Sociology 3901: Social
Change, Social Policy
University of Minnesota, Duluth
| Instructor: Bruce Mork | Office: Cina 203 Office hrs: M: 9.30-10.30 MWF, |
| Phone: 726-6369 | E-mail: bmork@d.umn.edu |
Texts:
Sharon Hays: Flat Broke with Children
Rubinowitz and Rosenbaum: Crossing the Class and Color Lines: From Public Housing to White Suburbia
Jonathan Kozol: The Shame of the Nation: the Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
Course Description: Analysis of the social change and maintenance forces as they affect social life. Social theory and research will be emphasized along with the formation and implementation of social policy.
Course Objectives:
By the end of the course you should:
1. Be familiar with theory and research as it relates to social change, including
the basic requirements of effective evaluation research. .
2. Understand the reciprocal relationship between social movements and public
policy as well as make a good beginning in understanding the other major social
forces affecting social policy.
3. Understand the major issues and debates relating
to:
a. Poverty and welfare reform
b. Public housing and/or housing subsidies
c. Poverty, race, and education
4. Actively engage some part of the process of understanding and solving social problems right here in Duluth.
Civic engagement: As you can see, our focus is really the inner city, which in Duluth means particularly the Central and East Hillside Neighborhoods and parts of west Duluth. I'm asking that class members devote about 20 hours to one or more service learning projects in those neighborhoods. At this point (late July) I know I have spots for five of you to get training from the Wilder foundation and then serve as interviewers in a needs assessment being put together by East HIllside PATCH. Another possibility is that some of you may be able to become reading partners at Grant School. I will be getting help from Casey LaCore in UMD's Office of Civic Engagement to find more alternatives. Late in the semester I will schedule small group reports on your civic engagement projects.
.
Grading: Grades
will be based on three exams, along with individual and group work in class,
as follows:
| Exam One | 100 points | |
| Exam Two | 100 points | |
| Exam Three | 100 points | |
| Civic engagement work/ presentation | 100 points | |
| Other Individual and group work | 100-125 points |
Group work will often involve a video, and if you miss the video, you may have to rely on extra credit to replace the missing points.
Grading standards: A, 92-100; A-, 90-91; B+, 88-89; B, 82-87; B-, 80-81; C+, 78-79; C, 72-77; C-, 70-71; D, 60-69; F, below 60.
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.
Student Conduct Code. Student behavior is governed by a conduct code that has been adopted by the Board of Regents for all campuses.
Egradebook: I 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 me know of any discrepancies between your records and the grades recorded on egradebook, so I can double-check my records. All discrepancies must be brought to my attention by the last Friday of classes, so that everything will be in order for me to enter the final grades into the UMD records after our final exam
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 presentations. I will maintain a list on my home page: http://www.d.umn.edu/~bmork, but if you see something not on the list which seesm appropriate, check with me. Papers needn't be long, just a page or so, consisting partly of summary and partly of your reactions. .
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 and fairly, to listen to your concerns, to respect your point of view, and to treat you as a person of value. I also ask that you turn off your cell phones/pagers during class time, unless you let me know that you're expecting an urgent call.
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.