Sociology - Winter 1998

Tuesday & Thursday 2:00-3:45 Earth & Marine Sciences B206

Office: 256 Stevenson Phone: 459-4536

Hours: Tuesday 4:00-5:00 Thursday 4:00-6:00 and by appointment

This is a course about doing social research. One of its major goals is very practical and down to earth: acquiring the strategies and techniques needed to conduct research on human behavior. But the course also aspires to a loftier ideal: understanding the philosophical, ethical, and political issues involved in the practice of social science. To meet this latter objective, many of the readings pay special attention to groups whose experiences have not been adequately addressed by traditional research methods.

The course will focus upon five phases of the research act: l) pre-research dilemmas and decisions, 2) theory and the formulation of the research question, 3) design and data collection, 4) data analysis, and 5) the implications and uses of knowledge.

Only one (regrettably expensive) text is required for this course, available at Bay Tree Bookstore:

Babbie, Earl

1995 The Practice of Social Research (7th Edition). Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

However, a sizable number of individual articles are also required reading. These have been placed on reserve for this course at McHenry Library, and they are designated with an asterisk (*) in the outline below.

Finally, I have suggested a number of additional readings in each section of the course "for those further interested." These are recommended rather than required, so you may track them down by their full bibliographic references at your leisure.

I. Preliminaries to Preliminaries: The Ethics and Politics of Social Research

READ: Babbie, "The Ethics and Politics of Social Research," pp. 446-466.

*Thorne, B.

1980 "'You Still Takin' Notes?' Fieldwork and Problems of Informed Consent," Social Problems 27:284-297.

*Galliher, J.F.

1980 "Social Scientists' Ethical Responsibilities to Superordinates: Looking Up Meekly," Social Problems 27:298-308.

*Zinn, M.B.

1979 "Field Research in Minority Communities: Ethical, Methodological and Political Observations by an Insider," Social Problems 27: 209-219.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Grimshaw, A. (Ed.)

1978 The American Sociologist 13 (August). This issue features three lead articles on the politics involved in conducting social research, followed by a lively set of comments and rejoinders (see pp. 128-177).

Glazer, M.

1972 The Research Adventure. New York: Random House.

Deloria, V. (Jr.)

1980 "Our New Research Society: Some Warnings to Social Scientists," Social Problems 27:265-271.

Sjoberg, G. (Ed.)

1967 Ethics, Politics, and Social Research. Cambridge: Schenkman.

Cassell, J. and M.L. Wax (Eds.)

1980 Ethical Problems of Fieldwork, a special issue of Social Problems 27 (no. 3).

Denzin, N.K.

1978 "On the Ethics and Politics of Sociology," pp. 308-336 in N.K. Denzin, The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. New York: McGraw-Hill.

II. Foundations of Social Research: Observation and Theory Construction

READ: Babbie, "Human Inquiry and Science," pp. 16-38.

Babbie, "Theory and Research," pp. 39-62.

*Loseke, D.R. and S.E. Cahill

1984 "The Social Construction of Deviance: Experts on Battered Women," Social Problems 31:296-310.

*Gillespie, D.L. and A. Leffler

1987 "The Politics of Research Methodology in Claims-Making Activities: Social Science and Sexual Harassment," Social Problems 34:490-501.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Kuhn, T.S.

1962 The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Wallace, W.

1971 The Logic of Science in Sociology. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.

Denzin, N.K.

1971 "The Logic of Naturalistic Inquiry," Social Forces 50:166-182.

III. Designing Social Inquiry

READ: Babbie, "Research Design," pp. 82-108.

Babbie, "Criteria for Measurement Quality," pp. 122-130.

*Becker, H.S.

1978 "Practitioners of Vice and Crime," pp. 85-101 in N.K. Denzin (Ed.), Sociological Methods: A Sourcebook (2nd Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill.

*Hammersley, M. and P. Atkinson

1983 "Research Design: Problems, Cases and Samples," pp. 27-53 in Ethnography: Principles in Practice. London: Tavistock.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Babbie, "Conceptualization and Measurement," pp. 109-122.

Bogue, G.

1981 Basic Sociological Research Design. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman.

Golden, P. (Ed.)

1976 The Research Experience. Itasca, Illinois: Peacock.

IV. Strategies of Social Research: Survey Research Methods

READ: Babbie, "The Logic of Sampling," pp. 186-228 (read with care and time to spare please).

Babbie, "Survey Research," pp. 255-278.

Babbie, "Operationalization," pp. 131-159.

*Davis, J. A.

1976 "Are Surveys Any Good, and If So, For What?," pp. 32-38 in H.W. Sinaiko and L.A. Broedling (eds.), Perspectives on Attitude Assessment: Surveys and Their Alternatives. Champaign, IL: Pendleton.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Deutscher, I.

1978 "Asking Questions Cross-Culturally: Some Problems of Linguistic Comparability," pp. 182-202 in N.K. Denzin (Ed.) Sociological Methods: A Sourcebook (2nd Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Reinharz, S.

1979 "The Ritual of Survey Empiricism," pp. 126-194 in S. Reinharz, On Becoming a Social Scientist. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Davis, J.A.

1971 Elementary Survey Analysis. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

V. Strategies of Social Research: Experimental Methods and Interventions

READ: Babbie, "Experiments," pp. 232-254.

Babbie, "Evaluation Research," pp. 337-360.

*Frieze, I.H., J.E. Parsons, P.B. Johnson, D.N. Ruble and G.L. Zellman

1978 "Biases in Psychology: What Are the Facts?" pp. 16-27 in I.H. Frieze, J.E. Parsons, P.B. Johnson, D.N. Ruble, and G.L. Zellman (Eds.) Women and Sex Roles: A Social Psychological Perspective. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.

*Felipe, N.J. and R. Sommer

1978 "Invasions of Personal Space," pp. 328-337 in N.K. Denzin (Ed.) Sociological Methods: A Sourcebook (2nd Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Cook, T.D. and D.T. Campbell

1979 Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings. Chicago: Rand-McNally.

Rosenthal, R. and Rosnow, R. (Eds.)

1969 Artifact in Behavioral Research. New York: Academic Press.

Rossi, P.

1979 Evaluation: A Systematic Approach. Beverly Hills: Sage.

VI. Strategies of Social Research: Field Methods

READ: Babbie, "Field Research," pp. 279-304.

*Becker, H.S.

1969 "Problems of Inference and Proof in Participant Observation," pp. 245-254 in G.J. McCall and J.L. Simmons (Eds.) Issues in Participant Observation: A Text and Reader. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.

*Katz, J.

1983 "A Theory of Qualitative Methodology: The Social System of Analytic Fieldwork," pp. 127-148 in R.M. Emerson (Ed.), Contemporary Field Research. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

*Stack, C.B.

1974 "Introduction," pp. ix-xv, and "The Flats," pp. 1-21 in C.B. Stacks, All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. New York: Harper and Row.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Emerson, R.M. (Eds.)

1983 Contemporary Field Research. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.

Schatzman, L. and A.L. Strauss

1973 Field Research: Strategies for a Natural Sociology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

McCall, G.J., and J.L. Simmons (Eds.)

1969 Issues In Participant Observation: A Text and Reader. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.

Bogdan, R. and S.J. Taylor

1975 Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

VII. Strategies of Social Research: Unobtrusive and Less Obtrusive Methods

READ: Babbie, "Unobtrusive Research," pp. 305-336.

*Wilkinson, D.Y.

1980 "Play Objects as Tools of Propaganda: Characterizations of the African American Male." The Journal of Black Psychology, 7:1-16.

*Clayman, S.

1988 "Displaying Neutrality in Television News Interviews," Social Problems 35:474-492.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Webb, E.J., D.T. Campbell, R.D. Schwarz, and L. Sechrest

1966 Unobtrusive Measures: Nonreactive Research in the Social Sciences. Chicago: Rand-McNally.

Women's Studies Program, University of Colorado (Eds.)

1977 Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies II. A special issue on women's oral history.

Phillips, D.P.

1974 "The Influence of Suggestion on Suicide: Substantive and Theoretical Implications of the Werther Effect," American Sociological Review 39:340-354.

VIII. Data Analysis: An Introduction

READ: Babbie, "Elementary Analyses,": pp. 375-394.

*Jayaratne, T.E.

1983 "The Value of Quantitative Methodology to Feminist Research," pp. 140-161 in G. Bowles and R.D. Klein (Eds.) Theories of Women's Studies. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

*Bogdan, R. and S. J. Taylor,

"Participant Observation: Working with Data," pp. 79-94 in Introduction to

Qualitative Research Methods. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Babbie, "Quantifying Data," pp. 362-374.

IX. Communicating Research Findings

READ: Babbie, "The Research Report," pp. A8-A14.

*Leunen, M.C.V.

1978 "Scholarship: A Singular Notion," Atlantic (May):88-90.

Becker, H.S.

1986 "Freshman English for Graduate Students: A Memoir and Two Theories," pp. 1-25 in H.S. Becker, Writing For Social Scientists. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

FOR THOSE FURTHER INTERESTED:

Leggett, G., C.D. Mead, and W. Charvat

1974 Prentice-Hall Handbook for Writers. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

Bogdan, R. and S.R. Taylor

1975 "Writing Up Findings," pp. 139-224 in R. Bogdan and S.R. Taylor, Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Evaluations of your performance in this course will be based on the following:

(A.) Participation in class and section meetings. While I will notbe "calling roll," you will find that class and section attendance are critical in this course. We will be holding class discussions and section meetings in seminar fashion, so your active involvement (and up-to-dateness on the readings) is essential.

(B.) Written work for the course, consisting of three projects:

1. Statement of your Research Problem: 5-7 pp. (typed), due in class on Thursday, January 25. This will be a formal statement of the question you want to study this quarter and your rationale for studying it. The statement will include a description of what the problem is, why it's a problem, and what other researchers have had to say about it. Ultimately, this will become the introduction to&emdash;and discussion of the theoretical context for&emdash;your final research design.

2. Discussion of your Research Methods: 5-7 pp. (typed), due in class on Tuesday, February 27. This will be the opportunity to get our feedback on your discussion of your methods for researching that question, including a description of whom or what you will study, how you will study them and the strengths and weaknesses of researching the question in the ways that you have chosen to do so. This assignment will also offer the possibility to give a preliminary picture of your analysis: describing what you hope to conclude from your results, once you have analyzed them. Ultimately, these new sections will constitute the methods section and framework for your findings in your final research design.

3. Final Research Design: 15-21 pp. (excluding appendices), due at my office (256 Stevenson) on Tuesday, March 19th between 12:00 and 3:00. This is your major assignment of the course and it is what the other two assignments are designed to prepare you for. The aim of this assignment is to design&emdash;and execute the preliminary stages of&emdash;an original research project. You are not required to bring the project to completion for purposes of this course, but must pretest your design by collecting and analyzing a small sample of the data it will rely on (e.g., three hours of observation in a field study; three to five interviews in a survey research project). The last two weeks of the quarter will be devoted to analyzing and drawing conclusions from your research results (in addition to writing them up), so come prepared with questions about your findings.

Incompletes will not be given for anything other than documented medical reasons, and all due dates for these assignments are firm. If you want to receive credit for these assignments (and get the feedback that will help you prepare the Final Research Design), all of them must be turned in on the date they are due.

In this class I look forward to our examining learning and achievement from gender, race and class perspectives; surveying social structural innovations and conceptual tools for facilitating learning; and exploring the interplay between past and present social forces affecting learning and achievement. Students apply theories to and test them with their own and others' learning and achievement. The class includes lectures, small groups, videos, films and panels. Seven out-of-class listening/learning dyads rather than sections are required (see "Class Format" below for a description of the dyads).

• Survey sociological research on the nature of learning and human intelligence.
• Examine how gender, race and class and other socially constructed factors, both past and present, affect learning.
• Survey social structural innovations facilitating learning.

Day 1: Introduction: The Social Construction of Learning and Achievement.

Day 2: Human Intelligence and Cooperation: Sociological Perspectives:

Reading (all readings are in class reader sold at UCSC Copy Center).

Human Intelligence - Quotes and Questions for Reading, Review and Discussion:

Thomas J. Scheff, "Language Acquisition versus Formal Education: A Theory of Genius," in Thomas J. Scheff, Microsociology: Discourse, Emotion and Social Structure, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990, chapter 9, pp. 156-175.

Adalberto Aguirre Jr., "Intelligence Testing in Chicanos: A Quality of Life Issue," Social Problems, Vol. 27, No. 2, December 1979, 186-195.

Day 3: The Sociological Autobiography: Perspectives on Learning and Achievement:

Reading:

Pamela Roby, "Sociological Learning Histories."

Student papers by "Sociology of Learning" alums: Read three or more of your choosing:

JYC, "My Life's Learning;" Gabriela Garcia, "Life's Learning Experiences;" Ben Lu, "A Voice Within;" Marie Lynch, "Hindsight Vision Is Always 20/20 (or so it seems); " William Marcus, "The University of Life;" Eric Smith, "Life/Learn;" Alfred S.J. Miller, "My Lifelong Learning;" Marina Escobar, "My Learning History."

Pamela Roby, "Becoming An Active Feminist Sociologist: Gender, Class, Race and Intelligence," in Ann Goetting and Sarah Fenstermaker (eds.), Individual Voices, Collective Visions: Fifty Years of Women in Sociology, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995, pp. 319-339.

Day 4: Microsociology: Listening and Learning:

Form dyads for assignments 4 and 6.

Reading:

Julian Weissglass, "Constructivist Listening for Empowerment and Change," The Educational Forum, Vol. 54, No. 4, Summer 1990, 351-370.

Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman, "Small Insults: A Study of Interruptions in Cross-Sex Conversations Between Unacquainted Persons," in Barrie Thorne, Cheris Kramarae and Nancy Henley (eds.), Language, Gender and Society, Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers, Inc., 1983, 102-117.

Charles Derber, "Attention for Sale: The Hidden Privileges of Class," The Pursuit of Attention: Power and Individualism in Everyday Life, New York: Oxford University Press, 1979, pp. 63-86.

Day 5: Developing and Achieving Goals:

Assignment 1 due -- read description of assignment at the end of syllabus.

Reading:

Pamela Roby, "Developing and Achieving Goals," SWS Network, Vol. 8, No. 4, 4-5.

Day 6: The Social Construction of Reality, Applied Sociology and Educational Practice: Forms of Listening Facilitating Learning:

Reading:

Harvey Jackins, "The Art of Listening," The Reclaiming of Power, Seattle: Rational Island Publishers, 1981, 173-190.

Day 7: Schooling and Learning:

Film: "Starting from Nina: The Politics of Learning" documents three examples of how Brazilian educator Paulo Freire's approach to learning has been implemented in Toronto, Canada.

Reading:

Julian Weissglass, "Teachers Have Feelings: What Can We Do About It?", Journal of Staff Development,

Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter 1991, 28-33.

Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York: Herder and Herder, 1970, exerpts: 21, 27-31, 47-50, 56-60, 66-67, 79-81.

Charlotte Bunch, "Not By Degrees: Feminist Theory and Education," in Charlotte Bunch and Sandra Pollock (eds.), Learning Our Way: Essays In Feminist Education, New York: The Crossing Press, 1983, 248-260.

Day 8: Social Reproduction, Cultural Capital and Learning Processes: Theoretical Perspectives on Learning and Achievement:

Assignment 2 due: See class handout on assignment.

Reading:

Florence Howe, "The Decline of Powerlessness," Women and the Power to Change, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1975, pp. 142-9.

Kesho Scott, "Sex, Self and Society for Black Women-- How Oppression and Survival Issues Relate," The Habit of Surviving: Black Women's Strategies for Life, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Unviersity Press, 1991, 4-12.

Barbara Laslett, "Unfeeling Knowledge: Emotion and Objectivity in the History of Sociology,"Sociological Forum, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1990, 413-433.

Day 9: Learning, Feelings and The Use of Contradictions: Perspectives from the Sociology of Emotions:

Reading:

Harry Edwards, "Getting There From Nowhere," chapter 7, The Struggle That Must Be: An Autobiography, New York: Macmillan, 1980, 101-106.

Clinton Jesser, "Men and Crying," Changing Men: Issues in Gender, Sex and Politics, Winter/Spring, 1989, 12, 15.

Thomas J. Scheff, "A New Theory of Catharsis," Catharsis in Healing, Ritual and Drama, Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1979, pp. 46-79.

Day 10: Society, Self-Esteem and Achievement:

Video: "Stand and Deliver".

Reading:

Martin V. Covington, "The Self Worth Theory of Achievement Motivation: Findings and Implications," The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 85, No. 1, September 1984, pp. 5-20. 72-124.

Claude M. Steele, "Race and the Schooling of Black Americans," The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 269, No. 4, April, 1992, pp. 68-78.

Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, Eugene E. Garcia and Pola Espinosa, "Effective Instruction for Language-Minority Students: An Early Childhood Case Study," Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Vol. 6, 1991, pp. 347-361.

Day 11: Writing: Myths and Reality:

Reading:

Christine Overall, "Myths About Writing," Present Time, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 1991, 5.

Peter Elbow, "Freewriting Exercises," Writing Without Teachers, New York: Oxford University Press, 1973, chapter 1, 4-11.

Day 12: Gender, Learning and Achievement: Women:

Reading:

Dorothy C. Holland and Margaret A. Eisenhart, "Unfinished Lives," Educated In Romance: Women, Achievement and College, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990, chapter 15, 210-231.

Gloria Holguin Cuadraz, "Experiences of Multiple Marginality: A Case Study of Chicana `Scholarship Women'," AMAE Journal, 1992, pages 31-43.

Elizabeth Higginbotham, "Race and Class Barriers to Black Women's College Attendance," Journal of Ethnic Studies, Vol. 13, Spring 1985, pp. 89-107.

Pamela Roby, "Women and American Higher Education," in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 404, November 1972, pp. 118-139.

Denise Segura, "Slipping through the Cracks: Dilemmas in Chicana Education," in Adela de la Torre and Beatriz M. Pesquera (eds.), Bulding With Our Hands: New Directions in Chicana Studies, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993, pp. 199-216.

Day 13: Gender, Learning and Achievement: Men:

Reading:

David Jackson, "Everyday Violence and Life in An All Boys' Secondary School," Unmasking Masculinity: A Critical Autobiography, London: Unwin Hyman, 1990, 188-206.

Robert W. Connell, "A Whole New World: Remaking Masculinity in the Context of the Environmental Movement," Gender & Society, Vol. 4, No. 4, December 1990, 452-478.

Day 14: Class, Learning and Achievement:

Reading:

Karl L. Alexander, Doris R. Entwisle and Maxine S. Thompson, "School Performance, Status Relations, and the Structure of Sentiment: Bringing the Teacher Back In," The American Sociological Review, Vol. 52, October 1987, pp. 665-682.

Peter W. Cookson, Jr., and Caroline Hodges Persell, "Privilege and the Importance of Elite Education," Preparing For Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools, New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1985, chapter 1, 13-30.

Day 15: Class, Learning and Achievement:

Video: "From Seven to Twenty-eight and Up" documents social class influences on learning and achievement in England.

Reading:

Annette Lareau, "Social Class Differences in Family-School Relationships: The Importance of Cultural Capital," Sociology of Education, Vol. 60, No. 2, April 1987, pp. 73-85.

Wendy Luttrell, "Working-Class Women's Ways of Knowing: Effects of Gender, Race, and Class," Sociology of Education, Vol. 62, January 1989, pp. 33-46.

Day 16: Race and Ethnicity, Learning and Achievement:

Reading:

David E. Lopez, "The Social Consequences of Chicano Home/School Bilingualism," Social Problems, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 234-246.

Robert Dreeben and Adam Gamoran, "Race, Instruction, and Learning," The American Sociological Review, Vol. 51, 1986, pp. 660-669.

Keith Hiroshi Osajima, "Breaking The Silence: Race and the Educational Experiences of Asian American College Students," in Michele Foster (ed.), Readings on Equal Education, Volume II, New York: AMS Press, 1992.

Elizabeth Higginbotham, "Race and Class Barriers to Black Women's College Attendance," Journal of Ethnic Studies, Vol. 13, Spring 1985, pp. 89-107.

Marcia Graham Synnott, The Half-Opened Door: Discrimination and Admissions at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, 1900-1970, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979; "Limits on Enrollment in Harvard College: The Beginning of Restriction on Jewish Students, 1926," pp. 106-110; "The `Jewish Question': How to `Protect' Yale?," pp. 138-152; "Minorities at Princeton: Catholics, Jews and Orientals," pp. 172-185.

Day 17: Overcoming Internalized Sexism, Racism, Classism and Their Effects on Learning:

Reading:

Suzanne Lipsky, "Internalized Racism," Black Re-emergence, No. 2, 5-10.

Pamela Roby, "Women Supporting Women: Building Solidarity," SWS Network, Vol. 10, No. 1, May 1980, 5-7, 13.

Cherrie Moraga, "La Guera," in Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua (eds.), This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color, Watertown, Mass.: Persephone Press, 1981, 27-34.

Cherie Brown, "The Dynamics of Anti-Semitism," Tikkun, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 26-28.

Day 18: Identifying and Overcoming Gender, Race, Class and Other Constraints on Our Own and Others' Learning and Achievement:

Reading:

Laurie Olsen and Nina Mullen, "Stopping Bias In Its Tracks: An Intensive Course Equips Child Care Workers for a Crucial Mission: To Teach a New Generation to Combat Prejudice," California Perspectives, Vol. 2, Fall 1991, 30-38.

Pamela Roby, "Women and the ASA: Degendering Organizational Structures and Processes, 1964-1974," The American Sociologist, Vol. 23, No. 1, Spring 1992, pp. 18-48.

Louise Moreley, "Women's Studies, Difference, and Internalized Oppression,"Women's Studies International Forum, Vol. 15, No. 4, 1992, pp. 517-525: On McHenry Reserve and not in this reader due to the Pergamon Corp. charging a copyright fee of $6.00 per copy per article.

Sean Ruth, "Understanding Oppression and Liberation," Studies, Vol. 77, No. 308, Winter 1988, pp. 434-444.

Day 19: Creating Environments Conducive to Learning: Communicating Important Ideas and Assuming Leadership: Issues of Free Will and Determinism, Agency and Social Structure:

Assignment 3 due -- see class handout on assignment.

Reading:

Pamela Roby, "Becoming Effective Leaders," SWS Network, Vol. 9, No. 2, October 1979, pp. 5-6, 16.

Jean Baker Miller, "Women and Power," Social Policy, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 3-6.

Day 20: Summary, Evaluations and Future Directions: Professional Socialization, Careers and Work:

Distribution of Final Exam.

Day 21: Final exam due

All papers and the final exam are to be double spaced and computer printed or typed. Use sub-titles to guide your Reader. Number the pages of all assignments and print or type or name in the top right hand corner.

1) ASSIGNMENT ONE:

Sociological Autobiography and Learning History: A three to six page life history of your learning followed by a one to two page analysis of two or three social, economic or political factors that most affected your learning. In this paper, as in the class, learning is to be broadly defined. It is to include but not be confined to learning within school systems. Read C. Wright Mills, "The Promise" and the readings for Day 3 in the Reader before completing this assignment. Note: further instructions for this assignment are contained in Roby, "Sociological Learning Histories" (Day 3 reading in SLReader). Due day 5 of class.

2) ASSIGNMENT TWO:

Due Day 8: In this three to five page paper you are to write a one-half page to one page report on each of your first two out-of-class listening/learning sessions followed by a one to two page analysis of the sessions in which you draw on concepts from at least three of the following authors' articles in the Reader: Weissglass (Day 4), Mills (Day 1) Jackins (Day 6), Scheff (Day 2), Aguirre (Day 2), and/or Blum (Day 2).

Cite the articles you used at the end of your paper.

3) FINAL PAPER:

An eight to fifteen page analysis of your seven sessions on learning. Guidelines for this paper will be distributed and discussed in class. Your reports and analysis from assignment #2 may be included as part of this paper. In preparation for this assignment, continue to write reports on each of your sessions (3-7). In your analysis, include concepts from and cite at least eight of the following authors' articles in our class reader: Mills; Jackins, 1981; Weissglass, 1990; Lipsky; Scheff, 1990; Scheff, 1979; Blum; Aguirre; Steele; Pease-Alvarez, et al.; Holland and Eisenhart; Segura; Higginbotham; Connell; Ruth; Lopez; Howe; West; Alexander, et al.; Cookson and Persell; Lareau; Luttrell; Osajima; Brown; Miller; Moreley; Olsen and Mullen. Due day 19.

4) FINAL EXAM:

The take-home exam will be distributed day 20; it is due on the final exam day, first hour.

5) ATTENDANCE:

Attendance at and participation in all class sessions and participation in at least seven out-of-class meetings with another member of the class, as described under assignments 2 and 3.

The class Reader is for sale at The Copy Center, Communications Building.

The class will include lectures, small groups, videos, films and panels composed of class members. Seven two-hour out of class listening/learning dyads rather than sections are required.

In his volume, CONCEPTS AND CHOICES FOR TEACHING: MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF UNIVERSITY INSTRUCTION, William Timpson commented on the sessions:

At UCSC many instructors utilize cooperative learning groups to empower students to play a more active, creative role in their learning. Pamela Roby (Sociology) utilizes dyadic listening/learning sessions as part of her course on the sociology of learning. Seven different times during the quarter, pairs of students meet together for two hours to discuss the readings, examine their own experiences with learning and achievement, and under-take activities related to class readings and lectures. To provide guidance for students during the out-of-class dyads, Roby authored a listening/learning guide, which she continuously revises on the basis of students' experiences and suggestions.

The goals of the Sociology 186 Listening/Learning dyads are:

• To create a means for everyone in the class rather than just a few to develop and clarify their thinking by talking about their goals, learning experiences, the readings, and other issues related to the class;
• To develop structures for the facilitation of higher level learning that can be used not only in this class but elsewhere;
• For students to learn and improve listening skills;
• For students to practice and become more comfortable talking about their ideas as they develop and think about them;
• For students to regain their ability to learn, think and act in areas that have been difficult for them and to help others to do the same.

Listening/learning sessions are dyads in which two members of Soc. 186 agree to take turns listening to one another. In one sense our class's seven two hour listening/learning sessions are complex sociological experiments. In another sense, they are basic human caring, caring that facilitates learning.

One part of building a useful listening/learning partnership involves two people becoming increasingly effective listeners. Effective listening is both an art and a science. Not only practice, but careful observation and analysis of your listening skills, and feedback from your partner on your listening will, with commitment, enable you to become a more skilled listener. Developing an effective listening/learning partnership also involves two people cooperating with one another in scheduling, keeping and being timely with appointments; treating what their partner says in sessions as confidential; and acting with deep respect toward their partner and their intelligence. Listening/learning sessions are based on the assumption that the person whose turn it is to speak is the real expert on her learning and goals. Rather than needing the advice which is available in most traditional relationships, she will benefit most from the opportunity to explore and develop her thinking with your close attention to her thoughts and feelings.

In telling about their own experiences, Jennifer O'Brien and Lisa Knoop describe the process and rewards of Listening/Learning sessions. Jennifer writes:

The first lecture of this class on the sociology of learning broached an interesting subject: listening. Is anyone we speak with in our daily interactions listening to us? Sure, people hear us. They may even be paying attention -- but are they really listening?

I began to pay attention to this in my life. Whenever I brought up any subject at all, the person I was talking to -- the person who was "listening" to me -- would invariably reply with a personal story of his or her own -- often interrupting me to tell their story!

Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical about these dyad meetings. First of all -- I couldn't imagine anyone talking uninterrupted for more than five minutes, let alone an hour. Secondly, even if I wasn't interrupted, what in the world would I talk about for an hour?

In my first meeting with my partner, I at first felt uncomfortable talking and hearing only my own voice; it was so new to me. After awhile I realized I could talk forever. It was wonderful to have someone to listen. It was especially helpful that I was not previously acquainted with my partner; I never felt as though she was judging me based on things I told her about myself. There was no reason for me to edit anything; I could trust her completely.

Before this class, I had my own notions about what intelligence was and how one went about being intelligent. All you had to do was study a lot, pay attention in class, and score well on standardized tests, right? Wrong! I discovered that each one of us has had experiences over the course of our lifetime which have hindered and/or helped our ability to express the genius we all possess.

During my first dyad session, when I tried to think of experiences which shaped my own learning, I at first drew a blank. Then my partner asked me to simply talk about my memories as they occurred to me. I found I continually came back to one issue: the divorce of my parents when I was four. I faced painful feelings I have neglected since childhood. The stress of my parents not speaking to each other for fifteen years was one I had denied until now. I now realize that there is no way this could not have affected me.

I never thought about learning as a subjective process. Intelligence has been directly related to grades and test scores for as long as I can remember. I never considered the possibility of events that took place over a decade ago having an impact on my ability to express my intelligence until I talked about it. Talking about it, however, made all the difference. Releasing these thoughts, feelings, and emotions was very helpful for me. At the end of this dyad session, I felt tired and depleted but relieved none the less. After facing a "hurt" and relieving my mind of it, I felt ready to face anything, whatever it might be.{Quoted with written permission of Jennifer O'Brien.}

My partner and I decided to have our first dyad session on Sunday the 13th of October.... It was mid-afternoon and the room we were in was bright with sunlight. I thought that forty-five minutes of listening was going to take forever and talking for that long would definitely be more difficult.

Once my partner started to talk, these thoughts disappeared. I was so intrigued by what she said that I almost forgot that we were in an "unnatural" situation. I learned that there are people in this world who have had similar experiences to mine. The more I find this out the harder it is to condemn myself for the awful experiences I have gone through. As I listened to her, I didn't find it as hard as I had thought to keep quiet. She had so many interesting experiences, as well as ideas about her experiences. Through listening, hearing and watching her, I gained respect and admiration for her. This process helped me realize that everyone has experiences worth hearing.

When it was my turn to talk I was conscious of my movements, but after I began to talk I was too involved in what I was saying to care.... A lot of my memories were painful to talk about, but I always felt reassured by her presence. She had a way of listening to me and accepting all that I am as well as liking me. I haven't had many opportunities to feel heard in my life, so this was a painful as well as joyous experience.

My partner was very attentive. Her facial expressions; smiling, nodding, eye contact and close proximity were very helpful to me. She did not interrupt me, she touched my hand or shoulder after I disclosed painful memories....

Our second dyad session, was on Thursday the 17th of October. There wasn't any tension about the assignment, because we had already done one dyad. We had to meet at night due to busy schedules. We met in my dorm room, which proved to be a bit distracting. It was possible to ignore most of the noise though. We chose to focus on goals this session....

When it was my turn to be listened to I found it hard to come up with achievements, but it felt really good when I did. I learned that my smaller goals were first steps towards my larger goals. This was not something I had realized before. {Quoted with written permission of Lisa Knoop.}

The editors of CARPE DIEM: PROMOTING INNOVATION IN TEACHING (Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 6), described Soc. 186:

"The sociology of learning is a topic that has generally lain buried within the sociology of education. In developing the `Sociology of Learning and Achievement: Gender, Race, and Class Perspectives', Pamela Roby built on and incorporated sociological theory, extensive sociological research about learning and factors affecting learning, and analysis of personal experiences with learning. Through the use of panels comprised of class members, small groups that reported back to the larger class, and writing exercises as well as lectures, readings and films, students compared and contrasted the nature and effects of gender, race and class oppression and privilege on their own and others' learning.

"For the course, Roby gathered together a wide array of articles and audio-visual materials to examine learning and achievement from a sociological perspective. These included sociological research on the development, use and implications of concepts of human intelligence and empirical studies on the systematic effects of gender, race, and class on learning. Students in the course wrote their own `sociological learning histories,' including an analysis of two or three social, economic or political factors that most affected their learning."

This course will focus on social movements as varied as the struggle for civil rights in the American South, the anti-nuclear movement, the Ghost Dance of the Plains Indians, and the women's movement. In addition, we will also touch upon closely related phenomena like collective behavior (through readings on the Jonestown massacre) and revolution (like the one that took place in France in 1848.) Lectures will acquaint students with the major schools of social movement analysis, including Collective Behavior Theory, Historical Materialism, Resource Mobilization and Political Opportunity models, as well as the New Social Movements perspective. Students will read sources of very different types, including interviews with movement participants, articles from the major sociological journals, and historical interpretations of the sort that Karl Marx pioneered in the nineteenth century. In their written work, students will be asked to apply what they have learned from readings and lectures to a social movement of their choosing.

The following readings have been incorporated into a class reader available from the campus Copy Center. Wherever possible, they have also been placed on two-hour reserve in McHenry Library. The following outline indicates the order in which topics will be covered, as well as the readings associated with each segment of the course. In addition, sessions spaced throughout the quarter will be devoted to the development and presentation of student paper topics.

I. The Collective Behavior Tradition

Feinsod, Ethan. Awake in a nightmare : Jonestown, the only eyewitness account. (Reader)

II. Rational-Choice Perspectives

Walsh, Edward J. and Rex H. Warland. "Social Movement Involvement in the Wake of a Nuclear Accident: Activists and Free Riders in the Three-Mile Island Area," American Sociological Review 48 (1983): 764-80. (Reader)

Hirsch, Eric L. "Sacrifice for the Cause: Group Processes, Recruitment, and Commitment in a Student Social Movement", American Sociological Review 55 (1990): 243-254. (Reader)

III. Class Analysis and Social Revolutions

Marx, Karl, "The Class Struggles in France, 1848-1852". (Reader)

IV. Resource Mobilization

Taylor, Verta, "Social Movement Continuity: The Women's Movement in Abeyance," American Sociological Review 54 (1989): 761-75. (Reader)

V. Political Process and Political Opportunities

MacLeod, Jay, Minds Stayed on Freedom (Reader)

VI. New Social Movements Theory

FILL IN THIS BLANK

VII. Millennialism

Mooney, James. The Ghost Dance Religion. Pp. 777-801, 816-842. (Reader)

(We will also be viewing a film clip on cargo cults in connection with this segment.)

The written course requirements will include: a preliminary abstract, outline, and bibliography for the term paper; a short version of the descriptive portion of the term paper; and a full-length, analytically oriented term paper. In addition, brief in-class exercises will be used as a means of stimulating discussion and encouraging students to draw connections between the lectures and readings.

1. Preliminary Abstract, Outline, and Bibliography

This prospectus, limited to no more than two pages, should specify the movement you have chosen and the aspect or issue on which you intend to focus. Do the best you can, at this early stage, to spell out the argument you will make and the bibliographic resources available on this subject. Your purpose is to establish the feasibility of the project that you are proposing to pursue. This first paper will be due at the beginning of class on April 29.

2. Short Paper

Strictly limited to no more than 1000 words (typewritten, with full double spacing and generous margins), this preliminary essay will be due at the beginning of class on May 13. You should present an abbreviated version of the descriptive portion of your eventual term paper. In other words, you will be asked to describe the "who, where, when, what, how" of the movement you have chosen and, if possible, to define the crucial social movement issue or issues that it raises.

3. Term Paper

Limited to no more than 3,000 words (same format restrictions), this essay will be due at the beginning of the last class meeting of the quarter, June 5. It should represent a fuller and more comprehensive treatment of the movement discussed in your first paper, and it should reflect the feedback provided in response to that essay. In addition, your task will be to make analytic sense of that movement in light of the social movement theories you have been learning about this quarter. Your paper should weigh the strengths and weaknesses of at least two different styles of social movement analysis and draw conclusions aimed at advancing our understanding of the movement in question and of collective action in general.

Students should note that late papers will not be accepted and that the grade of incomplete is not available for failure to complete the course requirements on time. Students will be expected to attach the corrected versions of their first and second papers to the term paper so that I have all their written work available to me at the time that narrative evaluations are prepared.

Tuesday and Thursday, 10-12 am in 277 Stevenson Faculty Office Building. Students may sign up for a specific time slot on the sheet posted on my office door.

Revised 7/12/04.