Sociology 210: Sociological Perspectives

MTR 11:35-12:25
Stewart Biology S1/3
Professor Matthew Lange
matthew.lange@mcgill.ca
Office: Leacock 735
Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:00-2:30

TAs: Qiaoling He (qiaoling.he@mail.mcgill.ca)

Robert Jones (robert.jones2@mail.mcgill.ca)

Description:
Sociology 210 is a prerequisite for several courses and is a requirement for all
sociology programs. It is organized to introduce you to the discipline of sociology
and to prepare you to take additional sociology classes. More specifically, the course
has three specific aims: (1) to introduce you to common sociological subjects and
concepts; (2) to introduce you to the different perspective within sociology; (3) to
encourage you to think deeply, critically, and coherently about our social world.
Academic Integrity and Rights
McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand
the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences
under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see
http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information).
L'universit McGill attache une haute importance lhonntet acadmique. Il
incombe par consquent tous les tudiants de comprendre ce que l'on entend par
tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions acadmiques, ainsi que les consquences que
peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l'tudiant et des
procdures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le
site www.mcgill.ca/integrity).
In accord with McGill Universitys Charter of Students Rights, students in this
course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work.
Conformment la Charte des droits de ltudiant de lUniversit McGill, chaque
tudiant a le droit de soumettre en franais ou en anglais tout travail crit.
Grade
Your grade for this course will be determined by your performance in two exams and
your participation in conferences. The dates and weight of the grade components are
presented below.
Assessment Element
Conference Participation
Mid-Term Exam
Final Exam

Weight
5%
37.5%
57.5%

Due Date
Throughout Semester
February 13th
Finals Period

Course Conferences: Each student must sign up for one conference section through
Minerva after the drop-add period has ended, and your attendance and participation
will be recorded in order to grade your conference participation. Students who go to
conference and leave after attendance will receive no credit for participation that
week. Students with a legitimate reason for missing conferences are able to make up
one missed conference by asking the TA for the questions asked during the missed
conference, writing responses to all of them, and submitting them to the TA. The first
conference for all students is on January 30th.
Midterm Exam: The Midterm exam is an in-class exam and will take place on Friday
February 13th. Students cannot make it up unless they have a legitimate reason
recognized by McGill as excusable, such as illness, family emergency, and natural
disaster. Individuals who miss it because of health reasons must submit a note from a
doctor (a note from health services will not be accepted).
Final Exam: The final exam will be held during the exam period. It will primarily
cover the material after the mid-term, but students will need to know key concepts
and theories from the pre-mid-term material. According to Senate regulations,
instructors are not permitted to make special arrangements for final exams. Please
consult the Calendar, section 4.7.2.1, General University Information and Regulations
at www.mcgill.ca.
If students feel their exams are not accurately graded, they may request a regrade.
However, in order to request a regrade, you must first submit a written letter
indicating the reasons why your work should be regraded. During the regrade
process, the paper/exam is analyzed more closely, and it is possible the regrade will
result in a lower grade.
Note: The specifics of this syllabus might change given unforeseen events.
Readings
Successful completion of examinations and participation in conferences require an
understanding of the course readings and lectures. The reading of assigned materials
and lecture attendance are therefore vital elements of this course. In order to get the
most out of course lectures, students should follow the daily reading schedule as
outlined in the course calendar below.
Readings for Purchase: One book is available for purchase at the McGill Bookstore:
Elements of Sociology (3rd Edition), by John Steckley and Guy Kirby Letts. Notably,
an e-version of the book is available for purchase at www.coursesmart.com. All
remaining readings are available in electronic form on MyCourses.

Course Calendar
Monday, Jan. 6: No Readings
Tuesday, Jan. 7: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 1: Introduction to Sociology
Thursday, Jan. 9: Mills, The Promise
Monday, Jan. 13: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 2: Social Research Methods
Tuesday, Jan. 14: Best, Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics, 53-58;
Alder and Alder, The Promise and Pitfalls of Going into the Field, 490-497
Thursday, Jan. 16: Dreze and Sen, Society, Class, and Gender, 46-61
Monday, Jan. 20: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 3: Culture
Tuesday, Jan. 21: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 4: Socialization
Thursday, Jan. 23: Naiman, The Biological Basis for Human Behavior
Monday, Jan. 27: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 5: Social Roles, Interaction, and
Organization
Tuesday, Jan. 28: West and Zimmerman, Doing Gender; Walton, My Secret Life as a
Black Man
Thursday, Jan. 30: Conference
Monday, Feb. 3: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 6: Deviance
Tuesday, Feb. 4: Chambliss, The Saints and the Roughnecks
Thursday, Feb. 6: Conference
Monday, Feb. 10: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 7: Social Inequality
Tuesday, Feb. 11: Porter, The Vertical Mosaic, 3-6; Lian and Matthews, Does the
Vertical Mosaic Still Exist in Canada? 171-180
Thursday, Feb. 13: Midterm Exam
Monday, Feb. 17: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 8: Race and Ethnicity
Tuesday, Feb. 18: Ball, Fathering in the Shadows; de Leeuw et al., With Reserves
Thursday, Feb. 20: Conference
Monday, Feb. 24: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 9: Gender and Sexuality
Tuesday, Feb. 25: Nakhaie, Housework in Canada; Sadker and Sadker, Failing at
Fairness
Thursday, Feb. 27: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 10: Family
Monday, March 3: No Class
Tuesday, March 4: No Class
Thursday, March 6: No Class
Monday, March 10: Zelizer, Pricing the Priceless Child, 22-27, 56-72
Tuesday, March 11: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 12: Religion
Thursday, March 13: Conference

Monday, March 17: Woodberry, The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy (NOTE:
Read only pages 244-256)
Tuesday, March 18: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 12: Education
Thursday, March 20: Conference
Monday, March 24: Bowles and Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 345-351;
Stanley, White Supremacy and the Rhetoric of Educational Indoctrination, 144-162
Tuesday, March 25: Steckley and Letts, Chapter 13: Health and Medicine
Thursday, March 27: Gladwell, Outliers, 3-11; Monden and Smits, Maternal Education
Monday, March 31: Conley, Authority and the State
Tuesday, April 1: Dobratz et al., Globalization
Thursday, April 3: Conference
Monday, April 7: Conley, Media
Tuesday, April 8: Hornik and McAnany, Mass Media and Fertility Change
Thursday, April 10: No Readings