Semester at Sea, Course Syllabus Colorado State University, Academic Partner Voyage: Spring 2017 Discipline: Sociology Course Number and Title: SOC 105: Social Problems Division: Lower Faculty Name: James Witte Semester Credit Hours: 3 Prerequisites: None COURSE DESCRIPTION This course introduces students to the study of social problems. The course draws on the insights of C. Wright Mills, as laid out in The Sociological Imagination (1959/1976), a view which seeks to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. Adopting this perspective encourages students to consider the central question of sociology: the relationship between social structure and individual agency. In the context of social problems, Mills focused on five particular classes of problems facing society: 1) alienation; 2) moral insensibility; 3) threats to democracy; 4) threats to human freedom; and 5) conflict between bureaucratic rationality and human reason. In the course we will consider the current relevance of this typology of problems, particularly from a global perspective. Students will be encouraged to think about how situations are framed as problems, as well as the evidence needed to define a situation as a problem and assess imagined alternatives to that situation as possible solutions. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Understand and be able to apply the sociological imagination to a range of social problems related to alcohol and drug abuse, crime, urbanization, the environment and war and terrorism. Be able to clearly articulate why something is a social problem and not just a personal problem. Understand how different groups of people, including sociologists, define, create, and contest social problems. Develop a sociological perspective on how inequality relates to social problems. Develop a sociological perspective on how social institutions are implicated in social problems. Understand how social problems and possible solutions play themselves out in different cultures and how that varies with local social institutions and bases of inequality.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS AUTHOR: C. Wright Mills, Todd Gitlin TITLE: The Sociological Imagination PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press ISBN #: ISBN-13 978 0-19-513373-8 DATE/EDITION: 1959, 2000 Fortieth Anniversary Edition AUTHOR: Anna Leon-Guerrero TITLE: Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action PUBLISHER: Sage ISBN #: 978-1-4833-6937-2 DATE/EDITION: 2016/Fifth Edition TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE Depart Ensenada January 5 A1 January 7: Introduction to the class and requirements A2 January 9: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 1. A3 January 11: The Sociological Imagination, Chapters 1 2. Honolulu January 12 A4 January 14: The Sociological Imagination, Chapters 3 5. A5 January 17: The Sociological Imagination, Chapters 6 8. No class January 19 A6 January 20: The Sociological Imagination, Chapters 9 10. A7 January 22: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapters 2-3. Yokohama January 24-25 (US country notes due before disembarking) Transit January 26 Kobe January 27-28 A8 January 29: Film: Paris is Burning http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100332/ Shanghai January 31 February 1 (Japan country notes due before disembarking) Transit Feburary 2 3 Hong Kong February 4-5
A9 February 6: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 4. Ho Chi Minh City February 8-12 (China country notes due before disembarking) A10 February 13: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 5. A11 February 15: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 6. A12 February 17: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 7. Taylor, Robert H. "Do states make nations? The politics of identity in Myanmar revisited." South East Asia Research 13.3 (2005): 261-286. (On reserve) Rangoon February 18-22 (Vietnam country notes due before disembarking) A13 February 24: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 8. Bishop, Ann Peterson, and Karen E. Fisher. "Using ICT design to learn about immigrant teens from Myanmar." ICTD. 2015. (On reserve) A14 February 26: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 9. Taras, Vas, Julie Rowney, and Piers Steel. "Work-related acculturation: change in individual work-related cultural values following immigration." The International Journal of Human Resource Management 24.1 (2013): 130-151. (On reserve) Cochin February 27 March 4 (Myanmar country notes due before disembarking) A15 March 6: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 10. A16 March 8: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 11. Dekker, Rianne, Godfried Engbersen, and Marije Faber. "The Use of Online Media in Migration Networks." Population, Space and Place (2015). No Class March 10 A17 March 11: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 12. A18 March 13: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 13. A19 March 15: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 14. Williams, David R., et al. "Perceived discrimination and psychological well-being in the USA and South Africa." Ethnicity & health 17.1-2 (2012): 111-133. (On reserve) Cape Town March 16-21 (India and Pakistan country notes due before disembarking) A20 March 23: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 15. No Class March 25
A21 March 26: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 16. Hvistendahl, Mara. "While emerging economies boom, equality goes bust." Science 344.6186 (2014): 832-835. (On reserve) Tema March 28-30 (South Africa country notes due before disembarking) Takoradi March 31-April 1 A22 April 2: Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action, Chapter 17. A23 April 4: Social Problems Presentations I A24 April 7: Social Problems Presentations II Casablanca April 9-April 13 (Ghana country notes due before disembarking) Study Day April 14 A25 Final April 15: Arrive Hamburg April 19 (Morocco country notes due before disembarking) FIELD WORK Field Class proposals listed below are not finalized. Confirmed ports, dates, and times will be posted to the Spring 2017 Courses and Field Class page when available. Field Class attendance is mandatory for all students enrolled in this course. Do not book individual travel plans or a Semester at Sea sponsored trip on the day of your field class. Field Classes constitute at least 20% of the contact hours for each course, and will be developed and led by the instructor. FIELD CLASS AND ASSIGNMENT Students would spend a day at a local university. My first choice would be to do this at the University of Yangon, where I have contacts in the departments of psychology and anthropology. My second choice would be at a university in India or China. During the visit SAS students would meet with faculty and students from the local university. These meetings would be organized around two themes. The first theme would be comparing the higher education experience in the University we are visiting with the experiences of SAS students at their home universities. The conversations would consider academics but also student life and students aspirations and motivations for obtaining higher education. The second theme for discussion would be to consider one or more of the following areas in the country visited: 1) Alcohol & drug abuse, 2) Crime & criminal justice, 3) Urbanization, 4) The environment, 5) War & terrorism (topics may be excluded if they are culturally sensitive or less locally irrelevant). Within four days (96 hours) of returning on board, students will turn in a 3-4 page reflection essay on the discussions. Key points to consider: in what ways was obtaining higher education seen as an individual accomplishment in the face of individual barriers or as a socially structured process, shaped in part by social inequalities. Similarly, reflections on the
social issues would emphasize the degree to which they are seen as individual or social problems. INDEPENDENT FIELD ASSIGNMENTS Students are expected to turn in country notes for each of the eight countries visited, as well as for the United States and Pakistan. At the start of the course each student will be selected to work on two of the relationships between types of inequality and social issues outlined below. After each country students will prepare a page of notes on the relationship between the type of inequality and the social issue, particularly thinking about 1) how institutional arrangements in the country affect this relationship and 2) how the situation may be characterized as a type of social problem using C. Wright Mills definitions. Notes should be accompanied by supporting materials including observations, notes from conversations with residents, photos and other materials. As indicated in the course outline, country notes are due before disembarking at the next port. Feedback on these notes and related materials will be used to aid the students in developing a sociological perspective. They will also form the basis of the students final presentations, which are to focus on one of the two selected areas they have studied and how the relationship between inequality and social issues varies from country to country. The relationship between types of inequality and social issues Social issue Social class Race & ethnicity Type of Inequality Gender Sexual orientation Age & aging Alcohol & drug abuse 1 2 3 4 5 Crime & criminal justice 6 7 8 9 10 Urbanization 11 12 13 14 15 The environment 16 17 18 19 20
War & terrorism 21 22 23 24 25 Institutional arrangements: a) Families, b) Education, c) Work & economy, d) Health & medicine, e) The media Types of problems: 1) Alienation; 2) Moral insensibility; 3) Threats to democracy; 4) Threats to human freedom; and 5) Conflict between bureaucratic rationality and human reason METHODS OF EVALUATION / GRADING SCALE The following Grading Scale is utilized for student evaluation. Pass/Fail is not an option for Semester at Sea coursework. Note that C-, D+ and D- grades are also not assigned on Semester at Sea in accordance with the grading system at Colorado State University (the SAS partner institution). Pluses and minuses are awarded as follows on a 100% scale: Excellent Good Satisfactory/Poor Failing 97-100%: A+ 94-96%: A 90-93%: A- 87-89%: B+ 84-86%: B 80-83%: B- 77-79%: C+ 70-76%: C 60-69%: D Less than 60%: F C. Wright Mills writing reflection 10% Midterm test 10% University of Yangon writing reflection 20% Country notes 10% Social problem presentation 20% Final exam 20% Class participation 10% ATTENDANCE/ENGAGEMENT IN THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM Attendance in all Semester at Sea classes is mandatory, but it is at the instructor s discretion to assign a grade to the participation and attendance requirement. Remember to include information concerning the evaluation of Field Assignments and the Field Classes, which must constitute at least 20% of the total grade in a course. Students must inform their instructors prior to any unanticipated absence and take the initiative to make up missed work in a timely fashion. Instructors must make reasonable efforts to enable students to make up work which must be accomplished under the instructor s supervision (e.g., examinations, laboratories). In the event of a conflict in regard to this policy, individuals may appeal using established CSU procedures. LEARNING ACCOMMODATIONS
Semester at Sea provides academic accommodations for students with diagnosed learning disabilities, in accordance with ADA guidelines. Students who will need accommodations in a class, should contact ISE to discuss their individual needs. Any accommodation must be discussed in a timely manner prior to implementation. A memo from the student s home institution verifying the accommodations received on their home campus is required before any accommodation is provided on the ship. Students must submit this verification of accommodations pre-voyage as soon as possible, but no later than November 19, 2016 to academic@isevoyages.org. STUDENT CONDUCT CODE The foundation of a university is truth and knowledge, each of which relies in a fundamental manner upon academic integrity and is diminished significantly by academic misconduct. Academic integrity is conceptualized as doing and taking credit for one s own work. A pervasive attitude promoting academic integrity enhances the sense of community and adds value to the educational process. All within the University are affected by the cooperative commitment to academic integrity. All Semester at Sea courses adhere to this Academic Integrity Policy and Student Conduct Code. Depending on the nature of the assignment or exam, the faculty member may require a written declaration of the following honor pledge: I have not given, received, or used any unauthorized assistance on this exam/assignment. Electronic Course Materials (see syllabus)