SOC 100 Introduction to Sociology Spring 2018 Instructor Room No. Office Hours Email Telephone Secretary/TA TA Office Hours Course URL (if any) Laila Bushra 214, New HSS Wing, Academic Block TBD laila@lums.edu.pk Course Basics Credit Hours 4 Lecture(s) 2/week Duration 110 min Recitation/Lab (per Duration week) Tutorial (per week) Duration COURSE DESCRIPTION This is a survey course that aims to introduce students to the origins of the discipline of Sociology, and provide them with a sociological perspective on a range of socio-political issues. We will focus on three central themessocial change, social inequality, and social harmony versus conflict- and combine selective theoretical texts with case studies to study the mechanisms and institutions that can trigger, foster, sustain, or undermine each of the three processes. The theoretical texts introduce students to the origins, basic premises, and key concerns of the discipline. The case studies introduce students to a variety of conceptual tools and methodological approaches used in sociological research and analysis. Course Requirements and Grading: Class attendance and participation is mandatory, and students are responsible for material covered in lectures that may not be part of the readings, and for doing the readings on their own. Students will take three tests and a final exam. The format of the tests may vary depending on the material covered in the preceding weeks. Students are also required to do group presentations in the last week of classes. The aim of the presentations is to practice the use of the sociological imagination in analyzing the everyday world around us. Detailed instructions will be circulated prior to the presentations.
Grade Structure: Attendance and Class Participation: 10% Tests (3): 45% Presentations: 15% Final Exam: 30% Readings are available in the reading package, and all the case studies included below are from Susan J. Ferguson (ed.) Mapping the Social Landscape: Readings in Sociology. Boston: McGraw-Hill. 2005. Ethics: The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. Students are expected to abide by the rules of academic and personal honesty. Serious ethical violations include cheating, plagiarism, reuse of essays, improper use of the internet and electronic services, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded essays, forgery, lying, and unfair competition. For more information on ethics, please refer to the student handbook and the plagiarism document circulated by the HSS department. Course Structure: Session 1: Introduction to the course Module 1: Introduction to the Disciple Session 2: Understanding Sociology Schaefer, Richard T. The Sociological View (pp. 1-32) in Sociology Matters. Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill, c2004. Mills, C. Wright. The Promise (pp. 1-7) in Susan J. Ferguson (ed.) Mapping the Social Landscape: Readings in Sociology. Boston: McGraw-Hill. 2005. Session 3: Origins of the Discipline Reading: Wallerstein, Immanuel. The French Revolution as a World-Historical Event. (pp. 7-22) in Unthinking Social Science: The Limits of Nineteenth Century Paradigms. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell. 1991. Module 2: The Founding Fathers of Sociology Session 4: Emile Durkheim and Functionalism Reading: handout in the reading package
Sessions 5&6: Karl Marx Lahore University of Management Sciences Reading: The Communist Manifesto (pp. 473-483) in Tucker (ed.) The Marx-Engels Reader. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company. 1978. Sessions 7&8: Max Weber Reading: Three Types of Legitimate Domination and The Bureaucratization of Politics and the Economy. Chs. 6-7 (pp. 99-115) in R. Swedberg (ed.). Max Weber: Essays in Economic Sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1999. Session 9: C. Wright Mills The Power Elite (pp. 421-428) in Ferguson. Case Study: Domhoff, G. Williams. Who Rules America? The Corporate Community and the Upper Class (pp. 289-303) in Ferguson. Session 10: W. E. B. DuBois Du Bois, W. E. B. Of Our Spiritual Strivings. Ch. 1 (pp. 43-53) in The Souls of Black Folk. New York: New American Library. 1990. Omi and Winant. Racial Formations in the United States (pp. 380-390) in Ferguson. Session 11: Pierre Bourdieu The Reproduction of Class Reading: Cookson Jr. and Persell. Preparing for Power: Cultural Capital and Curricula in America s Elite Boarding Schools (pp. 581-591) in Ferguson. Module 3: The Three Overlapping Dimensions of Social Inequality Sessions 12&13: Income Inequality Schaefer, Richard T. Stratification in the United States and Worldwide (pp. 109-138) in Sociology Matters. Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill, c2004. Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1995. The Concept of National Development, 1917-1989: Elegy and Requiem. Ch. 6
(pp. 108-122) in After Liberalism. New York: New Press. Wade, Robert Hunter. Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality? World Development. 32 (4): 567-589. 2004. Sessions 14&15: Gender Engels, Frederick. The Family: Its Past, Present and Future (pp. 734-751) in Tucker (ed.) The Marx-Engels Reader. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company. 1978. Schaefer, Richard T. Inequality by Gender (pp. 160-177) in Sociology Matters. Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill. 2004. Case Study: Williams, Christine L. The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the Female Professions (pp. 342-353) in Ferguson. Session 16: Race Case Study # 1: Olivier and Shapiro. Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality (pp. 303-317) in Ferguson. Case Study # 2: Rubin. Is this a White Country or What? (pp. 398-410) in Ferguson. Module 4: Culture, Socialization, and Religion Sessions 17&18: Culture and Symbolic Interactionism Schaefer, Richard T. Culture and Socialization (pp. 33-62) in Sociology Matters. Boston, Mass.: McGraw- Hill. 2004. Goffman, Erving. Introduction & Ch. 1 (pp. 1-76) in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books. 1959. Sessions 19&20: Case Studies on Culture, Socialization, and the Media Granfield, Making it by Faking it: Working-class Students in an Elite Academic Environment (pp. 147-159) in Ferguson. Dyer, Anybody s Son Will Do (pp. 161-172) in Ferguson.
Haney, Bank, and Zimbardo, Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison (pp. 47-57) in Ferguson. Marger, The Mass Media as a Power Institution and Mantsios, Media Magic: Making Class Invisible (pp. 452-472) in Ferguson. Sessions 21-22: Religion Collins, Randall. 1992. The Sociology of God (pp. 30-59) In Sociological Insight: An Introduction to Non- Obvious Sociology. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Hadden, Jeffrey K. 1992. Challenging Secularization Theory (pp. 230-237) In Anthony Giddens (ed.) Human Societies: An Introductory Reader in Sociology. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Sivan, Emmanuel. 1992. Radical Islam (pp. 237-240) In Anthony Giddens (ed.) Human Societies: An Introductory Reader in Sociology. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Chaves, Abiding Faith (pp. 524-529) and Lowney, Baring our Souls: TV Talk Shows and the Religion of Discovery (pp. 530-539) in Ferguson. Module 6: State and Crime Sessions 23&24: Classical Perspectives on the State Wolf, Eric. 1982. Modes of Production. Ch. 3 (pp. 73-100) in Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Mann, Michael. 1986. The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms and Results. Ch. 4 (pp. 109-136) in John A. Hall (ed.) States in History. New York: Basil Blackwell Sessions 25&26: Crime Schaefer, Richard T. Deviance and Social Control, (pp. 86-108) in Sociology Matters. Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill. 2004. Case Study # 1: Bourgois, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (pp. 253-265) in Ferguson. Case Study # 2: Boswell and Spade, Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women? (pp. 265-278) in Ferguson. Sessions 27-28: Class presentations