SBS 3053 Social Systems & Problems

Contact Information:
Dr. Frank Elwell
Office Hours: Daily 8:00 to 11:00
email: felwell@rsu.edu
Office: 202-B Prep Hall
Phone: 918.343.7851

Basic Information

Required Texts:

Ritzer, George, 2009, The McDonaldization of Society 5th Edition, Sage Publications.

Postman, Neil, 1994, The Disappearance of Childhood, Knopf-Doubleday.

Foster, John, 1999, The Vulnerable Planet, Monthly Review Press.

Nisbet, Robert, 1988, The Present Age.

Bulletin Description: An inquiry into the origin and development of current social problems with specific reference to social action taken to address these problems. Students will investigate one major problem using the resources from more than one social science discipline.

Course Prerequisites: Junior Standing.

Purpose: The goal of this course is to expose the student to a systematic-critical view of hyper-industrial societies. It is intended that this exposure will stimulate the student in developing and refining her own unique (but empirically based) world view.

Course Objectives:

Course Goals	Program Goals Supported in B.S. in Social Science	How Evaluated
Ability to relate the various parts of the sociocultural system to one another and to the whole.	To develop a level of competence in the core disciplines of the social sciences to allow for further inquiry and study.	Essay exams, study guides, and class discussions.
Understanding of theoretical and methodological approaches for examining social problems and issues.	To prepare students to function successfully in a society that is heading toward globalization and becoming more culturally diverse	Essay exams, study guides, and class discussions.
Acquisition of informed knowledge about selected problems and issues. Application of reasoning and knowledge to controversial issues.	To equip students with the academic skills necessary to successfully address increasingly complex, multidisciplinary problems in the social sciences.	Essay exams, study guides, and class discussions.
Generalization of reasoning abilities from specific problems to general perspectives.	To equip students with the academic skills necessary to successfully address increasingly complex, multidisciplinary problems in the social sciences.	Essay exams, study guides, and class discussions.

Work Required & Grading

Students should have the indicated units (see below) completed by the examination dates. Completion of the unit means doing all required reading and fully answering the essay and short-answer Study Guide questions. When completed fully, these study questions will provide you with excellent preparation for exams.

Weekly Quizzes: Consistent with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, I believe that in order to truly master a discipline you must first master its vocabulary. Accordingly, you will learn the vocabulary of the social sciences in this class. Each week you will have a vocabulary quiz consisting of 10 fill-in-the-blanks giving you a definition as it appears in the Glossary of the unit we are covering. You are to supply the term. I expect to have 12 such quizzes over the course of the semester, I will drop the two lowest grades. These quizzes will be equal to one exam grade! Do well and it will go a long way toward passing this class.

Elwell, Frank W., 1996/2011, Glossary of Social Sciences, Web Version.

Elwell, Frank W., 1996/2011, Glossary of Social Sciences, Print Version.

This course is quite demanding and requires higher order skills of synthesis, critical thinking, and integration. The vocabulary words are measuring the far more basic skill of memorization. While most undergraduates are good at it (and thus it boosts many grades), there are a few in every class who struggle with it (I was never very good at it either). For students like us it takes discipline, repetition, and actual use to finally sink in. I suggest handwritten flash cards to people who are in our predicament. I should add that in addition to boosting grades mastering the vocabulary is really the first step in mastering a subject area—it can only help you in the rest of the course (and in life itself).

Study Guides: You are to keep up on the required reading and Study Guides before they are discussed in class. There are four Study Guides associated with each unit which contain essay and short answer assignments that are to be submitted by the morning of each of your exams through turnitin.com. The Study Guides also contain links to required and recommended readings, vocabulary to master for the week, links to websites, and other material useful in mastering the course.

You are responsible for learning how to submit your Study Guides in to me through turnitin.com. It is only through turnitin that you can get credit for your work. Here is a link to training videos for students: Turnitin.com Student Training Videos

The four Study Guides in each of the units should be combined into a single document and submitted through turnitin.com before the exam for that unit. Under the Study Guide title, you should number and state first each essay and short answer question in the order it is stated in the Study Guide. You will lose points for incomplete Guides, shoddy thinking and writing, and failure to adequately address the issues. It is very important that you use your own words and voice in answering these questions. It is through thoughtfully addressing these questions that higher order thinking skills--integration, synthesis, and evaluation--are learned. Writing is not simply telling me what you know, it is a reflection of the process of learning itself; through your interaction with the the written word you sharpen and refine your thinking, you discover truths that were obscure through mere reading. Here is a link to how to format your study guides: Example Student Study Guide.

The essay and short answer questions in the Study Guides are questions that are designed to do the following:

Solicit the main points of the readings and presentations, thereby helping you master the course material;
Draw comparisons to other readings;
Elicit your evaluations of the material;
Give you opportunity to improve your course grade.

The questions will help you prepare for the examinations. Note: all exam questions will be drawn from the Study Guides. You will do well to answer the questions fully and completely. The exams will therefore be a cross between a take-home and an in class exam. Your exams will consist of a selection of vocabulary words, essay questions, as well as short answer questions from each of the Study Guides in the unit. To do well students must prepare their answers to all the Study Guide questions beforehand and be prepared to answer a sample of these questions for their exam. Do not be complacent about preparing for the exams. The better grades will go to those who fully prepare. Each of your three exams will also contain 10 to 20 fill-in-the-blanks from the glossary. These ten to twenty points will be a significant part of your exam grade; again, it will be worth your time to master these vocabulary words for both the exams and for your in-class quizzes during the course of the semester.

Exams: There will be three exams given in class on the days indicated unless other arrangements have been made. The first unit test will consist of a sample of vocabulary fill-ins, short answers, and essays from the Study Guides of the first unit (see below). The second unit exam will cover the next group, and so forth. All exams are a cross between a take-home and an in-class exam and will be graded accordingly. For the short-answer questions you must address the question specifically and in accordance with your readings. For the essays, you must do more than simply answer the questions, you must demonstrate to me that you have actively read and mastered the material. It is expected that you will answer these questions in considerably more detail. The final exam will be in the same format, and will be given on Monday, April 30 at 10:30 am in PH 203.

Grading: As stated above, there will be three unit examinations in this class each worth 100 points. In addition you are to turn in your completed Study Guide essays and short-answers by the day of each exam; at 100 points each these assignments are worth a total of 300 points as well. Finally, you will have 10 vocabulary quizzes worth a total of 100 total points:

Three Unit Exams	300
Three Unit Study Guides	300
Ten Vocabulary Quizzes	100
Total	700

Final grades will be based on the percentage of points earned:

92 - 100% =A
82 - 91% = B
70 - 81% = C
60 - 69% = D
below 60% = F

All exams and written assignments are graded in accordance with the standards explained on the attached Grading Rubric.

Make-up Policy: The student must have a valid excuse for missing an exam. Arrangements must be made to take the make-up at the end of the semester during Finals Week.

Student Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): I know that this seems like a significant amount of work. This is not an easy class. But if you are of average intelligence, have some interest in social issues, and have a good work ethic ("Life is easier when you work hard.") you will do fine. So that this is clearly understood I ask each of you to print, sign, and turn in the Student MOU.

Unit One: Infrastructural Foundations and Problems

Text Readings:	Instructor Presentations:	Study Guides:
John Bellamy Foster	Introduction / Change & Problems / World Problems	Foundations

	Universal Structure of Sociocultural Systems / System Dynamics	Sociocultural Systems

	Population / Industrial Intensification	Infrastructure

	Ecology 1 / Ecology 2 / Industrial Agriculture	Human Ecology

	Exam #1: Monday, February 6, 2012

Unit Two: Structural Problems

Text Readings:	Instructor Presentations:	Study Guides:
Robert Nisbet	Corporations	Corporations

	Government Growth / Who Rules?	Government

Neil Postman	Changing Family	Primary Groups

	Education / Work	Work & Education

	Exam #2: Monday, March 12, 2012	vvvvvvvvvvvvv

Unit Three: Structural & Superstructural Problems

Text Readings:	Instructor Presentations:	Study Guides:
George Ritzer	Health / Welfare	Health & Welfare

	Crime / Underclass	Crime & Underclass

	The New Totalitarianism	War & Terrorism

	Concluding Remarks	Conclusions

	Exam #3: Monday, April 30, 2012 (10:30)

Other Useful Information

Attendance: Both physical and mental attendance should be regular. Traditional lecture material is presented off of this web site. Class time will be spent in discussion, occasional presentations, and perhaps the viewing of films. To take full advantage of this class (and to get a passing grade) you should attend all scheduled class meetings. Inappropriate classroom behavior (sleeping, talking, and other disruptive behavior) will be cause for dismissal from the classroom. This is a blended course. It is important that you attend both physically and mentally. Studying the texts and the lecture/ presentations are key. Inappropriate classroom behavior will cause you to be dismissed from the class.

Academic Integrity: By signing your name to a test or paper you are indicating that the work is yours and yours alone. Any academic cheating will result in failure of the course. "Plagiarism is the representation of the words or ideas of another as one’s own, including: direct quotation without both attribution and indication that the material is being directly quoted, e.g. quotation marks; paraphrase without attribution; paraphrase with or without attribution where the wording of the original remains substantially intact and is represented as the author’s own; expression in one’s own words, but without attribution, of ideas, arguments, lines of reasoning, facts, processes, or other products of the intellect where such material is learned from the work of another and is not part of the general fund of common knowledge" (Office of Academic Affairs, Rogers State University). One of the social problems that appears to be on the rise in American society is academic dishonesty. Don't do it!

Classroom Organization: Much of the class will be given over to informed discussion. You should begin your reading immediately, in the order stated below. In addition, you should go through the "Introduction" and the "World Problems" class presentations by the second meeting. I will keep you informed in class (or more likely through e-mail) of the specific due dates of your reading assignments. While the occasional articles I will send through e-mail are usually optional, reading them will help you master class material. Class discussion will often center on the required readings and the instructor presentations. It is therefore imperative that all assigned reading be done in a timely fashion.

ADA Statement: If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities please let me know immediately so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the Office of Student Affairs, Meyer Hall.

A Final Point: You are encouraged to ask questions on the readings either in class or through e-mail. It is not expected that you will always agree with the perspectives of the instructor or the authors of other texts. As have all human beings we have been influenced by the values of our society as well as our roles in various social structures. However, it is the duty of the social scientist to acknowledge these influences and attempt to minimize their effects upon social analysis. Should the resulting analyses be counter to your perceptions, challenge them on the basis of empirical fact, logic, and reason--not ideology, prejudice, wishful thinking, or "politically correct" assertions. The goal of this course is for you to develop your own critical thought processes and world view, not for you to blindly accept any one perspective.