Episode 1.1: What is Critical Thinking?

Syllabus

 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY De Anza College Winter, 2022

Instructor: Kamau Birago, Ph.D. Classroom: Online E-mail:biragokamau@fhda.edu

Classes: Th, 4:30-5:20 via Canvas Canvas Office Hours: Fri 3:30-5:30 via Canvas

Text: Giddens Anthony, et al. Essentials of Sociology, 8th ed. (eBook option available)

Please read this syllabus thoroughly and carefully at the beginning of the course and consult it throughout the quarter.

This course will consist of a somewhat abbreviated (we only have 11 weeks), online (via Canvas and Zoom), partially synchronous introduction to the discipline of sociology. 

There will be six general parts to the course:

1. the globalization part, 
2. the foundations part, 
3. the how we study part, 
4. the what we study part,
5. the social inequalities part, and 
6. the social change part.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Student Learning Outcome:

 The student will develop a sociological imagination, which is the ability to evaluate the effects of cultural, structural, historical, geographical, institutional and stratification processes on groups and individuals, including one’s own experiences.

Student Learning Outcome: The student will distinguish (ခြဲျခားတတ္) sociological perspective from other sciences, including its methods, theories and empathetic standpoint.

More Course Objectives: This is a course designed to give the student who takes it the ability to:

(A) Outline the research process and describe different methods used within the discipline of sociology;

(B) Compare and contrast different forms of social/cultural social institutions;

(C) Distinguish among and describe different types of social inequalities and analyze how they relate to systems of social stratification; and

D) Use sociological analysis to think critically about some of the domestic and global dilemmas we are currently facing (or not facing) and how one might go about effecting social change.

Sociology Department Statement on Feedback: The Sociology Department understands that students can interpret the feedback they get from teachers in a lot of different ways and that sometimes it can be difficult to receive critical feedback. We have high expectations for the quality of your work in our classes. We want you to know that when we give feedback, it is because we believe in your ability to reach those expectations. We believe in your intellectual abilities and in your desire to grow as a student. The goal of our feedback is to help you develop your skills.

1

Organization of Classes: The eleven lecture weeks of the quarter are organized into eleven Canvas modules. Beginning Week 2, each week will consist of readings and an R/R (see below) to be done before viewing the corresponding Pre-Recorded lecture (e.g., you will read the assigned reading in Reading & R/R Wk.2, no. 1; then you will submit an R/R to me via email based on that assigned reading; and then you will view Pre-Recorded Lecture 2:1). On each Thursday we will meet online. The purpose of these online meetings will be to make sure that the aspect of sociology that you have been introduced to was understood by you. Soon I will create discussion groups in order to help accomplish that purpose. In order to attend the Thursday online view lectures, each student should have an active Zoom account (sign up for one at https://zoom.us/ ; it’s free) that uses the same email address that the College lists for her/him (if the College lists the incorrect email for you, please change it in your Portal and send professor Birago an email message). Each Thursday lecture will be recorded for the benefit of people who would like to review the class they attended, but attendance at Thursday lecture is not optional – it’s a course requirement (if you have a job or other responsibilities which conflicts with our Thursday 4:30-5:20 class time, you should find another class). Unfortunately, that means that if you are taking the class from outside of the Pacific Time Zone, you will have to calculate what times our class and its time-based requirements (e.g., exam times) translate to for you. I encourage you to ask questions throughout my lectures whenever you have them (interruptions are welcome, in other words). Since there are a series of Pre-Recorded Lectures, Thursdays will be devoted to asking and receiving answers to questions and to discussions in groups and with the whole class.

Course Requirements and Grading:

I. Participation - 20%

II. Reading & R/R’s - 20%

III. 1st Midterm Exam - 20% (administered Thur. 1/27) IV. 2nd Midterm Exam - 20% (administered Thur. 2/17) V. Team Evaluations - REQUIRED (due Mon. 3/14) VI. Final Exam - 20% (administered Thur. 3/24)

For your course grade I follow conventional grade point procedures: A = 4.0, an A- = 3.7, a B+ = 3.3, a B = 3.0, and so on. So for example, if you receive an A for your Participation grade, you get a 4.0 grade point for that course requirement. Secondly, I multiply your grade point for each requirement by its percentage of the course grade. Thus, to continue the example, your Participation 4.0 will be multiplied by .20 (because this assignment was 20% of your course grade), giving you .80 for Participation. Notice that if you get a 4.0 on every course requirement, you’d earn .80 for each, and .80 x 5 = 4.0, or an A. This math establishes your base grade which will be at least your grade, but if I feel you’ve earned it due to your growth over the course, I reserve the right to adjust it upward. Final grades are on the conventional scale wherein an A = 3.85+, an A- = 3.5 to 3.849, a B+ = 3.15 to 3.49, a B = 2.85 to 3.149, etc. Notice that a student who gets a zero on any one of the five course requirements can achieve a maximum course grade of 3.2.

Midterms and Final Exam: You will take both Midterms and the Final Exam within Canvas. All three are required to pass the course. You can access them, after I have opened them up for you to access, by clicking Quizzes in the Course Navigation menu. In addition, instructions for

 2

taking these exams will be provided in the Modules. Both Midterms and the Final Exam will have time limitations (which you will find in their respective instructions pages). Exams are to be taken at a single setting – once you begin you must continue until you are finished or until the time limit for the exam runs out.

Instructor Expectations: There are a number of expectations I have for students in this course, as follows:

i) courtesy. It is expected that all students will be respectful toward one another and the professor. In an online class, this means, among other things, that when you are in any online meeting associated with the course, you must participate without any distractions (such as carrying on private conversations during the meeting, engaging in the usage of other electronic devices during the meeting, eating, having distracting background noise such as tv or music on during the meeting, etc.).

ii) preparation. This course includes several readings to be done each week, and it is most important that you keep up with the reading. Do not read to memorize specifics, as you would for the purposes of testing. Instead, read critically and analytically in order to comprehend and to be able to discuss the reading (in fact, it wouldn’t hurt to read each assignment more than once). All of the required assigned reading (as listed in the Modules) must be completed prior to the Thursday class in which its related themes are to be discussed. Commencing the second week of classes, January 10 – 14, each student must submit – via email and prior to every Thursday online class meeting, each of the assigned reading reflections (R/Rs) associated with the assigned readings for the week (typically between 3 and 4 per week).

iii) R/Rs. R/Rs are the main means you have of demonstrating that you are doing and thinking about the required readings. In my experience, there is a positive correlation between writing good R/Rs and performing well on exams. (An example of a good R/R is provided in Module 1.) 

R/R’s are not summaries, nor are they opinions (e.g., “I like...”, “I agree with...”, etc.) nor are they reports (e.g., “I learned about this, I learned about that...”, etc.). They are exercises in critical thinking (see, for example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0yEAE5owWw). They may be critiques, questions about, or attempted applications of what you’ve read – as a whole, the single thing you found most compelling, or anything between these. They may also ask about something that you’re not sure you understood, but you must include what your understanding is. Your R/Rs should be long enough for us (me initially, then possibly your group and/or the class) to assess how your brain is processing the new sociology that you are being introduced to (between a paragraph and a page in length).

You may write about one sociologically interesting thing that stood out for you in the reading. On the other hand, you may write about the entire reading taken as a whole. Remember to communicate, don't regurgitate. Before you write, answer the following questions for yourself: What did I learn about sociology in this reading? What did I learn about the associated theme from the readings? What did I find confusing or questionable from the readings, and how can I demonstrate this to Professor B. beyond just stating it? What did I learn that was interesting, surprising, eye-opening, etc. from this reading? Do not worry about being “right” or “wrong”:

3

That is not the point of the R/R. [Do not base what you write on the examples the textbook uses to illustrate a particular concept (these are any parts of a page that is not in the main text)].

R/R’s must be submitted, via email, to me prior to the start of the Thursday online class lecture for the week. I will read and evaluate them, then assign to them one of the following designations: √+ means you’ve posed an interesting and provocative R/R, √ means you’ve posed an adequate one, √− means your R/R was inadequate. (The ability to express your thinking through written communication is necessary: If this is something that is difficult for you, you should take steps to improve your writing skills, including but not limited to the writing resources available to you at De Anza.) You may or may not receive a comment about your R/R, but a comment is in no way related to the evaluation of its quality. I expect that your R/Rs will improve over the course as you get accustomed to writing them. I would prefer that one R/R is submitted on any given day, rather than all of them submitted at the same time.

iv) participation. Students in this course are expected to be full participants in every class meeting. This means that I am expecting you to demonstrate, by your informed and observable participation in lecture, in your group and in full class discussions, your intellectual engagement with the assigned readings. Unless the computer that you are using to take this course prohibits it [in which case you will need to (1) let me know, and (2) participate using the Chat function], I expect that you will enable your video function so that you can be seen during each Thursday lecture, and there will be penalties for not doing so.

v) special needs. If you have any physical, mental, or other disability, either hidden or visible, which may require classroom, test-taking, or other reasonable modifications, please email me as soon as possible. You should also be in contact with Disability Support Services. Please refer to the Canvas Page: Student Support and Disability Services.

vi) communication. The idea of participation is not (only) to convince the instructor that you’re performing up to expectations, but also to enhance communication among students in the class. In fact, learning is better accomplished in this fashion than in strict lectures, because each student communicates their own understandings, has those understandings considered, considers the understandings of the other students, and grows intellectually in the process. It is important that students begin to develop an appreciation for the difference between intellectual criticism (encouraged) and personal attack (prohibited), and to develop skills including the presentation of one’s ideas, the acceptance of criticism, and the offering of criticism.

Another aspect of communication is your communication with me concerning your ongoing experiences in the course. This includes any problems you’re having with Canvas, with the readings, any issues you’re having with fellow students or with me, or anything else. Instructors tend to look favorably upon demonstrations of student commitment to learning, beyond the utilitarian objective of getting good grades.

vii) independent individual work. R/Rs and exams must be free from plagiarism, joint composition from classmates or others, and any other form of cheating. Violation will result in a zero for that assignment, and the student will be referred to Dr. Elvin T. Ramos, the Social Sciences/Humanities Dean, for disciplinary action.

4

viii) absences. Non-attendance of any part of our Thursday meetings (class and/or group) will be regarded as instances of absence. This includes taking a break between lecture and group discussion. We only meet once a week for less than an hour, so it is not too much to ask you to be in attendance for all of each of those eleven meetings.

ix) leaving class early. Students who leave a scheduled class meeting (including group discussion) before it is dismissed without clearing it with me before the class begins will be counted as absent. (The Zoom application provides me with a record of each student in attendance of each lecture meeting, when each student joined and exited the meeting, and the total time that they were in attendance).

x) make up/revision/extra credit policy. I do not accept make up work, or allow make up exams, unless Dean Ramos requests it (which means you have to convince him, not me). I do not accept extra credit work.

xi) being informed. As a college student, and especially one taking a sociology course, I expect you to be aware of what’s going on in the world. Please watch the world/national news daily (or obtain comparable awareness by another means). Try to make connections between current events and what you are learning in class.

If you are caught violating any of the course policies once, I will report your violation to Dean Ramos for possible disciplinary action. A second violation will result in (1) a second notification to Dean Ramos; (2) you will be prohibited from participating in class for two classes after the violation (adding two unexcused absences to your course record); (3) I will file an Advocate report with the Dean of Student Development, Michelle LeBleu Burns; and (4) you will be required to meet with Dean LeBleu Burns, who will put a letter in your file and make a determination about your continuing in the class. I don't know how I can make it any clearer about how seriously I take these expectations. Yet, there are often some students who just don’t seem to get it. Please don’t be one of them this quarter.

Exceptions to Instructor Expectations: If you have a legitimate and unavoidable reason for not being able to comply with any of the above expectations, then (1) we should discuss it, via email, as soon as possible, and (2) do not sign and turn in your Syllabus Acknowledgment until after we have discussed it.

If You Need Help: The Student Success Center offers individual and group tutoring, as well as several types of workshops. Students who use its services succeed at much higher rates than those who do not. As you may know, De Anza now also offers free online tutoring with Smarthinking, available to all students via MyPortal. For more information, go to www.deanza.edu/studentsuccess.

Your Instructor: Kamau Birago, Ph.D. You may call me Professor Birago (pronounced bĭ- RAH-gō) or Professor B. I’m aware that some students in past courses have concluded that I am “intimidating” after reading my syllabus, but these students have made an incorrect inference. The correct inference is, simply, “Professor B. is trying to provide me with all of the information

5

I need in order to be successful in his class this quarter.” The most efficient means of communication with me outside of class or office hours is via email. More about me is to be found in Discussion 1 in Canvas, and if that isn’t enough, just reply to what’s there!

COURSE SCHEDULE

Each week of this course corresponds to a Canvas Module. Please refer to the Modules for all information about all aspects of the course schedule.

Final Exam: Thursday March 24 via Canvas

Don’t forget to submit the Required Post-Exam Statement via Email

After completely reading this syllabus and when Canvas opens up, you must copy, fill out and submit via email the Syllabus Acknowledgment, located in Module 1.

H6

Second mail

 Greetings once again! Professor B. here.

The point of this second message is to give you an idea of what you can expect in the course. Of course, you’re already aware that this will be a partially synchronous course. This means that there are scheduled Thursday lecture/discussion virtual meetings for the class each week. The College requires that I drop any students who do not show up on the first day of classes, so please be in (virtual) attendance on Thursday, January 6.

General Stuff

The class is called Introduction to Sociology, and it is just that. 

An 11-week course taught online is not sufficient to give you everything there is to learn about introductory sociology, because, as you will see, the field is so vast.

 (Go to https://www.asanet.org/communities-and- sections/sections to give yourself an idea of just how vast the field of sociology is.)

 You can expect that it will be several weeks before your understanding of Sociology begins to crystalize. Sociology is a complex discipline, and there are many parts of it that must be understood in order to understand it as a whole. I want to give you fair warning: This will not be a course in which you can expect to receive a top grade by simply memorizing the lectures and the readings, anticipating that regurgitating what you’ve remembered on exams will be sufficient. I am committed to your growth as a thinker: Even if you have a photographic memory, this will not help you to understand sociology. In order to earn a top grade, you will need to convince me that you understand what you are being taught. The opportunity to convince me continues throughout the course. You cannot convince me unless you are able to grasp the interrelationship between each of the many parts. Every requirement within the course is designed for you to convince me and for me to evaluate your understanding.

All knowledge that you receive in Sociology, in other words, should be approached from a cumulative perspective. For example, you should not think that you can forget what you learn about Durkheim, Marx, and Weber as soon as the first Midterm is over. In connection with this, a frequent question I am asked as the course progresses is, “What grade do I have right now in this course?” You need not ask it, because my answer is always going to be, “I don’t know.” My objective is for you to understand introductory Sociology at the end of the quarter. Two students whose understanding is equal at the end of the course, therefore, should have (roughly) equal grades (assuming they have also been equal in meeting the various course requirements). Just because it took one of these students a little longer to “get it” doesn’t mean that s/he deserves a lesser grade. In any case, at any given time before the end of the course, you should have a better idea of how you are doing than I do. You know whether or not you’re turning in √+ R/Rs, if your attendance has been stellar, if you are showing up on time to lectures and staying the entire class, if you are turning in your R/Rs on time, if you are participating in class and in your group, and so on.

Having said all that, I don’t want you to go into this thinking that learning Sociology will be “too hard.” I have had students who have finished my classes thinking this, but these are never the ones who have seriously committed themselves to learning and have adhered to the course expectations. Successful students tend not to needlessly burden themselves with preliminary fears and assumptions that stand in the way of their learning; they tend to understand that, if they

  

are learning Sociology, the grade they receive will reflect that (which is to say, they learn how to prioritize learning over grades); and they actually approach the course as if it’s a fun opportunity to learn a different way of thinking about the world, society, region, on down to the interpersonal relationships that they are a part of.

You will be at a disadvantage, however, if you are in one of two categories: (1) you are a poor writer (of English); and/or (2) you are too shy to speak in a group or in front of a (virtual) class. For the second problem, I offer this advice, based on my own experience as a shy individual: You just take a deep breath and jump right in there when a question or comment occurs to you. Each time you do it decreases the anxiety for the next time, until - before you know it - it's no longer an issue for you. For the first problem, I expect that this is something that you will commit to working on over the quarter. Investigate the writing resources available to you at De Anza and utilize them (and let me know you’re utilizing them). THERE IS NOTHING WRONG with coming in with either (or both) of these two disadvantages. There IS something wrong with failing to take the opportunity to overcome them. If you approach this course with an open mind, a commitment to learning, and some self-discipline, there’s no reason why you can’t succeed.

The Textbook

The textbook we will be using is Giddens Anthony, et al. Essentials of Sociology, 8th ed. The book is available in paperback form (I’ve ordered it for the De Anza bookstore) as well as in an eBook format. If you choose the eBook, you’ll have to investigate this on your own. What I do know is that the hardcopy version that I have has slightly different page numbers than the hardcopy version that you can purchase, and very different page numbers than the eBook. So I have indicated the appropriate sections of the book in your Canvas Modules.

I have read the textbook in a manner that I hope you will learn to do (if you haven’t already): critically. This means, among other things, that I do not accept everything that is written just because it is in the book. There will be times when what the book says will conflict with what I teach. I urge you, after hearing my reason(s) why I disagree with the book, to go with what I teach in those instances. One recurrent problem with your text is that it will frequently offer two definitions of the same concept, one in the text and one in a special box in the margins of the text. Too often, these two are not the same (sometimes they even contradict each other!). I will strive to make sure you are clear about the meaning of each concept.

Accessing the Course

You access Canvas courses by clicking on Canvas on the De Anza College Home Page (www.deanza.edu), or through your Portal, or in several other ways. When you do so you’ll see your Dashboard, a list of De Anza College Canvas courses that you have been enrolled in. You may not be able to see our course until Monday, January 3. You will then be able to click on our course, after which you will be taken to the course homepage. To the left of the text of the homepage will be two lists. The list closest to the text is Course Navigation (which includes Home, Syllabus, Modules, etc.). The list to the left of Course Navigation is Global Navigation (which includes Dashboard, Courses, Calendar, etc.).

 

Everything in the course is organized into 11 Modules (which you access by clicking on Modules in Course Navigation), which correspond to the 11 weeks of the course (excluding Finals Week). Each Module (excluding Module 1, corresponding to the first week of classes, Jan. 3 – 7) contains:

(1) entries for the readings and the R/Rs (see the course syllabus) that you are expected to complete that week BEFORE our Thursday online class meeting and the theme for that reading and R/R, (e.g., “Reading & R/R Wk 2, no.3 Theme: What is Sociology?”);

(2) pre-recorded lectures that you are also expected to view BEFORE our Thursday online class meeting but AFTER you have read the corresponding reading and submitted the associated R/R based on that reading, (e.g., “Pre-Recorded Lecture 2:3”);

(3) any reading that I have assigned that is not in your textbook, which will be designated by a Page entry (e.g., “Page: What Is Sociology?”); and

(4) The entry that contains the link to our Thursday online lecture meeting for that week (e.g., “Week 2 Lecture, Jan. 13”). You click on the link in this entry between 4:28 and 4:30 on Thursday, after which you will be sent to our Zoom lecture.

In Module 1, there will be informational entries as well as an Assignment and a Discussion that I want everyone to complete before our first meeting. Where appropriate, you will also have entries for instructions for taking the course exams.

That’s all I can think of in terms of giving you a heads-up, although I’m sure I left something out. Do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions (but read the syllabus first). There is no assigned reading before our first online lecture meeting, but there are tasks in Module 1 for you to complete before our first meeting, as well as information that you might find useful. Finally, I am a big fan of courtesy. One courtesy that I ask of you is that if, at any time after receiving this message through the end of the course, you decide to drop or withdraw from the course, that you do two things: (1) Do so officially in your Portal rather than just disappearing, and (2) Send me an email message that you are leaving the course, rather than just doing so without notifying me. Both would be much appreciated. Looking forward to “seeing” you Thursday 1/6 via Canvas!

Professor B.

Sociology

 Sociology is the study of human society and social problem, how it’s establish , expansion in our society  and how it is functioning