Teaching Assistants for  Fall 2010: Christopher Esselmont, Jason Ponto, Tamara Humphrey and Whitney Steen.

Sociology is a broad discipline comprising an enormous variety of theories, methods, and studies that address a level of human experience is different from that addressed by other sciences.  Sociology is unique in its consistent emphasis on a distinct level of reality–the social–to account for personal experience as well as the experience of groups of persons, from couples (at the “micro” level of sociological work) to nations (at the “macro” level), acting in concert. Sociology also concerns, in the first place, the existence, definition, and the availability for study of this thing called “society,” and it is with this core theoretical issue that this course begins.

We will not be able to uncover the entire field of sociology in this course. My agenda is to expose as much as possible, and especially to apprise everyone of the uniqueness of sociology as a discipline among the social sciences, and of the usefulness of sociology in understanding the place of social forces in determining and understanding individual, group-based, and collective behaviour.

Required Text:

Macionis, J and L Gerber. 2011. Sociology. Seventh Canadian Edition. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada. Do not purchase earlier editions!

The powerpoint slides for all of my lectures is available on my course website. You can follow the links to the "201" folder, or click on the direct URL for the PPT directory: https://webdisk.ucalgary.ca/~jmanzo/public_html/lectures/201/. The flles are labelled in ways that should make it clear which files attach to which sections in the course outline, but I wlll try to clarify this where necessary.

Course Requirements:

There are four formal grade components, as follows:

1. Two in-class tests will respectively constitute 20% and 20% of your final grade. The tests will consist of 20 multiple choice items and are not cumulative with respect to topics covered. The tests will take place in class, in our regular lecture location. The first test will take place on Wednesday October 13 and the second on Monday, November 22. Not fewer than five days before the midterms and final exam, I post a STUDY GUIDE to my course website concerning topics to be covered. Please start checking the course website at least a week before the tests for this study guide.

2. A final exam, which is cumulative with respect to topics covered, will be given at a date to be scheduled during the exam period. The final exam will also be worth 40% of your semester grade and will comprise multiple choice and, possibly, essay components.

3. Tutorial work will constitute 20% of your final grade. Tutorials begin in the SECOND week of the term (unless otherwise recheduled- this will be clarified in lecture and via blackboard) and attendance is compulsory. In some weeks, pursuant to announcements made in lecture and via blackboard, tutorials may be cancelled.

Tutorial work will comprise in-class and four formal writing aspects; the in-class, oral component will constitute 4% of your semester grade, and each of the four written components will constitute 4% of your grade for a total of 16%. The details of these assignments will be devised and organized by your TAs and they will announce them as early in the semester as possible.

Grading Scale

Letter grades will be assigned based on the following scale:

A+   96-100
A     90-95
A-    85-89
B+   80-84
B     74-79
B-    70-73
C+   67-69
C     63-66
C-    60-62
D+   57-59
D     53-56
D-    50-52
F       0-49

Emergency evacuations:

In the case of fire or other emergency evacuation of this classroom/lab, please proceed to the assembly point. For lectures in the Science Theatres, this is in the Social Sciences Food Court (the foyer). For other rooms in Social Science, this is the Professional Faculties Food Court.

If at all possible you must provide advance notice to the instructor if you are unable to take a test or pass in an assignment or essay on time. All requests for deferral of a course component due to health reasons must be accompanied by written documentation as outlined in the University Calendar and should be obtained while the student has the physical or emotional problem rather than after recovery. Deferrals will be allowed in the following circumstances: illness, domestic affliction or religious conviction. Travel arrangements and misreading of the syllabus are not valid reasons for requesting a deferral. Deferrals will not be granted if it is determined that just cause is not shown by the student.

If you have missed a test for a legitimate reason, the instructor can require you to write a “make up” test as close in time to the original test as possible or can choose to transfer the percentage weight to another course component. If the instructor schedules a “make up” test for you, its date and location will be at the convenience of the Sociology Department.

Please note that requests to defer a final examination or to defer term work past the end of a term go through the Undergraduate Programs Office (UPO) and must be processed by the deadlines that are established in the U of C Calendar. You can find the forms you need online:
Deferred Final Exam Application:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/registrar/files/registrar/APP%20FOR%20DF%20EXAM_0.pdf
Deferred Term Work Form:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/registrar/files/registrar/defTW.pdf
You must submit these deferral forms to the Faculty of Arts Associate Dean (Students) through the UPO office: Undergraduate Programs Office, 4th Floor, MacEwan Student Centre. Only the Associate Dean approves requests for deferrals which extend beyond the end of a term. Instructors are not involved in such decisions. To make an appointment with the Associate Dean, phone (403) 220-8155.
Ethics Research: Students are advised that any research with human subjects--including
any interviewing (even with friends and family), opinion polling, or unobtrusive observation--must have the approval of the Departmental Ethics Committee. In completing course requirements, students must not undertake any human subjects research without discussing their plans with the instructor, to determine if ethics approval is required.

Academic Misconduct: Plagiarism, cheating and other academic misconduct are regarded as serious academic offences. Students are advised to consult the University Calendar which presents a Statement of Intellectual Honesty and definitions and penalties associated with cheating, plagiarism, and other academic misconduct.
 
The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) legislation disallows the practice of having students retrieve assignments from a public place, e.g., outside an instructor’s office or the Department main office. Written assignments must be returned to students individually, during class, or during the instructor’s office hours; if a student is unable to pick up her/his assignment s/he may provide the instructor with a stamped, self-addressed envelope to be used for the return of the assignment.

Safewalk: The University of Calgary provides a “safe walk” service to any location on Campus, including the LRT, parking lots, bus zones, and campus housing. For Campus Security/Safewalk call 220-5333. Campus Security can also be contacted from any of the “Help” phones located around Campus.

Academic Accommodation: Students with a disability, who require academic accommodation, need to register with the Disability Resource Centre (MC 295, phone 220-8237). Academic accommodation letters need to be provided to course instructors no later than fourteen (14) days after the first day of class. It is a student’s responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre and to request academic accommodation, if required.

Handing in papers outside of class, return of final papers, and release of final grades:

1.  When students are unable to submit papers in class, they should make arrangements to hand in their papers directly to the instructor or teaching assistant.  Papers will not be accepted in the main Sociology Department office.
2.  Final papers will not be returned through the main Sociology Department office.  The Freedom of Information and Privacy (FOIP) legislation disallows the practice of having students retrieve assignments from a public place (i.e. outside an instructor’s office, the department office etc.) Students who want their final papers returned by mail must attach a stamped, self-addressed envelope with the paper.  Otherwise final papers will be available for pick-up only during the instructor’s office hours at the end of this term or at the beginning of the next term.
3.  Final grades are not posted by the Sociology Department.  They are available only online.

Research Ethics : Students are advised that any research with human subjects--including any interviewing (even with friends and family), opinion polling, or unobtrusive observation--must have the approval of the Departmental Ethics Committee.  In completing course requirements, students must not undertake any human subjects research without discussing their plans with the instructor, to determine if ethics approval is required.

Note on Course Outline:

You will note that I have organized this course to encompass seventeen topics, or modules. I have not assigned dates to these, because I can never be certain that I will cover all of a topic on a particular date, or if/when I may have to be absent. Generally, I will cover one topic per lecture, but instead of attaching a date to each, I simply refer to them as “sections.” All chapter references are to the text.

SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND LECTURE TOPICS. Please note that we have a new edition of the textbook and as such this schedule is subject to modification.

1: Introductory.

2: The Perspectives of Sociology; Foundational Theories. Reading: Chapters 1 and 4.

3: Methods of Sociological Inquiry. Reading: Chapter 2.

4: Everyday Life. Reading: Chapter 6.

5: Socialization. Reading: Chapter 5.

6. Aging and the Life Course. Reading: Chapter 15.

7: Gender and Sexuality. Reading: Chapters 8 and 13.

8: Groups, Organizations and Bureaucracy. Reading: Chapter 7

9: Marriage and Family. Reading: Chapter 18.

10: Conformity, Deviance, and Crime. Reading: Chapter 9.

11: Social Class and Social Inequality. Reading: Chapters 11.

12: Political Sociology, Collective Behavious, and Social Movements. Reading: Chapters 17 and 23.

13: Religion. Reading: Chapter 19.

14: Health, Illness and Medicine. Reading: Chapter 21.

15: Race and Ethnicity. Reading: Chapter 14

16: International Inequality. Reading: Chapter 12.

17: Demography. Reading: Chapter 22.