religion, family life, entertainment, politics, the economy, and religion. We talk about race relations, ethnic relations, gender identity and gender relations, about the rights of the disabled and problems related to relocation and immigration. We talk about social inequality, social oppression, social power, and international economic domination. We talk about how organizations are structured, how they are managed, how organizational cultures develop, and how people function at work.
We will try to have fun in this course but some provisions are built in to make sure you make it to class and do the reading.. Participation will be a serious part of your grade. You are allowed only three absences before I will start reducing your participation grade in a significant way. You must complete a series of reading quizzes on the reading that will be available on Blackboard. There will be some out of class exercises and related short writing assignments. There also will be three exams: two midterms and a one-hour final exam. The exams will generally stay close to the readings and they will include definitions, short answer questions, and one or two longer essay questions. The quizzes on readings will give you practice at the kinds of questions the exams will contain.
The components of your grade are as follows:
- 3 exams (22% each) 66%
- Participation (includes textbook web exercises) 14%
- Reading quizzes 5%
- 3 Short papers (5% each) 15%
Some materials for this course will be made available on the course website: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/milofsky/Intro/. Reading quizzes and the short writing assignments will be on Blackboard, which you can access from the Bucknell home web page.
ALL EXAMS WILL BE ELECTRONIC AND ADMINISTERED THROUGH BLACKBOARD INCLUDING THE LAST EXAM which will be given during finals week and will be due when our class would normally finish its final exam. Exams will include randomly selected reading quiz questions (usually ten questions randomly selected by Blackboard from the chapter quizzes you will complete regularly during the semester), definition of terms (usually ten terms selected at random by Blackboard from terms that are listed in daily class notes, all of them will taken from the text), three short essay questions (no study questions will be given in advance and Blackboard will randomly select four for you from a list of, perhaps, ten), and a long essay question (you will be given five in advance, two will be randomly chosen by Blackboard, you answer one). The final exam will be the same length as the other two but it will cover the entire semester.
Some readings for this course are on the library's electronic reserve system (ERES). You access the ERES system on the web at: http://eres.bucknell.edu/. The password for this course is given at the top of this page. You should print a personal copy of ERES readings and you may do so for free at the computer labs on campus.
The main text for this course is:
Anthony Giddens, Michael Duneier, and Richard Applebaum, Introduction to Sociology (5th edition) (New York: W.W. Norton 2005).
The text has a web site with many study aids on it and you may want to check it out and use its contents. The web site is at: http://www.wwnorton.com/giddens5/.
Course Schedule
A detailed course schedule follows. Readings and assignments are due on the date they are listed.
Aug 25 Introduction; the ideas of social construction and theory
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 1
Aug 30 Sociology as a research field; the idea of science; other disciplines.
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 2, pp 28-48 (read the whole chapter but we will take two class sessions to cover it.)
Sept 1 Analyzing Data
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 2 (continued)
**Writing** (This counts as part of your participation grade. Questions based on this work may be on the midterm.) Go to the following website: http://www.wwnorton.com/giddens5/ch/02/data-exercise.asp
Print off the web page, do the writing exercises, be prepared to discuss your conclusions in class. Be ready to hand in your work at the end of class.
Sept 6 Culture: roles and the division of labor and world cultures
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 3
Sept 8 Status and Role
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 3
**Writing** (This counts as one of your three short writing papers.) "Social Pressure". Assignment is on Blackboard. Bring your completed assignment to class. Be ready to tell what you wrote and to hand in your paper.
Sept 13 Socialization and the Development of Personality.
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 4
Sept 15 Socialization and the Development of Personality
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 4
**Writing** (This counts as part of your participation grade. Questions based on this work may be on the midterm.) Go to the following website: http://www.wwnorton.com/giddens5/ch/04/data-exercise.asp
Do the data retrieval exercises and the writing assignments. Be ready to discuss your work in class and to hand in what you have done.
Sept 20 Social Interaction and Everyday Life
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 5
Video: The Amish. People of Preservation, BX8129.A6 A5 2000 video
Sept 22 Considering subcultures
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 5
Video: When Billy Broke His Head, HV1553 .W53X 1994 video
Sept 27 Considering labeling and unfamiliar life styles.
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 5, When Billy Broke His Head
Sept 29 First Midterm Exam, no class. Although the exam is given electronically and you are expected to take it on your own time we have no class so you can use the class period to take the exam if you wish.
Oct 4 Ethnicity and Race
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 11, pp 315-338
**Attend** 19th Annual Black Experiences Lecture, “Imaging Black Culture”, given by Deborah Willis, Professor of Photography and Imaging Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Tuesday, October 4, 7:00 p.m. Langone Center Forum.
Oct 6 Ethnicity and Race (continued)
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 11, pp 338-349.
Oct 11 No Class, Fall Break.
Oct 13 Social Stratification
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 8. pp 203-228
Oct 18 Social Stratification and Inequality
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 8. pp 228-243
Oct 20 Social Stratification: Data Analysis
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch 8
**Writing** (This counts as part of your participation grade. Questions based on this work may be on the midterm.) Go to the following website: http://www.wwnorton.com/giddens5/ch/08/data-exercise.asp
Do the data retrieval exercises and the writing assignments. Be ready to discuss your work in class and to hand in what you have done.
Oct 25 Deviance
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 7, pp 167-180
Oct 27 Crime
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 7, pp 180-199
**Writing** (This counts as part of your participation grade. Questions based on this work may be on the midterm.) Go to the following website: http://www.wwnorton.com/giddens5/ch/07/data-exercise.asp
Do the data retrieval exercises and the writing assignments. Be ready to discuss your work in class and to hand in what you have done.
Nov 1 Families
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 18
Nov 3 Families
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 18
**Writing** Produce a picture of your family tree. Be prepared to present it to class and also to hand it in. Write a short, 1-2 pp paper telling what a family is in your personal view and experience. This should be specific and based on your experience. You might talk about who counts as “in” and who is not in. You might talk about what families do that is good and what they do that is not so good (the chapter talks about the “dark side” of family life.
Nov 8 Gender and gender inequality
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 10
Nov 10 Groups and Networks
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 6, pp 131-151
Nov 15 Organizations
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 6, pp 151-165
Nov 17 SecondMidterm Exam, no class. Although the exam is given electronically and you are expected to take it on your own time we have no class so you can use the class period to take the exam if you wish.
Nov 22 Population
**Read** Luhman, Ch 19
Video: Paul Ehrlich and the Population Bomb HB 871 .P33 1996 video
Nov 24 Thanksgiving; No Class.
Nov 29 The Economy
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 14
Dec 1 Education. Video
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 16, pp 476-490
Video: The Battle Over School Choice LB1027.9 .B38
**Writing** Third Writing Assignment. You will find this assignment on Blackboard. In contrast to our other writing assignments this will not lead into a class discussion. Rather we will watch the video on school choice in class and discuss it. Then you must write a paper on the issue of school choice and turn it in on Monday, December 6.
Dec 6 The Political System
**Read** Giddens et al, Ch. 13
Dec 8 Final Exam available 8 am.
Dec ?? The final will be on Blackboard and it will have to be completed by the end of our scheduled exam period on this day. The final exam for this course will be the same length as the midterm exams but it will cover both the last two weeks and material from the rest of the semester.