sociology 587 contemporary sociological theory - UIC Department of ...

University of Illinois at Chicago Sociology Department SOC 490: Capstone Course/Youth in Trouble with the Law Spring 2013 CRN 32767/32768 Professor: Dr. Laurie Schaffner Office: BSB 4146B Email: [email protected] Office Hours: 1:00 PM—3:00pm, Tuesdays and by appt. Class location and time: Tuesdays, 3:30pm to 6:15pm, BSB 135 Course Description The Sociology Department Capstone course entails the engagement of all the skills that the major has learned throughout the years of coursework: uncovering and understanding how past material conditions contribute to current social contexts; apprehending social problems through social theories; and selecting research methods appropriate to answering research questions. Goals of this course include (1) Students will use the sociological skills they have gained throughout their Bachelor’s degree, i.e., how to use critical skills to read, write, discuss, use various research methodologies, theorize, and present sociological work; (2) Students will call upon their sociological imagination to make original contributions to, in this course, the sociology of youth in trouble with the law; (3) Students will produce a research project: a writing sample and a poster presentation: both materials useful for applying for jobs or graduate school. Required Readings (available at UIC Bookstore, on 2 hour reserve at the Daley Library, on Blackboard or online) Lofland John, and Lyn Lofland, Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Observation and Analysis, Latest edition, Wadsworth Publishing. Strunk, William and E. B. White, 1999. The Elements of Style, 4th Edition, NY: Allyn and Bacon. Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language.” First published in London in 1946. Available online. Other readings depending on topic selection… Course Requirements and Policies 1. Reading and Class Participation (30%). All readings for the week should be completed before seminar. This course uses Blackboard and students are responsible for checking Blackboard for announcements and assignments daily or well before seminar sessions. Arrive at seminar sessions prepared to discuss, question, and critique reading assignments (bring at least one question or comment to present to the seminar). Bring all reading materials and notes to class because we refer to the materials throughout our seminar sessions. Active participation in discussion is essential in learning critical analysis. Various in-class quizzes, compositions, and projects will enhance our learning. This seminar will be student-led and class time will be used to iron out details and challenges in the process of crafting of the research project. Not speaking in class will constitute a reason for a lower grade. 2. Weekly response sheets (30%). For most weeks, a written assignment will be due at the end of each seminar meeting. Approximately 3-5 hours of work is expected to go into these assignments. Do not turn in a first draft. Print out your first draft and read it carefully for grammatical errors, awkward word choice or phrasing, punctuation. Assignments will be graded down for poor writing or organization. Absolutely no late assignments will be accepted. Complete your work and print out early (i.e, way before Tuesday seminar). 1

3. Laptops and tablets are allowed in class for note-taking only. Cell phone usage for texting is not permitted during seminar meetings. If you miss a seminar session, find a colleague to tell you what you missed. If you need to text someone or check email or Facebook during seminar sessions, please gather up all your materials and leave the session. 4. Final research project (40%). Students will complete a final capstone sociology project due on the last day of class. Drafts of various sections of your work will be due throughout the semester. You will design a research project—identify a research question, and, through your literature review, notice how that question has or has not been answered. Your theoretical overview will locate the issue in terms of broader themes such as the sociology of identity, urban studies, law and social control, social constructionism, community, globalization, or citizenship. The project may draw upon a variety of research methodologies (survey, interview, observation, visual arts, historical/archive, updating statistics, locating iconic and contemporary cases, content analysis) to collect data, and use classic and critical sociological concepts to theorize the significance of the trends, experiences, interactions, actions, or beliefs relative to your topic. 5. For this semester, we will focus on research regarding youth in conflict with the law. The United States is known for its vibrant youth cultures. As a social group, youth are often represented as the hope and future of a society. Yet, as a social category, the condition of youth is often understudied, undertheorized, and relegated to the bottom of a hierarchy of “grand theory.” This lacuna grants the media and government leeway to build into the public imagination images of youth as sources of social problems. Recent trends in public attitudes towards youth issues tend towards the punitive, highlighting spectacular cases of brutality and violence, presenting young people who have troubles as criminals and mentally ill. Research in this class will shine a bright light of critical sociological inquiry on this topic that will seek to interrupt dominant, status quo narratives of young people as bad and sick. We may critically examine the juvenile legal system. By updating statistics, investigating court cases and legal jurisprudence, analyzing government and medical documents, conducting content analysis of popular images of young people, we will create a different portrait of U.S. youth as “in crisis,” not “the crisis.” 6. Composition. All assignments for class should be typewritten, double-spaced, using Century Gothic, 10 pt font. All four margins should be 1”. Pages should be computer-numbered. Place your name, the date, and the title of the assignment in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Staple all pages together. Be sure to double-check spelling, grammar, and punctuation. All quotations longer than 3 lines should be presented in “hanging indent” format. Refer to Strunk and White, Elements of Style, when in doubt about writing challenges. This course requires college-level expository writing skills. Written work will be graded down for writing errors. 7. Plagiarism. Copying other people’s work, including cutting and pasting wholesale from the internet without citing, results in, at least, a “0” for the assignment. The University takes all cases of plagiarism very seriously. When in doubt, cite. 8. Students with disabilities who require accommodations for access and participation in this course must be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). Please contact ODS at 312/413-2103 (voice) or 312/413-0123 (TTY). Tentative Course Schedule Week 1: 1/15 Introduction. Assignment 1. Being a sociologist. Write one page about what it means to earn a Bachelor’s degree in sociology. What is sociology? What do sociologists do? What part of sociology has been your favorite? Due in class Wednesday January 22. 2

Week 2: 1/22 Formulation and delineation of the research problem and question. Analizying Social Settings. Intro and Chapter One, pp. 1-14. Assignment 2. Introduction to your project. From the topics available, select one and write one to two pages about what your topic is and why you chose it. NB: Create a working title for your project and use it on every assignment. Identify two or three research questions you might have regarding your topic. This could be part of your Introduction--make it snazzy: tell a story, share some data. Create a debate, tension. Due in class Tuesday, January 29. Week 3: 1/29 Review of literature/background statistics/historical overview of problem. Go to the Cornell University website on literature reviews for instructions: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/research/howDoI/literatureReview.html See also possible sources on Blackboard under Course Documents. Assignment 3. Lit Review. Depending on your topic, conduct a BRIEF literature review drawing from the Cornell website instructions on how to do this and from suggested readings provided under Course Documents. Draw from two books and two articles to create your argument. NB: A literature review is not a string of book reports. It is driven by your research question: what do we know about this topic? How has this question been asked and answered before? What is missing from current research? What do we need to know? Your review should leave you right where your project starts: "This topic has not been researched [in Chicago in 2012] [about boys] and doing so may reveal new ideas about XXX." Due in class Tuesday, February 5. NB: Plan on seeking out, reading, and analyzing books, reports, cases, statistics and articles on your topic throughout the semester. Week 4: 2/5 Theoretical approaches and hypotheses. Go back and read your Introduction to sociology textbooks and the readings from your theory syllabi to draw out these ideas. (Or go to the library to find sociology intro texts and theory overviews). Assignment 4. From your particular brief literature review, what debates, theoretical approaches, questions and hypotheses have you noticed regarding your topic? What kinds of approaches are being used (i.e., punitive, legal, individual, economic, psychological, critical, governmental, feminist, religious, functional, moral, conflict theory, interpretive, cultural)? Write a one to two page memo of your impressions about the topic you are studying and the different ways it has been framed. Due in class Tuesday, February 12. Week 5: 2/12 Identify a sample; research design. Select methods; discuss risks/limitations/ethics. NB: Consider access. Analyzing Social Settings, Evaluating Data Sites and Getting In, pp. 15-53. Assignment 5. Now is the time to think about the heart of your research plan. Keeping your research question in mind, it's time to think about a sample--who will you interview, what cases will you look at, of what kinds of data will you do content analysis? Which statistics will you update? Write a first draft of a Memo where you select your methodology. Compose two pages of your plan, addressing these issues for class Tuesday, February 19.

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Week 6: 2/19 Design fieldwork instruments. Analyzing Social Settings, Chapter 6 “Thinking Topics” and Chapter 7 “Asking Questions,” pp. 119-163. Assignment 6. Depending on your choice of methodology, create the first draft of your interview protocol, observation protocol, case review protocol, content analysis protocol, outline of tables—whatever project you are working on. Write about what you will be looking for in your research. Also, bring in a copy of a current CITI certificate that you completed online at UIC webpage. Both documents due in class Tuesday, February 26. Week 7: 2/26 Fieldwork. Gathering data. Analyzing Social Settings, Chapter 4, “Getting Along,” pp. 54-80. Assignment 7. Write up one or two pages about getting the materials for your project. Begin fieldwork. Write about your experience. Due in class Tuesday, March 5. Week 8: 3/5 Fieldwork. Prepare data for analyses and interpretation. Analyzing Social Settings, Chapter 5 “Logging Data,” pp. 81-119. Assignment 8: Bring in one or two pages from an interview, content analysis of films, archival documents, or case studies, statistical sources and your tables, whatever your data sources are. We can conduct intercoder reliability tests on our work. Due in class Tuesday, March 12. Week 9: 3/12 Fieldwork. Coding. Analyzing Social Settings, Chapter 9, “Analyzing Data,” pp. 193-209. Week 10: 3/19 Fieldwork. Writing Memos. Analyzing Social Settings, Chapter 9, “Analyzing Data,” pp. 209-217. Assignment 9. Over Spring Break, compose a one to two page theoretical, reflective, and thoughtful Memo about a trend, a pattern, an insight that you have noticed in your research data. Use your sociological imagination to think about: what kind of situation am I seeing? Due Tuesday, April 2. Week 11:

3/26

Class cancelled due to Spring Break

Week 12: 4/2 Findings and Discussion sections. Analyzing Social Settings, Chapter 10, “Writing Analysis,” pp. 220-238. Read Strunk and White, and Orwell. Bring your copies to class Tuesday, April 2. Assignment 10. Please bring in 2-3 page draft of your findings, what you think of them (discussion), how they fit in with your literature review and theoretical approach, (your Memo) and a snazzy conclusion. Due in class Tuesday, April 9.

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Week 13: 4/9 Communicating results. Anne Lamott, “Bird by Bird,” excerpts, on Blackboard under Course Documents Assignment 11. Put all the pieces together that you have crafted so far, incorporating all the feedback you have received and learned. Working Title 1. Interesting introduction 2. Literature review: what have others said about your topic? 3. Theoretical approaches: how have they analyzed it? 4. Research design 5. Research instruments 6. Presentation of data 7. Description of coding process 8. Findings 9. Discussion/Memo 10. Snazzy conclusion Minimum 7 pages-maximum 14 pages. Writing counts! Due in class Tuesday, April 16. Week 14:

4/16

Reflections on research.

Week 15: 4/23 Communicating results. Come to class prepared to make a 5-8 minute presentation of your project: with powerpoint, video, posterboard, photographs, some kind of visual or audio matter that brings your project to life for us. Week 16: 4/29 Conclusion, Critiques, Celebration. Attendance at the final seminar session is mandatory. Class must formally evaluate Instructor. All final research projects due, in class. Late assignments will not be accepted. If there is an emergency, contact me immediately. In our final session, we will critique the syllabus, our own work, and have a party if people are in a good mood.

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SOC 490: Youth/Trouble/Law: Contemporary US and Beyond Topic options (consider possible sources of data and research projects) 1. Discovering Childhood—has “childhood” as a category always existed? Explore different definitions of childhood (psychological, legal, historical, cultural) and their implications for youth. 2. Defining and Measuring Trouble—who gets to define what is a problem for youth? How is it measured? 3. The System/Police, Courts, and Cases—What is it like to ride along with police? What is the flow of the juvenile delinquency court? What is it like in a juvenile courtroom? What are key historical cases and what are current exemplary cases? 4. The System/Detention and Probation—what is detention like? What is probation? What do probation officers do? Does it “work?” 5. Alternatives to Detention and Secure Custody—why do we lock up children? What choices do we have? 6. Race Matters—how do race, ethnicity, national heritage, and citizenship status matter in all aspects of youths’ troubles with the law? 7. Gender Matters—how do gender and sexuality matter in all aspects of children’s troubles with the law? 8. Childhood Harm—are children causing harm or responding to harm against them? Why is society so punitive towards child victims of harm? 9. Self-Medicating and Substance Dependency—are drug use and sales among youth a crime or a solution to some other problems? 10. Education—why do US youth drop out of school? Why don’t we change school systems? What are dropout rates around the world? What are effects of not graduating high school? How many schools in Chicago have Chicago Police Stations located in the school? 11. Friends. Gangs. Violence. What are the ways in which police define, encourage, and perpetuate “gangs”? Who are The Interrupters? What is the difference between a group of friends and a gang? 12. Prevention—What Works? What if we offered swimming, scuba, and sailing lessons; recording studio training and time; camping trip tours of US national parks and introduction to nature, birding, plant biology, gardening, study of climate and geography; vetinary assistance training; training in newborn unit in hospitals, or other such exciting, distracting, fascinating activities to youth in struggle, rather than detention in secure custody? 13. Healing Paradigms and Redeeming our Children --How would our juvenile court system look if they were places of learning, healing, social justice, and protection of children’s and families’ rights?

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Suggested points in a research project 1. Interesting Working Title and Introduction: State the general subject you plan to research for your project. Describe the general topic of interest and social problem upon which you intend to focus. Why should we care? It is good to begin with an anecdote, observation, case, and/or official statistics to draw your reader into being interested in your project. 2. Literature Review/Theoretical Approaches. Begin with an historical and theoretical overview of your topic. What university-based or government-sponsored studies have been done in your field of interest? What have they found? What is missing? Look through pertinent journals and reports and search by subject to discover what previous scholars have said about your topic. 3. Research Question. Articulate a few distinct questions that can be answered by your methods. Why does this occur? What are the perceptions of stakeholders? How can it happen? How do informants explain it? Think about what would you like to be able to say at the completion of your study. 4. Methodology and Scope. What is your rationale for the choice of methods to study (fill in your topic and question)? Why use a traditional or a critical multiracial feminist approach? What will you specifically learn about your topic from this methodology? What are the limitations and scope of this project? What will not be covered in your design? What contribution will your research make? 5. Sampling and Access. Discuss your sample selection and rationale. What will be your procedures for access? How will you contact your participants/access your data? How will you inform them about the project? Who will you interview? How will you gain access? 6. Prepare your Interview Schedule and Observation Plan. Exactly what questions will you ask? How will you “break the ice”? What will you be looking for in your observations? 7. Informed Consent. If applicable, discuss informed consent processes. 8. Conduct Interviews/Observations. If applicable, transcribe interviews and notes as accurately, completely, and diligently as possible. After each field session, go over your notes and fill in all the blanks, complete sentences, quotes, body language, and anything else you can remember from the interview session. 9. Conduct Content Analysis. If applicable, get into libraries, online, or archives and begin to gather data. Try to observe as much as possible and write down as much as possible. Collect handouts, pamphlets, reports. More data is better here. 10. Begin Coding. Read over notes and interviews. Look for patterns, groupings, categories, repetitions. Notice themes and topics that participants brought up to you. Search for outliers and cases that don’t make sense to you. Scholarly analysis and original insight do not happen overnight. 11. Analytic Memos. Write one Analytic Memo on a theme from your research. 12. Write up your findings. The findings and discussion sections of your paper should now be apparent to you and ready for you to compose. Notice voice, avoid the passive. 13. Conclusion. Conclude with limitations, implications, suggestions for future research. 14. Edit, Correct, and Print in Advance. In academic work, everything counts: writing, grammar, spelling, due dates. NB: All papers should be typed, double-spaced, Century Gothic, 10 pt. font, correct margins, include computerized page numbers, stapled, and turned in on time. Never turn in a first draft—edit your work first. Refer to Strunk and White!

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