newassm

Introduction to Sociology using Computers

A93.0001.003

Professor Caroline Hodges Persell

Department of Sociology, New York University

Spring 2005

Assignments and Due Dates

Revised last 12/20/04

Due By Th. 1/20

Read C. Wright Mills, "The Promise," in Susan Ferguson, Mapping the Social Landscape, 4th Edition.

Web Reading 1: "An Invitation to the Sociological Outlook." What is sociology and society?

Check the following terms in the on-line glossary: sociology, social structure, society.

Study Questions:

What is sociology?

What is a society? How does society get inside us?

What does it mean to say that humans are social beings?

What does C. Wright Mills, in Ferguson, mean by the term, "the sociological imagination?"

What was the most murky part of the readings for today?

Do you think there is a need for sociology? Why or why not?

What new questions do you have?

What differences do you observe in how sociology is taught in different countries?

Please bring 3 photos of yourself, with your name on them, or send one to us electronically. If you don't have any, please make a photo copy of your NYU ID card.

Due By Tu. 1/25

Reading2: "Subsistence Strategies and Social Structure."

Glossary terms: agrarian societies, horticultural societies, hunting and gathering societies, industrialized societies, institutions, nomadic societies, pastoral societies, social network.

On the web go to the 2004 CIA World Factbook on-line. Select at least one country and the search the World Fact Book for information on it. What can you learn about this society from the World Factbook? Type up no more than one page and bring to class answers to the following questions: 1) Give examples of at least five different features of a society that you can identify from the World Factbook. 2) What features of a society are difficult to discern from the World Factbook? Give examples of at least five different sociological characteristics of a society that are difficult to learn from the Factbook. 3) What do you see as the difference between a country and a society?

Students often ask, "What do sociologists do?" To find out, check out the American Sociological Association's website on Careers in Sociology. Also, see some interviews with sociologists about what they do on videotape at: Towson State University When you get to the department website, click on Careers in Sociology on the left side.

Study Questions:

What is social structure?

How are subsistence strategies related to social structures?

What are the implications of social structures for our lives?

What do sociologists do?

Due By Th. 1/27

Read Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, "Peer Power: Clique Dynamics among School Children," Martin Sanchez Jankowski, "Gang Business: Making Ends Meet," and Kathleen M. Blee, "Women of the Klan: Organizing 100 Percent American Women," in Ferguson, Mapping the Social Landscape, 4^th Edition.

Glossary terms: aggregate, complex status set, cross-cutting status sets, primary group, secondary group, organization, role set, socialization, social rank, social status, status set.

Study Questions:

What are social groups?

How do they originate?

What makes groups distinctive?

Why do group leaders have power over group members?

What type of group does the street gang that Martin Sanchez Jankowski studied represent?

What features of the social structure and processes of the WKKK enabled it to obtain a large membership in a short period of time?

Due By Tu. 2/1

Read Craig Haney, W. Curtis Banks, and Phillip G. Zimbardo, "Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison" and Eugenia Kaw, "’Opening Faces,’" both in Ferguson. For slides and more discussion of Zimbardo's very famous Stanford Prison Experiment see http://www.prisonexp.org/

Reading3: "Culture, Norms, and Values." Glossary terms: culture, folkways, language, mores, norms, sanctions, values.

Study Questions:

What is culture?

How are culture and social structure related?

What's the difference between a culture, a subculture, and a counterculture? Can you give examples of each?

Do the street gangs that Martin Sanchez Jankowski studied constitute a subculture?

What is a value? Bring an example of a value.

What is a norm? Bring an example of a norm.

Due By Th. 2/3

Read Anne M. Velliquette and Jeff B. Murray, "The New Tattoo Subculture," and Elijah Anderson, "The Code of the Streets" in Ferguson.

Study Questions:

Find examples of values and norms in the "The New Tattoo Subculture" and "The Code of the Streets". Bring your list to class.

What is the relationship between social groups and culture?

Where do cultural ideas come from?

Due By Tu. 2/8

Reading 4: "Socialization"

Glossary term: socialization

Study Questions:

What is socialization?

How is it related to social structure?

How is socialization related to culture?

How do you think socialization has influenced who you are?

Due Th. 2/10

Read Judith Lorber, "'Night to his Day'" The Social Construction of Gender," Michael Messner, "Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities," Robert Granfield, "Making It by Faking It: Working-Class Students in an Elite Academic Environment," and Gwynne Dyer, "Anybody's Son Will Do" all in Ferguson.

Study Questions:

Find examples of how some feature of culture is related to socialization in each of the four readings. Say how or why you see it as related. Bring your list to class.

Due Tu. 2/15

Reading5: "An Introduction to How Sociologists Conduct Research."

Read Michael Schwalbe, “Finding Out How the Social World Works,”in Ferguson.

Optional reading: Sherlock Holmes' " Adventure of Silver Blaze" by Sir Arthur Conant Doyle , December 1892.

Review Healey et al. Exploring Social Issues , Ch. 2, "Theory and Research," pp. 27-39.

Study Questions:

What are the various "ways of knowing" that we are using in this course? What do you see as the strengths and limitations of each type?

What operating assumption underlies all social research?

Can you distinguish a descriptive from an analytical study?

Can you distinguish between empirical and normative statements?

What is a variable?

What types of evidence do you need to infer causality? Can you apply those principles to statements you read and make?

What do you see as the relationship between the Sherlock Holmes story and social research?

Glossary terms: descriptive and analytical studies, experiments, field work, hypothesis, measurement, population and sample, rates, surveys, variable.

Due Th. 2/17

Read parts 1 and 3 of the section on Suicide by Emil Durkheim and " What is a Social Fact " on the web from Emile Durkheim's Rules of Sociological Method summarized in an excerpt from Robert Alun Jones, Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., Pp. 60-81. 1986.

Study Questions:

What does Durkheim mean by a social fact?

What evidence does Durkheim offer to support his hypothesis that suicide has social causes?

To what does Durkheim limit the domain of sociology?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Due Tu. 2/22

Read "Max Weber's View of Objectivity in Social Science" by Steve Hoenisch.

Max Weber's picture, bibliography, and sources about him

Study Questions:

What does Weber say about objectivity in social science?

Do you think objectivity is possible in social science? Why?

Due Th. 2/24

Read David L. Rosenhan, "On Being Sane in Insane Places," Penelope A. McLorg and Diane E. Taub, "Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia: The Development of Deviant Identities," Philippe Bourgois, "In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio," and A.Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Spade, “Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?" all in Ferguson.

Study glossary terms anomie, anomie theory, deterrence theory, deviance, differential association, formal sanctions, informal sanctions, labeling theory, primary deviance, scapegoating, secondary deviance, social control, stigmatization, white-collar crime.

Study Questions:

What is deviant behavior? Give some examples from your reading for today. How do you know the behavior is deviant?

What is stigmatization? Give some examples.

What conditions are necessary for one group or society to be able to stigmatize another group or society? How do any of the readings for today illustrate those conditions? Is all behavior relative?

Tu. 3/1

MID-TERM EXAM

No make-up exams unless you are in the hospital through no fault of your own.

Due Th. 3/3

Read Kingsley Davis, Wilbert E. Moore, and Melvin Tumin, “Some Principles of Stratification”in Ferguson.

Study Questions:

What is Davis and Moore’s functionalist argument for social stratification?

What evidence supports their argument?

What arguments does Tumin make against the Davis and Moore position?

What evidence does Tumin cite?

Due Tu. 3/8

G. William Domhoff, "Who Rules America? The Corporate Community and the Upper Class," Melvin L. Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro, "BlackWealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality," and Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel-and-Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,”all in Ferguson.

Read about growing income inequality under Course Materials on the Blackboard site for this class.

Notes on class, status and power by Max Weber

Reading on Defining and Measuring Social Class

Study glossary terms: caste, class, ideology, legitimate, life chances, Matthew effect, power, principle of cumulative advantage, socioeconomic status (SES), social inequality, status group, status inconsistency, stratification.

Study Questions:

How do sociologists define and measure social class?

Is class a distributional or a relational concept?

How does social class relate to deviant behavior?

How much poverty is there in the U.S. compared to other societies?

What factors affect where people end up in the class structure?

Due Th. 3/10

Read Michael A. Omi and Howard Winant, “Racial Formations in the United States,” Jennifer Lee and Frank D. Bean, “Beyond Black and White: Remaking Race in America,”and Charlie LeDuff, “At a Slaughterhouse, Some Things Never Die”all in Ferguson.

See Lab Assignment using CensusScope at: http://www.censusscope.org/
What county in the U.S. can you find that illustrates considerable multiethnic population? What county illustrates very little? Bring your results to class.

Study Questions:

What is race?

What social conditions increase or reduce racial intolerance?

What is racism? How might we measure racism?

What are some of the sociological consequences of racism, both societal and social psychological?

Monday 3/14 to Friday 3/18. SPRING RECESS. ENJOY YOURSELVES.

Due Tu. 3/22

Read Barbara Risman, "Gender as Structure," Christine L. Williams, “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the ‘Female’Professions, Yen Le Espiritu, "The Racial Construction of Asian American Women and Men," and Myra Sadker and David Sadker, “Failing at Fairness: Hidden Lessons," all in Ferguson.

Read around in the website on Gender Stratification

Study Questions:

What are some of the processes of gender stratification?

What are some of the consequences of gender stratification?

What are some of the barriers to complete gender equality?

How does the simultaneous existence of multiple forms of stratification affect people’s awareness of their situations?

What common processes occur in class, racial, and gender stratification?

Due Th. 3/24

Read Judith Stacey, "Gay and Lesbian Families are Here," Ann Crittenden, “The Mommy Tax,”and Arlie Russell Hochschild, "The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work" all in Ferguson.

Read Ch. 3 in Healey et al. for lab.

Study Questions:

What is a social institution?

Why do social institutions exist?

In what sense is the family a social institution?

What changes are occurring in the institution of the family?

What are some sources of family change?

Due Tu. 3/29

Reading: Functions of the family, changes in family forms, causes of those changes, implications of those changes.

Read around in Michael Kearl's Sociology of the Family webpage

Using CensusScope at http://www.censusscope.org/, compare two counties in terms of the percentage of households of different types. Bring your analyses to class.

Study Questions:

What is a family?

Are family functions changing? What were they and what are they now?

What sociological questions do you have about the family?

Due Th. 3/31

Read Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party," William Julius Wilson, "When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor," and Robin Leidner, "Over the Counter: McDonald's" all in Ferguson.

Due By Th. 1/20

Due By Tu. 1/25

Due By Th. 1/27

Due By Tu. 2/1

Due By Th. 2/3

Due Tu. 2/15

Reading5: "An Introduction to How Sociologists Conduct Research."

Due Th. 2/17

Due Tu. 2/22

Due Th. 2/24

Due Tu. 3/8

Due Th. 3/10

Due Th. 3/24

Due Th. 3/31

Due Tu. 4/5

Due Th. 4/14

Due Tu. 4/19

© copyright 2004 Caroline Hodges Persell

`© copyright 2004 Caroline Hodges Persell`