SOCIOLOGY 376—THE COMMUNITY
Location: Ansari Business (AB) 201
Time: Sat 9:00am-12:30pm
Semester: Spring 2013
Final Class Time & Location: Sat May 11th, 9:00am-12:30pm, AB 201
Instructor: Levin Welch
E-mail:
Office: MSS 110
Office Phone: 682-8957
Mailbox: Sociology Department, MSS 300
Office Hours: Wed 1:00-3:00pmor by appointment
Course Description:
This course is an interactive description and analysis of U.S. urban, suburban and rural communities that will introduce students to community studies by exploring, briefly, a wide variety of ideas and problems surrounding “the community.” First, we will explore the basic concept of the community and why it matters. Second, we will explore broad and specific problems related to rural, then urban, then suburban communities. Finally, we will explore four specific examples of extremely marginalized communities (Indian Reservations, housing projects and ghettos, prisons, and homeless communities) to further illustrate the impact of community on human behavior, individually and collectively.
Required Texts/Videos:
All required text and videos are available for free on Ares electronic-Course Reserves. Link found on WebCampus: find box on left hand side and click link “Ares Course Reserves.”
Course Expectations:
All university rules/expectations apply, plus: I ask that you stay in class the entire period unless you have a pressing engagement (tell me beforehand) or have an emergency.
Course Requirements:
Participation:
Class participation is a very important component of any classroom environment, enriching the learning experience. Your participation is very important in this process—the goal is to learn from each other. Reflecting the importance of class participation, 20% of the course grade is based on participation, as outlined below:
Quizzes:
A total of 8 quizzes will be given at the beginning of most classes and will cover the assigned readings and online videos for the week (refer to class outline below—an asterisk next to the date (m/d*) signifies a quiz that day). Each quiz is worth 2.5% of your overall grade. Each quiz will ask basic questions about concepts, themes, and problems discussed in the assigned materials (I am not going to ask incredibly specific or tricky questions). These quizzes are designed to facilitate discussion and will therefore be graded and discussed in class—the honor system will be employed and you will grade your own quiz and I will collect them individually after discussion. The next and most important reason for these quizzes is to assist you in the conceptualization process of a particularly abstract idea such as the community. They will, 1) force you to stay on-top of the assignments; 2) may be useful as notes for outlining and writing your summary and analysis papers and literature review; and, 3) give us all a chance to expand on ideas, concepts, and themes in a constructive, interactive, and interdisciplinary way. If you simply do the readings and video viewings, it will be hard to do poorly on the quizzes. Quizzes will have a combination of fill in the [blank], true and false, and short answer questions. Quizzes cannot be made up because they are part of class participation and require you to be in class (only under extreme circumstances—i.e., funeral, medical emergency—with documentation will opportunities to make up a quiz be granted).
Papers:
This is an upper-division CapStone course in sociology that challenges students to analyze and coherently report on social phenomena. To meet that challenge, students are required to write 5 short papers, worth 80% of your overall grade taken together.
All papers will incorporate the following style guidelines: typed (handwritten papers will not be accepted), 12pt font in Times New Roman, 1 inch margins, double spaced, 3 sentences minimum for a paragraph, and proof read to correct avoidable mistakes. Late papers will not be accepted (exceptions will be made only in extreme circumstances).
Summary & Analysis Papers: You will write two summary & analysis papers each worth 15% of your overall grade (30% total). Each paper will be submitted via WebCampus by no later than 11:59pm on the due date (see course outline and WebCampus for details). These papers summarize the assigned material for a given period and construct an argument based on logical and sociological analysis.
Topic Proposal: The topic proposal will be worth 5% of your overall grade and will be submitted via WebCampus by no later than 11:59pm on the due date (see course outline and WebCampus for details). The paper will propose a topic that you are personally interested in writing about for the literature review. This paper is designed to introduce you to the process of developing a literature review and research question (something most of you will have to endure in order to graduate).
Rough Draft: The rough draft will be worth 5% of your overall grade and will be submitted via WebCampus by no later than 11:59pm on the due date (see course outline and WebCampus for details). The rough draft will incorporate the comments and changes I make to your topic proposal. You will expand your understanding, narrow your focus, organize your thoughts, begin to construct an argument, and add additional sources.
Literature Review: The literature review is worth 40% of your overall grade and will be submitted via WebCampus by no later than 11:59pm on the due date (see course outline and WebCampus for details). The literature review will incorporate the comments and changes I make to your rough draft. You will add further sources, have created a concise argument about the material you analyzed, and present research questions.
Class Presentation: You will give an 8-10 minute slide-show presentation to the class on your literature review on the last day of class (5/11). As long as you meet the minimum requirements (see WebCampus for details) you will receive full credit for your presentation. Please note, because I want us to learn from each other and encourage interaction, each student is required to present and attend their peer’s presentations. 10% will automatically be deducted from the final grade of your literature review if you do not give a presentation or do not attend everyone else’s presentation.
Service Learning Alternative: You have the option to do volunteer work with a local community organization (10 hours total), write about your experiences, and develop a presentation for the class, instead of the topic proposal, rough draft, and literature review. Two short reviews (each worth 5% of your total grade) will be turned in no later than the due dates for the topic proposal and rough draft and a final paper (worth 40% of your overall grade) will be turned in the last day of class. This opportunity will provide you with hands-on experience and the challenge of conceptualizing that experience in the context of the wider social structure.
Service Learning Reflections: The service learning reflection papers are worth worth 10% of your overall grade (5% each) and will be submitted via WebCampus by no later than 11:59pm on the due date (see course outline and WebCampus for details and prompt). The papers will be a reflection of your volunteer experience, will answer a set of questions, and connect those experiences and questions to some of the material covered in class.
Service Learning Final Paper: The service learning final paper is worth 40% of your overall grade) and will be submitted via WebCampus by no later than 11:59pm on the due date (see course outline and WebCampus for details and prompt). The final paper will incorporate the comments and feedback I made on your first two service learning papers, will incorporate more scholarly sources, will expand your answers on pervious questions, and will make a sociological argument for or against the organization you volunteered for.
Breakdown:
Eight quizzes:20 pts.
Two summary & analysis papers (15 pts. each):30 pts.
A topic proposal paper (or service learning reflection #1):05 pts.
A topic rough draftpaper (or service learning reflection #2):05 pts.
A literature review and class presentation (or service learning final paper):40 pts.
Total: 100 pts.
More about the Course Requirements:
The grading scale in this course follows the university-wide standard scale:
A = 93-100 A- = 90-92 B+ = 87-99 B = 83-86 B- = 80-82 C+ = 77-79
C = 73-76 C- = 70-72 D+ = 67-69 D = 63-66 D- = 60-62F = 0-59
Department of Sociology Policy on Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty (e.g., cheating on exams, plagiarism) is a serious offense. All work that you submit in this class must be your own original work, and must have been generated by you specifically for the assignments. Academic dishonesty can take on many forms including, but not limited to, the use of prohibited materials during examinations, having one’s own assignments completed by a third party, submit the identical paper in two different courses, and plagiarism—each of which is a serious offense.
Each student is responsible for being familiar with UNR's policies on academic dishonesty, available at It is the policy of the Department of Sociology that any student who engages in any act of academic dishonesty will receive automatically a course grade of “F.” Further, in accordance with UNR’s Undergraduate Academic Dishonesty Procedures, a record will created with the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. Repeated offenses may lead to expulsion from the university.
What is plagiarism? Whereas most acts of academic dishonesty are obvious, students are sometimes unclear what “plagiarism” entails. Plagiarism means that you incorporate another author’s work into your own, but create the impression that you yourself are the original author. For instance, it is plagiarism when you cut and paste another author’s text into your own paper, but do not clearly mark it as a quote and do not credit the original source. Another example of plagiarism is when you use another author’s text, but change the syntax and vocabulary only slightly. Yet another instance of plagiarism involves using another person’s ideas and presenting them as your own. The web offers a number of great resources on the subject of plagiarism that help you decide when you need to credit another author and when something can be assumed to be comTue knowledge (in which case you do not need to credit a source). See, e.g.,
How to avoid plagiarism? When writing a paper, focus on what and how you want to say something, not on the language another author used. The easiest way is to follow a “closed source” policy: That is, when you have read a paper, book or website that is relevant to a paper that you are writing, close it and put it aside before you write your own text. Once you are done, go over your paper again and make sure that have not inadvertently copied another person’s language. Likewise, make sure that you do not pretend that another person’s insights are your own.
Keep in mind that plagiarism is more easily detected than you might think. Many instructors and graders have access to the same resources as you (e.g., the internet) and routinely check up whether any text you have submitted appears elsewhere. If you are in doubt whether something constitutes plagiarism or not, ask your instructor or the UNR writing center, .
Statement on Audio and Video Recording:
Surreptitious or covert video-taping of class or unauthorized audio recording of class is prohibited by law and by Board of Regents policy. This class may be videotaped or audio recorded only with the written permission of the instructor. In order to accommodate students with disabilities, some students may be given permission to record class lectures and discussions. Therefore, students should understand that their comments during class may be recorded.
Academic Success Services:
Your student fees cover usage of the Math Center (784-4433 or Tutoring Center (784-6801 or and University Writing Center (784-6030 or These centers support your classroom learning; it is your responsibility to take advantage of their services.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:
If you have a disability for which you will need to request accommodations, please contact me or the Disability Resource Center (Phone: 784-6000; Location: Thompson Building, Suite 101) as soon as possible to arrange for appropriate accommodations.
SOC 376--COURSE OUTLINE* Indicates quiz over material in same row. All reading and viewing materials can be found on Ares electronic-Course Reserves. See WebCampus for link to e-Reserves.
Date / Topic / Assignments
Week 1
2/9 / Class introduction / In-class activity, introduction, in-class film, and discussion.
Week 2
2/16* / Community introduction / 1) Friedman, Jonathan. (2003). Colonialism. In Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World; Vol. 1. Karen Christensen and David Levinson (Eds.), (pgs. 208-212). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
2) Orum, Anthony. (2003). Industrial Revolution. In Encyclopedia of Community(Vol.2): pgs. 651-653.
3) Penny, Robert. (2003). Class, Social. In Encyclopedia of Community (Vol.1): pgs. 188-192.
4) Lewis, David. (2003). Civil Society. In Encyclopedia of Community, (Vol.1): pg. 185-188.
5) Gough, Robert. (2003). Declining Communities. In Encyclopedia of Community (Vol.2): pgs. 386-387.
6) Colclough, Glenna and Bhavani Sitaraman. (2005). Community and Social Capital: What Is the Difference? Sociological Inquiry, 75(4): 474-496.
7) Lima, Manuel. (2012). RSA Animate—The Power of Networks. Westminster, UK: RSA Productions. (Online video: 11min).
8) Collins, Patricia. (2009). The New Politics of Community. American Sociological Review, 75(1): 7-30.
Week 3
2/23* / Rural communities #1 / 1) Nord, Mark. (1994). Natural Resources and Persistent Rural Poverty: In Search of the Nexus. Society and Natural Resources, 7: 205-220.
2) Bickel, Robert & Meghan McDonough. (1997). Opportunity, Community, and Reckless Lives: Social Distress Among Adolescents in West Virginia. Journal of Social Distress and Homeless, 6(1): 29-44.
3) Davis, George. (2011). Where Once There Were Mountains: The Grassroots Struggle Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining in Central Appalachia. Environmental Politics,18(1): 135-140
4) Explore. (2012). West Virginia – Hillbillies, Coal Miners, Treehuggers & God. New York, NY: LinkTV Productions. (Online video: 27min).
5) Colocousis, Chris. (2012). “It Was Tourism Repellent, That’s What We Were Spraying”: Natural Amenities, Environmental Stigma, and Redevelopment in a Postindustrial Mill Town. Sociological Forum, 27(3): 756-776.
6) PBS. (2012). Frontline: Alaska Gold. New York, NY: PBS Productions. (Online video: 54min).
Week 4
3/02* / Rural communities #2 / 1) Núñez-Mchiri, Guillermina. (2009).The Political Ecology of the Colonias on the U.S.- Mexico Border: Human-Environmental Challenges And Community Responses in Southern New Mexico. Southern Rural Sociology, 24(1): 67-91.
2) Pickering, Kathleen. (2000). Alternative Economic Strategies in Low-Income Rural Communities: TANF, Labor Migration, and the Case of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Rural Sociology, 65(1): 148-167.
3) Million, Dian. (2000). Policing the Rez: Keeping No Peace in Indian Country. Social Justice, 27(3): 101-119.
4) Amnesty International. (2007). Excerpted From: Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the USA. New York, NY: Amnesty International Publications. (3pgs.).
5) Vanguard. (2012). Rape on the Reservation. New York, NY: Current TV, LLC. (Online video: 44min).
Week 5
3/09 / Summary & analysis paper #1 due / No quiz.
In-class video & discussion as intro for urban communities.
Technical training for research and database navigation at Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center.
Week 6
3/16
Week 7
3/23 / Spring break! No class on 3/16 or 3/23!
Urban communities #1 / 1) Tindall, David, Fiona Kay, Dan Zuberi, & Kerri Bates. (2008). Urban and Community Studies. In Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict, 2nd Edition. Lester Kurtz (Ed.), (pp. 2224-2244). New York, NY: Elsevier Inc.
2) Joassart-Marcelli, Pascale & Juliet Musso. (2001). The Distributive Impact of Federal Fiscal Policy: Federal Spending and Southern California Cities. Urban Affairs Review, 37: 163-183.
3) Hernandez, Jesus. (2009). Redlining Revisited: Mortgage Lending Patterns in Sacramento 1930-2004. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33(2): 291-313.
4) BBC. (2012). Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder in Philadelphia. London, UK: BBC Productions. (Online video: 59min).
Week 8
3/30* / Urban communities
#2 / 1) Oh, Joong-Hwan. (2005). Social Disorganizations and Crime Rates in U.S. Central Cities: Toward an Explanation of Urban Economic Change. The Social Science Journal, 42: 569-582.
2) Maskovsky, Jeff. (2001). The Other War At Home: The Geopolitics of U.S. Poverty. Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development, 30(2/3): 215-238
3) Ferrell, Jeff. (1995). Urban Graffiti: Crime, Control, and Resistance. Youth & Society, 27(1): 73-92.
4) Solnit, Rebecca. (2007). Detroit Arcadia: Exploring the post-American Landscape. Harper’s Magazine.
5) PBS. (2011). Need To Know—Designing the Future City. New York, NY: PBS Productions. (Online video: 12min).
6) TED. (2011). Alex Steffen: The Shareable Future of Cities. (Online video: 10 min).
7) TED. (2006). Majora Carter: Greening the Ghetto. (Online video: 19 min.).
Week 9
4/06* / Suburban communities / 1) Kimmel, Chad. (2010). Community in History: Exploring the Infancy of America’s ‘Most Perfectly Planned Community,’ Levittown, Pennsylvania. Sociological Viewpoints, 26(2): 37-51.
2) Kato, Yuki. (2011). Coming of Age in the Bubble: Suburban Adolescent’s Use of a Spatial Metaphor as a Symbolic Boundary. Symbolic Interaction, 34(2): 244-264.
3) Hanlon, Bernadette. (2009). A Typology of Inner-Ring Suburbs: Class, Race, and Ethnicity in U.S. Suburbia. City & Community, 8(3): 221-246.
4) Moore, Lisa. (2005). Place of Their Own: African American Suburbanization in the Twentieth Century (review). Social Forces, 84(1): 619-620.
Week 10
4/13 / Summary & analysis paper #2 due / No quiz.
In-class video & discussion as intro to public housing & ghettos.
Discussion on upcoming papers and class presentation.
Week 11
4/20* / Topic proposal or service learning paper #1 due
Public housing & ghettos / 1) Marcuse, Peter. (1997). The Ghetto of Exclusion and the Fortified Enclave: New Patterns in the United States. American Behavioral Scientist, 41(3): 311-326.
2) PBS. (2012). Frontline: The Interrupters. New York, NY: PBS Productions. (Online video: 1hr 55min).
Week 12
4/27* / Prison communities / 1) Gottschalk, Marie. (2011). The Past, Present, and Future of Mass Incarceration in the United States. Criminology & Public Policy, 10(3): 483-504.
2) Wacquant, Loïc. (2007). The Place of the Prison in the New Government of Poverty. Excerpted from Prisons of Poverty, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press (p.p. 1-6).
3) Viggiani, Nick de. (2012). Trying to be Something You Are Not: Masculine Performances within a Prison Setting. Men & Masculinities, 15(3): 271-291.
4) Pyrooz, David, Scott Decker, & Mark Fleisher. (2011). From the Street to the Prison, From the Prison to the Street: Understanding and Responding to Prison Gangs. Journal of Aggression, Conflict & Peace Research, 3(1): 12-24.
5) Colbert Report. (2009). The Word - The Green Mile. New York, NY: Comedy Central Productions. (Online video: 5min).
6) Colbert Report. (2012). The Word – Supply Chained. New York, NY: Comedy Central Productions. (Online video: 6min).
7) Democracy Now!. (2011). New Exposé Tracks ALEC-Private Prison Industry Effort to Replace Unionized Workers with Prison Labor. New York, NY: Pacifica. (Online video: 9min).
Week 13
5/04* / Rough draft or service learning paper #2 due
Homeless communities / 1) Lyon-Callo, Vincent. (2004). Inequality, Poverty, and Neoliberal Governance: Activist Ethnography in the Homeless Sheltering Industry. Plymouth, UK: Broadview Press, Ltd. Chapter 1 (pp.25-48).
2) Vanguard. (2009). Lost Vegas. New York, NY: Current TV, LLC. (Online video: 25min).
3) Doane, Seth. (2010). Homeless People Live in Tunnels Under Las Vegas. New York, NY: CBS Productions. (Online video: 3 min).
4) Al Jazeera-English. (2009). Witness: Under the Neon (parts 1 & 2). London, UK: Al Jazeera-English. (Online video: 23min).
5) Pelley, Scott. (2010). 60 Minutes--Homeless Veterans: Stand Down. New York, NY: CBS Productions. (Online video: 13 min).
Week 14
5/11 / Literature review or service learning final paper due & class presentations / Submit literature review to WebCampus.
Each student will present their findings to the class. Attendance is mandatory and is worth 10% of you final paper grade!
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