Week 1—Week of Jan 29

M/Tu:   Introduction to the course

W/Th:   C. Wright Mills 

Week 2—Week of Feb 5

M/Tu:      Erik Olin Wright. 2009. What Kind of a Society is “American Society?”:

W/Th:     Durkheim, Emile. Emile Durkheim. 1893. Selections from The Division of Labor in Society (skip pages 34-38 and 50-59)

Week 3—Week of Feb 12

M/Tu:  Kieran Healy, “Rituals of Childhood” and Malcolm Gladwell. 2015. “Thresholds of Violence: How School Shootings Catch On.” The New Yorker                      

W/Th Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. 1848. “Chapter 1, Bourgeois and Proletarians” in The Manifesto of the Communist Party 

 Week 4—Week of Feb 19

M/Tu:   Robin Kelley in the Boston Review, “What did Cedric Robinson Mean by Racial Capitalism?” Max Weber. 1904-1905. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 

W/Th:    W. E. B. Du Bois. 1903 - Visit to Sherman County Courthouse

Week 5—Week of Feb 26

M/Tu:     DuBois discussion, continued  and “Why We Do What We Do: Philosophy of Qualitative Interviewing” About this Project from Evicted; EXAM REVIEW

W/Th:    EXAM ONE

PART II: Political Economy

Week 6—Week of March 4

The Politics of Inequality

M/Tu:    M Hacker & Pierson. 2010. “How the Winner-Take-All Economy was Made,” in

Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer -- and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. And Olin Wright, “How Democracy Works”

W/Th: John Cassidy. 2014. “Is America an Oligarchy:” https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/is-america-an-oligarchy

        Desmond, Matthew. Poverty by America, Prologue and Ch.1 “The Kind of Problem Poverty is”

Week 7—SPRING BREAK NO CLASS

Week 8--Week of March 18

Unpacking American Poverty and Labor Exploitation

M/Tu:    Poverty by America, Cont. Ch. 2, “Why we haven’t made more progress?

W/Th:     Poverty by America, cont., Ch. 3, “How we Undercut Workers” and McCallum, Introduction and “We Control the Clocks” from Overworked

Week 9--Week of March 25

Unpacking Poverty in America: Prosperity on the Backs of the Poor? 

M/Tu:  Poverty by America, Ch 4 “How We Force the Poor to Pay More” and Ch. 5 “How we Rely on Welfare”

  W/Th:

• Poverty by America, “How We Buy Opportunity”

• Arlie Russell Hochschild. 2016. / and Donald Trump and Reece Peck. (assigned to students with a last name starting with A-G)

• Chapter 4 in Fox Populism: Branding Conservatism as Working-Class. (assigned to students with a last name starting with H-Z)  AND EXAM REVIEW

Week 10—Week of April 1

  M/Tu:  EXAM TWO

Part III: Culture and Identity Reconsidered

  W/Th:  Tanya Golash-Boza. “2016. “A Critical and Comprehensive Sociological Theory of Race and Racism

Week 11— Week of April 8

Contemporary Race Theory

M/Tu:   Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. 2013. Racism without Racists: “Ch 2” and Ch 3 and

    W/Th:   Teresa Benz: “Toxic Cities: Neoliberalism and Environmental Racism in Flint and Detroit Michigan”

Week 12—Week of April 15

Gender Identity

M//Tu:

• Ambrosino, “I am Gay but I was not Born that Way” (Ted Talk by Lisa Diamond in class: https://www.ted.com/talks/dr_lisa_diamond_why_the_born_this_way_argument_does_not_advance_lgbt_equality?language=en

• Adolph Reed Jr. “From Jenner to Dolezal: One Trans Good, the Other Not So Much.”

W/Th: Lisa Wade. “The New Science of Sex Difference.” Sociology Compass7

Week 13—Week of April 22

Gender Identity and Social Movement Theory

M/Tu: “Unequal Pleasures.” From American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus. (Sex Hurts: Bodies Podcast in-class https://www.bodiespodcast.com/resource-pages/2018/8/28/episode-1-sex-hurts)

W/Th: Piven and Cloward - Structuring of Protest and Frances Fox Piven. 2010. “Introduction” in Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America. 

Week 14-Week of April 29

M/Tu: Erik Olin Wright. 2015. How to Be An Anti-Capitalist Today” and Ch. 7 “Investing in the Poor” Poverty by America

W/Th:“Ch 4: The Prefigurative and the Political”; In Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals. AK Press

 Term Paper Due via Moodle on: 

May 1 (for SOC 101-B, e.g. the M/W section); and 

May 2 (for SOC 101-A, e.g. T/TH section)

 Week 15--Week of May 6

M/Tu: Ch 5: Aspiring Hegemonic.” In Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals. AK Press; watch the film Greta

W/TH: Finish Greta

Identity Reflection Due by May 8th at 7 p.m. via Moodle - due date same for both sections

Final Exam Schedule:

SOC 101-A (T/TH 9:30-10:50 a.m.) - Monday, May 13th from 9-11 a.m.

SOC 101-B (M/W 11-12:20 p.m.) - Tuesday, May 14th, from 12-2 p.m.