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104 : Intro to Sociology
303 : Race & Ethnicity
315 : Social Class
316 : Gender & Society
480 : Pop Culture
480 : Social Movements
520 : Seminar in Inequalities

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Jennifer Eichstedt
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
Humboldt State University
1 Harpst Street
Arcata, CA 95521

Office: 707-826-4949
Fax : 707-826- 4418
jle7001@humboldt.edu

Rothenberg, Paula. Race, Class and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study. 4th Edition. St Martins Press.

Johnson, Allan J. 1997. The Forest and the Trees: Sociology as Life, Practice and Promise. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. (referred to as The Forest…)

Kotlowitz, Alex. 1991.There are no Children Here:The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. New York: Doubleday. (referred to as There Are No Children Here)

Primis Reader, Sociology 104, Professor Jennifer Eichstedt. (Referred to as Primus in syllabus)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

To receive an A in this class you will have to do work of exceptional or excellent quality. To get a B in this class you will have to submit work which is distinctly above average quality. Simply meeting the stated criteria for the course in a competent manner will earn you a C. I will expect a lot from you as students and I believe that you should expect a lot from me, and from this course.
There are a number of elements upon which your grade will be based. These include:

% of Course Grade:

Three in-class exams:

* First Exam - 25%

* Second Exam - 25%

* Third Exam, May 11th at 8:00am - 25%

Leadership of group discussion - 10%
(This includes annotated bibliography, typed
questions and format for class discussion)

Three short analysis papers - 5 pts. each (Participation) - 15%

Class Participation:
Active participation in this course is very important. Whether we succeed (and have an energetic, engaging course) or fail (and are bored silly for 75 minutes) largely depends on your involvement. This means that I encourage you to talk, to raise relevant questions and issues, and to challenge each other (and me) in a respectful manner. Participating means coming to class and being prepared to discuss the materials. I do not grade you on attendance: you are all adults and can/will make choices - if you choose not to come it will hinder your ability to do well on the exams, limit the assignments you turn in, and generally weaken your grasp of the material.

Short Papers:
You are required to complete three short (1-3 page) papers for this course. These papers will allow you to explore certain issues in the class in more detail. A description of the topics, and the dates the papers are due, are attached to the end of this syllabus. The papers are due on February 23rd, March 9th, and April 22nd respectively.

Leadership of Small(er) Group Discussions:
In addition to these exams and assignments, each student will be a member of a 2 or 3 member group. Your participation in a group is mandatory. There are days noted throughout the semester where students will lead discussion of a particular set of articles and the related topic. Since I know that for many students working in a group which must produce a product is both new and stressful, I will attempt to give you as much support for group work as possible. In order to ensure that each student is an active and responsible participant in their group project, there are "checks" built into the work so that each student is responsible, and accountable for, the work they do. A fuller description of this project is attached to the end of the syllabus.

Final Exam:
Your final exam time is Tuesday May 11th at 8:00am. STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO TAKE THEIR EXAM ON THE DAY IT IS SCHEDULED. DO NOT MAKE YOUR TRAVEL PLANS ASSUMING THAT YOU CAN MOVE YOUR TEST DATE.

Additional Grading Information:
Students are expected to complete all assigned readings by the day of the week specified in the syllabus. Doing this reading on time will increase your understanding of the lectures, and give you an opportunity to explore the readings with other students in class. Students are also expected to attend all lectures. Exams cover both lecture and text material. Failure to attend class will seriously affect your performance on the exams. The exams will be given in class; extra paper for writing answers to short questions will be provided by the professor.

* All work for this course must be typed/computer generated. Additionally, NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT A DOCUMENTED, LEGITIMATE EXCUSE. Computer problems do not constitute a legitimate excuse. The fact that your computer jammed, stopped working, won’t print, or ran out of printer ink/paper is unfortunate; it doesn’t excuse late work. Here’s why: I assume that every student makes a back up copy of their file onto a floppy disk as they make changes, can gain access to campus computers if theirs crashes, isn’t writing their paper at 10:00pm the night before it is due, and isn’t printing their paper out for the first time 10 minutes before class. If you read this, and know that you do/don’t do these things - I suggest you change your habits. I also recommend that students keep a backup printed copy of their papers for their own files. (Faculty do sometimes misplace student papers - unfortunately it’s up to the student to produce another one for the faculty).

THIS COURSE AND ISSUES OF HONOR

While this school does not have an explicit "Honor Code" it is expected that students are honest and ethical in claiming credit for the work they submit. Additionally, no papers produced from a previous course (produced either at HSU or elsewhere) are to be submitted in this course without written approval from the professor.

COURSE OUTLINE

The Syllabus may change if conditions warrant*

WEEK 1: January 19th and 21st.

Tuesday: Introductions and Syllabus

Thursday: This class and sociology.


WEEK 2: January 26th and 28th.

Tuesday: Sociology as a Discipline

• The Trees…, Intro and Chapter 1
• Rothenberg: "Who Is An American?" pg 84-91
• "Ethics of Living Jim Crow" pg. 23

Thursday: Tackling a "Big Issue" – Crime and Functionalist Theory

• Primus, Ritzer, Intro to Sociology
• The Trees: Chapter 2, "Culture: Symbols, Ideas, and the Stuff of Life."


WEEK 3: February 2nd and 4th. Crime Continued

Tuesday: Crime – Conflict Perspective

• Primus: Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto
• Rothenberg, Border Control State, pg 121-124
• The Trees: Chapter 3 and Social Structures…

Thursday: Structures and Power…

• The Trees: Chapter 4: People, Space and Place
• Rothenberg: "Oppression" pg. 146-149
• Racism…. Yamato, pg. 150-153


WEEK 4 : Feb 9th and 11th – Comparing the Perspectives

Tuesday: Crime and Symbolic Interactionism
• The Trees: Chapter 5: Us, It, and Social Interaction
• Rothenberg: Racism in the English Language, Moore, pg 465-474.

Thursday: Comparisons of Theories/Perspectives
• The Trees: Chapter 6: Living the Practice and the Promise


WEEK 5 : Feb 16th and 18th. EXAM #1 and POVERTY

Tuesday: EXAM #1 (Sociological Perspectives)

Thursday: Beginning of Poverty/Inequality - Images of Poverty, Images of Social Class

• Readings: Begin There Are No Children Here , Preface - Chapter 2
• Primus, Ritzer, The Economy
• Rothenberg: Domination and Subordination 73-79
• Mantsios – Media Magic pg. 510-518


WEEK 6 : Feb 23rd and 25th – Poverty Continued

Tuesday: Poverty/InequalityReadings: (Primus) Turner: Poverty and Inequality

• Rothenberg, Sklar, pg. 192-200
• Mansios, pg. 202-213Paper #1 Due – Own Class Background

Thursday: Stratification and it’s Explanations: Is stratification "natural"?

• Primus, Davis and Moore: Stratification and the Functional Requirements….
• Primus, Gans- "The Uses of Poverty, the Poor Pay All"
• Continue Reading There Are No Children Here - through page 92.


WEEK 7: - March 2nd and 4th. Thinking about Poverty Sociologically - Power Analysis

Tuesday: Power - Structural Analysis of Poverty/Inequality

• Primus: Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto
• Domhoff, Who Rules America Now?
• Rothenberg: Cassidy, pg. 215-220
• McIntosh, "White Privilege" pg. 165-170
• Black Codes, DuBois, pg. 408-416
• California Constituion, 419-420
• Elk v. Wilkins, 420-421

Thursday: Class and Race - Film – Shaw Neighborhood, Washington D.C.Primus: Work (article) & Wacquant: Redrawing the Urban Color Line

• Rothenberg: US Commission on Human Rights, pg. 378-383
• Gans, 67-72Chapters 1- 19 in There are No Children Here, (pgs 93-189)
(Read throughout week, be prepared to discuss in class)


WEEK 8 : March 9th and 11th . POVERTY AND INEQUALITY CONTINUED

Tuesday: Discussions of Film and Issues of Race and Class

• Rothenberg, Plessy v. Ferguson, pg 421-424Rubin, pg 92-99
• Tilove, pg 115-118
• Wilkerson, pg 225-228
• Schemo, 228-233
• Wage Gap, Myths and Facts, pg 234-237
• Paper #2 Due – SHAW Video Analysis

Thursday: History of Attempts to end poverty.

WEEK 9: SPRING BREAK


WEEK 10 : March 23rd and 25th - POVERTY

Tuesday: Welfare Reform

• Rothenberg: Jensen, 242-249
• Newman, 249-252

Thursday: Comparing the Approaches and Discussing There Are No Children Here

• Chapters 20-31& Epilogue in There Are No Children Here (pgs.193-305)
• Rothenberg, Hout and Luca 574-579


WEEK 11 : MARCH 30th and April 1st. EXAM #2 AND GENDER

Tuesday: EXAM #2

Thursday: Experience of Gender - Film

• In Primus: Taylor, Whittier, and Huber, "Gender Inequality and Sexism"Rothenberg, Lorber, 33-46


WEEK 12 : April 6th and 8th. The Gendered Experience.

Tuesday: Gender Inequality – What does it look like?

• Rothenberg¸ Shange, 334-335Thursday: Gender – Experience of Women
• Rothenberg¸ Yunker, 336-337
• Watnick, 338-339
• Cofer, 292-297
• "Am I thin Enough Yet?" 489-497


WEEK 13 : April 13-15th – Gender: Men, Women, and Families

Tuesday: Experience of Gender – Men/Masculinities

• Rothenberg, Messner, 46-4
• Sabo, 325-328Avicolli, 328-333

Thursday: Gender , Sex, and Families (Guest Speaker)

• Rothenberg, Sanday, 497-503
• Ugwu-Oju, 310-312


WEEK 14 : April 20th-22nd – Gender and Power

Tuesday: Gender and Power – Economics

• In Primus: Taylor, Whittier, and Huber, "Gender Inequality and Sexism"
• Readings: Rothenberg, Lipsitz-Bem, 48-52

Thursday: Film – Global Assembly Line (or another film)

• Paper # 3 Due – Gendered Work (Your Own).


WEEK 15 : April 27th and 29th. – Gender and Social Change

Tuesday: Changing Inequalities: Gender, Race and Class

• Rothenberg: Lorde, 533-540
• Anzaldua, 540-546
• Equal Rights Amendment, 434
• Sidel 549-559

Thursday: Changing Inequalities: Gender, Race and Class Continued

• Rothenberg: Thompson "New Vision of Masculinity" p. 559-564
• Pharr, 565-573
• Hooks, 579-586
• Terkel, CP Ellis, pg. 359-368


WEEK 16 : May 4th-6th

Tuesday – Comparing Perspectives

Thursday – Final Thoughts…

THE FINAL EXAM WILL COVER FROM WEEK 11-16 (GENDER INEQUALITY) AND WILL REQUIRE THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO APPLY THE THEORETICAL PARADIGMS THAT WE HAVE BEEN EXPLORING IN CLASS

FURTHER GUIDELINES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION LEADERSHIP

Individuals will choose the day/topic they want to lead discussion very early in the semester. The following describes what is entailed and what you will be graded on for your participation in leading a class discussion:

1. Your responsibility is to lead part of the class in a discussion of the articles/chapters assigned for the day. Leading a discussion entails more than simply sitting at the front of the class and waiting for someone to speak. To successfully lead a group you have to be knowledgeable about the readings that were assigned for the day, you should have thought through questions that will spur your classmates to discuss the articles and issues they address, and you must be attentive to the dynamics within the group (are a few people dominating the discussion, do some people never talk, etc.).

2. To be fully prepared, each member of the group must find one other relevant article on the topic of the day and each person in the group must read the article (if there are three people in the group you will read three articles beyond the articles that other classmates will read). It is important that you pick articles that come from appropriate sources - in general, magazines are NOT acceptable resources. Neither are opinions pulled down off of the Internet. We will discuss how to evaluate data and arguments as the course continues. One option is to check with me regarding the appropriateness of the source you want to use.

3. On the day of your group’s discussion leadership the whole group must submit a brief typed outline of how you plan on approaching the discussion. I.e. what order you want to address the articles, what techniques you might use to spur discussion (having people do paired discussion first, or quick writing assignments), and what questions you will ask (as a group).

4. Each individual in the group should attach, to the group outline, a minimum of three-five questions based on the readings/topic. These are questions that you will potentially use as part of your leadership of the discussion.

5. Each individual should also do a brief annotated bibliography of the article that you submitted to other members of the group. You should note in this annotation if this article shares points of agreement or disagreement with the articles submitted by your fellow group members. You should also note if your article supports one or more of the theories that we discuss in class.

6. Each member of the group must participate in leadership of the actual discussion. I know that many students are not particularly comfortable talking in front of others, but it is an important skill to learn and I will help facilitate this process. I will hand out some suggestions on successfully leading in group discussions so that everyone feels they aren’t totally winging it.

7. Clearly the expectation is that the group will meet outside of class to prepare for their turn at leading the class discussion. If you don’t meet outside of class there is no way you can come up with a game plan for leadership. If you aren’t coherent as a group you will probably experience a great deal of frustration as you try and lead your peers in a discussion.

PAPER GUIDELINES

PAPER 1 - DUE FEBRUARY 23rd

Use this paper as an opportunity to consider your own economic and social class background. In an essay form (no more than 3 pages) identify what social/economic class you believe you come from and why. Where did you get your definition of this class? How do you know you come from it? Do you think that there are certain types of experiences (such as taking vacations, going to college, working particular types of jobs) that people from your class expect to have? Consider the types of work that your parents do, and the incomes that they earn, where does that place them in terms of class according to Gilbert and Kahl (as covered in class lecture and handout). Does this mesh with your own definition of what class you fall into? Also consider the racial/ethnic makeup of the neighborhood that you grew up in. Was it multi-racial/cultural? Was it homogenous? How do you think economics played into this?

PAPER 2 - DUE MARCH 9TH.

In this paper you should provide an analysis of the SHAW video that you watched on Thursday, March 4th. In this paper you should explore what the major themes are that contributed to the changes in the Shaw neighborhood in D.C. and you should discuss which sociological model (power/structural, functionalism/culture of poverty, SI) , or combination of models, best explains the situation that Shaw residents face.

PAPER 3 - DUE APRIL 22ND.

In this short paper, no more than 4 pages, compare the different ways of explaining gender differences in occupations. Clearly identify these explanations using the terminology we’ve been using in class. Consider the job(s) you are considering pursuing when you finish college. Does this job(s) have a gendered character? If so, identify the gendered components and discuss them. Finally, consider how you came to value this possible job/career above others; where did your desire to pursue this come from and was there a gendered component to this path?