LONS SOSC 143 Introduction to Sociology Instructor
Dr. Chris McMillan
Office Hours
Monday, 12.30-1.30pm in T09
mcmillanc@arcadia.edu
Term
2
Phone
TBC
Class Details
Autumn 2013
Course Description Sociology is the study of our shared and social lives; it is a systematic investigation into the interactions between individual bodies and the social forces that structure and organise these interactions. Sociologists examine the social forces that produce these patterns, as well as the means through which we come to understand them. This module utilises lectures, seminars and field trips in order to critically understand and apply sociological insights to our own lives and the social forces that influence them, placing particular interest on London. Classes are held on Monday between 1430 and 1700 and begin with a lecture of approximately 1.5 hours followed by a seminar discussion or field trip. Seminar readings are listed in the course schedule below and details for field trips will be released on BlackBoard.
Desired Outcomes
Develop a critical understanding of key sociological themes, issues and theories; Demonstrate a critical awareness of the role of social forces in influencing individual interactions; Demonstrate an ability to apply a critical sociological understanding to our own lived experiences; Be able to articulate these critical understandings in written academic arguments.
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Assessment Components Class Participation [10 %] Class participation is graded according to attendance at and participation in class, as well as contribution to blog groups. Assessment 1 [40 %] Working in small groups based on their seminar allocation, students will establish a blog through www.wordpress.com. Through this blog each group is required to post at least one 400-500 word blog entry for each seminar reading/discussion or field trip within one week of each seminar/field trip. Whilst groups must organize themselves to produce at least one blog each week, students will be graded individually based on a self-nominated portfolio of two seminar readings and two field trip analyses from the blog. Each entry is worth 10% of the final grade. Further detail about this assessment will be available on BlackBoard Learn. Assessment 2 [50%] A 1500 word essay is due on the 16th of December. Essay titles will be released later in the term and will be available on BlackBoard Learn. *Failure to submit or fulfill any required course component results in failure of the class
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Assessment Expectations and Grading Conversion Please refer to your Arcadia University student handbook for information regarding the London Centre’s most up-to-date marking criteria and assessment expectations.
Degree Class
Numerical Grade
Arcadia Letter Grade
First Class st 1
75-100 68-74 65-67
A+ A A-
Upper Second Class 2.1
60-64 55-59 50-54
B+ B B-
Lower Second Class 2.2
47-49 43-46 40-42
C+ C C-
Third Class rd 3
35-39
D
Fail
0-34
F
Attendance Policy ARCADIA has a strict policy about course attendance. Illness or family emergencies may require a student's absence. Such an absence must be documented by a physician's note or by consultation with the Arcadia University London Office prior to the absence. The Office will inform the Director of the circumstances requiring the absence. The Director will have the final decision on the disposition of an absence. The absent student is always responsible for assignments missed. Unexcused absences from exams are not permitted and will result in failure of the exam. If you are granted an excused absence from examination (with authorisation, as above), your lecturer will decide how you will make-up the assessment component, if at all (by make-up examination, extra coursework, or an increased weighting on an alternate assessment component, etc.). Arrival at work or class more than ten minutes late or leaving the class early will be considered an Page 3
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absence. More than one unexcused may result in the lowering of the final mark. Please note that for classes involving a field study experience or other external visit, transportation difficulties are never grounds for an excused absence. It is the student’s responsibility to arrive at an agreed meeting point in a punctual and timely fashion.
Submission of Work
Written work due in class must be submitted as per the lecturers instruction, by the stated deadline. For mitigating/extenuating circumstances to be considered, you must contact Emily Wescott in the Arcadia Academic Office. Work submitted within seven days after the submission time without an agreed extension receives a penalty of one letter grade reduction. Written work submitted more than seven days after the submission date without an agreed extension fails and is given a zero. End of semester assessments must be submitted on time and before departing the country. Plagiarism Policy
You are expected to subscribe to the principles of academic integrity, and you must be willing to bear individual responsibility for your work while studying abroad. Any academic work (written or otherwise) submitted to fulfill an academic requirement must represent a student’s original work. Any act of academic misconduct, such as cheating, fabrication, forgery, plagiarism or facilitating academic dishonest, will subject a student to disciplinary action.
Required Text(s) th
Giddens, A. & Sutton, P. (2013) Sociology. (6 Ed.) London: Polity Press. The above textbook is recommended as it is a particularly seminal (and British based) sociological text, and a chapter will be allocated for each week. Nonetheless, there are many sociological textbooks available that cover the topic covered in this course and students are encouraged to be critical in selecting a textbook. Whilst it is not required reading, students are also encouraged to read Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour (2004) by Kate Fox. Although this text has significant flaws that will be explored in class, it is an easily read introduction to a particular type of English social behaviour that you may encounter. As such, it is worth reading as both a guide to your Study Abroad experience and as a location for sociological critique
Classroom Etiquette Eating is not permitted in any classrooms. Kindly dispose of rubbish in the bins provided. Please keep your Page 4
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mobile phones on silent/off in class. Electronic devices must be put away during class unless you are asked to use them for class purposes.
Course Schedule Week/Date
Topic
Week 1 th 16 September Week 2 rd 23 September
What is sociology?
Week 3 th 30 September Week 4 th 7 October
Constructing social life: Modernity and the foundations of sociology Uniting divides: Class, culture and stratification
Week 5 th 14 October
Can’t we all just get along? Examining race and ethnicity
Week 6 st 21 October Week 7 th 28 October
It’s not you, it’s us - Gender and sexuality We’re all in this together: Nationhood, state and power The Flat Earth Hypothesis: Understanding global challenges Who runs the global village? Cultural imperialism and the convergence of cultures The Universe will tell us: Postmodernity, belief and st knowledge in the 21 Century. Welcome home, history: Terrorism and security in the st 21 Century YOLO: Leisure and pleasure in the age of consumption
Week 8 th 4 November Week 9 th 11 November Week 10 th 18 November
Week 11 th 25 November Week 12 nd 2 December Week 13 th 9 December
Who controls your destiny? From structure to action
Required Reading (Seminars) The Sociological Imagination (Mills) The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life (Goffman) Sociology after the Holocaust (Bauman) The Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels) Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is Doing Gender (West and Zimmerman) Reflections on Nation (Dolby)
Field Trip: Social norms on the underground
Field Trip: Stratification in West London
Common Wealth (Sachs) Understanding Media (McLuhan) Liquidity Crisis (Jay)
Liberal Democracy as a Global Phenomenon (Fukuyama) Consumerism and U.S. Study Abroad (Bolen)
No lecture
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Extra Activities
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Field Trip: Walking trip to the Tate Modern
Field trip: Westfield Stratford and the Olympic Park
Detailed Module Outline Week 1
Introduction: What is sociology?
This lecture introduces the themes of the module and outlines some the distinctive attributes of sociology as an academic discipline. In particular we will see that sociologists attempt to go beyond purely ‘commonsense’ understandings of the world in order to understand the impact that wider social processes have upon human action.
Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapters 1 & 2 Seminar Reading: C. Wright Mills (1959/1970) The Sociological Imagination, pp. 5-6 (Oxford: Oxford University Press). See also: McLennan, G. (2011) ‘Why Sociology?’ (pp.1-17), in McLennan, G. (2011) The Story of Sociology. London: Bloomsbury.
Week 2
Who controls your destiny? Understanding structure and agency
Whilst we instinctively see ourselves as independent actors with the capacity for free will, sociologists are able to discern distinctive patterns in our behavior and are able to research and theorise about the kind of social norms and structures that might create these patterns. In this session we will look at the tension between social structures and people and consider whether our actions are wholly determined by social structures or whether we have freedom of choice in the social world.
Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapter Three pp.86-92 and Hays, Sharon (1994) Structure and Agency and the Sticky Problem of Culture. Sociological Theory. 12 (1), pp.57-72. Seminar Reading: Goffman, E. (1990) Introduction (pp.13-27). The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life. London: Penguin Field Trip: Social norms on the London Underground See also: Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: An Outline of the Theory of Structuration (Chapter One, pp.8-17). Cambridge: Polity. http://understandingsociety.blogspot.co.uk/ Page 6
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http://understandingsociety.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/new-ideas-about-structure-and-agency.html http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072817186/student_view0/chapter15/chapter_summary.html
Week 3
Constructing social life: Modernity and the foundations of sociology
Sociology arose as an academic discipline through the emergence of modern industrial societies. Driven by ‘the enlightenment’ and technological developments that led to both the dissipation of traditional ways of life and the production of increasing material surpluses, the advent of modernity has defined our shared (urban) lives, but it has also defined the issues that sociology addresses, including alienation, stratification, violence and environmental degradation. rd
Lecture Reading: Cohen and Kennedy, (2013) Global Sociology - Chapter Three(3 Ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Seminar Reading: Bauman, Z. (1988) Sociology after the Holocaust. British Journal of Sociology. 39, (4). pp. 469-497 See also: Eisenstadt, S.N. (2000) Multiple Modernities. Daedalus. 129(1), pp. 1-29.
Week 4
Uniting divides: Class and stratification
In this lecture we begin our investigation into social stratification by exploring the concept of class. Primarily analysing class as an economic mode of division, we will turn to the classical sociological theory of Karl Marx and Max Weber, before considering later critical social theorists such as Theodor Adorno and Pierre Bourdieu and the changing classification of social class and poverty in Britain. Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapter 12
Seminar Reading: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848) ‘The Manifesto of the Communist Party’ (Chapter 1). Access: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm#007
Week 5 Can’t we all just get along? Examining race and ethnicity Continuing our examination of social divisions, this session examines the distinctions between biological race and cultural ethnicity. In particular this lecture examines how racial categories serve as social categories through which people exercise control and power over each other. It will consider aspects of migration, racism, multiculturalism, ethnic identities and sociological theories of race and ethnicity with a focus on the British context.
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Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapter 16 Seminar Reading: Scalzi, J. (2012) Straight White Male – The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is. Whatever. Available at http://whatever.scalinzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficultysetting-there-is/ See Also: Fenton, S. The sociology of ethnicity and national identity. Ethnicities, 11 (12), pp.12-17
Week 6
It’s not you, it’s us - Gender and sexuality
In this lecture we will discuss a distinction commonly made by sociologists between sex and gender, focusing particularly on the interventions into this debate by feminist theorists. In particular we will examine why feminists focus upon the ‘public’ (e.g. the state) and ‘private’ (e.g. the family) distinction and how they believe this distinction reproduces gender inequalities in society. Finally we shall examine changing ideas about sexuality and discuss resistance to these changes.
Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapter 15 Field Trip: Stratification in West London Seminar Reading: West, C. and Zimmerman, D/ (1987) Doing Gender. Gender and Society, 1,(2), pp. 125151
Week 7 We’re all in this together: Nationhood, state and power Moving away from social division and stratification, this lecture begins an investigation into the forces that bind society together and coordinate human behavior. We will consider the changing status of the st nation-state and nationhood in the 21 Century, as well as the power of the state. Introducing the concept of ‘globalisation’, we will consider the continuing relevance of nationhood as a form of identity and examine the conditions under which persons are excluded from the state and from national identity, with particular focus on migration and the politics of exclusion. Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapter 23, pp. 1018-1028 and Anderson, P. (2006). Imagined Communities (Chapter One, pp.6-8). Verso: London. Seminar Reading: Dolby, N. (2007) Reflections on Nation: American Undergraduates and Education Abroad. Journal of Studies in International Education. 11 (2) pp.141-156 See Also: Fenton, S. (2010) The sociology of ethnicity and national identity. Ethnicities, 11 (12), pp.12-17
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Week 8
The Flat Earth Hypothesis: Understanding global challenges
Globalisation has not only led to the convergence of cultures and economic systems, but has also given rise to the idea of the potential for a ‘flat earth’ characterised by convergences in economic development that have the potential to bring about the ‘end of poverty’. Yet, despite this optimism, poverty and inequality have proven remarkably persistent, and issues of climate change, as well as the return of overpopulation, have become particularly pertinent. Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapters 5&14 Seminar Reading: Chapter Three, Sachs, J. (2008) Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet. London: Allen Lane.
See Also: Chapter One, Friedman, T. (2005) The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Week 9 Who controls the global village? Cultural imperialism and the convergence of cultures One of the defining features of the global era is the intensification of cultural relationships, leading to the idea of a ‘global village’ in which a ‘global consciousness’ and culture developed. Conversely, this global culture has been a significant success for both global capitalism and for an aspirational US political hegemony. We might be becoming more alike, but what does this mean for our local interactions, and in whose image are we becoming more alike? Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapter18 Seminar Reading: Introduction, McLuhan, M. (1964) Understanding Media. Abingdon: Routledge. See Also: Chapter One Rantanen, T. (2005) The Media and Globalization. London: Sage.
Week 10 The Universe will tell us: Postmodernity, belief and knowledge in the 21st Century. In this lecture we will look at debates around the terms ‘postmodernity’ and ‘postmodernism’ and assesses the claims that we now live in a postmodern society. Particular intention will be paid to how our beliefs about and knowledge of the world are socially constructed and whether we can ever be critical of the beliefs that people have. Page 9
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Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapter 3, pp.98-101 Field Trip: Walking trip to the Tate Modern Seminar Reading: Jay, M. (2010) Liquidity Crisis: Zygmunt Bauman and the Incredible Lightness of Modernity. Theory Culture Society. 27, (6) pp. 95-106.
Week 11
Welcome home, history: Resistance, security and Terror
Whilst modernity and globalisation were thought to allow for the widespread development of democracy and liberal values, recent years have seen an increase in fundamentalist beliefs often at odds with these values. Moreover, the emergence of ‘terrorism’ on a global scale and the reactionary ‘war on terror’ have placed serve doubts about the possibility of the progressive spread of Western ideals. In this lecture we discuss the impact of the ‘security state’ and the possibility of the end of history and universal values. Lecture Reading: Giddens and Sutton, Chapter 23. pp. 1041-1045
Seminar Reading: Fukuyama, Francis (1991) Liberal Democracy as a Global Phenomenon. Political Science and Politics, 24, (4), pp. 659-664 See Also: The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama Review by: Peter Fritzsche The American Historical Review, Vol. 97, No. 3 (Jun., 1992), pp. 817-819
Week 12
Yolo! Leisure and pleasure in the age of consumption
In this lecture we focus on the apparent shift in focus from production to consumption in the Western world. As well as considering the changing nature of work and production, we shall examine the processes through which enjoyment is channelled by the state and by social norms, particularly in relation to consumption. Lecture/Seminar readings: Bolen, M. (2001) Consumerism and U.S. Study Abroad Journal of Studies in International Education 5, p. 182
and
Silk, M. L. (2011) Towards a sociological analysis of London 2012. Sociology, 45 (5). pp. 733-748 Field Trip: Westfield Stratford
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