Soci 1: Introduction to Sociology (2019)

University of California, San Diego
Summer 2019
M-Th 9:30-10:50, PCYNH 122

Lane Kenworthy
Email: lkenworthy@ucsd.edu
Office hours: Tu Th 11:00-12:00, SSB 472

Sociology is the scientific study of society — of people, organizations, institutions, policies, cities, and countries, the ways in which they interact, and the outcomes they create. This course will introduce you to questions, hypotheses, research findings, and arguments on some important and topical issues.

SCHEDULE

Week 1: Aug 5 (M)
Course introduction

  • Read before discussion section: Lane Kenworthy, “Progress,” The Good Society. LINK

Week 1: Aug 6 (Tu)
How do we know?

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “How Do We Know?,” The Good Society. LINK

Week 1: Aug 7 (W)
Climate change

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Climate Stability,” The Good Society. LINK
  • Listen before discussion section: Planet Money podcast, “So, Should We Recycle?,” National Public Radio, 2019. LINK

Week 1: Aug 8 (Th)
Weight

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Weight Moderation,” The Good Society. LINK

Week 2: Aug 12 (M)
No class today, but discussion section will meet
Guns

  • Read before discussion section: Lane Kenworthy, “Guns,” The Good Society. LINK
  • Listen before discussion section: No Jargon podcast, “Guns in America, Part 1,” Episode 160, Scholars Strategy Network, 2019. LINK
  • Listen before discussion section: No Jargon podcast, “Guns in America, Part 2,” Episode 161, Scholars Strategy Network, 2019. LINK
  • Read before discussion section: Ross Douthat, “Liberalism’s Gun Problem,” New York Times, 2015. LINK

Week 2: Aug 13 (Tu)
Health

  • Read before class: Brian Resnick, “What a Lifetime of Playing Football Can Do to the Human Brain,” Vox, 2019. LINK
  • Read before class: William J. Broad, “The 5G Health Hazard That Isn’t,” New York Times, 2019. LINK

Week 2: Aug 14 (W)
Cities

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Affordable Renting,” The Good Society. LINK
  • Read before discussion section: Emily Badger, “What Happened to the American Boomtown?,” New York Times, 2017. LINK

Week 2: Aug 15 (Th)
Exam 1
This exam will cover material from readings, videos, and lectures plus numbers 1, 7, 14, 15, and 22 of 100 Things to Know.

Week 3: Aug 19 (M)
Inclusion

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Inclusion: African Americans,” The Good Society. LINK
  • Watch before discussion section: Henry Louis Gates, Jr, Black America Since MLK, Episodes 1 and 2, PBS, 2016, 218 minutes (free: sign in with KPBS member email lane.kenworthy@gmail.com and password kpbs2018). LINK

Week 3: Aug 20 (Tu)
Economic security

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Stable Income and Expenses,” The Good Society. LINK

Week 3: Aug 21 (W)
Income inequality

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Income Distribution,” The Good Society. LINK
  • Read before discussion section: Alan B. Krueger, “The Economics of Rihanna’s Superstardom,” New York Times, 2019. LINK

Week 3: Aug 22 (Th)
Balancing work and family

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Work-Family-Leisure Balance,” The Good Society. LINK

Week 4: Aug 26 (M)
Risks and protections

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Social Programs,” The Good Society. LINK
  • Read before discussion section: Grace Gedye, “The Strange Political Silence on Elder Care,” Washington Monthly, 2019. LINK

Week 4: Aug 27 (Tu)
Exam 2
This exam will cover material from readings, videos, and lectures since exam 1 plus numbers 32, 37, 40, 44, and 52 of 100 Things to Know.

Week 4: Aug 28 (W)
Freedom

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Personal Freedom,” The Good Society. LINK
  • Read before discussion section: Michael Kazin, “America’s Never-Ending Culture War,” New York Times, 2018. LINK

Week 4: Aug 29 (Th)
Worthiness, virtue, and trust: China’s social credit scores

  • Read before class: Mara Hvistendahl, “Inside China’s Vast New Experiment in Social Ranking,” Wired, 2017. LINK

Week 5: Sept 2 (M)
No class: Labor Day

Research paper due: Tuesday, September 3, 9:30am

Week 5: Sept 3 (Tu)
Mental health

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Mental Health,” The Good Society. LINK

Week 5: Sept 4 (W)
Who wins elections and why?

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Voters, Groups, Parties, and Elections,” The Good Society. LINK
  • Read before discussion section: David Brooks, “The Coming GOP Apocalypse,” New York Times, 2019. LINK

Week 5: Sept 5 (Th)
Do election outcomes matter?

  • Read before class: Lane Kenworthy, “Do Election Outcomes Matter?,” The Good Society. LINK

Week 5: Sept 6 (Fr), 8:00-11:00am
Exam 3
This exam will cover material from readings, videos, and lectures since exam 2 plus numbers 64, 71, 73, 76, and 81 of 100 Things to Know.

COURSE AIMS

Here’s what you should get from this course:

Approaching issues scientifically. Many of the issues we’ll look at are front-and-center in popular discussion, journalistic coverage, and political debate. This discussion would be better, and more helpful to policy makers, if it were more informed by science. Approaching an issue scientifically means, among other things, considering empirical evidence rather than relying mainly on theory or ethical beliefs, looking for data rather than anecdote(s), looking for multiple sources of evidence (“If hypothesis A were true, what else would we expect to observe?”), and thinking about whether some types of evidence are more useful, and thus should be weighted more heavily, than others.

Asking important questions. For any issue or topic, there are multiple questions we might want to answer. Many are of interest, but some are more important than others.

Understanding argument and evidence. For each class day, you will do a reading in advance. In class you’ll be quizzed on the information in that reading. Focus on the question(s) being posed, the answer(s) given, the key pieces of evidence, and the way the author reasons from the evidence and other considerations (laws, ethical views, etc) in reaching a conclusion.

Dealing with complexity. The issues we’ll examine are big and complicated. Scientists have struggled to understand the nature of the problem(s), to identify the main cause(s), and to figure out the most useful solution(s). The process is like detective work: seldom is the story simple and rarely do we have the exact evidence we’d need in order to be strongly confident about our conclusion, so we must ask an assortment of questions, use various types of data, and think systematically.

Spotting the progress. Social scientists and journalists often emphasize our problems and shortfalls. That’s helpful, because it spurs us to do better and (hopefully) helps us figure out how to do so. But it can also give us the impression that things are getting worse. Sometimes that’s accurate, but in other instances it’s misleading. In fact, in many areas of life things have been improving and we could be doing better.

Comfort with quantitative data. A generation ago there was a scarcity of numerical data. Now we have an abundance: data are everywhere. That’s a good thing, because data are key to answering important questions about society. You will encounter lots of quantitative data in this course, often in graphical form. If you aren’t already comfortable interpreting such data and reasoning from them, by the end of the course you should be.

Verbal communication. The discussion section for this course is designed to foster conversation about the issues we’ll consider. Your discussion section grade will be based entirely on your participation.

Written communication. You will write a research paper. I expect the quality of writing to be very high. If you struggle with writing, you’re like virtually everyone else. Good writing usually comes from extensive editing. Write a draft. Then edit it. Then edit it again. And again.

Concision. Information and opinion are plentiful these days, so brevity is a valuable skill. The research paper you will write is short, so you’ll need to focus on the information and argument that is most relevant or useful.

Independent research. The research paper is on a topic not covered in the course. You’ll need to do some outside reading, decide on your proposal or position, and assess the degree to which evidence supports it.

Developing a good argument. The course materials and lectures are designed to expose you to ways of developing and conveying effective argument. Keys include focusing on a specific question, formulating a clear proposal or position, making use of relevant evidence, addressing potential objections and counterarguments, and communicating clearly.

Substantive knowledge. Last, but not least, the course aims to improve your understanding of the issues we cover.

COURSE MATERIALS

The course readings and videos are available via the links in the schedule above. You’ll also need an iclicker, which you can purchase at the campus bookstore.

NO LAPTOPS, TABLETS, OR PHONES IN CLASS

The best available evidence suggests that college students learn more when not using laptops, tablets, or phones during class. If you want to take notes, use pen and paper. If you need an exception to this policy, please see me.

GRADING

Course grades will be determined as follows. See below for details.

  • 16%: discussion section attendance and participation
  • 20%: quizzes
  • 13%: exam 1
  • 13%: exam 2
  • 13%: exam 3
  • 25%: research paper

Each of these will be graded on a scale of 0 to 100. So your numerical course grade is calculated as: (discussion section attendance and participation grade x .16) + (quizzes average grade x .2) + (exam 1 grade x .13) + (exam 2 grade x .13) + (exam 3 grade x .13) + (research paper grade x .25).

Your letter grade for the course will be determined as follows:

  • 96.67 and above = A+
  • 93.34–96.66 = A
  • 90–93.33 = A–
  • 86.67–89.99 = B+
  • 83.34–86.66 = B
  • 80–83.33 = B–
  • 76.67–79.99 = C+
  • 73.34–76.66 = C
  • 70–73.33 = C–
  • 60–69.99 = D
  • below 60 = F

There will be no extra-credit projects or assignments.

DISCUSSION SECTION

Bernardo Mackenna
Teaching Assistant
Section A01, MW 12:00–12:50, CENTR 222
Email: bmackenn@ucsd.edu
Office hours: Tu 12:00–2:00, SSB 427

Your discussion section grade will be based on your participation.

Attendance can also affect your grade, in the following way: You’re allowed to miss one section meeting without penalty. If you miss two, your discussion section grade will be reduced by 5 points. If you miss three, it will be reduced by 15 points. If you miss four, it will be reduced by 25 points. If you miss more than four, your discussion section grade will be zero.

QUIZZES

Each day in class, beginning on our third class meeting, you will take a short quiz on the reading(s) for that day. Each quiz will have five multiple choice or true/false questions. You will answer the questions using your iclicker. There will be 14 quizzes; only your highest 11 grades will count.

Quiz grading: If you answer at least four questions, you will get 50 points (even if you have no correct answers). For each correct answer, you get ten additional points. So if you answer four or more questions, your grade is 60 with one correct answer, 70 with two correct answers, 80 with three, 90 with four, 100 with five.

You must register your iclicker with TritonEd. To do that, go to tritoned.ucsd.edu, log in, choose this course, and click on “Register iclicker” in the blue menu bar. If you get a new iclicker at any point during the quarter, register it immediately.

For technical support with iclicker registration and use, contact Educational Technology Services.

You can take a makeup if you have to miss a quiz for any of the following three reasons: (1) holidays or special events observed by organized religions (for students who show affiliation with that particular religion), (2) absences pre-approved by the UCSD Dean of Students (or Dean’s designee), (3) extended illness (this requires a doctor’s note). If you miss a quiz for one of these reasons, contact me no later than the day of the quiz to schedule a makeup. I will need written verification of the circumstances.

You cannot take a makeup if you miss a quiz for any other reason. This includes faulty iclicker registration, forgetting to bring your iclicker to class, stolen or lost iclicker, iclicker malfunction, dead iclicker battery, needing to arrive late to class or leave class early, oversleeping, minor illness, transportation problem, family or friend’s special occasion, family problems, family illness, needing to study for another course, etc.

Two pieces of advice for the quizzes: (1) Evidence is important, but don’t get overly bogged down in detail — exact numbers, precise dates, and so on. (2) Don’t overthink the quiz questions. Don’t assume I’m trying to trick you.

EXAMS

Each exam will consist of 50 multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions.

RESEARCH PAPER

Answer the following question: What’s the most useful thing we could do to reduce inequality of opportunity in America?

Grading will be based on the following:

  • Answer the question.
  • Refer to relevant evidence. Opinion and logic are fine but insufficient.
  • Address potential objections.
  • Write clearly.
  • Use proper grammar and punctuation (“I,” “me,” and contractions are fine), and adhere to the following length, formatting, and citation instructions. Length: 1,500 words (excluding footnotes), plus or minus no more than 100 words. List your word count on the first page, along with your name and the date. Formatting: single-space, 12-point font size, 1-inch top and bottom margins and 2-inch side margins. Sources and citations: Consult at least five sources of your choosing. Use footnotes (not a reference list or bibliography) to give credit to anyone from whom you borrow evidence or argument. The footnotes aren’t included in the word count. I’m not picky about the formatting of the footnotes, but include the author(s), title, and year rather than just an internet address.

If you need help with writing, consider seeking assistance from the UC San Diego Writing and Critical Expression Hub.

The due date is listed above. A paper turned in late but within 48 hours of the deadline will be penalized 25 points (out of 100). A paper turned in more than 48 hours late, or not turned in at all, will receive a grade of zero.

Upload your paper on TritonEd. Go to tritoned.ucsd.edu, log in, choose this course, and click on “Upload paper” in the blue menu bar. Emailed or hard copy papers won’t be accepted.

Submit the paper in a word processing program format (Microsoft Word, Google docs, Pages, etc.). Don’t submit it as a pdf document.

Don’t plagiarize. If you aren’t sure what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it, see the UC San Diego Library’s guide to preventing plagiarism.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Students are encouraged to share intellectual views and discuss freely the principles and applications of course materials. However, graded work must be the product of independent effort unless otherwise instructed. Students are expected to adhere to UC San Diego policy on academic integrity.

SPECIAL NEEDS AND ACCOMMODATIONS

Students who need special accommodation or services should contact the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD). You must register and request that the OSD send me official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please meet with me to discuss accommodations and how the course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Information here, other than the grade and attendance policy, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.