Courses

Introduction to Sociology

The Ethnographic Community Studies Tradition
Instructor: Todd Goodsell

(The syllabus in Word format)

Community studies include many of the oldest and most well known sociological research works. This course will provide a survey of the tradition through reading several of the community studies (eight, to be exact) that have helped to define our discipline. In selecting which community studies to read, I emphasized the development of the urban ethnographic tradition and what is called the "Chicago School." The goal is that after having taken this class, you will be prepared to study any of several subfields in sociology - criminology, gender, race, poverty, etc. And when someone refers back to one of these classic works, you'll know what they're talking about!

After we complete the eight community studies, we'll finish off the semester with two views on the Chicago School - one from early in the tradition and one that is contemporary. The first is represented by a well-known collection of essays by Robert Park and colleagues. Park was chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago in the early twentieth century. The contemporary view on the Chicago School comes from Andrew Abbott, currently of the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago.

In all of this, we will be framing sociology as something we do, rather than merely as something we know. That is why at the end of the term you are going to write a research proposal. (You won't actually go and do the research; you'll just propose it.) You'll be reading the research others have done; I'll want to see what research YOU want to do, and how you think you'd like to go about doing it. I don't assume any prior knowledge of sociology or methods, and the only outside reading you need to bring in for the proposal is a little background data on the place you want to study (which you can probably get from 1 or 2 websites). Keep that in mind as your goal, as you are doing the readings for the class.

Course objectives: By the end of this term, you should be able to -

This course is focuses on reading actual, classic sociological ethnographies. Some people find this helpful, because it gives you a sense of what sociologists have been doing for decades. We won't start out with abstract theories and then wonder how they apply to the real world. Instead, when you read book Middletown I'm going to hold it up and say, "See Middletown? This is functionalism!" However, this is not a learning style that all students find helpful. If you learn better from textbooks - and there are some good ones out there - you may want to consider taking a different section.

Another difference between this class and other, introductory classes is that there is more reading and fewer smaller assignments (chapter exercises, etc.). The overall workload should be the same, however. Again, this is a learning strategy that works better for some students and not as well for others. For example, this organization is better for students who are verbal learners (reading and talking about it) than for students who have a different learning style. Please consider which strategy works best for you and take a section that fits you. In this class, there are only a few assignments, but each one counts a larger portion of your grade.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

See me during office hours (5% of your grade): Please visit me at least once during the semester. If you cannot make my office hours because of another, regular commitment, please schedule another time with me. The term is short and lots of students need to see me, so I recommend that you come early in the term. Not being able to see me because of so many other visitors during office hours is not an excuse.

Participation (5% of your grade): Attendance in class is required. However, you are graded not on attendance, but on participation. These five percentage points allow me to recognize and reward those students who show me their commitment to the material through active involvement with it. (If you want these five points, make sure that I know your name and that I know you as a student who actively and intelligently engages the material.) I really hope everyone will jump in with their insights, opinions, criticisms, and cheers for the texts we're going to read. I may or may not call on you. If I don't call on you, it is your responsibility to participate productively and spontaneously. One reason these became classic works is because they continue to inspire our interest and imagination. Part of the reason attendance is required is because you have a responsibility to others in class to share your ideas with them (you need to speak), to listen to their ideas, and to respond intelligently and respectfully. Obviously, you can't do any of that if you don't show up.

Data sheet (20% of your grade): Working together with others in the class, put together a data sheet on a sociological topic. There are two goals for this assignment: (1) to give you experience actually looking up and evaluating real data; (2) to bring us up-to-date on a few major social topics. Topics with due dates will be selected or assigned on the first day of class. This is a one-page summary of vital information on the topic, useful for discussion in class and for use on the final exam. Pack as much information into one page as you can, while still being legible. At least half of the information on the sheet should be demographics and statistics, but some historical, geographical, and experimental data may be used also. Make sure you cite your sources. (Make sure you note where each datum comes from, and connect it to a list of sources on the back of the paper.) Each group will create one data sheet for its topic, and will bring copies for everyone in class. On the day the data sheet is due each member of the group will also turn in an independent evaluation of how much each other member of the group contributed. If no data sheets are handed out the day they are due, no one in the group will receive credit. Failure to turn in a data sheet evaluation of each of the other members of the group will result in a 5-point deduction. In class, the group will be given 15 minutes in which to point out what data on the sheet they thought were most important and interesting, and in which the rest of the class will question and challenge the data presented.

What should you put on the data sheet? With only one side of one sheet of paper, you have to make some decisions. I recommend two steps: First, put a little bit of general information that frames the subject. For example, I can hardly imagine a good immigration data sheet that didn't have a trend chart showing number of immigrants over at least the last hundred years, and some kind of table showing where the immigrants are/have been coming from. After that, you choose what specific pieces of data you want to use to fill up the rest of the paper. Find data you think are interesting. You are responsible to make sure that the information you present is accurate, complete, and reliable. For example, one immigration group got nearly all of its data from anti-immigration websites. Another group asserted (without stats to back it up), that most members of the American middle-class belong to religious cults. (Do you see any potential problems here?) If you are not sure about sources or data, please speak to me during office hours or to a subject specialist in the library.

Midterm exam (30% of your grade): We will have one midterm exam. It will be all-essay. Bring blue books and a functional writing instrument.

Final exam (40% of your grade): We will have one final exam. (The exam is part of the packet of student materials for the class.) It will be take-home, but all work should be your own. For the exam, you will be writing a mock research proposal. Bring five (5) copies of a draft of your research proposal to class on [insert date] - one for the instructor, and four to give to other students. Then, between [insert dates], write a written critique of at least two pages (single spaced) for each proposal draft you get from other students. Make two copies of each written critique - one for the author of the paper and one for the professor. Bring both the drafts and your critiques to class on [insert date]. (In these critiques, your goal is to help the other students get better. Give them lots and lots of good suggestions!) The original draft, the peer critiques of your draft, and the final version are due, secured together, by the deadline as stated in the schedule. The draft and critiques are 10% of your grade; the final version is 30%. Please note that while the final is a mock research proposal, it is still your final exam. You should show high competence in the community studies tradition and in all (or nearly all) of the specific works we will cover, and deep, critical thinking about them.

COURSE MATERIALS

A. Books
Baumgartner, M. P. The Moral Order of a Suburb
Erikson, Kai T. Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood
Lynd, Robert Staughton and Helen Lynd, Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture
Shaw, Clifford, The Jack-Roller: A Delinquent Boy's Own Story
Zorbaugh, Harvey Warren. Gold Coast and the Slum: A Sociological Study of Chicago's Near North Side

B. Coursepack
Reference list of key names & terms (from The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology)
Abbott, Andrew. "The Continuing Relevance of the Chicago School." Pp. 193-222 in Department and Discipline: Chicago Sociology at One Hundred.
Anderson, Nels, The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man
Cooley, Charles Horton. 1894. "The Location of Towns and Cities." Pp. 90-100 in The Theory of Transportation.
Dollard, John, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Chapters 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18)
Park, Robert E. and Ernest W. Burgess, The City (Chapters 2 & 3)
Wattel, Harold. "Levittown: A Suburban Community." Pp. 287-313 in The Suburban Community. Edited by William M. Dobriner.

Notes

The instructor may make changes to this syllabus in response to needs and interests that arise in the course of the class. Such changes will not place additional demands upon the students that are unreasonable, and will be announced in advance during a class session either orally or in writing. Typically, changes have simply been clarification of course expectations listed in this syllabus.

If there are extenuating circumstances going on in your life, please talk with the instructor about them. I can't guarantee exceptions to any rule, but if you are having a meltdown, let's see what we can work out. I don't believe in requiring anyone to fail.

Texts, not required: These are books that didn't make the reading list because we just don't have time to read everything! You don't have to read these books for this class, but if this class seems interesting to you, you might think these books are good too.
Allen & Dittman, Against All Odds: Rural Community in the Information Age
Drake, St. Clair and Horace B. Cayton, Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City
DuBois, W. E. B. The Philadelphia Negro
Duneier, Mitchell. Slim's Table: Race, Respectability, and Masculinity
Fitchen, Janet M. Poverty in Rural America: A Case Study
Frantz, Douglas and Catherine Collins, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town
Gans, Herbert J. The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community.
Gans, Herbert. The Urban Villagers
Greene, Bob. Once Upon a Town
Greenhouse, Carol J., Barbara Yngvesson, and David M. Engel. Law and Community in Three American Towns
Jackson, Kenneth T., Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Liebow, Elliot. Tally's Corner
Nelson, Lowry. The Mormon Village: A Study in Social Origins
Popenoe, David. The Suburban Environment: Sweden and the United States
Seeley, John R., R. Alexander Sim, and Elizabeth W. Loosley. Crestwood Heights: A Study of the Culture of Suburban Life.
Thomas, William and Florian Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America
Thrasher, Frederic Milton. The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago
Warner, W. Lloyd., J. O. Low, Paul S. Lunt, and Leo Srole. Yankee City.
Weber, Max. The City
Whyte, William F., Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum
Williams, Raymond, The Country and the City
Wirth, Louis, The Ghetto




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