IMPORTANT:

Please refer to the USC Center for Excellence in Teaching for current best practices in syllabus and course design.
This document is intended to be a customizable template that primarily includes the technical elements required
for the the purpose of central review by UCOC.

SOCI-100mgw Los Angeles and the American

Dream
Units: 4
Term/Day/Time: Fall 2022 Tues/Thurs 2:00pm - 3:20pm

IMPORTANT:
The general expectation for a standard format course offered in a
standard 15-week term is that the number of 50-minute contact hours
per week should equal the number of semester units indicated and
that one semester unit entails 1 hour of class time and 2 hours of
outside work (3 hours total) per week. Standard fall and spring
sessions (001) require a final summative experience during the
University scheduled final exam day and time.

Please refer to the Contact Hours Reference to see guidelines for

courses that do not follow a standard format and/or a standard term.

Location: Physical address and/or course-related URLs, etc.

Instructor: Manuel Pastor

Office: HSH 214
Office Hours: TBA
Contact Info: mpastor@usc.edu

Teaching Assistants:
Demetrius Murphy dmmurphy@usc.edu
Omar Qureshi oaquresh@usc.edu

8/2021
Course Description
Los Angeles holds a special place in the American narrative. No sooner had the state been incorporated
into the union than promoters and boosters heralded southern California's promise as a Mediterranean
haven. Developers built spas and resorts, utopians founded experimental colonies, and Americans flocked
here, lured by the prospect of citrus groves, mild
weather and cheap land. As the 20th century
struck, the dream factories of Hollywood
cemented the image of a place where history
could disappear and new identities could be
acquired. And as World War II led to a boom of
manufacturing and housing, new populations
streamed in, attracted by the most basic
elements of the American Dream: a good job, a
home of one's own, and the chance to achieve
upward mobility.

But the Dream has always had an underbelly:

stark residential segregation, significant
economic deprivation, spectacular miscarriages
of justice, and an extraordinarily uneasy
relationship with the natural setting that was
the attraction in the first place. In the last sixty years, Los Angeles experienced two major waves of civil
unrest (the riots of 1965 and 1992), became
known as the capital of working poverty,
struggled through the Great Recession, and
was ravaged by the disparate impacts of
COVID on vulnerable populations. The
environment has been challenged by sprawl
and Southern California’s worship of the
automobile, and the resulting health impacts
and climate risks have been sharply
differentiated by race, class, and geography.
And much as we have been the epicenter of
immigration to the United States, we have
also sometimes been a focal point for anti-
immigrant sentiment and action.

So why study a place that is both dystopia and

utopia? Frankly, what happens in Los Angeles will not stay in Los Angeles. Like its famous Hollywood dream
factory, L.A. has shown the nation its future: its suburban sprawl became the model for the nation’s sprawl,
its widening divide by income foreshadowed the nation’s current distributional dilemmas, and its
demographic changes presage the nation’s demographics. Most significantly, the city now finds itself, along
with the rest of the U.S., wracked by challenges like rampant homelessness, over-policiing, and educational
underperformance, and wondering whether its residents really should have faith in the inevitability of
economic progress long associated with the “American Dream.”

And yet even as L.A. faces sharp challenges, the city and region are on the verge of another reinvention: the
landscape is being criss-crossed with a rail and bus system (often replicating a streetcar system that was
once wiped off the map), we have surprisingly become one of “greenest” cities in the U.S. (complete with a
new commitment to compact development in our central city core), and a series of social movements have

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built multi-racial alliances that have wrought a new approach focused on lifting wages, securing community
benefits, and addressing environmental injustice.

What is the trajectory of Los Angeles? What does this paradigmatic city tell us about the “American Dream”
itself – both its promise and its limits? And where, in these challenging times (and in an intense electoral
season), are we heading as a city and a nation?

This class will explore the social history and social conditions of Los Angeles in an effort to understand both
the city and what it tells us about America. The class is meant to be both an intellectual and lived
experience; as you will see from the syllabus, we are attempting to bring Los Angeles into the classroom
through guest speakers actively involved in making and remaking L.A., and we are hoping that you will also
take an opportunity to explore Los Angeles along the way.

Sociology 100mgw is a general education (GE) course that fits two categories: GE-C Social Analysis and GE-G
Citizenship in a Diverse World. With regard to the former, while we will employ sociological ways of
thinking, the course is not an introduction to the discipline but rather to a broader interdisciplinary set of
concerns about urban and social issues. Additionally, Sociology 100mgw will pay significant attention to
group-differentiated experiences in terms of race/ethnicity, and class, and talk about both tensions and
coalition-building in one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. – with special attention to what that means
for the America of the future.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Use social analysis to identify pressing issues of equity and belonging

• Have a basic ability to interpret sociological data on differences by race, ethnicity, gender and
other dimensions of the human and social experience
• Be able to identify the interplay between historical trajectories and contemporary possibilities
• Be able to conduct interdisclinary analysis through applying social science analysis to literature
• Be able to analyze a field experience through a social analytic lens

Prerequisite(s): N/A
Co-Requisite(s): N/A
Concurrent Enrollment: N/A
Recommended Preparation: N/A

Course Notes
Course will be letter-graded. Lecture and other materials (with the exception of reserve reading made
available through the library) will be available on Blackboard.

Technological Proficiency and Hardware/Software Required

Capacity to use a web browser required.

Required Readings and Supplementary Materials

The following texts are available at the University Bookstore

Heather McGhee, THE SUM OF US

William Fulton, THE RELUCTANT METROPOLIS
Nina Revoyr, SOUTHLAND
Manuel Pastor, STATE OF RESISTANCE

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In addition, there are a number of required articles on electronic reserve or available via the web or
Blackboard.

Description and Assessment of Assignments

Course evaluation is based on one mid-term essay exam, a final essay exam, two papers, and class
participation.

On the mid-term and final essay exam, you are responsible for all material presented in lecture, readings,
and assignments; the exams are not cumulative but the final may require a bit of synthesis and connection
with the earlier part of the course.

You will also write two short papers. The first is 6-7 pages and will involve apply the social analytic concepts
of This course uses the concepts of stratification, contradiction and reinvention – used to frame the history
of Los Angeles and its issues of racial and class (in)equity – to a novel we will read called SOUTHLAND. The
second is 6-8 pages and will involve a combination of field experience and social analysis; you will be asked
to take three to four hours to visit an historic location in Los Angeles, to couple that with a literature search
on that place, and talk about how what you observe there reflects the analytic themes of the course.

More detail on these assignments will be offered later in the course. You will be graded on the content and
analysis of your work as well as the quality of the writing.

You are expected to attend all lectures and discussion sections. Repeated tardiness and unexcused
absences will negatively affect your grade. Active participation in discussion sections will positively affect
your grades.

Note that no make up examinations will be allowed unless there is a documented medical, university, or
religious reason for failure to take the scheduled exam. You must notify the instructor or your TA about
your reason for being unable to take the exam, and receive confirmation that a make-up will be acceptable
within the first two weeks of the semester.

Grading Breakdown
The mid-term exam is worth 20% of your grade; the final is worth 25% of your grade. Each paper is worth
20% of your grade. 15% of the evaluation is based on observed participation in the discussion in course
sections. T.A.’s will create opportunities in the sections for you

Assessment Tool (assignments) % of Grade

Paper Assignments 40 [2 @ 20% each]
Examinations 45 [1 @ 20%, 1 @25%]
Discussion Section/Participation 15
TOTAL

Grading Scale
Each assignment will have a 100 point scale and scores will be allocated to letter grades as follows:
94-100 A 87-89 B+ 77-79 C+ 67-69 D+ Below 60 F
90-93 A- 83-86 B 73-76 C 63-66 D
80-82 B- 70-72 C- 60-62 D-

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Course grades will allocated by using the midpoint of each grade range (i.e., 97 for an A or 81 for a B-) and
adding assignment grades to come up with an overall point score using the weights above; if the trajectory
has been upward over time, T.A.’s will have discretion to adjust grades up by one step to reflect that.

Assignment Submission Policy

The mid-term and final essay exams will be taken in-class and will require writing your answers in blue
books and delivering to the relevant test proctor. Accommodations will be made for those registered with
the Office of Student Accessibility Services (OSAS) as appropriate. The two papers will be submitted via
Turn-it-in on Blackboard.

Grading Timeline
T.A.’s will provide feedback on assignments within one to two weeks of completion.

Additional Policies
NO LATE WORK will be accepted without medical documentation. Students are expected to attend all
classes and be attentive, especially when we have guests lecturing. Computers may be used for taking notes
in the classroom but use of your computer for non-class related purposes during lecture time will lead to a
request for you to shut down your technology and switch to hand notes (unless there is a specific
documented accommodation against that switch)

Course Schedule: A Weekly Breakdown

This course has a total of approximately 1,550 pages of reading over the term. However, there are several
“light” weeks: weeks 4 & 5 so you can get started on the novel, Southland, which is 305 pages long; week 9
since you will be preparing for (and recovering from) the mid-term, week 14 when you should be engaging
in the field experience which is part of the second term paper research.

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 Date Topic Lecturer Reading
Aug-23-2022 Introduction Manuel Pastor
Aug-25-2022 Race, Class and America Manuel Pastor McGhee, Intro, ch. 1, 2, Klein/Chetty,
"American Dream," Economist, "Peak
Progressive"
Aug-30-2022 Making Progress? Manuel Pastor McGhee, ch. 3 & 4, p. 128-137, Pastor,
State of Resistance (SOR) , ch. 1, pp. 1-21,
Karma, "Deaths of Despair",

Sep-01-2022 Los Angeles: Founding Manuel Pastor Fulton, "Collapse of the Growth Machine"
Myths, Founding Realities (pp. 1-20), Davis, "Who Rules Los Angeles?"
(pp. 101-128)
Sep-06-2022 A New Power Elite Manuel Pastor Gottlieb, ch. 3, "Water for the City," (pp. 95-
134)
Sep-08-2022 Bringing Water Heather McGhee* MacDonald, "Myth of a Desert Metropolis"
Film: Cadillac
Desert
Sep-13-2022 The Racial Landscape Manuel Pastor Hise, "Border City" (pp. 545-558), Abdullah
and Freer, "Bass to Bass" (pp. 323-342),
Rothtein, "Why Los Angeles is Still
Segregated"
Sep-15-2022 Recomplecting the Past George Sanchez* Sanchez, "What's Good for Boyle Heights"
(pp. 633-661); Sanchez, "A Community
Decides"; Jan "New Gentrification Crisis"

Sep-20-2022 Born in East LA Manuel Pastor start reading Southland ; also read
Gutierrez, "Sin Fronteras" (pp. 175-208)
Sep-22-2022 Bradley in the Middle Manuel Pastor Fulton, "Perestroika" (pp. 43-66);
Sonsenshein, "Biracial Politics" (pp. 582-
590)
Sep-27-2022 Industry and De-Industry Manuel Pastor Fulton, ch. 3, "Suburbs of Extraction" (pp. 67-
98), Chapter 10, "Sales Tax Canyon" (pp. 255-
263), Pastor, SOR , ch. 2
Sep-29-2022 Mid-Term Manuel Pastor

Oct-04-2022 The LA Uprising Manuel Pastor Fulton, ch.11, "Whose Riot Was This?" (pp.
285-312), Cheung, "LA Riots & Black-
Korean Conflict"

Oct-06-2022 Southland Nina Revoyr * Southland (pp. 1-305)

Oct-11-2022 From the Ashes? Manuel Pastor Pastor & Prichard, L.A. Rising , Saito, "L.A.
Live"
Oct-13-2022 Fall Recess

Oct-18-2022 Immigrant Lives, Manuel Pastor Film: Fear and Learning at Hoover
Immigrant Realities Elementary ; Pastor, SOR, ch 3; Hinch,
"Illegally Brilliant"
Oct-20-2022 Immigrants, Integration, Manuel Pastor Gottlieb, ch. 7, "City of Migrations" (pp. 253-
and the Future 290); Patler "CHIRLA"

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 Date Topic
Oct-25-2022 Environment and Race
Lecturer Reading
Manuel Pastor McGhee, ch. 8; Pastor, Sadd, & Morello-
Frosch, "Environmental Inequality in Metro
LA" (pp. 108-124), Liberty Hill, Hidden
Hazards (skim), Culver, "America's
Playground: Recreation and Race" (421-
437)

Oct-27-2022 Cruising the Boulevards Christopher Hawthorne, "Explore the Boulevards" (a web
Hawthorne * link will be provided)

Nov-01-2022 Are We Scared Yet? Manuel Pastor Gopnik, "The Caging of America", Tucker et
al., "Imprisoning the Family" (168-187);
Hernandez "Amnesty or Abolition?", p. 54-
68 City of Inmates , Intro & Conclusion
Nov-03-2022 South Central Transforms Marqueece Harris- Sides, "Straight Into Compton,"(pp. 583-
Dawson * 605), Robinson, "Race, Space, & Black LA",
p. 21-59; Stephens & Pastor, "What's Going
On?", p. 1-32
Nov-08-2022 Housing L.A. Manuel Pastor Rosenthal, "Homeless Industrial Complex",
Schuetz, "Housing Crisis", Florida &
Kotkin,"Post-pandemic Geography", visit:
https://features.marketplace.org/yorkandfig/
Nov-10-2022 Film: Crash Manuel Pastor McGhee, ch. 9, Brownstein, "In Today's
America, Color Means Contrast"; skim
Pitkin, "Geographic Divides in Los Angeles"
Nov-15-2022 Film: A New Los Angeles Lyn Goldfarb * Pastor, SOR, ch 4-5

Nov-17-2022 Soundtrack of Change Josh Kun * Kun, "Sonic Turbulence"; Lipsitz, "Cruising
Around the Historical Block,"; Chang,
"Kendrik Lamar and the Post-Hip Hop
Generation"
Nov-22-2022 Where is L.A.? Manuel Pastor Martin "America's Next Great City", Beason,
"Inland Empire," Cheng, "The Changs Next
Door to the Diazes", Cheng, "East of East",
Gutierrez, "Concatenation of Sprawls"
Nov-24-2022 Thanksgiving

Nov-29-2022 The American Challenge Manuel Pastor McGhee, ch 10; Greenberg, "Sustainability,"
Basak "3 Big Risks"

Dec-01-2022 The Future of LA -- and Manuel Pastor Pastor, SOR , ch. 6, Fulton ch. 12, "Cloning
LA as Future Los Angeles" (pp.313-332), ch. 13, "Cocoon
Citizenship" & Afterword (pp. 333-359)

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 Statement on Academic Conduct and Support Systems

Academic Conduct:

Plagiarism – presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your own words – is
a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself with the discussion of
plagiarism in SCampus in Part B, Section 11, “Behavior Violating University Standards”
policy.usc.edu/scampus-part-b. Other forms of academic dishonesty are equally unacceptable. See
additional information in SCampus and university policies on Research and Scholarship Misconduct.

Students and Disability Accommodations:

USC welcomes students with disabilities into all of the University’s educational programs. The Office of
Student Accessibility Services (OSAS) is responsible for the determination of appropriate accommodations
for students who encounter disability-related barriers. Once a student has completed the OSAS process
(registration, initial appointment, and submitted documentation) and accommodations are determined to
be reasonable and appropriate, a Letter of Accommodation (LOA) will be available to generate for each
course. The LOA must be given to each course instructor by the student and followed up with a discussion.
This should be done as early in the semester as possible as accommodations are not retroactive. More
information can be found at osas.usc.edu. You may contact OSAS at (213) 740-0776 or via email at
osasfrontdesk@usc.edu.

Support Systems:

Counseling and Mental Health - (213) 740-9355 – 24/7 on call

studenthealth.usc.edu/counseling
Free and confidential mental health treatment for students, including short-term psychotherapy, group
counseling, stress fitness workshops, and crisis intervention.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 1 (800) 273-8255 – 24/7 on call

suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7
days a week.

Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Services (RSVP) - (213) 740-9355(WELL), press “0” after hours –
24/7 on call
studenthealth.usc.edu/sexual-assault
Free and confidential therapy services, workshops, and training for situations related to gender-based
harm.

Office for Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX (EEO-TIX) - (213) 740-5086
eeotix.usc.edu
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Reporting Incidents of Bias or Harassment - (213) 740-5086 or (213) 821-8298

usc-advocate.symplicity.com/care_report
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Opportunity, and Title for appropriate investigation, supportive measures, and response.

The Office of Student Accessibility Services (OSAS) - (213) 740-0776

osas.usc.edu

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OSAS ensures equal access for students with disabilities through providing academic accommodations and
auxiliary aids in accordance with federal laws and university policy.
USC Campus Support and Intervention - (213) 821-4710
campussupport.usc.edu
Assists students and families in resolving complex personal, financial, and academic issues adversely
affecting their success as a student.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - (213) 740-2101

diversity.usc.edu
Information on events, programs and training, the Provost’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, Diversity
Liaisons for each academic school, chronology, participation, and various resources for students.

USC Emergency - UPC: (213) 740-4321, HSC: (323) 442-1000 – 24/7 on call
dps.usc.edu, emergency.usc.edu
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dps.usc.edu
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you to explore options or paths to manage your concern.

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chan.usc.edu/otfp
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that enhance quality of life and academic performance.

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