SOC251
PRINCIPLES
OF SOCIOLOGY
Bryant
University
Prof. Carter
(Read
this document carefully during the 1st week
of class, and refer to it
often during the course!)
Office
Hours
Held
in the
Koffler Center, #215: Thurs.: 12:30--4:30 p.m.; or
by
appointment. It
is best to make an
appointment; see
me after class to do so, or, if you prefer,
contact me by e-mail
(gcarter@bryant.edu) or telephone (401.232.6186).
There may be some
occasions
that you find it necessary to send me a fax; this
number is
401.232.6435.
E-Mail/Blackboard
From
time to
time during the semester, it may be
necessary for me to send you an e-mail (e.g., to
cancel a class, or to
change a lab assignment). I
send all such
communications to your Bryant e-mail account. If
you do not regularly check this account, but use
another one (e.g.,
your AOL account), then be sure to set up your
Bryant account so that
it
automatically forwards all e-mails to the account
you normally use. When you
get such an e-mail, please let your
study partner (see below) know about it. Please
note that we generally
do not
use Blackboard--and if
we do use it, I will alert you beforehand.
Laptop
Policy
Laptops for
note-taking in
class are okay; however,
surfing the web, texting, and e-mailing are
not. I generally will
give you one warning if you violate this policy,
then you will no
longer be allowed the use of your laptop, electronic
notebook, or other
mobile device during class.
Preliminary
Remarks
Students
entering college are typically imbued with the
American philosophy of
individualism: They see their successes and
failures, as well as the
successes
and failures of others, as solely caused by
individual decisions and
personal
effort. Although
this is a good
philosophy to encourage hard work and success, and
no one would deny
its truth,
it is misleading. The directions we go in life,
our successes, our
failures,
our actions, and our thoughts--all of these--are
intimately connected
with
forces larger than the individual. Sociology
introduces these larger
forces to
the student and attempts to show their relevancy
to all aspects of his
or her
life. Among these “larger forces” are social
structure, culture, the
group, and
institutions such as the family, education, the
polity, and the economy.
Goals
Sociology
is the
systematic study of group structure, group
behavior, and of the
influences of the group and of other social
arrangements upon
individual
behavior and thought. By the end of this course,
you should have a
better
understanding of that which is implied by
“systematic study,” “group
structure,” and some of the “influences of the
group upon the
individual.” As the semester unfolds, you will
be introduced to all
four of the broad educational goals of the
Sociology program at Bryant:
(1) the use of sociological theory to understand
the relationship
between larger social forces and individual
experiences; (2) an
understanding of sociological methods, both
quantitative and
qualitative; (3) knowledge of the core content
of sociology; and (4)
the ability to apply sociological insights to
the understanding or
solution of complex problems.
More
specific
to this course, by the end of the semester you
should be able
to:
1.
apply
selected sociological concepts in
describing and interpreting specific social
settings or circumstances;
2.
appreciate cultural differences that
abound among human societies, along with being
able to use “culture” as
an
explanation of human thought and behavior;
3.
recognize the principles of social
organization that are common to all
societies---despite the enormous
cultural
diversities that can exist among them;
4. understand
and
conceivably be able
to use the rudiments of basic social research;
part and parcel of this
will be
the abilities to construct questionnaire items
that can measure
sociological
variables and to construct and read
cross-tabulation tables, graphs,
and data
plots;
5.
apply
some of the universal
principles of “causal analysis” in your
interpretations of empirical
facts and
in your critiques of interpretations offered by
others.
Sociological
concepts tend to be quite
abstract and difficult to appreciate at first
wash. As such, they need
to be
approached from more than one angle. In this
course, our approaches
emphasize
readings, lectures, discussions, and actually
“doing” sociology.
Reading
and Computing
Our
primary text
is Empirical
Approaches to Sociology 5th edition (Allyn
& Bacon, 2010;
ISBN-10: 0-205-62809-5; ISBN-13:
978-0-205-62809-4). We will complement
these books
with computer exercises from Doing Sociology
with Student CHIP, Data Happy!
5th edition (Allyn & Bacon, 2010;
ISBN-10: 0-205-78001-6; ISBN-13:
978-0-205-8001-3). Reading and
computing assignments are given out on an interim
basis (see last page
of this
syllabus). The number
of pages assigned
per week is much heavier toward the end of the
semester compared to the
beginning.
Class
Time
is
divided between
lectures,
focused discussions, and participation in
sociological exercises. You
are
expected to take notes (some lecture areas are not
covered in
the books)
and to actively participate in discussions and
exercises. Attendance is
mandatory!
Study
Partners
Very
early in the
semester you should find a “study partner.” Many
of your computer work
book ("lab") assignments will be turned in as
two-person projects (you
and
your
study partner). On rare occasions, I allow three
individuals to form a
study-partner team, but never more than three.
Your study partner will
serve as
a valuable resource in preparing for tests and for
better understanding
the
lectures and workbook assignments.
Grades
Your
final grade is based on:
1. Three
examinations (two
intra-term and one final--the final is not
cumulative). You can expect
a
variety of question types, e.g., essay, short
answer, and multiple
choices.
Intra-term exams are tentatively scheduled for the
seventh and eleventh
weeks
of the semester (3rd & 5th weeks during summer
session). You should
bring
two #2 pencils and two ink pens to all exams;
calculators are allowed.
One
little footnote: By their very nature, “make-up”
examinations are
unfair to
those students who take tests at their scheduled
times; for this and
other
reasons, I don't like giving them; as such, I am
generally less
sympathetic
when devising and grading “make-up” test questions
(so don't miss an
exam
unless you have a true emergency or are extremely
ill).
2. Lab
Assignments.
As the semester
progresses, you will usually be given one computer
exercise to complete
each
week. The exercises complement our readings and
class
discussions--allowing you
to test the sociological concepts being
introduced. As these exercises
are
intended to help you to better understand the
topic at hand and to
prepare you
for tests, their greatest importance will be
reflected at examination
time.
However, to keep everyone honest, I will grade at
least 3 or 4 lab
assignments at random. Graded assignments are temporarily
returned and the answers are discussed in class in
detail; non-graded
assignments are discussed in class but not
returned. Graded assignments
constitute 25% of your final grade; thus, keeping
up with the workbook
("lab") assignemnts
and
turning them in on time are critical to your
overall success in this
course.
Indeed, these assignments ideally represent the
last line in the
Confucian
homily:
I
hear and I forget
I
see and I remember
I
do and I understand
I
keep
all exams and graded lab
assignments on file for 60 days after the end of
the semester, after
which they
are discarded. (Otherwise my office would be
deluged by paper.)
3. Class
attendance and participation. As
part of your participation in this class, you
are responsible for
reading your
Bryant e-mail on a regular basis.
As
noted above, if you use another e-mail server
(e.g., Yahoo or Hotmail),
please
be sure that you set up your Bryant e-mail
account to forward to the
e-mail
account that you prefer using.
It is not
uncommon for me to send the class general
informational e-mails on
upcoming
examinations and on other matters as well. When
you do receive an e-mail, please let your study
partner know about
it.
The
above
grading criteria are weighted as
follows:
Exam
#1:
20%
of your final
course
grade;
Exam
#2:
25%
Exam
#3:
30%
Lab
Assignments:
25%
(Criterion
#3,
class attendance and
participation, will be invoked only if your grade
falls on or very near
the
borderline between two grades, e.g., say a “B”
versus a “B+”).
(Please
let me know if you have a physical condition or
learning disability
that may
impact your academic activities in this class.)
Reading and Computing Assignments for the
Semester
Begin
block number one (“I”) during the first week of
the semester; when I
say we
will start “Block II” (or whichever block) the
next class session, I
expect you
to begin--and finish in a timely manner--the
appropriate block of
assigned
readings. Of greatest importance is to have your
computer workbook
assignments
ready to turn in on the day I say they are due
(doing both
the Basic and the Advanced
sections).
Each computer
workbook chapter ends with a set of “Exploratory”
exercises, the completion of which is
not required for
this class (but
feel free to try any or all of them!). Do not
despair if early in the
semester
you
struggle with the “Advanced” exercises--eventually
you will not only be
able to
do them but to understand their importance in
helping you to become a
critical
thinker.
Please
note that Empirical Approaches to
Sociology has 12 major “Parts” (e.g., Part
I, The Problem of Social
Order),
with 39 numbered readings (e.g., reading #1 is
“Social Order and
Control via
Close Social Ties: The Example of Suicide”); you are only
responsible for selected readings in selected
Parts;
thus, for example, in Reading Block I, you are
only responsible for the
Introduction (“A Primer on Critical Reading”), the
Introduction to Part
I (pp.
11–12), and articles #1 (Durkheim) and #3
(Breault, Hampton, and
Brown); note,
however,
that you are responsible for the short
introductions to any Part for
which
an
article is assigned (e.g., pp. 11–12 for Part I). Similarly, Data
Happy has 12 major Chapters, with 29
numbered exercises; you are only
responsible
for selected exercises in selected Chapters;
thus, for
example, in Reading Block I you are only
responsible for Exercises 1
(“Social
Order and Control via Strong Social Ties: The
Example of Suicide”) and
2
(“Social Characteristics of Happy Individuals”).
Reading
Empirical
(lab / workbook)
Block
Approaches
Data
Happy
Topics
I
Introduction
Both Primers
Intro.
Concepts / Methodology
(“A
Primer
Chapter
1
on
Critical
(Exercises
1 and 2)
Reading”)
Part
1
(#s1
&
3 only);
Note: the Anderson
“Intro.”
on
social problems is not required)
II
Part
2
Chapter 2
Doing
Social Research
(#s5–7)
(Exercises
4 and 5)
First Examination
III
Part
3
Chapter 3
Culture
(#s8–10)
(Exercise 6)
IV
Part
4
Chapter
4
Society/Groups
(#s
11–12
only) (Exercise
7)
Part 6
Chapter
6
(#s17–19
only)
(Exercises
10–11)
Second Examination
Reading
Empirical
(lab / workbook)
Block
Approaches
Data
Happy
Topics
V
Part 5
Chapter
5
Socialization
(#s15–16)
(Exercise 9)
VI
Part 7
Chapter 7
Interaction
(#s21–22, 24)
(Exercise
14)
VII
Part 9
Chapter 9
Inequality
(#s
29–31) (Exercises
17 & 19—
due
day
of the final exam as an
individual assignment;
they
represent
the "take-home"
part of the 3rd
Exam)
Third Examination
(Note:
Our
“Third Examination” is our “Final Examination” and
is not cumulative; it always
includes Reading Blocks
V–VII for the in-class part of the test and
selected exercises from Data
Happy Chapter 9 for the "take-home"
part. Reading
Blocks VIII
and IX are
short, but are assigned only selected semesters—if
you will be
responsible for
these last two Blocks, I will let you know in
class.)
VIII
Part 10
Chapter
10
Race/Ethnicity
(pp.
439–
(Exercises 21–22)
444 only)
IX
Part 11
Chapter 11
Gender
(pp. 479–
(Exercises 25–26)
482
only)
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