Deviance in
SYLLABUS
Class Hours: MW 3:00-3:50
My Office: Ketchum 207
Office Hours: MW 11:00-11:30 and 2:00-3:00, by appointment only
Telephone Numbers: office 492-1177 (I never check
for messages), home 449-3021
Internet: adler@ colorado.edu
Website: http://spot.colorado.edu/~adler
REQUIRED
Patricia A. and Peter Adler, Constructions of Deviance Custom Edition. This book is
available for purchase at the UMC Bookstore. The specific reading assignments
are noted on the Topics and
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
In this course I want to introduce you to the
central sociological concepts of deviance, social order, social power, identity
construction, and identity management. In this class we will work together to
begin to understand the basics of the sociological perspective, and to see how
it differs from the psychological approach that most people are used to using
to understand society and social life. We will use the topic of deviance to see
how groups of people have the power to shape social definitions and apply them
onto others. We will then look at the consequences for those defined as deviant
of this label. We will look at how people come to develop a deviant identity
and what that means to them in the exercise of their everyday lives. The
readings I have selected are designed to take us through this intellectual
pathway in an interesting and informative manner.
You are responsible for the material and announcements
presented during lectures and labs, whether or not you attend. Please arrange
with another student to get missed notes and announcements. If there is any
question about an interpretation of anything, the book is the final authority
that we will use to resolve questions or differences. This is a course that
fills the largest room on campus. When people talk to their neighbors
excessively during the class or enter/exit the class during the middle of the
lecture it becomes disruptive. If you do this we will consult with you after
class and it may result in a penalty to your grade. You are responsible for
keeping all graded assignments and exams.
Labs begin meeting the first day of the semester, and you
are responsible for everything covered there. Should there be a week where
school does not meet for any day of that week (Labor Day, Martin Luther King,
Jr. Day, fall break), or where you miss your lab (you are sick, you did not
know labs had begun meeting already), it is your responsibility
to attend another lab that week. We will not be making up the material that
would have been covered on that day later in that lab; we will assume you got
the information elsewhere and are up-to-date. You can find the complete list of
all the labs, their times, their locations, and their TAs and ATAs on my
website under the “Deviance” button.
You can expect to be challenged in the quality and quantity
of assigned work and in classroom discussion. You should understand the
requirements for each class, come to class prepared to engage in learning the
course material, complete the assignments, and be prepared to learn from your
successes and failures. According to the guidelines of the Boulder Faculty
Assembly, an undergraduate student should expect to spend at least three hours
per week outside of class for each credit hour earned.
There are NO MAKE-UP EXAMS in
this class. If you have a problem, please contact
me directly; do not speak only to your TA or ATA. DO NOT WAIT; call me at HOME right away if you have a problem.
If you have something important that has been scheduled prior to the start of
the semester that you must attend, you must notify ME directly PRIOR
TO THE END OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF THE SEMESTER to arrange for alternate
grading options; we will not arrange options for anyone who waits longer than
this to contact me. If you are going to miss a test or be late with an
assignment due to illness or some other immediate emergency situations, you
MUST call and/or email me BEFORE the exam. Failure to follow these
procedures will result in a grade of F on the exam.
In this course we expect students to conduct
themselves, both orally and in their written assignments, in a civil and
appropriate manner at all times. Hate speech, profanity, and defamation of any
individuals or groups will not be tolerated, and will result in a serious
diminution of a student’s grade in the class. We also expect students to follow
the mandate of the
All students of
the
from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited
to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the
Honor Code can be found at
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at
http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/
UNIVERSITY-RELATED
COURSE POLICIES
The
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please discuss with me the specific problem by the end of the third week in the class so that we can determine if you need any kind of special situation. If you do, you will have to submit to me a letter from Disability Services by this third week so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, and www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices
Disability Services' letters for students with disabilities indicate legally
mandated reasonable accommodations. The syllabus statements and answers to
Frequently Asked Questions can be found at www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, if you have to miss because of a religious observance, please contact me personally, well in advance of your missing class. If you have not contacted me personally at least one week prior to the holiday, I cannot excuse you. Please note especially that our first exam falls on the break-fast evening following Yom Kippur. See full details of the University’s policy at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html
Students and
faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning
environment. Students who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be
subject to discipline. Faculty members have the professional responsibility to
treat all students with understanding, dignity and respect, to guide classroom
discussion and to set reasonable limits on the manner in which they and their
students express opinions. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are
especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with
differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender
variance, and nationalities. See polices at
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html
and at
http://www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_code
COURSE
OUTLINE
I. Defining
Deviance
II. Studying
Deviance
III. Constructing
Deviance
IV. Identity
Careers
V. Managing
Stigma
VI. Deviant
Organizations
VII. Deviant
Acts
VIII. Deviant
Careers
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS
We will be using the class email list available
over CU Connect to communicate with you this semester. I have already begun
sending email to the class and will continue to do so. If you have not received
an email in this way from me by the end of the first week, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE SURE THROUGH THE UNIVERSITY (NOT ME)
THAT YOUR NAME GETS ADDED TO THIS LIST. The first assignment in the course
is the email quiz. Early in the semester I will email the quiz to all students.
You should consult the syllabus and the website to find the answers to these questions.
Thereafter you are expected to know how to find out all the pertinent
information for this course. Please return the quiz to your ATA by the date
specified in the quiz. It is worth 5% of your grade.
Out of the lecture section, there will be three
exams. The first two are in-class and at night. The first one is given after
section III (Constructing Deviance), the second after section V (Managing
Stigma), and the last during final exam week. They will consist of fill-in and
short essay questions. The fill-in questions are designed to let you match
basic terms and ideas to their definitions and applications, and are intended
to capture knowledge and recall. The short essay questions are designed to ask
you to identify the main lists from the lectures and readings and apply them to
hypothetical situations we create. These will involve some creativity as well
as analytical and intellectual challenge. You are expected to learn the
modified outline form for answering the questions prior to entering the exam. I
enclose the complete packet of exams that we used in the course last semester
at the end of this book, so that you can get an idea of the types of questions
we ask and the format we expect you to us on our tests. You must write the
exams in either blue or black pen. Out of the deviance labs there will be a fifth
basis for your grade evaluation. You will be graded on your attendance and
participation in the discussion, quizzes, and activities in labs that occur
throughout the semester.
In addition, there will be an extra credit
available for students who want to write a Norm Violation paper. This will be a
short (3-5 page) mini-paper covering your violation and analysis of some norm.
This is not an excuse to commit pranks, but a serious paper about the
importance of norms in society. For this paper you have two choices. You can
either reflectively analyze some norm violation you have done, or you can
select a norm and violate it during this class. After reflecting or gathering
information about the behavior, write a short essay describing and analyzing
this norm violation, the reactions of others, and what you can theoretically
infer from this. You will be expected to relate these ideas to your discussions
of the definition and social creation of deviance. The structure of the extra
credit available is discussed below.
Your grade in this class will depend on the
following formula:
Assignment Percentage Total Points Possible
Email Quiz 2% 20
First Exam 23% 230
Second Exam 25% 250
Third Exam 25% 250
Lab Participation and Attendance 25% 250
Total Points Possible 1000
Extra Credit Norm Violation Assignment:
Papers will be evaluated according to the
following grades, and given the following amount of extra credit points:
Ö-- 0
Ö-
30
Ö
60
Ö+
90
To calculate how you are doing in the class, use
the following scale to convert your letter grades on the exams into numbers:
A:10 A-:9 B+:8 B:7 B-:6 C+:5 C:4 C-:3 D+:2 D:1 D-:0 F:-1
Multiply your converted letter grade by the
percentage that each assignment is worth, and add these all together. Your
final grade in this class is usually calculated by the following numbers
(although special exceptions may be made):
A:1050-950 A-:949-850 B+:849-750 B:749-650 B-:649-550 C+:549-450 C:449-350 C-:349-250 D:249-150 F:149 and below