Weekly Reading Schedule

Week 1: Topic 1. Sociological Imagination

• • • What is sociology?
    • What is sociological imagination?

Required Reading

Textbook

• • Openstax. Why study sociology. In Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax CNX. Dec 18, 2019 https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-2e.
  • Openstax. The history of sociology. In Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax CNX. Dec 18, 2019 https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-2e.

Supplementary Reading

• • The Promise of the Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills

Week 2: Topic 2. Sociological Theories

• • • What is Sociology?
    • Background of Sociology: The Industrial Revolution and Modernity.

Reading assignment

Textbook

• • Section 1.3. Theoretical perspectives in sociology. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401

Supplementary reading

• • “Marx Was Right: Five Surprising Ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014: From the iPhone 5S to corporate globalization, modern life is full of evidence of Marx’s foresight” by Sean McElwee, Rolling Stone, Jan 30, 2014

Week 3: Topic 3. Sociological Methods

• • • Asking and answering sociological questions.
    • Why do we need methods?
    • The difference between quantitative methods and qualitative methods

Reading assignment

• • Approaches to Sociological Research in  Introduction to Sociology 2e
  • Research Methods in Introduction to Sociology 2e

Supplementary reading

• • “Survey research controversy, white anti-racist activists, and supernatural beliefs” The Contexts Graduate Student Board in Context, 2009
  • “How to Do Ethnography Right” by Syed Ali and Philip Cohen in Context, 2018

Week 4: Topic 4. Culture

Culture and Society

Reading assignment

Textbook

• • 3.1 What Is Culture? – Introduction to Sociology 2e | OpenStax 
  • 3.2 Elements of Culture in Introduction to Sociology 2e, OpenStax
  • 3.3 Pop Culture, Subculture, and Cultural Change in Introduction to Sociology 2e, OpenStax
  • 3.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Culture in Introduction to Sociology 2e, OpenStax

Supplementary reading

• • Anderson, L.V. 2014. Limits of the Locavor. Dissent Magazine.

Week 5: Topic 5. Socialization

Socialization and the Life Course

Reading assignment

Textbook

• • Section 4.1. The importance of socialization. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401
  • Section 4.2. Explaining socialization. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401
  • Section 4.4. Socialization through the life course. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401
  • Agents of Socialization, in Sociology by University of Minnesota

Supplementary reading 

• “Black Panther” and the Importance of Racial Socialization

Movie 1: Consuming Kids

• The documentary is available via Kanopy!
• Movie review due by xxx, xx.

Week 6: Topic 6. Organizations and Bureaucracy

Organizations and Bureaucracy

 

Required Reading

Textbook

Section 5.2. The development of modern society. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.

• • Section 6.3. Formal organizations. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.
  • Section 4.5. Resocialization and total institutions. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.

Supplementary reading

• • Bureaucracy in Boundless Sociology
  • Bureaucracy in Britannica

 

Week 7: Midterm Exam

Study guide  

Week 8 & 9: Topic 7. Class and Social Stratification 

Class and Social Stratification & US Class System

Reading assignment

Textbook

• Section 8.1. Systems of stratification. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.
• Section 8.2. Explaining stratification. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.
• Section 8.3. Social class in the United States. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.

Supplementary reading

Week 10 & 11: Topic 8. Race and Ethnicity

Reading assignment

Textbook

• Section 1o.5. Racial and ethnic inequality in the United States . In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.
• Openstax. What is social stratification. In Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax CNX. Dec 18, 2019 https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-2e.

Supplementary reading

• Dworkin, Shari L. 2009. Race, Sexuality, and the “One Drop Rule”: More Thoughts about Interracial Couples and Marriage 
• Lee, Jennifer, Frank D. Bean, and Kathy Sloane. 2003. “Beyond black and white: remaking race in America.” Contexts 2(3): 26-33.

Week 12: Topic 9. Gender

Reading assignment

Textbook

• Section 11.1. Understanding gender and sex. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.
• Section 5.1. Social structure: The building blocs of social life. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.
• Section 5.3. Social interaction in everyday life. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.

Supplementary reading

Gender, Sexualization, and Rolling Stone by Mary Nell Trautner and Erin Hatton

Week 13: Topic 10. Intersectionality: Race, Class, and Gender

White Beauty, Atlanta Shootings and Intersectionality, & Obesity, Race, and Class

Reading assignment

Textbook-like reading

• • Intersectionality, Subcultures and Sociology, Grinnell College.
    • What is Intersectionality?
    • Media

Supplementary reading: Journal & Media

• • Smith, Sharon. 2013. “Black feminism and intersectionality.” International Socialist Review 91(11): 1-16.
  • Garcia-Rojas, Claudia . 2019. “Intersectionality Is a Hot Topic — and So Is the Term’s Misuse.” Truthout, October 17, 2019
  • Coaston, Jane. 2019. “The intersectionality wars.” Vox May 28, 2019

Week 14: Topic 11. Globalization 

Reading assignment

Textbook

• Openstax. Global stratification and classification. In Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax CNX. Dec 18, 2019 https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-2e.
• Openstax. Global wealth and poverty. In Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax CNX. Dec 18, 2019 https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-2e.
• Section 9.3. Explaining global stratification. In: Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Open Textbooks. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401.

Supplementary reading

• Textbook-like reading: The McDonalization of Society
• An Introduction to McDonaldization by George Ritzer
• Saskia Sassen’s “The Global City: Introducing a Concept” Brown Journal of World Affairs 11(2): 27-43.
• Jesus Leal Trujillo and Joseph Parilla’s “Redefining Global Cities” Brookings Institute

Week 15: Topic 12. Urban Issues

Reading assignment

Textbook

• 20.2 Urbanization in Introduction to Sociology 2e

Supplementary reading

• Urbanization in History of Western Civilization II
• The Industrial Revolution in People, Places and Cultures by The OpenOKState OER program
• Becky Nicolaides and Andrew Wiese, “Suburbanization in the United States after 1945” in Urban History. 
• “Overview: The Gentrification Debates   ” “PART I: What is gentrification?: Definitions and key concepts” and “PART II: How, where and when does gentrification occur?” in The Gentrification Debates by Japonica Brown-Saracino (pages 1-8, 11-18, and 63-70)
• “Gentrification: Timeline”  in Next City
• Gentrification in National Geographic

Week 17: Final Exam

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