Individual In Society

SYP 3000

Fall 2012

Guillermo J. Grenier, Ph.D. Assistant: Elisa Melendez

Office: SIPA 331

Phone: 305-348-3217

E-mail: Please use BlackBoard Course Mail

Office Hours: Will answer questions via BlackBoard Course Mail or by appointment.

Course Description

What is the individual? What is the individual’s relationship to social organization and social relations? How is the individual constituted or made through social relations? What possibilities and choices are available for the individual within social systems that are unequal and hierarchical? These are the questions that this course explores. People who study these subjects are generally known as social scientists; in the course we will explore what it means to be social and why the study of it is conducted through the practices and terminology of science.

Much of the way that we conceive of the relationship between the individual and society comes from Western notions of the self: as autonomous, isolated, able to make decisions for oneself and responsible for one’s own actions. We will be examining how the self constructs itself out of cultural and social materials, and how society is constructed through the interactions of multiple individual selves.

Course Objectives: By the end of this course, you will be expected to be able to:

  • understand Western notions of the autonomous self and alternative notions of the self embedded in social relations;
  • see how people are constantly engaged in interpreting experience and how interpretation varies according to the frame;
  • understand how one’s position (gendered, racial, age, class) within unequal societies allows for different kinds of expression of selfhood;
  • carry out analysis in order to examine how this happens in everyday life.

Expectations:

  • You are responsible for completing the readings, posting discussions and turning in assignments on time. Having a poor on-line participation record, turning in late assignments, cheating, or disrespecting others on the forums or otherwise just being rude, are all grounds for adjusting your grade downward. I reserve the right to adjust your final grade by as much as 1 full letter grade if you fail to comply with these basic expectations. Late assignments and made up exams will NOT be allowed except under extreme circumstances and regardless of the circumstances will automatically result in a penalty of a full letter grade deduction. Also, I take plagiarism very seriously. The university wide policy on plagiarism will be enforced.

Texts: All Readings Are ONLINE!!!! Woot!!!!

YOU NEED A CLICKER!!!

You MUST buy an i>Clicker from the bookstore. Or figure out how to register your Smartphone to be a clicker by going to the website

Some Useful Websites:

Sociological Tour through Cyber Space—

Dead Sociologist Society and

History Timeline:

These websitesare your friend.

Prerequisites: There are No Prerequisites for this course. For more information about prerequisites, click here

Communicating with Instructor:

  • E-mail: Contact me via my BlackBoard email.
  • Discussion Forum: There will be weekly discussion forum posts based on questions that the instructor poses (see the details under "Grading"). Most of the questions will refer to the materials covered in the PowerPoints, reading packet, or web-linked readings (such as from online BBC, PBS, NPR programs or random websites). Student posts to the weekly discussion forum, which will be part of the final grade, are vital for interactive learning.

Grading

Note: All required assignments must be completed to be eligible to earn a passing grade.

Final grade: percentage of 410possible points earned

Your class grade will be determined by three elements: 1) Weekly multiple-choice quizzes on the readings scheduled for that week (130 points) (15 quizzes total, 10 points each. Each additional quiz taken will be counted as EXTRA CREDIT); 2) 14 discussion forum posts (140 points); 3) One short essay, in place of discussion, prompted by the prof on the discussion forum, on Week 15. (140 points—40 for timeliness and 100 for content). NO EXCUSES WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR LATE ESSAY!!! You can read the prompt TODAY and start working on it!

Multiple-choice Quizzes: 130 points
The 15 Quizzes will be based on the online and packet readings scheduled for that week.
Each quiz will consist of 10 multiple-choice questions; will cover the assigned readings from the packet and on-line reading. Each correct answer will count 1 point. That means that each quiz is worth a maximum of 10 points.

Each quiz will be open Monday, 12:00 Midnight through 11:59pm next Tuesday night of the specific course week. The quiz will be open for 30 minutes from the time you open it. Do I need to say that you shouldn’t wait until 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night to take your quiz?

Quiz 1: August 20 (12am)-August 28 (11:55pm)

Quiz 2: August 27 (12am)-Sept 4 (11:55pm):

Quiz 3: September 3 (12am)-September 11 (11:55pm):

Quiz 4: September10 (12am)-September18 (11:55pm):

Quiz 5: September 17 (12am)-September25(11:55pm):

Quiz 6: September 24 (12am)-October 2 (11:55pm):

Quiz 7: October 1 (12am)-October 9 (11:55pm);

Quiz 8: October 8 (12am)-October 16 (11:55pm);

Quiz 9: October 15 (12am)-October 23 (11:55pm);

Quiz 10: October 22 (12am)-October 30 (11:55pm);

Quiz 11: October 29 (12am)-November 6 (11:55pm);

Quiz 12: November 5 (12am)-November 13 (11:55);

Quiz 13: November 12 (12am)-November 20 (11:55);

Quiz 14: November 19 (12am)-November 27 (11:55);

Quiz 15: November 26 (12am)-December 4 (11:55);

To prepare for each Quiz, study the following:

  • The Weekly Overview of the topics covered
  • The PowerPoint lecture slides for each week
  • The study questions posted for each quiz.
  • And, of course, READ the assignments

Discussion Forum Posts: 140 possible points
There are weekly discussion forum posts based on questions that the instructor poses (see the details under "Grading"). Most of the questions will refer to the materials covered in the PowerPoints, reading packet, or web-linked readings (such as from online BBC, PBS, NPR programs or random websites). Student posts to the weekly discussion forum, which will be part of the final grade, are vital for interactive learning.

Students are required to post on the discussion forum in response to the instructor's discussion questions.
As discussed below, each post will be graded pass/fail, and a student's semester grade for the discussion forum will be based on the percentage of the discussion assignments that the student posts and passes.
The discussion forum questions emphasize the course's web-link readings. Peruse the readings to find information that is relevant to a specific discussion question; students are not required to write about all of a given week's web-link readings.
Students are encouraged to post multiple commentaries for each discussion forum topic: only the first post that each student makes will be evaluated according to the discussion forum rubrics, as presented below. Each student's initial post will be graded Pass/Fail according to these rubrics:

  • Relevance to assigned material: the posted ideas indicate that the student has read the assigned material.
  • Clarity, coherence: the ideas are stated clearly and coherently.
  • Critical thinking: there is evidence that the student has adequately analyzed, synthesized, and evaluated the assigned material.
  • Poses a question for discussion: the posting articulates a question for discussion that pertains to the assigned material.
  • Spelling, grammar: the posting must meet university-level standards of spelling and grammar.
  • Length: the initial posting for each weekly module must be no less than 20 lines.

After posting in response to a discussion forum question, students are encouraged to continue posting informally to continue the dialog with each other and with the instructor.
There will be 14 assigned discussion forum posts. Each post will be graded pass/fail, according to the above rubrics. Pass=10 Points/Fail=0 Points.
Discussion forum posts are due by Sunday, 11:55pm, of each Monday-Sunday course week.
Although the raw grade is based on quantity, I encourage you to contribute thoughtful, well written posts. In cases where the points fall on the margins of letter grades, I willrewardthese posters

Short Essays: 140 possible points

On Week 15, I will substitute the weekly discussion with an essay assignment. I will provide a question (see the What to Do file for these weeks), and some basic readings on the topic. I will then ask you to write a concise, well written essay, in Standard English, discussing your perspective on the issue. I will post some basic guidelines to help you along. This essay, unlike the forum posts, will be graded for content (100 points). It will also be graded for timeliness (40 points). You need to get it posted on time. You have 15 weeks to do this. The question is up. There will be no excuses.

Final grade: percentage of 410 possible points earned
Note: All required assignments must be completed to be eligible to earn a passing grade.
Your class grade is determined by three elements: 1) Weekly multiple-choice quizzes on the readings scheduled for that week (130 points) (15 quizzes total, 10 points each. Each additional quiz taken will be counted as EXTRA CREDIT); 2) 14 discussion forum posts (140 points); 3) One short essay, in place of discussion, prompted by the prof on the discussion forum, on Week 15. (140 points—40 for timeliness and 100 for content). NO EXCUSES WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR LATE ESSAY!!! You can read the prompt TODAY and start working on it!

There are 410 points possible for the course. To calculate your final grade, divide your total number of points by 410 and find the percentage on this scale:

Grading Scale:

93-100% - A 80-82% - B- 67-69% - D+

90-92% - A- 77-79% - C+ 63-66% - D

87-89% - B+ 73-76% - C 60-62% - D-

83-86% - B 70-72% - C- Below 60% -E