SOCIOLOGY 101: THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: PATTERNS OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

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Professor Viviana Zelizer
2-C-14 Green Hall
Telephone: 8-4457

Preceptors: Jackie Gordon and Sigmund Rivkin-Fish

Course Requirements
Week 1 (September 15) What is Sociology?
Week 2 (September 22) Research Methods
Week 3 (September 29) Part I: Social Structure: Basic Sociological Concepts
Week 4 (October 6) Part II: Culture: Basic Sociological Concepts
Week 5 (October 13) The Case of Love: Culture, Social Structure, and Sentiment
Week 6 (October 20) The Case of Love (continued)
October 22 - MIDTERM EXAM
October 25 - November 2 - Fall Recess
Week 7 (November 3) The Case of Death: Culture, Social Structure and the Body
Week 8 (November 10) The Case of Money: Culture, Social Structure, and the Market
Week 9 (November 17) Socialization
Week 10 (November 24) Adult Socialization
Week 11 (December 1) Education
Week 12 (December 8 (Agents of Socialization: Families

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

  • 1. One mid-term examination (in-class, short essays) on Wednesday, October 22.
  • 2. One final examination.
  • 3. One paper (8-10 double-spaced pages). DUE DATE: Friday, January 8. (Instructions regarding the paper will be distributed in class).
  • 4. Precept participation.

A package with the required readings is available at Pequod Copy. Readings are also on reserve at the Firestone Library.

COURSE OUTLINE

WEEK 1. (SEPTEMBER 15) WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

  • McNall & McNall, Sociology, pp. 28-32.
  • C. Wright Mills, (1959), The Sociological Imagination, Chapter 1, pp. 1-24.
  • E. Durkheim, Suicide, (1897), Preface and Introduction, pp. 35-52; Book 2: Chapter 5, "Anomic Suicide," pp. 241-76.

WEEK 2. (SEPTEMBER 22) RESEARCH METHODS

  • McNall & McNall, Sociology, Chapter 2, "Doing Sociology," pp. 32-52.
  • W. Whyte, (1941), "Corner Boys: A Study of Clique Behavior," pp. 181-94.
  • M. Sanchez Jankowski, (1991), Islands in the Street: Gangs and American Urban Society, Introduction, pp. 6-19.
  • Humphreys, (1970), "A Typology of Tearoom Participants," in Earl Rubington and Martin Weinberg (eds), Deviance: An Interactionist Perspective, 4th edition, pp. 326-338.
  • J. Woods, (1993), The Corporate Closet: The Professional Lives of Gay Men in America, Prologue, pp. xi-xviii; Appendix, pp. 253-263.

WEEK 3. (SEPTEMBER 29) BASIC SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS.

PART I: SOCIAL STRUCTURE

  • McNall & McNall, Sociology, Chapter 9, "The Creation of Societies," pp. 203-9.
  • A. Hochschild, (1983), The Managed Heart, pp. 35-68.
  • P. Zimbardo, (1972), "Pathology of Imprisonment," Down to Earth Sociology, pp. 232-8.
  • M. Komarovsky, (1985), Women in College, chapter 8, pp. 225-68.
  • B. Schwartz, (1974), "Waiting, Exchange, and Power: The Distribution of Time in Social Systems," pp. 153-60.

WEEK 4. (OCTOBER 6) BASIC SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS.

PART II: CULTURE

  • McNall & McNall, Sociology, Chapter 3, "Culture," pp. 54-76.
  • Miner, (1956), "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema," pp. 33-37.
  • E. Zerubavel, (1985), The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week, pp. 107-141.
  • M.L. DeVault, (1991), Feeding the Family, Foreword, Introduction (pp. 18-25); Chapter 1, pp. 35-57.
  • N. Henley, M. Hamilton, B. Thorne, (1985), "Womanspeak and Manspeak," pp. 145-152.
  • P. Bourdieu, (1990) Photography A Middle-brow Art, "The Cult of Unity and Cultivated Differences," pp. 13-31.

    • WEEK 5. (OCTOBER 13) THE CASE OF LOVE: CULTURE, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, AND SENTIMENT

    • W. Goode, (1959), "The Theoretical Importance of Love," American Sociological Review 24 (February 1959), pp. 38-47.
    • R.T. Michael, J.H. Gagnon, E.O. Laumann, and G. Kolata, (1994), Sex in America: A Definitive Survey, Chatper 3, "Who are our Sex Partners?," pp. 42-66.
    • C. Smith Rosenberg, (1985), "The Female World of Love and Ritual," in Disorderly Conduct, pp. 53-76.
    • F. Cancian, "The Feminization of Love," Signs (Summer 1986), pp. 692-709.
    • J. Woods, (1993), The Corporate Closet: The Professional Lives of Gay Men in America, Ch. 2, "The Asexual Professional," pp. 31-52.

    WEEK 6. (OCTOBER 20) THE CASE OF LOVE (CONTINUED)

    OCTOBER 22 - MIDTERM EXAM

    OCTOBER 25-NOVEMBER 2 - FALL RECESS

    WEEK 7. (NOVEMBER 3) THE CASE OF DEATH: CULTURE, SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND THE BODY

    • E. Becker, (1973), The Denial of Death, chapter 2, "The Terror of Death," pp. 11-24.
    • V. Zelizer, (1985), Pricing the Priceless Child, Introduction, pp. 3-15; Chapter 1, pp. 22-55.
    • N. Scheper-Hughes, (1992), Death Without Weeping, chapter 7, "Two Feet Under and a Cardboard Coffin," pp. 268-286.
    • V. Marshall, "Socialization for Impending Death in a Retirement Village," American Journal of Sociology 80 (March 1975), pp. 1124-43.
    • K. Chopin, (1975), "The Story of an Hour," in S. Cahill, ed., Women and Fiction, pp. 1-5.

    WEEK 8. (NOVEMBER 10) THE CASE OF MONEY: CULTURE, SOCIAL

    STRUCTURE, AND THE MARKET

    • V. Zelizer, (1994), The Social Meaning of Money, Chapter 1, "The Marking of Money," pp. 1-35; Chapter 2, "The Domestic Production of Monies," pp. 35-70.
  • P. Schwartz, (1994), Peer Marriage: How Love Between Equals Really Works, Chapter 4, "Eliminating the Good Provider Role," pp. 111-144.
  • K. Edin and L. Lein (1997), Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work, Introduction, pp. 1-19; chapter 6 ("Survival Strategies"), pp. 143-67.

    • WEEK 9. (NOVEMBER 17) SOCIALIZATION

    • McNall & McNall, Sociology, Chapter 4, "Socialization," pp. 77-100.
    • K. Davis, (1947), "Final Note on a Case of Extreme Isolation," pp. 72-80.
    • B. Thorne, (1986), "Girls and Boys Together...But Mostly Apart: Gender Arrangements in Elementary Schools," pp. 115-125.
    • D. Nasaw, (1985), Children of the City, Preface; chapters 6, 7, and 8, pp. 88-129.

    WEEK 10. (NOVEMBER 24) ADULT SOCIALIZATION

    • Berger and Luckmann, (1967), The Social Construction of Reality, pp. 138-47.
    • Berger and Kellner, (1964), "Marriage and the Construction of Reality," pp. 392-404.
    • Becker and Geer, (1958), "The Fate of Idealism in Medical School," in Robboy and Clark, eds., Social Interaction, pp. 115-24.
    • J. Pierce, (1995), Gender Trials, chapter 1, pp. 17-22; chapter 3 ("Rambo Litigators"), pp. 50-82.
    • H.R.F. Ebaugh, (1988), Becoming an Ex, Foreword, pp. ix-xi, 25-30 and Chapter 5, pp. 149-180.

    WEEK 11. (DECEMBER 1) EDUCATION

    • P.W. Kingston & L.S. Lewis, "Undergraduates at Elite Institutions: The Best, the Brightest and the Richest," in Kingston and Lewis (eds.), The High Status Track, pp. 105-120.
    • L. Nucci & E.T. Pascarella, "The Influence of College on Moral Development," in Nucci and Pascarella (eds.), How College Affects Students, pp. 287-315.
    • R. Rorty, "Education Without Dogma," Dissent, Spring 1989, pp. 189-204.
    • J.A. Banks, "Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions and Practice," in Linda Darling Hammong (ed.), Review of Research in Education, pp. 3-38.
    • I. Howe, "The Value of the Canon," The New Republic, February 18, 1991, pp. 40-47.
    • G. Graff, "What Should We Be Teaching---When There's No 'We'?," The Yale Journal of Criticism, 1988, pp. 189-209.

    WEEK 12. (DECEMBER 8) AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION: FAMILIES

    • A. Hochschild, (1997), The Time Bind, chapter 1, pp. 3-14; chapters 3 and 4, pp. 25-52; chapter 15, pp. 219-38.
    • K. Edin and L. Lein, (1997), Making Ends Meet, chapter 5, ("Why Some Single Mothers Choose to Work"), pp. 120-42.
    • K. Gerson, (1993), No Man's Land: Men's Changing Commitments to Family and Work, Chapter 8, "Dilemmas of Involved Fatherhood," pp. 215-255.
    • Stier and Tienda, (1993), "Are Men Marginal to the Family?" in Jane Hood, ed., Men, Work, and Family, pp. 23-44.

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