SOCY 1000
Sociology: Global Perspective January
2007
Professor Carl B. Backman
Office: 7017
Office hours:
Do
not be bashful about making appointments.
Internet: e-mail:
backmcb@auburn.edu
web
page: www.auburn.edu/~backmcb/socy1000
I
do not check my e-mail every day. If you are desperate to contact me
immediately, the best
bet is to see me during my office hours or immediately after
class. The phone also works.
SUBJECT MATTER
This course is an introduction to
sociology. The subject of the course is human social behavior, where
"social" refers to behavior that takes place in interaction with or
with respect to other people. Human behavior does not just "happen."
Social behavior occurs in a context that helps the person -- and others --
decide what the behavior means. This context also helps people plan their
future behavior and anticipate others’ behaviors. One of the objectives of
sociology is to understand this context, which sociologists call
"culture." Social behavior within a culture tends to follow more or
less predictable patterns. These patterns constitute the culture's social system.
Another of the objectives of sociology is to develop tools for describing
social systems and for analyzing change in social systems. People aren't born
knowing the meanings of behaviors or how to participate in social systems.
Indeed, even adults may be confused when they are in new situations. The
process of learning a culture and the patterns of its social system is called
"socialization" and is another phenomenon of great concern to
sociologists. Cultures and social systems adapt to the number and characteristics
of their participants. Population size, composition, and growth, then, are
important problems for sociologists. Things that are valued in a
culture--money, for instance, or prestige, political power, or opportunities
for advancement--as well as undesirable things like crime and disease are often
distributed to individuals through the social system. Who gets what and why is
one of the oldest and most prominent questions in sociology. All of these
topics--culture, social systems, socialization, population change, and the
distribution of things good and bad--are also of interest to social scientists
other than sociologists, including anthropologists, psychologists, economists,
political scientists, demographers, geographers, and others. Though the
emphasis in this course will be on sociological perspectives on behavior,
concepts and findings from these other disciplines will also be covered when
pertinent.
OBJECTIVES
This course has several objectives. The first is to make
you familiar with some of the concepts used by social scientists, especially
sociologists, in the analysis of culture, social systems, socialization,
population, and the distribution of things of value. The second objective is to
give you some appreciation of the enormous variety of cultures and social
systems that can and do exist. Helping students overcome parochialism and
ethnocentrism is an important part of the mission of liberal arts education and
an important responsibility for courses such as this one. A third objective is
to teach you certain facts that can help you understand social systems in
general or American society in particular. A final objective is to impart
enough of the flavor of sociological analysis that you may be able to perform
your own analyses of situations in which you find yourself, whether they be
romantic relationships, job situations, relations with members of other racial
or ethnic groups, or other settings for social behavior.
THE BOOK
There are two books for this course. The
“textbook” is Introduction to Sociology, 5th edition, by Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier, and
Richard P. Appelbaum. The “reader” (a book containing
excerpts from longer works of professional sociology) is Seeing
Ourselves: Classic, Contemporary, and Cross-Cultural
THE WEB
You can get to the course
web page either directly at www.auburn.edu/~backmcb/socy1000
or through WebCT. The course web page contains this
syllabus, the schedule, old exams, and some lecture notes. It also includes a
link to the web page for the textbook (http://www.wwnorton.com/giddens5,
at least for now). I strongly recommend looking at the textbook web page when
studying for exams. Grades will be available through WebCT,
though it sometimes takes me a while to put the grades onto WebCT.
In addition to columns you will easily understand on your WebCT
grade report, there will be two mysterious columns. “ToDate”
gives your average up through the last exam recorded on WebCT.
“APossible” gives the average you will have if you
get an A on all the tests not yet on WebCT (tests are
usually not there because you haven’t taken them yet).
CLASS STRUCTURE
This class follows a
format often known in higher education as a lecture/recitation format. I will
lecture to the full class twice a week, on Monday and Friday. In addition, you
will go to a “recitation section” with a graduate teaching assistant once a
week at some time between my two lectures. Recitation sections are
substantially smaller than the full class. The graduate teaching assistants
will have three responsibilities: 1) to handle any questions you may have about
the course material as the course progresses, 2) to lead discussions concerning
the assigned selections from the reader, and 3) to lecture on topics related to
what I cover in my lectures. They may also return and review exams. Advantages
for you of this format are that you will have an opportunity to go over the
course material in a small group and that, possibly,
you will do so with someone you find more approachable than me. The main
disadvantage is that in general graduate students don’t know as much about
sociology as I do. I will address that issue by giving them fairly explicit
instructions about what they are to cover and how I want them to cover it. You
will be responsible for material covered in recitation.
GRADING
Grades will be based on a final exam (25
percent), a midterm (25 percent), and four other exams (together, 50 percent).
In addition, there will be occasional quizzes. At my discretion, graded
material missed due to an excused absence, as defined by the university, will
be either made up at a time mutually agreed upon or will be ignored, with the
final grade prorated to reflect the proportions given above. Tests will be
announced in class, usually at least a week ahead of time. Tests are
cumulative. That is, questions will appear asking about material covered in
previous tests. Quizzes are of two forms: homework quizzes, when everyone
prepares at home an answer to a question posed in recitation, and pop quizzes,
when everyone answers all the questions when they are asked. Quizzes will
almost always be over material covered in the previous class or recitation
section. Quizzes may also cover certain concepts or facts that I will expect
you to be able to tell me about at any time. I will announce these concepts as
we come to them. Quizzes may be given either in lecture or recitation. Given
their nature, I do not give makeups for pop quizzes,
though I accept excuses for the day of the quiz. Quizzes will be referred to in
determining grades for students on the borderline between two grades. The
final exam for the
Calculation of Grades.
Exams will receive letter grades. Numerical equivalents of the letter grades
will be used in calculation of the course grade. Possible grades and their
equivalents are A+ 4.5, A 4.0, A- 3.5, B 3.0, B- 2.5, C 2.0, C- 1.5, D 1.0, D-
0.5, and F 0.0. These numeric grades (on the standard 4 point scale) will be
what you see on WebCT.
ATTENDANCE
Students should attend class. Duh. Nonetheless there
is no grade for class attendance per se. However, students missing class
may miss quizzes, which can affect their grades. Students are always
responsible for the previous day's lecture material, whether or not the student
was present that day, so class notes for days missed should be acquired
immediately. Similarly, students are expected to attend class on days that
exams are scheduled whether or not the student was in class when the date of
the exam was announced. If there are changes to the course schedule, they will
be announced in class. Changes may or may not make their way onto the web page.
It is worth noting that a large proportion of the questions on each test will
be based on lecture material. I believe that the greatest weakness I have observed in the
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
It is the policy of Auburn University to
provide accessibility to its programs and activities and reasonable
accommodation for persons defined as having disabilities under Section 504 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990. If any student has a certifiable disability, he or she should
contact the Program for Students with Disabilities located in 1244
CLASSROOM HINTS,
GUIDELINES
Anything you do that makes me suspect that you
are paying attention to anything other than me drives me bonkers. This is not good because I don’t teach as well when
I’m bonkers. You also don’t learn as
well when your mind is in two places simultaneously. Put away out of sight and
sound (not in your lap) all electronic equipment (except a tape recorder). That
means no cell phones, Blackberrys, blueberries,
laptops, earphones, PDAs, iPods,
CD players, stereo turntables, woofers, or cell phones. Or
anything else. This also means that when I am lecturing you are not to
be reading anything or writing anything other than notes you are taking as I
speak, including copying someone else’s notes. If I ask you to leave class, go.
You may come back when you have finished your other business.
This will be principally
a lecture class. To get the most out of lecture classes, you must remember to
bring energy and discipline of your own to complement the energy and discipline
that the lecturer may or may not bring. With any luck, I will at all times
understand what I am saying; you need the energy and courage to tell me when
you do not. Neither I nor you should have any tolerance for behavior that
distracts us from learning. At minimum I expect all to show the discipline not
to converse with others during class. If you are being distracted by others,
raise your hand and I will take care of the problem. If you can't hear me,
raise your hand or holler. To help you and the other students feel more
involved in the class, I may establish rules for where to sit. I may also ask
you to change your seat or even leave class if I believe it will enhance the
learning environment. If I ask your name, give it to me promptly and correctly.
You may tape record this class, but please tell me about it ahead of time to
protect me and you from my going temporarily insane when I see the recorder.
Recitation sections will be most rewarding if you come with questions as well
as answers.
A final comment about
tutors is in order. Tutors can be helpful. But … I know vastly more than any
tutor about what I’m doing and what you’re supposed to be doing and learning in
this class. If you find you are not doing very well after what you consider
reasonable study effort, see me me me sooner rather than later.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE, Backman SOCY1000, Spring 2007 (schedule is subject to change)
|
Date |
Event |
Material
due (#=number of reading in the reader) |
|
Week of
1/15 |
Recitation |
#13 Marx
and Engels, Communist Manifesto. #6 Weber, The Case
for Value-Free Sociology. #79 Durkheim, Anomy and
Modern Life. #14 Toennies, Gemeinschaft
and Geselleschaft |
|
Week of
1/22 |
Recitation |
#10
Merton, Manifest and latent functions. #12 Harris, |
|
Week of
1/29 |
Recitation |
#5 Miner, Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.
#7 Babbie,
The Importance of Social Research. #8 Altorki, "Arab Women in the Field |
|
Fri 2/2 |
Exam 1 |
Textbook
chapters 1, 2, 3 |
|
Week of
2/5 |
Recitation |
GSS table |
|
Week of
2/12 |
Recitation |
#22 Goffman, The Presentation of Self. #24 Tannen, You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in
Conversation |
|
Week of
2/19 |
Recitation |
#27 Weber,
Bureaucracy. #28 Ritzer, McJobs: McDonaldization in the Workplace. #67 Schlosser, The Slaughterhouse: The Most
Dangerous Job |
|
Fri 2/23 |
Exam 2 |
Textbook
chapters 5, 6, 17 plus Exam 1 material |
|
Week of
2/26 |
Recitation |
#17 Mead,
The Self. #20 Heath, Parents'
Socialization of Children in Global Perspective. #29 Beagan,
"Even If I Don't Know What I'm Doing, I Can Make It Look Like I
Do": Becoming a Doctor in |
|
Week of
3/5 |
Recitation |
#59 Ingoldsby, Mate selection and Marriage around the
World. #49 Giarrusso,
Silverstein, and Bengston, How the Grandparent Role
Is Changing |
|
Mon 3/12 |
Midterm |
Textbook
chapters 4 and 15, plus material for Exams 1 and 2 |
|
Week of
3/12 |
Recitation |
None!? |
|
Week of
3/19 |
Recitation |
Census
table due. #74 Flavin,
Rich Planet, Poor Planet: Global Environment and Poverty in 2001. #38 Hacker, Who Has How Much and Why. #39 Eglitis, The
Uses of Global Poverty: How Economic Inequality Benefits the West. #37 Davis, Moore, and Tumin,
Some Principles of Stratification |
|
Week of
3/26 |
Spring break |
|
|
Week of
4/2 |
Recitation |
#42 Benokraitis, How Subtle Sex Discrimination Works. #47 Joe, Out of Harmony: Health Problems
and Young Native American Men. #46 Brodkin, How Did
Jews Become White Folks? #44 DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk |
|
Fri 4/6 |
Good
Friday |
Class will
be held, but new material in lecture will be on Exam 4, not Exam 3 |
|
Mon 4/9 |
Exam 3 |
Textbook
chapters 8, 9, 10 |
|
Week of
4/9 |
Recitation |
None |
|
Week of 4/16 |
Recitation |
#73 Malthus, Why Humanity Faces Ultimate Catastrophe. #72 Smail, Let's Reduce Global Population! #76 Freeman, On the Origins of Social
Movements |
|
Mon 4/23 |
Exam 4 |
Textbook chapters 5 and 19 plus all material since
midterm |
|
Week of
4/23 |
Recitation |
None |
|
Mon 4/30 |
Last day
of class |
|
|
Wed 5/2 |
Final
exam, 11am section, |
|
|
Fri 5/4 |
Final
exam, |
|
|
Mon 5/7 |
Final
exam, |
|