Tentative
Course Schedule, Spring 2007
Please bookmark this page and check
it often!
(Click on the "Refresh" button
in your browser to view the newest version.)
Last updated
April 26, 2007 11:48 AM
| Working from a printed copy is not a good idea. We will use the internet to illustrate many concepts related to work. To use this schedule effectively, you will need to read online articles, download PDF files, and view videos which are linked to this course schedule. Also, the course schedule and the assignments may change due to winter school closings or newly available teaching material. | |||
 |
To view videos you need Real Player, the free download is available by clicking on the logo | ||
Date |
Topic |
Reading Assignments |
Add'l Assignments |
1/17 |
Introduction
to Course |
Handout: |
In
class exercise: What is Work? |
1/22 |
The Changing Nature of Work and Life Course American
Thrift (On
Women's roles in 1950s) |
Read:
Phyllis Moen, “Beyond
the Career Mystique: ‘Time In,’ ‘Time Out,’ and ‘Second
Acts.’ In Sociological Forum, June
2005, Vol 20(2): 189-208. |
Reading Questions: What does Moen mean by the title of her article? What is her argument about the labor market and the policies that regulate it? What did you learn by reading this article? |
1/24 |
CAREER
EXPLORATION Self Assessment Skills and Strengths Inventory Consider the skills do you like using the most. Reflect what you think this means in terms of your career choices? - In-class Exercise: THE PARTY: Choose Your Favorite People (Bolles, p. 350) ppt |
Read: Career
Myths (UPenn) and Lewis, R., & Gilhousen, M. (1981). Myths of Career Development: A Cognitive Approach to Vocational Counseling. Personnel & Guidance Journal, 59(5), 296. (available via Robeson Library Electronic Reserve Shelf) |
Assignment
#1: Skills and Strengths. Printed
version of the Skills and Strength Worksheet was
distributed during class on 1/22. After completing the worksheet, reflect on your choices by writing
a short, reflective essay (1-2 typed pages) and attach it to the
worksheet. Will be collected on 1/24. |
1/29 |
CAREER
EXPLORATION Self Assessment Values Survey Personal: What kind of personal values fit with careers that allow you to fulfill those values. Public schools from an international perspective (Clips from the British UP Series) |
Rokeach Values Survey Work Values Inventory Values Auction Sheet |
Assignment
#2: Values Inventory (check boxes, print, write your name in the top right corner, attach your typed essay and bring to class) Reflect on your values. Will be collected on 1/29. |
1/31 |
CAREER
EXPLORATION |
Take
the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MTBI) before 1/31. The
instructions of how to access the MBTI online were handed
out during the class. If you lost them, please
email me. |
Assignment
#3: Interests
Inventory Make
a list of your interests and hobbies. Then reflect what this
means to you in terms of career choices. When you were a
7-year old, what were you interested in? What have you loved
to do as a child? Was there a special career you dreamed
of? What classes did you like and did well in at age 7, at
age 14, and in college? Will be collected on 1/31. |
2/5 |
Visit
to the RU-Camden Career Center We will meet in the Executive Meeting Room in the lower level of the Camden Campus Center to find out what kind of resources the CC has to offer. Career planning library, video resources, computer programs, etc. and to learn how to interpret our MBTI. |
Career Events -- Need to sign up for at least 2 events, complete online version of CC offerings, or schedule an individual meeting with a career counselor and write reaction papers on your two selections.) Interpretation: How Assessment can help you choose a major or career |
Come
Prepared to the Career Center (CC) Tour |
2/7 |
Identifying and Exploring Potential Careers
Video: Interviewing Skills |
Read:
David Finkel, "The Meaning
of Work: For Chris Dansby, the Search for a Job Is About More
Than a Paycheck," The Washington Post, November
19, 2006. (available
via Robeson
Library Electronic Reserve Shelf |
Independent
Research. Creating
a Positive Impression: Pointers for Professional Etiquette (Penn) |
| Structural Changes in the Institution of Work | |||
2/12 |
Sociology
of Work
Film: "Work
in America: Jobs
Are Not What They Used To Be" |
Read:
Philipson, Ilene, Married to the Job, Introduction & Chapters
1-4 (to p. 147) Plan ahead: Use your Time Management Skills! (If you have no time between Mon and Wednesday, then read the whole book over the weekend.) |
Take
good notes and bring them to class for
our discussion on Married to the Job. According to
Philipson, what has changed in the labor force? |
2/14 |
Married to the Job Class discussion on Philipson's book and Thomas Friedman's lecture at MIT on his book, The World is Flat. How does Friedman see this new world? Does he think outsourcing
is problematic? |
Read: Philipson,
Ilene, Married to the Job, Chapters
5-end |
When Work
becomes Your Life Discussion will include the video, "Working in America" and Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. |
2/19 |
The Time Bind and the Changing American Workplace What happened? How did we get to this dilemma? |
Read:
Janet C. Gornick and Marcia K. Meyers, “The Changing
American Family and the Problem of Private Solutions.” In Families
That Work: Policies for Reconciling Parenthood and Employment.
Russell Sage Foundation, 2003, p. 24-83. (available via Robeson Library Electronic Reserve Shelf) |
|
2/21 |
The
Industrial Revolution and F. W. Taylor's
"Scientific Management" - Film: "A Job at Fords," (PBS) ppt |
Read
exerpts from C. Wright Mills, |
Watch: Easy
Does It (1940) |
2/26 |
Critique
of Taylor: |
Read: Braverman
Harry, Labor
and Monopoly Capital: The
Degradation of Work in the 20th Century (1974) and Read: Leidner, Robin, "Over the Counter McDonald's." From Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life, 1993 (available via Robeson Library Electronic Reserve Shelf) |
Do Time-Line
Exercise (pdf) (will be collected) |
2/28 |
Suburbanization
and the Changing Role of Women in American Society |
Suburbanization and Mass Consumerism (Rutgers SCC) | Optional
Reading: Film: American Thrift (1962) |
3/5 |
The Changing Role of Women in American Society: Theoretical Perspectives | Read: Harriet B. Presser, “Are the Interests of Women Inherently at Odds with the Interests of Children or the Family?” In K. O. Mason and A. Jensen, Gender and Family Change in Industrialized Countries. NY: Clarendon Press, 1995, p. 297-319. (available via Robeson Library Electronic Reserve Shelf) | |
3/7 |
Mid-term Examination (will include all reading assignments, 2/12 - 3/5) >>> STUDY GUIDE | ||
|
|||
3/19 |
Career
Exploration Work |
Report
on Your Informational Interview Progress Show off your work skills: research, planning, organizational, networking and communication skills. |
Assignment
# 4-
Oral Report
on Informational Interview progress and planning for your final
project New Resources:  Website to help you plan a good Poster Register for RU-Camden Psych/Soc Poster Session on April 26 (optional) |
3/21 |
From
Industrial to Post-Industrial Society: |
Find
out what happened in Camden |
What major corporations closed plants in Camden. Why did they close? What happened when these factories closed? Find data and interpret them in light of what you've learned about structural processes. |
| 3/26 | Downsizing (1980-90s) Films: Winner Take All Society and April 18, 2003: Time OR Money -- U.S. worker's dilemma. (PBS-NOW) |
Read: Louis
Uchitelle and N. R. Kleinfield. 1996. "On the Battlefield
of Business" in The New York Times, The Downsizing of
America: Special Report. New York: Times Books. (available via Robeson Library Electronic Reserve Shelf - #10) |
New
Resources: |
| 3/28 | Mergers
/ Acquisitions and Outsourcing (1990-2000s) |
Read:
Powell, Walter (2006) The Capitalist Firm in the 21st Century.
In Amy S. Wharton (Ed.) Working in America (pp. 80-94).
NY: McGraw-Hill.
(available via # 3 - Robeson
Library Electronic Reserve Shelf) and a different perspective
on outsourcing: "A World of Work." In The
Economist, 11/13/2004,
Vol. 373 Issue 8401, p3-4, 2p, 2 graphs, 1c |
|
| 4/2 | Growing
Inequality
The L-Curve helps us understand how much richer the rich are than the rest of us. http://www.lcurve.org/LCurveVideo.htm PBS Frontline: Walmart Fred Block: Reframing the Political Battle: Market Fundamentalism vs. Moral Economy |
Read: Piven,
Francis Fox. (2004). Neoliberal Social Policy and Labor Market
Discipline. In Zweig, M. (Ed.) What's Class Got to Do With
It? American Society in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 113-124).
Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (will be available via Robeson Library Electronic Reserve Shelf # 9) |
Inequality
in Pay (Herbert,
NYT) |
| 4/4 | Declining
Benefits a function of neoliberal ideology? |
Come prepared to compare and contrast Piven's and Powell's explanation for the growing inequality in the US. Use the
reading guide to help you work
through both articles. Be
sure to answer all questions. |
Justice as Fairness - A Theory of Political Philosophy by John Rawls |
| 4/9 | Health
and Occupational Safety in Industrial
Agriculture and Food Industry |
Read:
Schlosser, Eric (2006) Fast Food Nation: The Most Dangerous Job.
In Amy S. Wharton (Ed.) Working in America (pp. 330-344).
NY: McGraw-Hill. (will be available via Robeson Library Electronic Reserve Shelf # 5) |
May
10, 2002: Kids and Chemicals -- Are We Poisoning Our Children? July 18, 2003: Mercury in our fish. Ex-pat Brits on Blair, Bush and America as Empire. Healthcare for all in LA. A Bill Moyers Journal. |
| 4/11 | Note:
Class is cancelled to enable you to participate in the
CC event. |
Stop by CC or call 225-6046
Registration is required! - No walk-ins! |
|
| 4/16 |  Class cancelled -- Rutgers Closed
due to Weather Conditions |
||
| 4/18 | Consumerism and Materialism: Are there alternatives? |
February
6, 2004: |
For further reading: Juliet Schor, The Overspent American (1999) or Born To Buy (2005) and WorldChanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (2007) For further viewing (1960): Your Name Here (optional - 10:08min) |
| 4/23 | Union Strategies Bring
your questions |
Read:
Quan, Katie, "Global Strategies for Workers." In
Zweig, M. (Ed.) What's Class Got to Do With It? American
Society in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 94-110).
Ithaca: Cornell University Press. |
|
| 4/25 | The
Future Future Selves Exercise Managing
your career more effectively in this changing economic environment:
CareerPath |
Alternative
ways of living: Freiburg/Germany: car-free living Find information
on sustainable
agriculture (Union of Concerned Scientists,
UCS) - The Future of Work (Business Week) |
Food for Thought: What major social changes do you see in the future? What do you think drives these changes? How will we live and work in the future? Come prepared to discuss your views and visions based on the reading you've done. |
| 4/26 | Optional: Register to display your poster also at the Rutgers-Camden Soc/Psych Poster Session on 4/26. | ||
| 4/30 | Poster
Session and End of Class Networking Party |
||
| 5/4 | Take Home
Exam due at
noon on Friday, 5/4 |
||
>>> back to Sociology of Work and Careers syllabus