Weber State University

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Sociology 1020                                                                            Brenda Marsteller Kowalewski

Social Problems                                                                           SS 124

TTh 10:00-11:15am SS 337                                                        Office hrs MF 9:30-11:30am

Spring 2006                                                                                                    T 1-2pm & by appt

Course Web Page:                                                                   626-7893

http://faculty.weber.edu/bkowalewski/                                        bkowalewski@weber.edu

Social Science General Education Objectives addressed in this Course

This course should increase or improve your:

              •            knowledge of the fundamental UNIFYING PRINCIPLES or ORGANIZING THEMES of sociology.

              •            knowledge of TERMINOLOGY used in sociology.

              •            knowledge of the HISTORY, THEORY or ETHICAL STANDARDS applicable to sociology.

              •            knowledge of METHODS used in accumulating and validating information.

              •            awareness of SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES AMONG INDIVIDUALS in different social groups within American society.

              •            ability to view the social world from DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES.

              •            awareness of VOICES that do NOT come FROM THE DOMINANT social groups of American society.

              •            ability to DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO RESOLVE social PROBLEMS.

Additional Course Objectives

              ☞ To gain sociological perspective on many different societal issues.

☞ To investigate the variation of experiences of individuals in American society by social class, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation and understand how such experiences can then become defined as social problems.

☞ To investigate social problems in American families, the economy, workplace, health care system, education, and other social institutions.

☞ To provide students an opportunity to employ their sociological imaginations in a “real world” setting via a service learning project.

☞ To hone students’ writing skills.

Required Text: 

                        Macionis, John J. (2005). Social Problems. Prentice Hall.

Optional Text:

Hamner, Doris M. (2002). Building Bridges: The Allyn & Bacon Student Guide to Service-Learning.

Note to Students with Special Needs:

            Any student requiring accommodations or services due to a disability must contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) in room 181 of the Student Service Center. SSD can also arrange to provide course materials (including this syllabus) in alternative formats if necessary.

Course Evaluations

            The evaluation for this course will be based on two exams, a service-learning project (see requirements on subsequent pages), in class writing assignments, and class participation. The exams will consist of multiple choice, matching, theory application, and fill in the blank questions. All exams are cumulative, (which will cover all readings, lectures, movies and guest speakers). Reviews will be given in class, if time permits. Class attendance and participation will be taken into consideration and will be especially influential when a student has a borderline grade.

Extra Credit

            There will be NO extra credit assignments in this class.

Grades

                                                Exam I                                                             50 points 

                                                Exam II                                                            50 points

                                                Exam III                                                          50 points

Service Learning Project:

                                                            4 in-class reflection exercises              20 points total

                                                            2 S-L Assignments                              80 points total

                                                            Field notes on 25 hours of service       50 points

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Total 300 points

                                                The final grades will be determined as follows:

                                                                                    270 - 300 = A- to A

                                                                                    240 - 269 = B- to B+

                                                                                    210 - 239 = C- to C+

                                                                                    180 - 209 = D- to D+

                                                                                    below 180 = E

Service-Learning Project

This assignment requires that you commit yourself to:

a) work at least 25 hours in a community agency (from a select list provided by the instructor);

b) keep field notes of your experiences and observations;

c) provide a letter of verification of completion of 25 hours;

d) complete 4 in-class reflection assignments (dates listed on the course schedule); and

e) complete 3 service-learning assignments designed to guide you through processes of discovery, integration, and evaluation.

            This project is 50% of your overall grade in this course so you should be very thoughtful about your choice of service site and your service-learning assignments. All components of the service-learning project must be typed. The following outlines the requirements for this assignment.

A. Hours and Service-Learning Site and Contract

1. Hours

This assignment requires that you commit yourself to work at least 25 hours in a community agency over the course of the semester. Your hours must be spread over a 5 week period of time at a minimum. Thus, you can NOT do all 25 hours in just one or two weeks, nor all at one time. Additionally, you must complete the minimum 25 hour requirement to be eligible for full credit on all service-learning related assignments and exercises. If you only complete 50% of the minimum required hours, you are only eligible to achieve 50% of the total 150 points associated with the service-learning assignments for this course.

2. Service-Learning Site

The volunteer site must be selected from the list provided by the instructor. Representatives from such agencies will make a brief presentation in class during the first week of class. You will make a decision about where you want to serve within the first two weeks of the semester.

3. Service-Learning Contract

Each student is required to complete a service-learning contract with their agency. Your professor will provide you with the contract and/or you can obtain a copy of this document from the course web page by using the service-learning link. This contract is signed by both the student and the site supervisor and must be on file in your professor’s office in order to receive a grade in this course. Signed contracts are due at the same time as the first service-learning paper described below on January 31^st.

B. Field Notes

After each visit to your service site, you should type notes recording your experiences and observations. These notes should show the date and time you were at the site and should not include real names of the people with whom you are interacting. Protecting the anonymity of the agency’s clients is professional and ethical; I am expecting you to be both. After you record your observations, you should answer the questions listed below in the Example Entry.

Remember, the requirement is a minimum of 5 visits over a 5 week period of time, thus you are required to submit a total of 5 field note entries over the course of the semester. Each field note entry is worth 10 points for a total of 50 points. These field notes will be collected twice. You must submit at least two completed entries by February 23^rd and the final three entries by April 27^th.

C. Letter of Verification or Time Sheet

A verification of hours worked needs to be obtained from your supervisor. This information is most important. Without a letter of verification you will not receive credit for the service-learning project. This should be in written form on organization letterhead or time sheet and should include the supervisor's signature and the number of hours you worked. This should be obtained after you have fulfilled at least the minimum requirement of 25 hours.

Due: no later than April 27^th.

D. In-Class Reflection Exercises

There will be 4 in-class reflection exercises. The dates of these in-class reflection exercises are listed on the course schedule. You are expected to attend the reflection session and complete the assignment during the class period. Class attendance is required for completion of these exercises. Each exercise is worth 5 points for a total of 20 points.

E. Service-Learning Assignments

                        1. Discovery Paper (worth 30 points)            Due: January 31^st   1-2 pages

This paper requires you to answer a series of questions regarding the agency and your job within it. In order to answer some of the assigned questions, you will most likely need to “interview” your site supervisor or some other site administrator. Answer the questions as thoughtfully and thoroughly as you can and support your answers with observations from your field notes.

a. About the Agency

                                    •          What are the goals or objectives of the organization?

                                    •          How long has the agency been operating?

                                    •          Who does the agency serve?

                                    •          How many volunteers serve the organization?

                                    •          What is the structure of the agency?

                                    •          How is it funded?

                                    •          How does the agency interact with the surrounding community?

                                    •          Who benefits from what this organization does? Is anyone harmed by its efforts?

                                    •          Describe your scene at your site – people, rooms, sounds, smells etc. Is this what you were expecting? Why or why not?

                                    •          Why are people involved in this work?

b. Job Description

                                    •          What is your job description? For example: Volunteer, Administrative Assistant, Peer Counselor, etc.

                                    •          How do you fit into the organization and what are your responsibilities?

                                    •          What are your first impressions of your first visit? attitude toward you? Why?

                        2. Integration Paper   (worth 50 points)        Due: March 30^th     3-4 pages

Choose a social problem that your agency is addressing and write a brief “research” paper on this topic. You must select four scholarly articles to read and cite in your research paper. Your paper should include:

a) identification of the social problem and why it is defined as such;

b) what the causes and consequences of the social problem are;

c) a discussion of whether the current research and course material regarding this social problem is consistent or inconsistent with what you’ve observed at your agency and why;

d) a minimum of 4 sources in addition to Macionis, [cite your sources in your paper using author’s last name and year of publication – eg. This is a sentence (Coontz, 1999).] ;

e) a Bibliography including full citations for each scholarly source used to write your paper.

Course Schedule

(subject to change)

I. Introduction to Social Problems through Service-Learning

            Jan 10             Syllabus and Service-Learning Requirements

            Jan 12             Service-Learning Community Partners Present

                                                 Optional Reading: Building Bridges Chapter 4

            Jan 17             Service-Learning In-class Reflection

                                                Optional Reading: Building Bridges Chapters 1 & 2 & 3

II. Introduction to Sociology and the Study of Social Problems

You will be introduced to sociology as a discipline and some of the different sociological perspectives used to study society. We will apply these perspectives specifically to understanding social problems throughout the semester.

            Jan 19-24                    Reading: Chapter 1

III. Inequalities Based on Social Locators

In this section we will be discussing how particular social locators, such as social class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and age place people at a disadvantage in our society and therefore can be studied as social problems.

            Jan 26-31        Poverty and Wealth

Reading: Chapter 2

            Feb 2-7           Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Reading: Chapter 3

            Feb 9-14         Gender Inequality

Reading: Chapter 4

            Feb 16             Service Learning In-class Reflection

                                                Optional Reading: Building Bridges Chapters 5 & 6

EXAM I         Available via Chi-tester from Feb 16-20 in any WSU testing center.

IV. Social Problems and Social Institutions

In this section we will take some time to investigate various social institutions and the social problems existing within them.

            Feb 21-23       Education

                                                Reading: Chapter 14

            Feb 23             Field Notes Due – Two complete entries due at this time

            Feb 28             No class – use as a service-learning day

            March 2-7       Family Life

                                                Reading: Chapter 13

            March 7          Service-Learning In-class Reflection

            March 9          Library – How to search for scholarly journal articles

            Spring Break – March 13-17 – No Class

            March 21-23   Crime and Criminal Justice System

Reading: Chapter 6

            March 28-30   Urban Life

Reading: Chapter 15

EXAM II        Available via Chi-tester from March 30-April 3 in any WSU testing center.

            April 4-6         Economy and Politics

                                                Reading: Chapter 11

            April 11-13     Work and the Workplace

                                                Reading: Chapter 12

            April 13          Service-Learning In-class Reflection

V. Global Social Problems

Here we will explore social problems for the U.S. at a broader level. We will consider such issues as: over population, world hunger, depletion of natural resources, urban growth and some of the social problems accompanying it, as well as some global social problems like war and terrorism.

            April 18-25     Population, Global Inequality, Technology and the Environment

Readings: Chapters 16 and 17

            April 27          War and Terrorism

Readings: Chapter 18 (pp.457-466)

            April 27          Service-Learning Evaluation Survey and Wrap up

EXAM III      Available via Chi-tester from May 1-3 in any WSU testing center.