Introduction to Sociology

The film we watched in class on Friday and Monday was parts 1 &3 of Race: The Power of an Illusion. This film is not available online, but is available in the Ithaca College Library.

Viewing guide for film: Download Here

This clip on Angie Jobe is the one I mentioned in class. The link to the video does not seem to be working, but you can read the transcript of the clip in the link below.  I’m disappointed I cannot show this clip because it highlights the struggles of living on welfare under the reformed laws

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/welfare/jan-june05/welfare_2-14.html#

Jason DeParl followed Angie and a few other families for several years to understand the impact of welfare-to-work on real people living in poverty.  His research resulted in an article…

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/magazine/raising-kevion.html?pagewanted=1

And a book…

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/books/review/26WALTONL.html?_r=1 (you can read the first chapter of this book for free by following the link on this page)

Also, here is the link to Pay Bands at IC - http://www.ithaca.edu/hr/compensation/salary_bands.php

Tammy’s Story – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8VXrHeLqBA

Homelessness – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-naXAOUslM

Social Class Chart – Download Here

Our discussion today partially addressed the value of a college degree.  An article ran in the NY Times yesterday that combined this discussion with the current state of the economy.  Check out this article on the overqualified worker…

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/us/29overqualified.html?emc=eta1

Assignment 3 – Due Monday, 4/5

Assignment 4 – Due Monday, 4/19

For Week 9 (Inequality and Social Class) you should read Contexts, Chapter 21. This syllabus states the wrong chapter (so you don’t need to read Ch 6).

Medicating Kids -we watched beginning to 29:54

Frontline Watch Online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/watch/

Google Videos: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9055413814104510828#

Questions to answer:

•How is Nicholas diagnosed with ADHD?  How do his parents respond?

•How does Noelle change on Ritalin?  Why does she stop?  What happens?

•Who is CHADD?  Why do they lobby congress?  Why were lawsuits filed against CHADD (and others)?

Kate caught spanking – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO5KkfbTj6Q

Moms talk about spanking -

Expert – The case against spanking

Recently, the NY Times ran an article on parents’ reliance on shouting (rather than spanking) to discipline their children. Interestingly, the evidence for shouting is not much better than the evidence on spanking and yet many parents seem to find this approach more palatable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/fashion/22yell.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

A website dedicated to documenting cases of Feral Children – http://www.feralchildren.com/en/index.php

Transcript to the film: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2112gchild.html

Dr. Susan Curtiss’ website (the linguist on the Genie team) – http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/curtiss/index.htm