For Tuesday, 12/20 (SOC 1101)

Tomorrow we’ll review the mechanics of submission, then review the ten core themes of the course. You should take a look at the following:

• Caroline Hodges Persell, Kathryn M. Pfeiffer, and Ali Syed, ‘What Should Students Learn After Taking Intro Sociology?’, Teaching Sociology 35 (October 2007)
• C. Wright Mills, ‘On Intellectual Craftsmanship’, pp. 217-222 of The Sociological Imagination (2000; the whole appendix is considered a classic, but pp. 217-222 contain essential advice on writing for your readers)
• ASA Quick Style Guide
  • Finally, here’s a website that will format your citations for you, if you don’t already do it via software such as RefWorks or Flow.

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For Thursday, 12/15 (SOC 1103)

Thursday we’ll discuss some of the material in Benokraitis (2015), Chapter 15. Focus your review on sections 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, and 15.6—and continue, of course, to revise your midterms. The final exam is due by 11:59pm on Friday, 16 December.

Oral Presentations (SOC 303)

Prepare a presentation on your proposal (a satisfactory presentation will count for a score of 100% on one of your previous assignments — I’ll choose the assignment — so think of it as extra credit). I’m not asking for ‘I Have a Dream’-level speechifying; this should be a 5-10 minute presentation, addressing the following questions:

1. Who are you and what’s the title of your proposal?
2. What’s it about?
3. What’s your research question and/or research hypothesis?
4. What’s your research design? (Brief Overview)
5. Why should this be funded? (IOW, What’s the contribution your study would make to the relevant scholarly literature on your topic?

You must use some kind of presentation software (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, Google Slides, Prezi, etc.). You can find some general advice on presentations and links to other bits of advice here.

For Friday, 12/16 (SOC 303)

Before

• Continue to work on your proposals; prepare your oral presentations.

During

• Oral Presentations: you can find the instructions here—please read them carefully!

After

• HW: final drafts of the research proposal will be due approximately 24 hours after the presentations.

For Tuesday, 12/13 (SOC 1103)

• Benokraitis (2015), Ch. 15 (‘Separation, Divorce, Remarriage, and Stepfamilies’)

Obviously there’s also a good bit of Ch. 10 (‘Marriage & Communication in Intimate Relationships’) that we didn’t discuss today, so we’ll touch on some aspects of that as well—particularly the bits about marital compatibility and also communication. Please carefully review the discussion of the following miscommunication patterns:

• cross-complaining
• counterproposals
• stonewalling

For Thursday, 12/15 (SOC 1101)

We just scratched the surface of Pinker’s ‘The Blank Slate’, so we’ll get back to that next week. It should be obvious, however, that he is quite opposed to the typical sociologist’s way of looking at things. So what do sociologists have to say for themselves? Well, read this for next week and we’ll discuss:

• Michael J. Shanahan, Shawn Bauldry, and Jason Freeman, ‘Beyond Mendel’s Ghost’, Contexts 9(4): pp. 34-7

For Thursday, 12/8 (SOC 1101)

• Steven Pinker, ‘The Blank Slate’, The General Psychologist (Spring 2006)

We’re running out of time, so I’m afraid we need to shift gears and move on to our final topic for the semester. Here’s a fairly concise statement of the case against social constructionism.

For Thursday, 12/8 (SOC 1103)

• Benokraitis (2015), Ch. 10 (‘Marriage and Communication in Intimate Relationships’)

Reading Exercise: Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, Vol. I

HW: Imagine that your favorite director is planning to make a movie of this story and has consulted you for advice on casting. Bring to class your list, identifying at least one actor or actress who would be suitable for the following characters, along with a short justification for each choice:

• Mr. Bennet
• Mrs. Bennet
• Jane Bennet
• Eliza Bennet
• Mr. Bingley
• Mr. Darcy

Please also identify your favourite director and tell me why they’re your favorite

Try to finish the whole novel before the next class; in our next meeting, however, we’ll limit ourselves to Vol. I, comparing Austen’s ideas about courtship, marriage, ideal partners, and observations about human pecking orders, etc., with the sociological ones presented in our textbook.

For Tuesday, 12/6 (SOC 1103)

• Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813), Vol. III