Individual and Society
50:920:357:01
Spring 2012
Professor Cati Coe
405-407 Cooper Street, Room 214
phone: (856) 225-6455
email: ccoe@camden.rutgers.edu
Class hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 10:10-11:05, Cooper Street, Room 109
Office hours: Mondays 11:30-12:30, Wednesdays 3-4pm, or by appointment
Syllabus website: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~ccoe/courses/indsoc/syllabus.html
Course Description
This course is one of the required courses for the sociology major. Therefore, there will be an expectation that you will have some familiarity with sociological thinking and concepts (such as through taking Introduction to Sociology previously). This course will examine and explore key sociological theories and concepts about how society shapes the individual and the individual shapes society. Assignments will be geared towards helping you see how those concepts and theories play out in your everyday life, so that you begin to see the world through sociological eyes.
The course also counts towards a minor in Women's and Gender Studies, and as a Writing-intensive class.
Required Texts
Three books are at the campus bookstore:
The Managed Heart |
Money, Morals, and Manners |
The Brief Penguin Handbook (4th edition) |
Body, Self, and Society |
The books other than The Brief Penguin Handbook have also been placed on reserve at the library circulation desk and can be accessed there for an hour at a time. The remainder of the readings have also been placed on reserve and can be accessed online
You are likely to find it necessary to approach the readings in this course somewhat differently than in other courses. These are readings to study and analyze, not simply skim over. Don't be discouraged if you find some readings difficult at first. A second reading will help (and is often necessary). As you read, you will want to be watchful for the main argument, and when you find it, circle or underline it or copy it into your notes. In addition, we will spend a substantial amount of class time analyzing the readings in detail--that is, engaging in textual analysis. It's important therefore to bring whatever text we're working on to class, as well as any questions you may have accumulated. You may want to re-read the assigned text after the class discussion as well, to be sure that you understand it. Gradually, like students before you, you will find yourself entering the world of sociological thinking, and things will begin to fall into place. I have faith that as this happens, the field of sociology will allow you to see the world around you in new and interesting ways.
Don't hesitate to bring questions of your own to class or to me during office hours. The key thing is to do the readings before the class for which they are assigned. The Rutgers course catalog states that students are expected to spend a minimum of two hours of out-of-class coursework for each hour of in-class work. To do well in this course, you will have to meet this minimum standard. Please plan accordingly.
You will also do a lot of writing in this course. Employers value people who are able to interpret and analyze complex situations and data, and to communicate their insights clearly and powerfully both verbally and in writing. This course aims to make you more proficient in these skills. In order to improve your writing, like any other valued and complex skill, you will have to work hard at it.
Course Schedule
January 18
Course overview and requirements.
To do by Friday at the latest:
- Get a NetID if you don't already so that you can access library resources online and from home: http://oit.rutgers.edu/services/account/quick.html
- Update your email address if necessary at http://search.rutgers.edu/changes.html. This is important for receiving course emails. Be sure to keep your registered email address current in order to receive important course information.
- Get the books from the bookstore or other sources. The books are also available on reserve. You will need Anne Becker's Body, Self, and Society and The Brief Penguin Handbook immediately.
- Print out all the readings on reserve so that you have them for the whole semester from: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_servs/course_reserves.shtml
- If you plan to be a sociology major, declare your major through the registrar if you have not already done so. This is important for getting departmental news and information.
- Please review Rutgers's policy on academic integrity.
PART I: What is the Self? The View on the Self from Fiji
January 20: Individualism in American Society
1) Becker, A. (1995). Body, Self, and Society: The View From Fiji. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Introduction and Chapter 1, pp. 1-26
2) The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 5, sections a-d, pp. 37-41 which will help you write a good critical response paper
Class Resources: Individualism in American Society powerpoint
January 23: The Body & Self: Constituted by Other? The Creation of the Individual?
1) Becker, Body, Self, and Society, Chapters 2, pp. 27-56
2) The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 9 (all), pp. 74-84
Paper # 1 given
January 25: The Body & Self as Constituted by Others
1) Becker, Body, Self, and Society, Chapter 3, pp. 57-84
2) The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapters 1-2, pp. 1-18, on planning and developing an argument
January 27: The Body & Self as Constituted by Others
1) Becker, Body, Self, and Society, Chapter 4, pp. 85-103
2) The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 3, pp. 19-27, on organizing paragraphs
January 30 : The Body & Self as Constituted by Others
1) Becker, Body, Self, and Society, Chapter 5, 104-126
2) The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 4, pp. 28-36, on revising and editing
February 1: The Body & Self as Constituted by Others
1) Becker, Body, Self, and Society, Chapter 6 and epilogue, pp. 127-136
2) The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapters 20 & 21, pp. 198-220 on using sources well
February 3: An American Self?
1) Demerath, P. (2009). Producing Success: The Culture of Personal Advancement in an American High School. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 1-8, 85-102 [on reserve]
2) The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 22, pp. 221-225 on last revisions to your paper
February 6
The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 24 on APA citation format, pp. 282-319; and Chapters 27-31, pp. 347-378 on style
Paper #1 due
PART II: How does Our Interpretation of What is Going On Affect What We Do?
February 8: Frames and Reality
Goffman, E. (1997). Frame Analysis. In C. Lemert and A. Branaman (Ed.), The Goffman Reader (pp. 149-166). Malden: Blackwell Publishers. [on reserve]
Class resources: Goffman powerpoint
Paper #2 assignment given
February 10: Seeing Frames in Play and Make-Believe
Bateson, G. (1987). A Theory of Play and Fantasy. In Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology (pp. 177-193). Northvale: Jason Aronson, Inc. [on reserve]
Class Resources: William Blake's Antaeus, Magritte's "This is not a pipe"
February 13: Seeing Frames in Ritual
Myerhoff, B. G. (1977). We Don't Wrap Herring in a Printed Page: Fusions, Fictions, and Continuity in Secular Ritual. In S. F. Moore and B. G. Myerhoff (Ed.) Secular Ritual (pp. 199-223). Assen: Van Gorcum. [on reserve]
Class Resources: Myerhoff outline
Part III: The Self and Society
February 15: Presentation of a Front: Male or Female?
Film: "Ma Vie en Rose (My Life in Pink)" (1999) by Alain Berliner
February 17: Presentation of a Front: Male or Female?
Continue "Ma Vie en Rose (My Life in Pink)"
February 20: Presentation of a Front: Male or Female?
Goffman, E. (1997). Frame Analysis of Gender. In C. Lemert and A. Branaman (Ed.), The Goffman Reader (pp. 201-227). Malden: Blackwell Publishers. [on reserve]
Class Resources: Goffman on Frame Analysis of Gender
February 22
Paper #2 due
Paper #3 assignment given
February 24: Presentation of a Front: Safe or Dangerous?
Anderson, E. (1990). The Black Male in Public. In Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community (pp. 163-189). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [on reserve]
Class Resources: Introduction to Streetwise, Philadelphia & Camden Homicide map, 2011
February 27: The Self as Constituted by Society
Mead, G. H. (2004). George Herbert Mead: The Emergent Self. In J. Farganis (Ed.), Readings in Social Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism (pp. 143-163). New York: McGraw Hill. [on reserve]
Class resources: George Herbert Mead powerpoint
February 29: The Self as Constituted by Society
Re-read: Mead, G. H. (2004). George Herbert Mead: The Emergent Self. In J. Farganis (Ed.), Readings in Social Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism (pp. 143-163). New York: McGraw Hill. [on reserve]
March 2: Face-Work: Deference and Demeanor
Goffman, E. (1956). The Nature of Deference and Demeanor. American Anthropologist 58: 473-502.
Class resources: Groups
March 5
Paper #3 due
Paper #4 assignment given
March 7: Emotions & Labor
Hochschild, A. R. (2003). The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press. Chapters 1-2, pp. 1-34
Class Resources: Arlie Russell Hochschild
March 9: Emotions & Labor
Hochschild, The Managed Heart, Chapter 3, pp. 35-55 and parts of Appendix A, pp. 211-214, pp. 221-232 (and any other parts of the appendices that interest you)
Class Resources: Arlie Russell Hochschild
SPRING BREAK
March 19: Emotions & Labor
Hochschild, The Managed Heart, Chapters 4 and 5, pp. 56-86
March 21: Emotions & Labor
Hochschild, The Managed Heart, Chapter 6, pp. 89-136
Class Resources: Airline Advertising
March 23
Review The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 4, pp. 28-36
Paper #4 draft due
March 26: Emotions & Labor
Hochschild, The Managed Heart, Chapter 7, pp. 137-161
Class Resources:US Bureau of Labor Statistics, most common employment
March 28: Emotions & Labor
Hochschild, The Managed Heart, Chapter 8, pp. 162-184
March 30: Emotions & Labor
Hochschild, The Managed Heart, Chapter 9 and Afterward, pp. 185-205
Class resources: National Survey on Drug Use and Health, October 2007
April 2
Paper #4 due
PART III: Social Class and the Making of the Self
April 4: Etiquette and Social Class
Elias, N. (2000). On Blowing One’s Nose. In The Civilizing Process (pp. 121-129). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. [on reserve]
Class resources: Gilbert-Kahl Model of the Class Structure
April 6: Is Social Class Based on Etiquette, Culture, or Money?
Lamont, M. (1994). Money, Morals, and Manners: The Culture of the French and American Upper-Middle Class. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Prologue and Chapter 1, pp. xix- xxix and 1-23.
Paper #5 assignment given
April 9: Is Social Class Based on Etiquette, Culture, or Money?
Lamont, Money, Morals, and Manners, Chapter 2, pp. 24-61
Class resources: Michele Lamont
April 11: Is Social Class Based on Etiquette, Culture, or Money?
Lamont, Money, Morals, and Manners, Chapter 3, pp. 62-87
April 13: Is Social Class Based on Etiquette, Culture, or Money?
Lamont, Money, Morals, and Manners, Chapter 4, pp. 88-128
April 16: Is Social Class Based on Etiquette, Culture, or Money?
Lamont, Money, Morals, and Manners, Chapter 5, pp. 129-149
Film: "People Like Us: Social Class in America" by PBS (WETA) (2001)
April 18: Is Social Class Based on Etiquette, Culture, or Money?
Lamont, Money, Morals, and Manners, Chapter 6, pp. 150-173
Class resources: Gini coefficient on income inequality, "The French Elite"
April 20: Is Social Class Based on Etiquette, Culture, or Money?
Lamont, Money, Morals, and Manners, most of Chapter 7, pp. 174-177 and 181-192
April 23: Is Social Class Based on Etiquette, Culture, or Money?
Review The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 4, pp. 28-36
Draft of Paper #5 due
April 25: Love, Class, and Consumption
Illouz, E. (1997). The Class of Love. Consuming the Romantic Utopia: Love and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 246-287.
April 27: Has Consumer Culture Changed How Objects Signal Social Class?
Steinhauer, J. (2005). When the Joneses Wear Jeans. In Correspondents of The New York Times (Ed.), Class Matters (pp. 134-145). New York: Henry Holt and Company.
April 30
Paper #5 due
