INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY: Soc. 110
Fall 2000


University of Scranton
Dept. of Sociology / Criminal Justice
Scranton, PA

Dr. Loreen Wolfer
Office: 314 Elm Park
Phone: (570) 941-7450
Office Hours: Tuesday / Thursday 9:00 - 10:00am; 11:15-12:20
Or by appointment

On some level, many of us "do" sociology without ever even knowing it. This course will introduce you to the sociological perspective in examining our lives and social experiences, as well as many issues facing society today. In this respect, students should think of this course as a "sampler" on the sociological menu and to further illustrate this, at the end of each major section, I will inform students of the other courses available in the department which may delve into specific aspects of sociology more deeply than possible in an introductory course. Furthermore, through this course, students should come to realize how many aspects of their lives are influenced by the social world in which they live and, as a result, a student should obtain a better understanding of her/himself as social individuals and her/his place in society. Finally, learning to think and reason both critically and analytically are perhaps the most valuable skills college students can acquire. Therefore, this course is also designed to begin teaching students how to make sense out of the masses of "facts" they will encounter in both life and the study of society.

TEXTS:

Henslin, James M. 1999. Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach. Boston: Allyn and Bacon (CD Rom edition).

ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE:

The course will primarily consist of lectures addressing various social questions and issues and will draw on information from the text, reader and outside sources. There will also be class discussions, exercises (oral - not graded) and, occasionally, films. As a result, students are allowed only 2 cuts (any additional cuts will affect your participation grade) and class participation is essential! Since society is always changing and our social experiences may be very varied, the thoughts and experiences of the students are important for gaining a clear under-standing of social concepts and theories. We all learn from each other (including the professor!)!

SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE COURSE:

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

As you can see, there are many grading opportunities in this course. Therefore, one bad grade due to an "off" day will not necessarily kill your final grade! Furthermore, the grading is designed so that there is "a little for everyone" -- there is a niche in the course for those who are comfortable with writing, test taking and / or talking. The upshot of all this is that there are plenty opportunities to get a good grade in this class if you are willing to do the work!

EXAMS:

Exams will be a combination of multiple choice, true / false and essay. While the multiple choice and true/false aspects of the test are fairly self-explanatory, the essay section may be different than to what you are accustomed. Roughly one week prior to the exam, I will provide you with a list of 3 potential essay questions (all will be relatively short). On the day of the exam I will chose 1-2 questions from the potential 3 which will serve as your essay questions. Consequently, a conscientious student would use the time and questions to prepare well-thought and factually/theoretically sound essays. This is not a free ride, however, and there are a few catches: 1) Absolutely NO outside material is allowed in the exam - including the sheet with the potential questions (The questions I chose will appear on the exam.). This means that you cannot bring in any notes and, therefore, you must be familiar enough with the questions and your answers to be able to complete this part of the exam without outside aid. 2) While you have a sense of the potential exam questions, you do not know which ones I will chose. Therefore, it behooves you to think about and prepare answers to ALL the potential questions 3) Because you have had time to prepare your answers, I expect the essays to be well-written, well organized, and accurate. In other words, you will be equipped to come to the exam already knowing exactly what is expected of you in terms of topic matter and essay quality. For the trade off, you must have learned the material (both through the lectures, readings, and your test preparation) well enough to write organized and detailed answers on your own without outside aid. I do this because the essays will ask you to apply a concept to an issue or take a stance on a social controversy and defend it sociologically. Because of your advance preparation, writing quality is important and will be factored into your essay grade.

READINGS AND QUIZZES
Readings are designed to prepare or prime the students for the upcoming lectures. In other words, it is students' responsibility to do the readings on their own so that they are familiar with the topic being discussed during a given class. This will also give them some time to think about points that will contribute to discussion. However, unfortunately in the past, I've found that students get very lax with the readings. Therefore, if I sense that a class is not doing th readings, I reserve the right to give pop quizzes based on the information in the readings (and which will focus on the main points of the readings). These pop quizzes will be mutliple choice and / or true and false and will be factored into a student's participation grade.

PAPERS AND INTERNET ASSIGNMENTS

You will be responsible for 2 medium lenght papers. Students can chose from among 4 paper topics. Since you have the power to chose, I suggest you pick papers that are not due during your "busy" weeks and that interest you. Late papers go down a complete letter grade for each working day they are late!
Internet Assigments are due no later than 3:45 the Thursday of each week EX CEPT for the first and last Thursday of class. I WILL NOT ACCEPT PAPERS SLIPPED UNDER MY DOOR If you do not hand in the assignment in class, but are still handing it in before 3:45, you must put the paper in my mailbox in Room 307 (the department secretary's office)
Papers should be brief (203 pages) and they should contain the following information:

  1. The URL of the Internet cite you used
  2. A brief summary of what you found at this site (e.g. what it had to say) -- 1 to 3 paragraphs depending on the assignment and site.
  3. Answers to any questions posed by the assignment
  4. An analysis of how the site's information fits with your experiences. HOw is it the same or different? Why?

These journals are a chance for you to discover, on your own, some social trends / issues that currently exist and reflect on how these trends / issues relate to your own experiences. They will be graded as a "+"," " and "-" depending on the thought that appears to go into them. At the end of the semester, these will be summarized as a letter grade. There are 12 possible journals and you have to do 6 -- that gives you 6 misses to be used for any reason including the computer crashed (although this shouldn't be a problem if you don't wait until the last minute!!!), you're not feeling well, or you simply don't feel like doing it that week. Therefore NO LATE JOURNALS ACCEPTED! You have 6 misses -- use them cautiously -- a good practice is to save them for heavy exam times or the end of the semester.
All papers must be typewritten and double-spaced - NO EXCEPTIONS! Keep in mind, an "A" paper has no spelling errors, uses proper gammer, is carefully and meaningfully organized, and shows considerable thought on the part of the student. Late Policy Papers and Exam Make-ups:
ALL papers must be turned in on time. There are no olate papes accepted for jounral entries (if you cannot hand in a journal, for whatever reason, it counts as a "miss". FOr the medium, length papers, the grade will drop a letter grade each working week day that it is late. Missing an exam is ONLY excusable if you are sick or there was a death in the family. Furthermore, if you are handing in a paper late or taking an exam late because you are sick or there was a death in the family, in order to avoid the late penalty (or in case of an exam an automatic F for that exam) you must present a Dr. note or, in the case of a death, a copy of an obituary or a funeral card.


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 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
COURSE SCHEDULE:  FALL 1999 
  
 
                         
(This may be amended depending on the progress throughout the semester)
(Readings should be ready the day of the lecture.  "DtoE"= Down to Earth Sociology) 


 I.  What Does it Mean to Be Human?  
 8/29 Human Nature and Socialization (Intro) 
 9/31  con.
     DtoE:  Chapters 1 and 3 ( Chapter 5 is optional)
 9/5 What is Culture? 
     DtoE: Chapter 2 
 II.  How is Society Possible?
9/7 Culture con. from previous section 
 Social Interaction  
     DtoE:  Chapter 4, pp. 104-115
 9/12 con.
 9/14 Social Structure:  Groups and Institutions  
     Movie
 9/19 con.
    DtoE:  Chapter 4, pp. 92-104 and Chapter 6
    ****  Paper Option 1 Due ****
 9/21  con. 
     Loyalty:  Deviance, Social Control and Conformity
     DtoE:  Chapter 8
 9/26  con.
 9/28  con.
 10/3  ****   EXAM 1 **** 

 III.  A Closer Look at Some Institutions 
 10/5 Work and the Economy
    DtoE:  Chapter 14
    ****  Paper Option 2 Due ****
 10/10  NO CLASS -- FALL BREAK 
 10/12  con. 
 10/17   con.
    10/19  Race and Ethnicity 
    DtoE:  Chapter 12
 10/24 Movie
 10/26  con.
 10/31   con.
    Gender 
     DtoE:  Chapter 11
  ****  Paper Option 3 due ****
 11/2   con.
 11/7  con.
     11/9 ****  EXAM 2 **** 
 11/14  Age
     DtoE:  Chapter 13 

 IV.   Will it Ever change?   
 11/16 Population  Patterns and Change  
     DtoE:  Chapter 20
 11 / 21  con.
 11/23  NO CLASS -- THANKSGIVING BREAK 

 11/28  Collective Behavior / Social Movements 
     DtoE:  Chapter 21
     Movie
 11/30  con.
    ****  Paper Option 4 Due ****
 12/5  con.  
     Social Change
     DotE:  Chapter 22
 12/7   con. 




INTERNET ASSIGNMENTS (pages based on text)


	
	





	9 / 7
	p. 58, #4





	9 /14
	p. 117, #3





	9 / 21
	p. 117, #4





	9 / 28
	p. 218, #1 OR #3





	10 / 5
	p. 219, #4





	10 / 12
	p. 279, #2





	10 / 19
	p. 343, #4





	10 / 26
	p. 343, #3





	11 / 2
	p. 307, #1





	11 / 9
	p. 369, #3





	11 / 16
	p. 588, #1





	11 / 23
	NOTHING DUE:  Thanksgiving break





	11 / 30
	p. 615, #2

Click here to go to the potential paper opics

Click here to go to the grading rhubrics for your papers

Click here to go back to Loreen Wolfer's home page

Click here to go to the Fall 2000 syllabus for Criminological Research