COURSE GOALS The Senior Seminar provides a "capstone" to your undergraduate education in sociology. It assists you to consolidate the theoretical and substantive knowledge and research skills you acquired in your many sociology courses. To accomplish this goal, we need to revisit the basic principles and practices of sociology, this time in a more holistic and integrative way, so as to sharpen your sense of the sociological perspective and the enterprise of doing social research.
Other specific goals of our course are:
1. To strengthen your ability to raise sociological questions and explore methodological strategies to answer them in the form of an original research project.
2. To articulate a grasp of the linkages between sociology and related social sciences as foundations for a liberal education.
3. To promote your ability to think critically and creatively about sociological questions and to express them successfully in written and oral forms.
4. To reinforce C. Wright Mills' call for a grasp of the enduring link between your personal experiences and larger sociohistorical forces as they affect your future-- as a person, as a professional and as an active citizen in the world.
5. To use sociology as a global perspective
that sheds light on the connections among societies in the world and their
local influences.
REQUIRED TEXTS
J. Charon. Ten Questions: A Sociological Perspective.Wadsworth, 3rd ed, 1998. (http://sociology.wadsworth.com/)
H.R.F. Ebaugh. Becoming and EX: The Process of Role Exit. The University of Chicago Press, 1988.
L.F. SanGiovanni. Ex-Nuns: A Study of Emergent
Role Passage. Ablex, 1978 (copies of book on reserve in library)
RECOMMENDED READINGS and Web Sites
Howard Becker. Becoming a Marijuana User. American Journal
of Sociology. 59: 235-42, 1953
Ben Joravsky. Hoop Dreams. Harper, 1995.
Dale Maharidge. The Coming White Minority. Random House,
1996.
Elizabeth Kubler Ross. On Death and Dying (reprint ed), Collier,
1997
Pico Iyer. The Global Soul. Knopf, 2000
Gail Sheehy. Understanding Men's Passages. Ballantine Books, 1999
Witold Rybezynski. Waiting for the Weekend. Viking.
1991
Academics and other experts on change - http://www.onepine.demon.co.uk/pkant.htm
Cyber Marriage http://marriage.about.com/people/marriage/cs/cybermarriage/index.htm
People With a History (Fordham U.'s gay/lesbian/bi/trans site)-
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/
Reborn Virgin site - http://www.rebornvirgin.com/
Social Aspects of Aging - http://userpages.umbc.edu/~vdotte1/index.html
Social Approach to Time - http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/time.html
School/Work Transition Project - http://www.ualberta.ca/~glowe/transition/
-
Demography - http://www.demographics.com/
see various topics for new trends/transitions
Seminar Theme: SOCIAL TRANSITIONS
During our life as social beings we pass into, through, and out of
many roles and social locations. We are familiar with with many of
these transitions - from teen to adult, from single to married, from employed
to retired, from convict to ex-convict, from spouse to parent. Larger
social and cultural forces help people make these transitions from
one location to another by offering accepted schedules, rituals, rules
and meanings. There are other transitions that are less insitutionalized
and are being created by people who are at the social frontier of society,
such as the rapper, the telecommuter, the "young old", the digital executive,
child free couples, the global citizen, gay/lesbian marriage, the terrorist,
the "uterine loaner", the interracial marriage partner, the gay athlete
or the reborn virgin. These journeys into the social unknown are
increasingly more frequent and complex as social change expands our knowledge
and our options, especially in an increasingly global social world.
In our course we will explore the scripted and emergent passages people
make from one to another social place. We will study the three-fold
process of role exit, transition and role acquisition and inquire about
the personal and social circumstances and forces that impede or enhance
this passage.
COURSE GRADING:
WHAT
IS A SEMINAR?
Unlike more traditional classes,
a seminar is a small group of (almost) co-equals who take responsibility
for learning or mastering some piece of material and for sharing their
insights/critique/commentary/questions with other group members. In a way,
seminar members are both teaching and learning simultaneously, shifting
back and forth between these two roles. This means that each member
is obligated not only to do the required reading, but to THINK DEEPLY about
it and be able to communicate one's ideas with others in a discussion session.
Each seminar member will be given a piece of reading to master and then
will LEAD a discussion seminar on the reading.
To lead a session does NOT mean repeating/reviewing
the assigned materials (which everyone in class has read). It does
NOT mean reading from a set of notes. Rather, it means conversing
with the group, highlighting main issues and going beyond the reading to
raise questions, to forge links with other readings/courses and to challenge
assumptions.
It means assisting the group to have
a lively, informed and enjoyable session discussing ideas and problems.
Basically, it's the same role played by many good professors in small,
reading/seminar courses. I will go first to give you an example of
the desired approach. In the "real world" these skills will be in great
demand both in the marketplace and in the civic spaces you will find yourself
in a few months.
COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS:
All students
need active E-mail accounts and Internet access. Visit the Computer Lab
in Corrigan Hall for assistance with all technical questions. We will use
computers for communication, doing research, getting information and the
like. Generally, I check my e-mail once a day and will reply to messages
from you within 24 hours (not including weekends/holidays). Please check
your email at the start and the end of the week .
NOTE: permission
to obtain deadline extensions must be done by phone or in person, not by
e-mail (which can be unreliable at times).
We will use
an electronic Bulletin Board (see above link) to supplement our face-to-face
exchanges.
Policy on Cheating and
Plagiarism:
Any type of cheating or plagiarism
will not be tolerated. A first offense will receive an automatic
failure for the course and notification of Chairperson and Dean. Check
Student Handbook for definitions of these activities.
COURSE OUTLINE
A. Introduction to the Course 1/11
Begin reading Charon's Ten Questions. due on 1/18
Over the next several classes,
students will learn/review basic computer skills and resources needed for
the course.
B. Ten Questions: How sociologists approach them?
Charon: Chs.
1-3 1/18
Charon: Chs.
4-6 1/25
Charon: Chs.
7-10 2/1
Individual students will present/evaluate/critique Charon's text.
C. Putting Sociology to Use: Understanding Social Transitions 2/6/-3/6
1. The Nature of Transitions
2/6
Ebaugh: Ch.1
San Giovanni: Chs. 1-2 and Appendix
2. The Process of Relinquishment
2/13
Ebaugh: Chs. 2-4
San Giovanni: Chs. 3-5
3. The Experimental
Phase
Ebaugh: Ch. 5
San Giovanni: Chs. 6-8
4. Role Acquisition
and Validation
San Giovanni: Chs. 9-11
5. Implications
of Transitions for Self and Society
Ebaugh: Ch. 6 and Epilogue
San Giovanni: Ch. 13
NOTE: After
consultations with me, students will hand in research project proposals
by 2/27th; dates will be given in class for
other parts of project.
Project topic goals and guidelines are at end of syllabus.
D. Making a Living...and Making a Life...with Sociology 4/17
Guest Lectures
and student reflection on careers in sociology, graduate and professional
education and the place of sociology in the
lives of the "liberally"
educated.
E. Paper Presentations 4/19 to Final Exam Date
Students will
present their papers both orally and, if desired, in electronic formats
such as Power Point,
Web pages, poster
diagrams, movies etc. All papers are to be done on disk ( MSWord)
and paper copy.
THE RESEARCH PAPER
The seminar papers should demonstrate your ability
to:
a/ frame a sociological problem/issue/topic
b/ present a review of the
relevant literature
c/ locate the topic within
some useful theoretical framework
d/ implement a research strategy
to investigate the issue
e/ and present and evaluate
empirical evidence
At each stage of the paper you will receive advice from me and your classmates, working as a research team (which is how research is actually done "in the real world"). You will prepare a paper, about 30 pages in length; additional details will be given in class. During the final week you will present your findings to the class and also act as an active evaluator of the papers of the other students.
No paper will be accepted if it is merely submitted
at the end of the term; it must go through the stages and the deadlines
announced in class. Your topic is as flexible as your imagination; the
only limitations are that your focus should be on some aspect of the seminar
theme and that you do original research or original analysis of
existing data.
SPORTING MODEL OF THE
COURSE: I find it useful to think of a sports analogy
in making sense of our course. You are the athlete and the classes are
your practice sessions. The project and presentations are your "big games"
and I am your......coach! If you want to do well, YOU need to work
on your "game" over the semester; my role is to help you "practice".
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.