Sociology 1201: Sociology of the Family--Fall 2006
University of Minnesota, Duluth

Our class meets Tuesday and Thursday, from 9.30 until 10:45 in Montague 70.

Two teaching assistants will be helping me with the class: Lindsey Nehring (nehr0017) and Jessica Held (held0053).

Texts:

Edin/Kefalas, Promises I Can Keep
Lareau: Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life
Wallerstein, Lewis, and Blakeslee: The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce

Course Description: This course will examine the ways in which American family patterns have been shaped by larger social forces, particularly forces related to inequality, conflict, and social change.. We will look closely at the interrelations between the family and other social institutions, including schools, businesses, and government. Learning how families are shaped by race and ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality should provide new perspectives on your own family. But this is not primarily a family improvement course, and I want to be clear about that from the beginning.

Course Objectives:

1. To understand the ways in which social inequality affects families

2. To understand how American society's cultural norms about gender, sexuality, marriage, and parenting affect family life.

3. To understand how the family as an institution intersects with the other major institutions in American society, including politics, the economy, religion, and the education system. .

4. To identify the major trends and movements for change that may modify American families, as well as the impact of public policy.

Liberal Education Program: This course meets the requirements for Category 8, Contemporary Social Issues and Analysis, in UMD's Liberal Education Program. It also qualifies as a cultural diversity course. Each UMD student must take one course emphasizing cultural diversity in the United States and one course that provides international perspectives.

CLA 1001 students: Our class includes students from one of the Freshman Learning Communities, titled Social Issues, Social Change. As the instructor in that course, I hope to facilitate the transition to UMD and to college learning for students in that section, but I will not be providing any kind of "inside information" that would help them with this class, as it wouldn't be fair to the other students.

My Expectations: I expect you to arrive on-time, to treat your fellow class members and me with respect, to have done the reading that is assigned for the day, to bring your questions and ideas about the material we are covering, to make me aware of any problems you are having with course materials. In return, I pledge to be prepared and organized, to communicate clearly my expectations of you, to evaluate your work promptly, to listen to your concerns, to respect your point of view, and to treat you as a person of value. I also promise not to expect from you more than 2 hours of work outside class for every hour in class. Please let me know if you feel that the assignments are exceeding that expectation.

Grading: Grades will be based on three exams and individual and group assignments, as follows:

Exam One	100 points
Exam Two	100 points
Exam Three	100 points
Family Autobiography	100 points
General Group and individual assignments and quizzes	125-150 points

Grading standards: A, 93-100; A-, 90-92; B+, 87-89; B, 83-87; B-, 80-82; C+, 77-79; C, 73-77; C-, 70-72; D+, 67-69; D, 63-67; D-, 60-62; F, below 60.

Egradebook: The teaching assistants will be entering your grades into a software program called egradebook, accessible to you on the internet (http://www.d.umn.edu/egradebook). Be sure to let them know of any discrepancies between your records and the grades recorded on egradebook, so they can double-check their records. All discrepancies must be brought to the teaching assistants' attention by Tuesday of the last week of classes, so that everything will be in order for me to enter the final grades into the UMD records after our final exam.

Student Academic Integrity : A violation of UMD's Academic Honesty Policy (behavior which is also referred to as Scholastic Misconduct) such as cheating, plagiarizing or any other "act which violates the rights of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work will result in penalties up to and including an F for the course. For University of Minnesota policies and practices relating to academic honesty, see: www.d.umn.edu/assl/conduct/integrity.

Incompletes: To receive an incomplete at the end of the semester, you must have completed at least 2/3 of the coursework and have given me good reason why you cannot complete the course in a timely way.

Missed group exercises cannot always be made up; you may need to replace the points with extra credit.

Extra-Credit: A maximum of 15 points extra credit will be available, with up to 5 points for each short paper submitted via e-mail based on sociologically relevant campus or community presentations (check the Extra Credit link on my home page). All extra credit must be submitted by the end of the fourteenth week, to allow ample time for recording the points.

COOPERATIVE LEARNING GROUPS: At one of our first meetings, the class will be divided into small groups of 4-6, and you will remain part of this group for the remainder of the term. Group projects will sometimes involve advance preparation on your part, and in those cases, the write-up of that preparation is your "ticket" to the group process. For each group session, appoint a recorder who will take notes for the group as a whole, as well as a coordinator who will facilitate the group's discussion and serve as the reporter if I ask for the group's ideas in a larger discussion. Each group member needs to sign the group project sheet and to attach any worksheets or discussion questions. This is the only way to get credit for your group work.

Students will be asked at the end of the semester to evaluate the participation (not attendance but what they contributed) of other members of their learning group--just a very general assessment of what each person contributed (1: usually conscientious, prepared and ready to participate; 2: Inconsistent, sometimes contributed and sometimes did not; 3. Poor preparation, little contribution. Points will be deducted from group work for those whose ratings are weaker.

FILMS: Films are an integral part of our course materials. In some cases, they will provide the framework for your group project. In all cases, subject matter from the films will be included in the testing process. If you must miss a film, most often you will be unable to make it up. Get information about the film from one of the members of your group, and to replace the points lost, consider doing extra credit.

ATTENDANCE AND QUIZZES: Not only your attendance but your preparation is important to the success of this class for you. In order to encourage keeping up with course materials, I will occcasionally give quizzes on the readings. Some of the questions from quizzes will also show up on the exams.

INTERNET RESOURCES: The course schedule is linked to my home page (http://www.d.umn.edu/~bmork). Click on the index page for Sociology 1201; then click on the schedule.

SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS/FACILITIES: If you have a physical or cultural condition, either permanent or temporary, which you believe makes it difficult for you to participate in and/or complete the requirements of this course in the time and manner prescribed, please let me know by the end of the first week of instruction. Adaptation of methods, materials, or testing may be made as required. It is your responsibility to contact the Access Center for advice regarding adaptations.