SOC 215: Sociology of Childhood and Youth Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00 – 3:15, Lecture Center C -1 Instructor: Emily Ruehs, [email protected] Teaching Assistant: Shaqwanda W. Everett, [email protected]
Course description
This is an introductory level course that takes a sociological approach to the study of youth and children. The goals of this course are to understand how life stages are socially constructed and how the lived experiences of youth are influenced by the intersections of varying identities and social locations as well as by social institutions. Finally, the course examines social problems faced by youth at both local and global levels.
Office Hours and Communication
Emily: Tuesdays from 3:15 -4:00 and Thursdays from 12:45 – 2:00 in BSB 4075 Shaqwanda: Tuesdays and Thursday from 3:30 – 4:30 in BSB 4061
To be able to guide you to helpful resources and to discuss issues pertinent to your interests, we hold office hours. Although you are always welcome to drop in, if you know that you will be coming, it can be helpful to let us know in advance the topic that you would like to discuss so that we have the opportunity to bring resources that might be helpful to you. We will try to be timely in responses to emails, but you should typically plan on a 24-36 hour response time.
Required Texts and Supplies
Pascoe, C.J. 2007. Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
I>Clicker remote
Other readings will be on Blackboard under Course Documents.
Accommodations
Students with disabilities who require accommodations for access and participation in this course must be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). Please contact ODS at 312/413-2103 (voice) or 312/413-0123 (TTY). Guidelines
KEEP AN OPEN MIND: Sociology is a challenging discipline as it requires us to reevaluate what we thought we knew about the world. Some students may find this frustrating, but I believe it can also be rewarding as it helps bring us new insights that fundamentally alter the way we view the world. If you approach this class with curiosity and a willingness to explore ideas that may contradict with your beliefs, I truly believe that the class will be worth your while. Remember, I never ask that you agree with everything in sociology. I simply ask that you consider every possibility.
RESPECT THE EXPERIENCE AND OPINIONS OF OTHERS: Throughout the class we will explore a topic with which each of us has a unique experience: childhood. We will rely, in part, on scientific research that looks for patterns in the experience of childhood; however, each one of you also brings valuable insight from their own experiences. This class will allow you to explore discoveries that social scientists have made and compare them with your own experiences as children and youth. Remember, while your experiences are important and valid, they are not the only experiences of childhood. For this reason, we must respect everyone’s histories and understand that they inform how we view the world today.
KEEP UP WITH CLASS WORK: This course relies heavily on discussion and it is important that you have read the materials for the day. To ensure that students keep up, I will employ daily quizzes using the iclickers. However, what you get out of this course is ultimately up to you. If you are willing to put in the effort to engage with material, I believe that you will find this to be a very rewarding semester
ANY CASE OF PLAGARISM, cutting or pasting from the Internet, neglecting to cite original sources, or cheating will result in, an automatic zero on the assignment and possible disciplinary action. Familiarize yourself with the UIC guidelines and penalties for academic dishonesty, including cheating and plagiarism: http://www.uic.edu/depts/dos/studentconduct.html Grading
Grading in this class is based on a point system of 1000 points. See the chart below to see how many points you have to earn to receive your desired grade.
A 900 – 1000 B 800 – 899 C 700 – 799 D 600 – 699 F 599 and below
You will earn points in several different ways:
Daily Attendance/Quizzes: 300 Points Beginning each class (and sometimes throughout the class) we will have a role call and a quiz over the reading material With the exception of the first two days and the two exam days, this daily attendance/quiz is worth 12 points. Please note that these quizzes will not be difficult and are intentioned to show that you are in class and have read the material. You will be given two excused absences and do not need to provide documentation.
Learning Through Discussion (LTD): 350 Points There will be seven total LTD days. Each day is worth up to 50 points. LTD details are posted on Blackboard under “Assignments” and will be discussed further during class.
Midterm and Final: 350 Points The midterm is worth 150 points and the final is worth 200 points. These will be primarily short answer tests based on take-away points from each class.
Extra Credit: 30 Points Possible Information about extra credit is posted under “Assignments.” Please note that because I am allowing you up to 30 points in extra credit, I will make absolutely no exception for missed classes or late assignments. Instead of worrying about doctor’s notes, excused absences, computer failures, etc, I am giving you the opportunity to make up points. No exceptions. INSTRUCTIONS FOR I>Clicker 2 WEB REGISTRATION: i>clicker2 is a response system that allows you to respond to questions I pose during class, and you will be graded on that feedback and/or your in-class participation. In order to receive this credit, you will need to register your i>clicker2 remote online by January 24. While you can register online at any time, you must have come to class at least once and voted on at least one question in order to complete the registration. Once you have voted on a question in my class, go to http://www.iclicker.com/registration. Complete the fields with your first name, last name, student ID, and remote ID. The remote ID is the series of numbers and sometimes letters found on the bottom of the back of your i>clicker2 remote. It can also be found on the LCD screen upon powering on your i>clicker2 remote. i>clicker2 will be used every day in class, and you are responsible for bringing your remote daily.
If you need technical support for i>clicker or i>clicker2, please contact (866) 209-5698 or via email [email protected] from 9AM-11PM EST, M-F. The i>clicker website (www.iclicker.com) also has support documentation, video tutorials, and FAQs for students.
I consider bringing a fellow student’s i>clicker to class to be cheating and a violation of the University Honor Code. If you are caught with a remote other than your own or have votes in a class that you did not attend, you will forfeit all clicker points (all 300 of them!) and may face additional disciplinary action. Week Topic Date Class Activity Reading Due Homework Due UNIT 1: YOUTH IDENTITY Week 1 1/15 Syllabus Introduction to Sociology and Youth Studies 1/17 Assign LTD Groups Dornbusch – The Sociology of Adolescence
Week 2 1/22 First day of Davis, Nanette. Youth Crisis Chapter 3 Social Construction of Life Stage mandatory I>Clicker attendance/quiz 1/24 LTD 1 Arnett – Emerging Adulthood 2
I>Clicker must be Supplementary: Marantz Henig, Robin. “Why are so many people in their registered by today! 20s taking so long to grow up?”
Week 3 1/29 Martin, Karin A. “Becoming a Gendered Body: Practices of Preschools.” Developing an Identity Performance: Nam, Vickie. YELL-Oh Girls! Pp. 115-122 and 129-132. Race, Gender and Class 1/31 LTD 2 Pascoe, C.J. Dude, You’re a Fag Pages 1 – 13 Pascoe, C.J. Dude, You’re a Fag Chapter 2
Week 4 2/5 Tatum, Beverly Daniels. “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Developing an Identity Performance: Cafeteria.” Chapters 3 and 4 Race, Gender and Class Nam, Vickie. YELL-Oh Girls! Pp. 193- 205
2/7 LTD 3 Fordham, Signithia and John U. Ogbu. “Black Students’ School Success: Coping with the ‘Burden of ‘Acting White.’’”
Supplementary: Pascoe, C.J. Dude, You’re a Fag
Week 5 2/12 Bettie, Julie. “How Working-Class Chicas Get Working-Class Lives.” Developing an Identity Performance: Race, Gender and Class 2/14 LTD 4 Lareau, Annette. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life 3 and 4.
Week 6 2/19 boyd, danah. “Why Youth (Heart) Social network Sites: The Roles of Developing an Identity: Cool and Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” Capitalism 2/21 Steele, Jeanne Rogge. “Teenage Sexuality and Media.”
Week 7 2/26 Midterm Review Review and Midterm 2/28 Midterm
UNIT 2: INFLUENCE ON THE LIVES OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH Week 8 3/5 Merten, Don E. “The Meaning of Meanness: Popularity, Competition, and Friends and Peers Conflict among Junior High School Girls.”
3/7 LTD 5 Kao, Grace and Kara Joyner. Do Race and Ethnicity Matter Among Friends?
Week 9 3/12 Firminger, Kristen B. “Is He Boyfriend Material?: Representation of Males in Romantic Relationships Teenage Girls’ Magazines.”
Pascoe, C.J. Dude, You’re a Fag Pages 84-104
3/14 Reid et al – Casual Hook Ups to Formal Dates (this article may change)
Week 10 3/19 Updegraff et al – Parents’ Involvement in Adolescent Peer Relationship Families Gibbs – The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
3/21 LTD 6 Way, Niobe and Helena Stauber. “Are ‘Absent Fathers’ Really Absent? Urban Adolescent Girls Speak Out about Their Fathers.”
Supplementary: Nam, Vickie. YELL-Oh Girls!
Spring Break
Week 11 4/2 Garcia, Lorena. “Now Why Do You Want to Know About That?” Education 4/4 LTD 7 Morris, Edward W. “’Tuck In that Shirt!’ Race, Class, Gender and Discipline in an Urban School.”
Week 12 4/9 Listen to “21 Chump Street” from This American Life Social Problems Schaffner, Laurie. “Injury, Gender and Trouble.”
4/11 Davis, Nanette. Youth Crisis. “The Descent into Homelessness.”
Week 13 4/16 Zilberg, Elana. “Refugee Gang Youth.” Immigration and Globalization Almeida, Joanna, et al. “Dispelling the myth of the violent immigrant.” Pages 2671 – 2674.
4/18 Dreby – Mexican Parenting in the Transnational Context
Week 14 4/23 Heger Boyle, Elizabeth, Trina Smith, and Katja M. Guenther. “The Rise of International Children’s Rights the Child as an Individual in Global Society.”
United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child
4/25 Last day to turn in Uehling – The International Smuggling of Children extra credit Gonzalez – On the Rights of Undocumented Children
Detention Abuse Flyer: http://www.firrp.org/media/BPAbuseFlyer-en.pdf
Week 15 4/30 O’Neill, Claire. “Where Children Sleep: Portraits from Around the World.” Conclusion and Review T.B.A.
5/2 Final Exam Review Final Exam 5/8 Final Exam Note: Exam time is from 3:30 – 5:30 on Wednesday, May 8
Class Readings
Almeida, Joanna , Renee M. Johnson, Mariah McNamara and Jhumka Gupta. 2010. “Peer violence perpetration among urban adolescents: Dispelling the myth of the violent immigrant.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 26(13): 2658-2680. Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. 2011. “Emerging Adulthood(s): The Cultural Psychology of a New Life State.” Pp. 255 – 275 in Bridging Cultural and Developmental Approaches to Psychology: New Syntheses in Theory, Research, and Policy. Ed. Lene Arnett Jensen. Oxford University Press. Bettie, Julie. 2003. “How Working-Class Chicas Get Working-Class Lives.” In Women Without class: Girls, Race and Identity. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. boyd, danah. 2007. “Why Youth (Hear t) Social network Sites: The Roles of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” MIT Press: 1- 26. Brown, Robbie. 2012. “21 Chump Street“ in What I Did for Love. This American Life. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/457/what-i-did-for-love? act=2%20 Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. United Nations. Accessed August 15, 2012. < http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm>. Davis, Nanette J. 1999. Youth Crisis: Growing Up in the High-Risk Society. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Dornbusch, Sanford M. 1989. “The Sociology of Adolescence.” Annual Review Sociology 15: 233- 59. Dreby, Joanna. 2006. “Honor and Virtue: Mexican Parenting in the Transnational Context.” Gender and Society 20(1): 32-59. Firminger, Kristen B. 2006. “Is He Boyfriend Material?: Representation of Males in Teenage Girls’ Magazines.” Men and Masculinities 8(3): 298-308. Fordham, Signithia and John U. Ogbu. 1986. “Black Students’ School Success: Coping with the ‘Burden of ‘Acting White.’’” The Urban Review 18(3): 176- 206. García, Lorena. 2009. “’Now Why Do You Want to Know about That?’ Heteronormativity, Sexism, and Racism in the Sexual (Mis)education of Latina Youth.” Gender & Society 23(4): 520-541. Gibbs, Nancy. 2009. “The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting.” Time Magazine.