« LAST
UPDATED
Final
Exam: Tuesday, May 4,
Department of Sociology
University of Colorado
Spring 2004
The Self in Modern Society
SOCY 3151-01
Duane G125
Tuesday & Thursday 2:00-3:15
Professor Leslie Irvine
Office: Ketchum 223
Phone: 303-492-7039
Email: irvinel@colorado.edu (best way to contact)
Office
hours: Thursday 11-12
Course description
Few
ideas in modern societies are as taken for granted as the idea that people
possess selves. This course explores the origins and consequences of the idea
of the self. We will begin by tracing the rise of individual identity in the
early modern era and follow it through contemporary times. We will consider how
sociology approaches the self as a topic of study. We will examine the ways in
which institutions such as gender, organizations such as prisons, and
experiences such as divorce shape the personal self. We will also consider the
possibility of selfhood among non-human animals.
Course goals
1. To
introduce you to the sociological perspective on the self, which differs
dramatically from the perspectives offered by common sense and popular culture
2. To enable you to apply this perspective to
personal experience
3. To
improve your critical thinking skills by engaging in constructive criticisms of
various views of the self
The
tests, exams, and assignments are designed to assess your progress toward these
goals.
Course Outline
Some History:
The Rise of “The Individual”
Baumeister, Gagnon 1&2
Classic
Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges
Mead,
Sanders (2003),
Goffman,
Vintizky-Seroussi &Zussman
Accounts
of the self
Scott & Lyman, Sanders
1990
Self,
Gender, and Emotions
Hochschild,
Lois
Institutional
Construction of Identity
Gubrium & Holstein,
The
Narrative Accomplishment of Self
Bruner,
Frank
Course requirements and grading
This is
an upper-division course that many students find quite challenging. It requires
a considerable amount of reading and active engagement with the material. You
must keep current with the reading and class notes, even if you must miss a
class. If you miss a class, first contact a classmate for notes. After you have
copied and reviewed the notes, you may see me for additional clarification of
the material.
Plan to arrive on time and stay for the
entire class. Please turn phones and pagers off before the start of class.
Refrain from sleeping, holding conversations, reading newspapers, balancing
checkbooks, or studying for other classes. Be courteous when others are
speaking.
Plan
to read all assigned reading by class time on the assigned day. Because we will
devote much of the class time to discussions based on the reading, completion
of the reading is critical to your success in this course. Bring the relevant
reading to class with you on the assigned day.
I
will base grades on one test, a midterm, two assignments, and the final. These
will be weighted as follows:
Test
(week 4): 15%
Midterm
Exam (week 8): 25%
Assignments
(weeks 10 & 14): 20%
(10% each)
Now only one assignment, due week 12
(April 1), worth 20 of your grade!
Final
Exam (May 1): 40%
Regular attendance and participation can
improve your grade if you are on the borderline. I reserve the right to apply
this subjective element to final grades. I will round half points up. I will
determine final grades using the following point distribution:
|
A = 93-100 |
C = 73-76 |
|
A-= 90-92 |
C- = 70-72 |
|
B+= 86-89 |
D+ = 66-69 |
|
B = 83-85 |
D = 63-65 |
|
B- =80-82 |
D-= 60-62 |
|
C+= 77-79 |
F = below 60 |
The
format for the test will be a combination of multiple choice and short answer
questions. The midterm and final will also include essay questions. You must
bring blue books to class for the midterm and final. I will not provide study
guides for either the test or the midterm, but we will have a review for the
final. There will be no make-up tests or exams unless you have highly
extenuating circumstances (such as a death in the family or a serious illness).
In such cases, please inform me of your situation as soon as you become aware
of it. I reserve the right to request documentation of your circumstances (such
a hospital record or obituary). If you have more than two finals scheduled for
May 1, see me two weeks before the end of the semester to make alternative
arrangements. Students who fail the first test must meet with me to discuss
strategies for improving test-taking and study skills.
In
some cases, you may earn points on your test or midterm grade for writing a
“Challenge Essay.” If you find that a question could have been understood in a
way other than that which I intended, and which consequently makes your answer
correct, you may defend your answer by writing a one-page, double-spaced essay
(typed) explaining what made you interpret the question in a particular way and
why you then answered the way you did. Challenge Essays are due one week after
I return the relevant test or exam; there are no exceptions. The final exam is
not eligible for Challenges.
You
must hand in your assignments on time. I will deduct one letter grade for each
day after the due date, and I will not accept assignments after the third day.
I will make exceptions to this policy if you have extenuating circumstances and
inform me of your situation as mentioned above.
Assignment (New due date: April 1): Emotions in everyday life
Write
a three-page analysis of the social function of emotions. Use your own
creativity and imagination to lead you to topics. You might use observation or
participant-observation to study a job that involves the commercialization of
feeling. You might examine the portrayal of emotions in a prime-time TV show.
You could study a certain type of Valentine’s Day cards to analyze the content
and target audience. Everyday life is full of emotion; find an instance and see
what emotion accomplishes (or fails to) in that setting.
Your paper should be no more than three
pages, double spaced, using an 11 or 12 point font. I will stop reading at the
end of three pages, so edit carefully to fit within this limit. Make sure you
leave 1” margins on all sides so that I have room to write comments. Put your
name and ID number in the upper right corner and secure the pages with a
staple. Do not use paper clips, sticky substances, or clever folds to attach
the pages of your essay. Do not make a cover page or put the essay in a plastic
folder.
Your first paragraph (or two) should
describe the setting and your role in it well enough that I can imaginatively
put myself there. If you are analyzing print advertisements or greeting cards
(or some other image), you may attach copies if doing so helps make your point.
The remainder of your essay should apply the material from class, especially
from the books by Lois and Hochschild, in a sociological analysis of emotions.
If you refer to readings from the course, simply mention the author’s name and
page number where applicable; no need to include a bibliography. If you refer
to readings not used in the course, list these references at the end of your
essay (not as a separate page). Plan the length of your essay to stay within
three pages.
I will grade your essays using a rubric
similar to the example included in this syllabus, but adapted to this
assignment. Note that I will grade for spelling and grammar as well as content,
so it will pay to proofread your essay and run spell-check.
Academic Integrity and Honor Code
Plagiarism
and cheating will be grounds for receiving a failing grade on the relevant test
or assignment and possibly failing the course. To ensure academic integrity,
students in this course must observe
the Honor Code and write the following statement on all work:
On my honor, as a University of Colorado
student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this
work.
Disability Policy
Students
with documented disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as
chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention
deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities should see me after
class or during my office hours (preferably during the first two weeks of
class) to discuss possible reasonable accommodations. For more information,
consult The Office of Disability Services, Willard 322 (303-492-8671).
Classroom Behavior Policy
Our classroom will be a safe and open
environment for everyone. I will not tolerate discrimination, slander, or
criticism of anyone based on sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, color,
ideas, or beliefs. However, all ideas relevant to the course are open to
discussion and constructive criticism. Class members who hold or oppose such
ideas or initiate criticism will not themselves be the subjects of attack.
Course
Materials
Books:
Gubrium, Jaber F., and James A. Holstein (eds.) 2001. Institutional Selves: Troubled Identities in
a Postmodern World. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2003. The
Managed Heart: The Commercialization of Human Feeling (20th
Anniversary edition). Berkeley:
University of California Press. (Note: you may also use the original 1983
edition.)
Irvine, Leslie. 1999. Codependent Forevermore: The Invention of Self
in a Twelve Step Group. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lois, Jennifer. 2003. Heroic
Efforts: The Emotional Culture of Search and Rescue Volunteers. New York:
New York University Press.
Baumeister,
Roy F. 1986. Chapters Three and Four in Identity: Cultural Change and the
Struggle for the Self. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Both
contained in one file)
Bruner,
Jerome. 1987. “Life as Narrative.” Social
Research 54:11-32.
Frank,
Arthur W. 1998. “Just Listening: Narrative and Deep Illness.” Families, Systems, and Health 16:197-212.
Gagnon,
John H. 1984. “Success=Failure/Failure=Success” pp. 97-108 in Romanticism and Culture, edited by H.W.
Matalene. Columbia SC: Camden House. (Listed on-line as Gagnon2)
---.
1992. "The Self, Its Voices, and Their Discord." Pp. 221-243 in Investigating
Subjectivity. Edited by Carolyn Ellis and Michael Flaherty. Newbury Park:
Sage. (Listed as Gagnon1)
Goffman, Erving. Selections from The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
(Scanned file will appear as Chapter 10: “Erving Goffman on the Presentation of
Self”) Pp. 209-229 in Self, Symbols, and
Society, edited by Nathan Rousseau. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Irvine, Leslie. In press. “A Model of
Animal Selfhood: Expanding Interactionist Possibilities.” Symbolic Interaction 27:3-21.
Mead, George Herbert. Selections from Mind, Self, and Society. (Scanned file
will appear as Chapter 6: “George Herbert Mead on Self and Society”) Pp.
116-142 in Self, Symbols, and Society,
edited by Nathan Rousseau. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Sanders, Clinton. 1990. “Excusing
Tactics: Social Responses to the Public Misbehavior of Companion Animals.” Anthrozoös 4:82-90. Listed in schedule
below as “ET”
---. 2003. “Understanding Dogs:
Caretakers’ Attributions of Mindedness in Canine-Human Relationships.” Pp.
191-201 in Inner Lives and Social Worlds:
Readings in Social Psychology, edited by James A. Holstein and Jaber F.
Gubrium. New York: Oxford University Press.
Scott, Marvin B., and Stanford M. Lyman.
1968. “Accounts.” American Sociological
Review 33:46-62.
Vinitzky-Seroussi, Vered, and Robert
Zussman. 1996. “High School Reunions and the Management of Identity.” Symbolic Interaction 19:225-239.
Course Schedule (Subject to change: I will announce
changes in class and online.)
Please
bring the relevant reading to class on the assigned day.
|
Tuesday |
Thursday |
|
Jan
13 Introduction to the course |
Jan
15 Baumeister, Ch. 3 up to p. 46 |
|
Jan
27 Baumeister, finish Ch. 4 Here is a historical information sheet you might find helpful: Historical
Highlights.htm |
Jan
29 Gagnon2 |
|
Feb
3 Gagnon1 |
Feb
5 TEST |
|
Feb
10 Mead (Chapter 6) |
Feb
12 Sanders (“Understanding Dogs” & |
|
Feb
17 Goffman (Chapter 10) Find out more about
Erving Goffman |
Feb
19 Vinitzky-Seroussi & Zussman |
|
Feb
24 Continued discussion of V-S & Z Note: Scott & Lyman
Deleted |
Feb
26 Sanders (“ET”) |
|
Mar
2 MIDTERM |
Mar
4 Hochschild |
|
Mar
9 Hochschild |
Mar
11 Hochschild |
|
Mar 16 Lois |
Mar 18 Lois |
|
Mar
23 SPRING BREAK |
Mar
25 NO CLASSES |
|
Mar 30 Gubrium & Holstein Part I
(first 2) |
Apr 1 G&H Part I (second 2) Assignment due |
|
Apr 6 G&H Part II (first 3) |
Apr 8 G&H (second 2) |
|
Apr 13 G&H (cont’d) |
Apr 15 |
|
Apr 20 Irvine |
Apr 22 Note: Bruner deleted |
|
Apr 27 Note: Frank deleted |
Apr 29 Review |
Final ExaM, Tuesday, May 4,
SOCY
XXXX
Sample
Essay Grading Rubric
Student
Name ___A.
Student________________ID Number__XXX_________________
|
Points |
1 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
10 |
Pts. |
|
Content
Knowledge |
Student
does not grasp information; cannot answer questions about the subject |
Student
is uncomfortable with the content but can communicate the most basic points |
Student
is at ease with the content, but fails to elaborate sufficiently |
Student
demonstrates knowledge but one flaw keeps the paper from earning maximum
credit |
Interesting,
original paper demonstrating sophistication of thought; central idea clearly
communicated and developed |
|
|
Points |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
|
Organization |
Poorly
organized; seek writing help before submitting next essay |
Sequence
of information is difficult to follow |
Reader
has difficulty following work because the paper jumps around |
Student
presents information in logical sequence that the reader can follow |
Information
in logical, interesting sequence that reader can easily follow |
|
|
Grammar
& Spelling |
Seek
writing help before submitting next essay |
Work
has four or more spelling and/or grammatical errors |
Work
has three or more misspellings and/or grammatical errors |
Work
has no more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors |
Essay
has no misspellings or grammatical errors |
|
|
Mechanics |
Student
has not followed instructions; returned
without grade for correction |
Work
has numerous mechanical errors; returned without grade for correction |
Work
has two or more mechanical errors |
Work
has one mechanical error (i.e., not paginated, not stapled, no honor code) |
Essay
is double-spaced, paginated, stapled, includes name, ID, and honor code |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTALà |
|
Comments
(optional):