Course Outline: 
 
 
 

1/13	Intro - Class Business and setting the stage.
1/18	How was American society organized in the first half of the 19th Century?  Reading:  Selections from Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America                    Vol. 2, Section 2, Chaps. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 (These are fairly short)                   http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/toc_indx.html
1/20	How is the suicide rate linked to historical processes?  Reading:  “General Approach” and “Individual and Society” at DSS                 http://www.runet.edu/~lridener/DSS/INDEX.HTML#durkheim  Recommended:  Robert Alun Jones' analysis of Durkheim's Suicide (20 pages)                 http://granny.lang.uiuc.edu/durkheim/Summaries/suicide.html
1/25	SNOWDay
1/27	SNOWDay
2/1	How do sociologists study society?  Was Durkheim's study of suicide scientific?  Reading:  Charon, Chap 1 - pp. 7 - 26.
2/3	What trends in society influenced the study of sociology?  Reading:  George Ritzer, "A Historical Sketch of Sociological Theory"                    Chap. 1 of Sociological Theory, pp. 3 – 12.                   http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/history.pdf                   JUST PRINT PAGES 1-6 OF THIS READING!!  Copy of front page of book for book review due!!!
2/8	How are weak and strong ties different?  Reading:  Mark Granovetter, "The Strength of Weak Ties"                 http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/weakties.pdf
2/10	Social networks  Reading:  Gladwell, "Six degrees of Lois Weisberg"                  http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/Gladwel2.pdf
2/15	Stratification – Why are people unequal in society?  Reading:  Charon, Chap. 4 - pp. 69 - 98.
2/17	Balance Theory  - building social organization from micro to macro Book Review Due today!!!!
2/22	Education and inequality – Do schools reproduce and legitimate inequality I?  Reading:  Hurn "The limits and possibilities of schooling"                    http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/hurn.pdf
2/24	The organization of education – Do schools reproduce and legitimate inequality II?  Reading: Ray Rist "Student social class and teacher expectations", pp. 411-442                http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/rist.pdf
2/29	Race and inequality  Reading:  Charon, Chap. 7, "Why can't everyone be just like us?"  GROUP PROJECT PROPOSAL DUE!!!!
3/2	Race and inequality II  Reading:  "Learning to Look Past Race", LA TIMES                http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/walnut.html  Film:  “Race, Rap, and Inequality”
3/7	Wrap things up.  Midterm Review
3/9	Midterm!
3/14	Spring Break - Have fun!
3/16	Spring Break
3/21	Classical Liberal Theory - What is freedom?
3/23	Are Human Beings Free?  Reading: Charon, Chap. 6 - pp. 120 - 146
3/28	Sociological Dilemmas after the Holocaust: Extreme Rationalization?  Reading: Zygmunt Bauman, Ch. 1 of Modernity and the Holocaust                  http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/bauman.pdf
3/30	Extreme rationalization or McDonaldization in the US?  Reading: George Ritzer, "The Weberian Theory of Rationalization and the                   McDonaldization of Contemporary Society", pp. 37-61.                 http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/ritzer.pdf
4/4	What are the consequences of urbanization for the individual?  Reading: George Simmel, "The Metropolis and Mental Life"                 http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/metropol.pdf
4/6	Why do we believe what we do?  Reading: Charon, Chap 5, pp. 99-119.
4/11	How does our language and culture structure what we believe?  Reading: Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart, preface and Chap. 1                 http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/habits1.pdf
4/13	What are the 4 main cultural strands in the US?  Reading: Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart, Chap. 2                  http://www.unc.edu/~lpalmer/syllabi/summer99/readings/habits2.pdf
4/18	How does Putnam's theory compare to Tocqueville's?  His evidence?  How does it fit with Bellah?  Reading: Robert Putnam, "Bowling Alone" (10 pages)  Warning:  You must access this document from the university network!!!            http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v006/6.1putnam.html
4/20	Group Presentations
4/25	Group Presentations
4/27	Group Presentations
5/2	Group Presentation
5/4	Exam Review
5/11	Final Exam - 8:00am