Introduction to Sociology (SOC 101-006)

Drexel University
Spring 2020
Randel 121
Tuesday/Thursday 11am-12:20pm

Dr. Sarah S. Hosman

Email: ssh72@drexel.edu
Office Hours: Mondays 9:30am-10:30am or by appointment
Office Location: 3201 Arch St., #202
Mailbox: 3201 Arch St., main mailbox

This course broadly examines the foundations, theories, methodologies, and practices of
sociology as a field. Students will develop a sociological imagination as a tool for
understanding the social world, and exploring and critically analyzing current topics and
events. Students will analyze social relations, social structure, power relations, and social
change. Students will engage with classical sociological texts and thoughts, as well as
more current academic studies.

By the end of the quarter, students should be able to:

1. Identify and analyze structures and relations of power within the society
2. Think critically about how culture is produced and consumed
3. Apply sociological theories and concepts in an analytical way to real-world
situations
4. Understand how sociologists conduct research and test theories
5. Demonstrate an ability to communicate ideas in writing and speaking

Students will be expected to demonstrate their understanding and analyses of course

material both in class discussions and through written assignments throughout the
quarter.

Course Materials: You are required to access the following book, available at the
University Bookstore or online booksellers:

Conley, Dalton (2019). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a
Sociologist. Sixth Edition. Norton: NY.

All additional readings are available on the class Blackboard site or via the university
library journal databases. Readings from You May Ask Yourself are indicated by
“Conley,” readings located on Blackboard are indicated as such, readings located in the
library databases are indicated by “Library,” and, finally, online articles and sources
include the website address/link.
Course Requirements
Exams (65% total; Exam 1: 25%; Exam 2: 40%) Students will complete 2 in-class
exams over the course of the semester. Details about the format of the exams will be
provided over the course of the semester.

Exam 1: February 13
Exam 2: March 12

Papers (20%, 10% each): You will get to apply your sociological imagination to your
everyday life in two experiential papers, each no more than 1,000 words. Papers must
engage with at least two readings from the syllabus. There are four opportunities for you
to write two papers to accommodate various interests and schedules. Papers are due at the
beginning of class and should be submitted via Blackboard. There are no make-up papers
and late papers are not accepted. You are required to complete either Paper 1 OR
Paper 2 AND Paper 3 OR Paper 4 (one from each group).

Group A (choose one):

Paper 1, due January 28
Paper 2, due February 6

Group B (choose one):

Paper 3, due February 27
Paper 4, due March 10

Please note that grammar and writing clarity count toward your paper grades.

Participation (15%)
Attendance is mandatory and attendance will be taken each class. In addition to simply
attending class, students are expected and required to participate fully in class. This
means reading all material required prior to class in an engaged and critical way so
that you are prepared to discuss in class, as well as actively asking and answering
questions and listening attentively to lectures, films, and presentations. If you are
nervous to speak in front of class, please talk to me. This is an important skill that you
need to develop but we can work on appropriate expectations.

If participation begins to lag and/or if students do not actively demonstrate their

engagement with course material, I will implement pop quizzes that are
unannounced.

Assessment
There are no make-up exams and no “extra credit” ways to compensate for poor or
missed performance. Late papers are not accepted. Please check the dates of exams and
papers against your personal, athletic, and scholarly schedules.
Grading Scale
A+ 97-100% A 93-96% A- 90-92%
B+ 87-89% B 83-86% B- 80-82%
C+ 77-79% C 73-76% C- 70-71%
D+ 67-69% D 60-66% F <60%

Use of Technology
Students are not allowed to use technology in this class, including, but not limited to,
laptops, cell phones, and/or tablets. Students who do use technology in class will be
counted as absent and lose participation points for the day. On very few exceptions I will
ask students to bring their laptops to class for engagement in a specific activity; however
students should only use technology when permitted by the professor.

You’ll learn better with less technology!

https://www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away

Contact
Please contact me electronically via my Drexel email address (ssh72@Drexel.edu) rather
than via Blackboard. For matters that concern grades, assignments, and/or comprehension
of course material, please come to my office hours or arrange to meet with me, rather
than through email.

Academic Conduct Statement

Drexel University expects all members of its community to uphold the highest values of
academic integrity. In upholding these values, the University is committed to
investigating any allegation of violations of academic integrity against a student.
Violations include, but are not limited to: plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, and academic
misconduct.

Sanctions for violations of academic integrity are administered through the Office of
Student Conduct and Community Standards in conjunction with the Office of the Provost
and other University offices as deemed appropriate. It is generally the responsibility of
the faculty member overseeing the academic activity to report the violation to the Office
of Student Conduct and Community Standards and to determine the appropriate sanction.
A student who believes he/she has been wrongly sanctioned has a right to an appeals
process.

In addition to any other sanction, the University reserves the right in its sole discretion to
withdraw an earned degree even though it has been granted should it be discovered at any
time that the work upon which the degree was based, or the academic records in support
of such degree, have been falsified. In that situation, the degree will be withdrawn
promptly upon discovery of the falsification and the academic record will be updated to
reflect the withdrawal of degree.

For further information, see https://drexel.edu/provost/policies/academic-integrity/

Disability Resources
If you have a disability that may require accommodations, please contact Disability
Resources at The Office of Equality and Diversity at disability@drexel.edu or
215.895.1401. Students are encouraged to contact Disability Resources early in the
semester. For further information, see https://drexel.edu/oed/disabilityResources/students/

Course Drop Policies

Please review the universities policies on course add/drop and withdrawal at:
https://drexel.edu/provost/policies/course-add-drop/
https://drexel.edu/provost/policies/course-withdrawal/

**Please note that I reserve the right to edit, change, or implement new course
assignments during the semester as necessary and by enrolling in this course you
agree to all course and Drexel University policies*

Course Schedule
The Sociological Imagination
January 7 & 9
Conley pp. 5-24
C. Wright Mills, The Promise (Blackboard)

Sociological Theory

January 14
Symbolic Interactionism
Howard Becker, On Becoming a Marihuana User (Blackboard)
Erving Goffman, excerpt from “The Presentation of Self in Everyday life” (Blackboard)

Paper Topic #1: Break a Social Norm

Break a social norm. (Do not wear anything illegal, dangerous, or extremely disruptive;
check with me if you are unclear on this.) Try wearing formal attire to a casual get
together; a winter ensemble in the end-of-summer heat (make it an indoors occasion
only), or an unstylish or outdated outfit. Next, interact with others and observe their
responses while wearing your norm-breaking outfit. Did you experience sanctions? How
does conforming to and violating social norms fit into the lifelong process of
socialization? Discuss your findings in terms of ethnomethodology and symbolic
interaction.
Due January 28

Structural Functionalism
January 16
Conley pp. 25-44
Emile Durkheim, excerpt from “Elementary Forms of Religious Life” (Blackboard)

January 20—No Class

January 21
Conflict Theory
Marx and Engels, excerpt from “The Communist Manifesto” (Blackboard)

Paper Topic #2: Where does your stuff come from?

Pick a favorite product of yours (Ipod, Coca-Cola, Big Mac, etc.) and investigate its
production process and the social effects of its consumption. Consider, for example, the
ecological and economic implications of it. What are the labor relations it depends upon?
How dispersed is the production across the globe? What are alternative (better) models
for making it?
Due Feb. 6

Socialization

January 23
Conley, Ch. 4

Research Methods
January 28
Conley Ch.2

Culture
January 20
Conley Ch. 3

Clifford Geertz, Notes on A Balinese Cock Fight (Blackboard)

The Economy/Capitalism
February 4
Conley Ch. 14
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Blackboard)

February 6
Capitalism & Globalization
C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (Blackboard)
George Ritzer, McDonaldization https://www.mcdonaldization.com/whatisit.shtml

Inequality and Poverty

February 11
Conley Ch. 7
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction (Blackboard)

Paper Topic #3: Test your habitus

Describe your own socialization into a set of class-specific competencies and
dispositions, as Bourdieu describes. Now, analyze your own habitus in a
comparative context by stepping outside of your comfort zone: go to a class-
context different from your familiar own, by perhaps visiting the lobby or
restroom of an expensive restaurant or hotel, or at a bus station or fast food joint
late at night. Observe how people comport themselves and interact with others,
and analyze how these differ from your own. Which of these behaviors are
learned, and how?
Due February 27

February 13
EXAM 1

February 18
Defining & Measuring Poverty
Conley Ch. 10

February 20
Causes of Poverty
William Julius Wilson, Excerpts from When Work Disappears (Blackboard)

Desmond, M. (2012). Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty. American

Journal of Sociology, 118 (1), 88-133. (Library)

Race/Ethnicity
February 25
Defining Race
Conley Ch. 9

February 27
The Effects of Race
Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege
https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf

Cities
March 3
Jacobs, J. “The Uses of Sidewalks” (Blackboard)
Logan and Molotch, “The City as a Growth Machine” (Blackboard)

Paper Topic #4: The sociology of your neighborhood

Using demographic data from the Census (available online using American FactFinder),
create a chart or map of your current neighborhood in Philadelphia or your hometown
that identifies various social and economic characteristics (education, population,
housing, race, employment, etc.), and supplement FactFinder data with observations
about everyday life there, like how people interact in public, the amenities available,
cleanliness, friendliness, etc. Link these everyday observations to the historical and
structural traits of the neighborhood: How does it compare to overall figures of American
society? How segregated is the neighborhood?  Has this changed over time?  How has
racial segregation affected group dynamics within your community? Identify the policies
and practices that have created and maintained these patterns.  What would it take to
change them? 
Due March 10
Deviance and Crime
March 5
Conley Ch. 6
David Rosenhan, On Being Sane in Insane Places (Blackboard)

Gender, Sexuality, and Feminism

March 10
Conley Ch. 8
Betsy Lucal, What it Means to be a Gendered Me (Blackboard)

March 12: Exam 2