Required Texts

Course Description

Rule Makers and Rule Breakers--these are our concern. This dual focus highlights the interplay between those concerned with conformity and those who challenge the rules. Rule makers and rule breakers are involved in a societal drama, each with their roles,rituals, rules and responses.  Many of us, much of the time, remain merely in the audience, witness to their exchanges.  In this course we seek to understand better this drama of deviance, to become active researchers of deviance, and to suggest avenues for social action that reflect our values and interests. In a profound sense sociology's insight into deviance argues that society itself creates deviance. This radical view distinguishes sociology from many other approaches to deviance, both academic and political.

Thus, the humanistic aim of our course is to use a sociological framework to guide us through a challenge facing us all;  namely, how to balance the demands of individuality and those of social life that are needed to preserve both human freedom and social stability.
 

Specific Objectives. As a result of this course students will:

• Learn to distinguish sociology from other perspectives on deviance
• Master basic concepts to explore deviance
• Acquire skills at collecting and interpreting data on deviance
• Learn to critically evaluate ideas and to express them in written and oral forms
• Improve their use of the Internet and the library as information resources
• Understand how public policy and political action shapes deviance
• Acquire a sensitivity to how social and cultural diversity affects deviance
• Demonstrate a grasp of the ethical frameworks for understanding deviance
• Learn how to assess activist strategies for addressing issues of deviance

• the first 15 minutes for announcements, news highlights, review of last class and introduction of the day's issues;
• 40 minutes for working on prepared readings, projects, Internet exercises, etc.
• the final 20 minutes for summation, clarification and preparation for next class.
• We will spend about 3-4 classes on most topics and will revise our schedule should major "real world" events capture our interest (every semester at least one appears!)

COMPUTER CONSIDERATIONS 

     2. Library work and literature searches can easily be done on computers, using CD-ROM's in Walsh Library. Some useful ones for sociology include: Social Science Index, Sociofile and INFOTRAC. Click here for a partial list.

     3. Word processing (a terrible term, IMHO) is required of all assigned projects. SHU uses MSWord and so must we. Please use spell check, grammar check and numbered pages on all submitted work.

     4. Your Computer Lab:  There is a Lab in A&S Hall, 2nd floor, a few doors from my office.  The Dept. of Sociology/Anthropology is located nearby and we have special software in the Lab for social science majors.  Check it out!

     5. Please HAVE PATIENCE! We are at the start of the "Computer Revolution", which means that many things don't work, aren't known and cannot be fixed as easily or painlessly as  phones, cars, VCRs or the TV. To cope with this requires a sense of humor, consideration,  patience and other virtues supposedly acquired by now.

Grading

Policy on Late Assignments

No make-up texts, exams/quizzes or extensions of deadlines on course work will be given WITHOUT MY PRIOR APPROVAL. Failure to do so will result in a (F) Failure=Zero points. Emergencies must be documented.
 

Classroom Decorum

Please observe the following guidelines: no eating/drinking in class; be on time; avoid speaking when others are talking; treat others the way you wish to be treated.

Policy on Plagiarism and Cheating

• Exercise*: Breaking the Rules. Using participant observation, break a social rule and analyze your data. Due second Thursday of course. Click here for guidelines.
• Begin reading the Counter Cultures text
• **due dates are guidelines for your reading; changes may be made during the course at the discretion of the professor.

*This is one of several short exercises to give you some direct experience in the "real world" of deviant behavior. You may choose among a range of methods used in sociology to collect and interpret your data (brochures, videos, Web sites, lyrics, photographs, TV shows, movies, pamphlets, statistics, newspaper articles etc.). You may choose to work alone or with other students, but you must do ONE exercise for the course.  Your data and findings will be submitted in a 2 page paper and you will be invited to share your analysis with the class as part of your class participation grade.  Choose any of the exercises listed in this outline; they may be submitted at anytime during the semester until the due date of 11/16/1999.

 
Callahan Online (irreverent cartoons and commentary on the "disabled" of body or soul or mind; check the "hate mail" link too after looking at the cartoons)
 
Cranks on the Net (visit some of the so-called "cranks, crackpots, kooks & loons on the Net" - you decide)

• Heitzeg: Chapters 1 and 2
• Exercise: Media Portrayals of Deviant Behavior - collect and analyze data from TV, movies, radio, books, magazines or the Internet on how the media presents a certain type of deviance.
• The Power Elite (C.Wright Mill's classic view: critique the argument)
• Who Rules America? (this site says "the Jewish Media": critique the argument)

C . Case Studies of Counter Cultures  9/21
 

Groups select a topic from the Zellner text: Skinheads, the Ku Klux Klan, Survivalists, Satanism, the Church of Scientology and the Unification Church/"Moonies".

Prepare: Groups of students will lead discussions on the counter culture of their choice by use of video or audio tapes, brochures/phamplets, Web sites, book reviews, photos, etc. This will count towards your class participation grade.

Hate Groups(Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project)
A Survivalist's Web site (Frugal Squirrel)
Satanism: the 600 Club
Scientology Homepage
The Unification Church Homepage
 
 

D. Explaining and Researching Deviance: Sociology at Work   10/19

•  Heitzeg: pp.43-45
•  Ch. 4 (also read ch.3 if considering graduate school in sociology)
•  Dead Sociologists Index (they may be dead, but their ideas live on)
•  Robert Merton's Classic Works
•  Harold Garfinkle's Contributions
•  A few links to Michel Foucault
•  David Matza's Ideas
•  Howard Becker's Page

• Heitzeg: pp. 337-342
• Heitzeg: ch. 13  The Case of Rock Music
• Exercise: Students may explore this issue by using sound or video tapes, lyrics, album covers, Web sites,  magazines, book reviews, etc.

F.  Deviance as Disease: Medicine as Social Control    11/11

• Heitzeg: pp.219-228
• Heitzeg: Ch.9  Drug Disorders

• Heitzeg: Ch. 10 Sexual and Gender Issues
• Exercise:  Students may explore the issues by using appropriate and legal resources (no criminals, illegal drugs brought to class, etc.--we have enough problems of our own!)

 
G. Formal Deviance: Law and the Legal System*    11/30

• Heitzeg: pp.103-107
• Heitzeg: Ch. 5  Criminal Law and the Criminal Justice System
• Heitzeg  Ch. 6  Offenders and Victims
• Heitzeg  Ch. 7  White Collar Crime and Organizations as Deviant

• Exercise:  Students may explore the issues by using appropriate and legal resources (no criminals, guns in class etc.)

 
H. Getting Involved: Activism, Public Policy and Politics    12/7

Students will lead discussions about ways to become involved in shaping the public issues, problems and strategies of the themes raised in class.  This is part of your class participation grade. See disclaimer below.

 Jesuit Advocacy Network (Roman Catholic Jesuit site)
 Citizen Power (Auburn U.'s Webzine of the Global Democracy Movement)
 Human Rights Web (non-profit organizations)
 Progressive Sociologists Network (Radical/Marxist; has Discussion group)

Students will engage in an 8-10 page research project, either individually or in groups of no more than three, which will examine in scholarly detail some aspect of deviant behavior. The specific topic is your choice; please visit me in my office and/or E-mail me to discuss possible topics.  Check out guidelines and due dates here.  Final draft is due on Final Exam Date in class.

Here's a list of some general topics students worked on in an earlier course:
interracial dating, media coverage of white collar crime, deviance in baseball, gay bashing, becoming a prostitute, how men define rape, using the Net to monitor pedophilia, gay activism on campus, leaving a gang, assisted suicide, cross dressing. You may build on work and papers done in other courses or start anew; all topics must be approved by me in either case.
 

Why do a research project?  Here's some reasons:

• to give you a chance to learn more about deviant behavior by actually collecting your own data and interpreting it.
• to use your project as evidence of your skills and talents in your search for employment. Employers are looking for people who can think critically, can organize their ideas and speak and write effectively about them. These are the skills stressed in your paper.
• to give you the chance to apply your acquired research methods skills to formulate and answer a question of your choice
• to give you the chance to refine your knowledge of basic sociological concepts and theoretical approaches to sociology.
• to give you the chance to examine your moral and political orientations to the issues of freedom and social order generated in this course.

 
 
 

Reference Desk Online (a great site for looking things up)
Evaluating Web Sources and Pages (separating online junk from the jewels)
Sociological Subject Areas (the "sociology of" almost every topic)
Research Resources for the Social Sciences (many disciplines and techniques)
National Opinion Research Center (major professional/sociology survey data)

++ Visit Search Engine Watch if you are new to (or enjoy) them. In addition to the
bigger ones, like Yahoo!,  Infoseek or  Lycos  there are a many others that are helpful and friendly. My favorite is Northern Light and Dogpile is a multi-search engine that uses several good search engines.

Newsgroups:  Part of the Internet consists of Newsgroups, generally unmoderated or public bulletin boards on every imaginable topic, where anyone on the planet can post and reply to messages.  We will be studying the content of some of these Newsgroups during the course; for example, police officers and cop haters can be found in Usenet: alt.law-enforcement  while debates over religion can be found at  Unenet:alt.atheism  and reefer user meet at  Unenet: alt.drugs.pot.  Please do not post anything on these Newsgroups yet; first familiarize yourself with this resource by visiting  Free Advice on Usenet News . You also may search for Newsgroups by topic at Deja.com . 

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A SPORTING MODEL OF OUR COURSE: I find it useful to think of a sports analogy in making sense of our course. You are the athlete, the classes, quizzes and newsgroups are your practice sessions. The projects and exams are your "big games" and I am your..... coach!  In order to get good grades YOU have to "work on your game".   Don't worry if the "ball goes in the net" at times, it's your overall desire,  planning and practice that makes for winners. Please let me know how I can help you to make this a successful semester.


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DISCLAIMER:  No materials listed here either in print or electronic form (or in links from Web sites provided here) are endorsed by me. They are intended solely for the purposes of education, in a critical and humanistic context, in conformity with the goals of academic freedom of inquiry, in the context of legal freedoms endorsed by the Constitution of the U.S., and in accord with the mission statement of Seton Hall University.