PART I: INTRODUCTION TO LIFE, SCHOOL, AND SOCIOLOGY

Section 1: Introduction to the course, the fascination of sociology.

8/28: Welcome to the U of I

8/30: What is sociology: How does it help us understand life?

Read: Chapter 1 (N&G)

Read: #2 Invitation to Sociology (F)

Section 2: An Approach to Education

9/4: Education as a Social Institution

9/6: How to avoid becoming hamburger: Claiming your Education  

Read: #27 Learning the Student Role (F) (by 9/4)

Read: Claiming an Education Letter (course web site) (by 9/6)

Section 3: The Social Construction of Reality

9/11: Discussion of New York City and Washington D.C. events.

9/13: Idea of social construction of reality

9/18: World Construction (continued): The Matrix

Read: Begin Chapter 4 Culture (N&G)

PART II: BECOMING CONSTRUCTED BEINGS: CULTURE AND SOCIALIZATION

Section 1: Culture

9/20: Culture, Ethnocentrism, Norms, Values

9/25: Youth Culture

Read: Chapter 4 Culture (N&G)

Read: #10 Body Ritual…(F)

Read: #12 Expendable Youth (F)

Section 2: Socialization

9/27: How do you learn youth culture? Agents of Socialization  

10/2: Challenge #1

Read: Chapter 5 Socialization (pp. 138-150) (N&G)

Section 3: A Demonstration of Socialization: Micro level Social Structure

10/4: Roles and Statuses

10/9: Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Study

Read: Chapter 3 Social Structure (pp. 93-98) (N&G)

Read: #39 If Hitler Asked…(F)

PART III: SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

Section 1: The Impact of Social Structure on Biography

10/11: Personal Troubles and Public Issues

10/16, 18: The Case of Personal Bankruptcy

Read: Review Chapter 1 (pp. 1-9) (N&G)

Read: #3 The Promise (F)

Read: #34 The Credit Card (F)  

CHALLENGE #2 ASSIGNED 10/16

Section 2: Agency and Shaping the Constructed World

10/23: Personal, Group, and Elite Agency

10/25: Merchants of Cool and Youth Culture

10/30: Hegemony

Read: Chapter 6 Systems of Inequality (pp. 175-183) (N&G)

Read: #40 Money Changes Everything (F)

Section 3: Socialization Reconsidered: Gender

CHALLENGE #2 DUE 10/30

11/1: Becoming Gendered Beings

11/6: Slim Hopes

11/8: Gender Stratification

Read: Review Chapter 4 Culture (pp. 111-113) (N&G)

Read: Chapter 5 Socialization (pp. 150-157) (N&G)

Read: Chapter 6 Systems of Inequality (pp. 175-178; 190-193) (N&G)

Read: #6 Becoming Boys… (F)

Read: #8 Beauty and the Beast… (F)

Read: #9 Influence of Gender Socialization… (F)

Section 4: Deviance and Social Construction

11/13: Challenge #3 in-class quiz

11/15: Social Construction of Deviance

Read: Chapter 8 Deviance (pp. 243-257) (N&G)

Read: #48 Crime in the Suites (F)

Read: #50 On Being Sane (F)

11/19-23: THANKSGIVING BREAK  

PART IV: SOCIAL STRUCTURE RECONSIDERED: ORDER AND CONFLICT

Section 1: Mid-Level Social Structure: Groups, Bureaucracy and Informal Organization

11/27: Groups and Bureaucracy/Rationalization

11/29: McDonaldization

Read: Chapter 3 Social Structure: Mid-Level (pp.75-93) (N&G)

Read:  #17 McDonaldization (F)

Section 2: Macro-Level Social Structure: World System, Society, Institutions

12/4: Overview

12/6: World System

12/11, 13: Institutions

Read: Chapter 2 Social Structure: Macro-Level

Read: #51: Limiting Consumption