kevins sociology.docx

kevins sociology.docx

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kevinssociology

AbouttheCourse:

Sociologyisthestudyofhumangroups,organizations,andsocietiesandthepatternsofsimilarityanddifferenceamongthem–itgivesusawaytounderstandsocietyandunderstandwhypeopledowhattheydo.Inthiscourse,wewillexaminethemajorquestionsthatguidehowsociologiststhink.Wewillalsopractice“doing”sociologybyexploringoureverydaysocialworldandtheoftentimesinvisibleforcesthatshapeit.Sociologistsinvestigatemanytopicsandapproachtheminnumerousways.

Sociologistshavestudiedeverythingfromhowpeopletrytolooktheirbestinface-to-faceinteractions,tohowrace,genderandclassshapeidentities,tohowcapitalismcametodominatetheworld.Theyhavesoughtanswerstothepuzzlesoflifethroughallkindsofmethods–livingonthestreets,simulatingprisonconditionsonacollegecampus,collectingquestionnairesfromthousandsofrandompeople,orthroughinterviews.

Inshort,Ihopethiscoursewillintroduceanddrawyouintoadifferentwayofseeingtheworldandprovideyouwithtoolsforunderstandingyourownsocialpositionandtheconditionsinwhichyoulive.

GoalsoftheCourse:

Todevelopyour“sociologicalimagination”–theabilitytoapplyacriticalperspectivetoviewyourselfandyourvarioussocialgroups（family,school,hometown,country,etc）withagreaterunderstanding

Todevelopwrittenandverbalskillsfordevelopingideas,exchangingideaswithothers,andpresentingtheseideastoabroaderaudience.

CourseOverview（SubjecttoChange）:

Topic

Assignment（CheckPeriodically）

1

IntrotoSociology,Syllabus

INB:

In2-3sentences,Whatdoyouthinksociologyis?

Whydidyousignupforthiscourse?

Ijustwanttoseewhatyouthink,don’tworryaboutbeingrightorwrong!

2

TheSociologicalPerspective

-Whatmakessociologyasocialscience?

-Whatarethemajorperspectives?

INB:

Howhasbeingidentifiedasmaleorfemaleshapedyourideasofwhoyouareandwhatyoushouldaccomplishinlife?

3

Culture

-Whatmakesusdifferentfromanimals?

INB:

Conductashortexperimentwhereyoubreakanorm（oneinwhichdoingsodoesnotputyourorothersinanyphysicaldangerorbreakanylaws）andanalyzepeople'sreactiontoyou.Youshould:

1）Describeyourexperiment--whatnormdidyoubreak?

Howdidyoudoit?

Whendidyoudoit?

Where?

Whowasaround?

2）Recordpeople'sreactionstoyou--didotherslookatyouoddly?

Analyzetheirreaction--whatwasthemeaningbehindtheirreaction?

Howdidyoufeelabouttheirreaction?

Didtheirreactionaffectyourbehavior（orwouldithaveifyouhonestlybrokethisnorm,insteadofforaclassexperiment）?

INB:

Whatsubculturesdoyoubelongto?

INB:

CompareChineseandAmericanvalues.

4

Socialization

-Howdoindividualsdevelopandlearntobeamemberofsociety?

-Howandwhydochildrendevelopastheydo?

5

SocialStructureandSocialInteractions

-Whatarethedynamicsofhumanbehavioringroups?

6

SocietiestoSocialNetworks

-Whatisthenatureofsocialgroupsandorganizations?

INB:

Writedownthreeexamplesofcategoriesandthreeexamplesofaggregates（donotuseanyusedinclass）

INB:

Howhaspeerpressureoperatedinyourlife?

Whatissomethingthatyoudidn'twanttodobutdidanywaybecauseofpeerpressure?

7

Activity

8

DevianceandSocialControl

-Whatdeterminesdeviantbehavior?

INB:

Howareyoudeviant?

9

TheEconomy

-Howdoestheeconomicsysteminfluencepolitics?

INB:

Willtechnologyleadtoanightmareorutopia?

10

CollectiveBehaviorandSocialMovements

-Whatarethedifferenttypesofcrowds?

INB:

Analyzearumororurbanlegendyouhaveheardorafadyouhaveparticipatedin.

11

SocialChange

INB:

List3inventions

INB:

Willtechnologyproduceamonolithicworldculture?

12

Flex/TBD

13

Presentations

（2）

14

Presentations

（2）

15

Presentations

（2）

INBDue

16

Presentations

（1）,CourseWrap-up

Grades:

Attendance/Participation–30%

Fourunpenalizedabsences（excusedorunexcused）.-15%eachabsenceafter

IfyouattendeveryclassIwilladd5%toyourfinalgrade.

GroupPresentation–30%

Youwillworkinagroupofupto8studentsandpresenttotheclass,in30-45minutes,asociologicaltopic.Topicstochoosefromwillbe:

Race&Ethnicity,TheElderly,Marriage&Family,Education,Religion,Death&Dying,andSex&Gender.

-ComparisonofChineseandanEnglishspeakingculture（50）

-Prepare1-3Discussionquestionsfortheclass（20）

-30-45Minutes（10）

-Everyoneshouldspeakthesame（10）

-Creativeandinteresting（10）

InteractiveNotebook（INB）–40%

Youwillberesponsibleforhavinganotebookthatisforthisclassonly.Ontherightsideofeachpageyouwillrightthatday’stopicandnotes.Ontheleftsideyouwillcompleteshortreflections.Thiswillbecollectedtwice–onceduringthesemesterandonceattheend.ClassNotesareediteddownfromwhatiscoveredinclassandonlyincludesthemainideas.Specificexamplesandhowtoapplytheseideasarecoveredinclass.Theyarenotmeanttoreplacecomingtoclass.

Week2:

Whatissociology?

•Thestudyofsocietyandhumanbehavior

•Itisarelativelynewscience

WhatistheSociologicalPerspective?

•Thesociologicalperspectivesaysthatinordertounderstandhumanbehaviorwemustplaceitwithinitssocialcontext.

•Sociologistslookathowjobs,income,education,gender,age,andraceaffectbehavior

Thesociologicalperspective…

•Helpsusseethelinksbetweenwhatpeopledoandthesocialsettingsthatshapetheirbehavior

Howshouldsociologybeused?

•Tomakediscoveriesaboutlifeinhumangroups?

•Tosolveproblems（familyrelationshipstocrimeandpollution）?

Theory

•Ageneralstatementabouthowsomepartsoftheworldfittogetherandhowtheywork

SymbolicInteractionism

•Studyhowpeopleusesymbols（thingsweattachmeaningto）todeveloptheirviewsoftheworldandcommunicatewithoneanother

Functionalism

•Tounderstandsocietyweneedtolookatbothstructure（howthepartsofsocietyfittogethertomakethewhole）andfunction（whateachpartdoes,howitcontributestosociety）.

•Wheneverweexamineasmallerpart,weneedtolookforitsfunctionsanddysfunctionsandseehowitisrelatedtothelargerunit

FunctionsandDysfunctions

•Functions:

beneficialconsequencesofpeople’sactions

•Dysfunctions:

consequencesthatharmasociety

•Manifest:

intentional

•Latent:

unintentional

ConflictTheory

•Stressesthatsocietyiscomposedofgroupsthatarecompetingwithoneanotherforscarceresources

•Conflicttheoristsaskthemselves,“Whobenefits?

”

Comparison

Perspective

UsualLevelofAnalysis

FocusofAnalysis

KeyTerms

SymbolicInteractionism

Micro:

examinessmall-scalepatternsofsocialinteraction

Face-to-faceinteraction,howpeopleusesymbolstocreatesociallife

Symbols

Interaction

Meanings

Definitions

Functionalism

Macro:

examineslarge-scalepatternsofsociety

Relationshipsamongthepartsofsociety;howthesepartsarefunctionalanddysfunctional

Structure

Functions（manifest&latent）

Dysfunctions

Equilibrium

ConflictTheory

Macro:

examineslarge-scalepatternsofsociety

Thestruggleforscarceresourcesbygroupsinasociety;howtheelitesusetheirpowertocontroltheweakergroup

Inequality

Power

Conflict

Competition

Exploitation

Week3:

Whatisculture?

•Learnedandsharedwaysofbelievinganddoing

Twokinds:

•MaterialCulture:

objectsthatdistinguishagroupofpeople

–Art,buildings,weapons,utensils,machines,hairstyles,clothing,jewelry

•NonmaterialCulture:

agroupswayofthinking（beliefs,values）anddoing（behavior,language）

•Nothingis“natural.”

•TodevelopourSociologicalImagination,itisessentialtounderstandhowcultureaffectspeople’slives.

Culture…

•influenceshowweperceiveandevaluatetheworldaroundus

•tellsuswhatweoughttodoandhowweoughttothink

•becomesthe“rightway”ofdoingthings

Ethnocentrismvs.CulturalRelativism

•Peoplearenaturallyethnocentric;theyusetheirownculturetojudgethewaysofothers.

–Ourwayisright

–Positive?

Negative?

•Incontrast,thosewhoembraceculturalrelativismtrytounderstandotherculturesonthosecultures’terms

–Appreciateotherwaysoflife

Gestures

•Thewayinwhichpeopleusetheirbodytocommunicatewithoneanother

•Therearenouniversalgestures,onlyuniversalexpressions

Language

•Theprimarywayinwhichpeoplecommunicatewithoneanother

Values

Valuesarethestandardsbywhichpeopledefinewhatisdesirableorundesirable,goodorbad,beautifulorugly

Norms

•Expectations,orrulesofbehavior,thatreflectandenforcevalues

•Normscanbeenforcedformally（promotion,trophy,gettingfired）orinformally（smile,hug,frown,stares）

Subculture

•Canformaroundanyinterestoractivity

•Eachsubculturehasitsownvaluesandnormsthatitsmembersshare,givingthemacommonidentity

“Ideal”vs.“Real”Culture

•IdealCulture:

thevalues,norms,andgoalsthatareconsideredworthaspiringto

–Success:

hardwork,displayofmaterialgoods,academicachievement.BUTmostdon’tdoasmuchastheycan.

•RealCulture:

thenormsandvaluesthatpeopleactuallyfollow

IsthereaUniversalCulture?

•No.Althoughthereareuniversalhumanactivities（speech,music,games,storytelling,preparingfood,marrying,andchildrearing…）thereisnouniversalwayofdoingthem.

NewTechnology

•Anemergingtechnologythathasasignificantimpactonsociallife

•Itchangespeople’swaysofthinkingandhowtheyrelatetooneanother

Week4:

WhatisSocialization?

Howmuchofpeople’scharacteristicscomefrom“nature”（hered