Sociology 134 Fall Semester 2010 Lectures T Th 11 00 12 15 Classroom Social Science 6210 Office Hours Th 10 00 11 00 Professor Mustafa Emirbayer Office 8141 Social Science Office Telephone 262 4419 Email emirbaye ssc wisc edu http ssc wisc edu emirbaye American Racial and Ethnic Minorities Overview of the Course This course is an introduction to the sociological study of the major racial and ethnic minority groups in the U S including African Americans Asian Americans Hispanics and American Indians But it also an introduction to the sociological study of whites and whiteness in America The course examines key concepts in the study of race and ethnicity such as the social construction of race and ethnicity prejudice and discrimination It reviews the historical experiences of various racial and ethnic groups and it addresses important contemporary issues such as racial politics economic and employment inequality residential segregation educational inequality criminal justice whiteness and the arts associational life and intimate life Although these issues are usually taught separately by group this course deliberately covers these issues by topic rather than by group in order to see how the concepts intersect across groups Readings The sole text for this course is Racial Domination Racial Progress The Sociology of Race in America by Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer It can be purchased at Rainbow Bookstore 426 W Gilman St and is on reserve at College Library All videos shown in class can also be obtained on three hour reserve at College Library Grading Policy Eighty percent of your final course grade will depend on a series of four equally weighted in class examinations Each examination will count for 20 of your final course grade The examinations will all be multiple choice All examinations will be non cumulative that is focused exclusively on the material covered since the last examination By material covered I mean everything in the reading assignments as well as everything covered in lectures sections and videos Please note no make ups for these examinations will ever be allowed so please don t bother to ask with the sole exceptions being personal illness and family emergency The final 20 of your course grade will be determined by your participation in sections TAs will spell out their policies for grading during their initial section meetings In general the grading of section participation will be roughly comparable across sections and TAs for the sake of overall fairness Grading Scale Final grades will be on a 250 point scale 50 points for each examination and another 50 points for the section grade curved at the end of the semester to approximate the following grade distribution with Fs reserved generally for plagiarism 15 A 20 AB 25 B 20 BC 15 C 5 D General results for each examination will be announced so that students always know approximately where they stand Posting of Lecture Notes and Slides Lecture notes will not be posted If a student misses a lecture or section he or she must obtain notes from a classmate not the professor or the TAs Nor will 2slides shown in class be distributed although in light of this policy examination questions will not require that a student memorize specific facts or figures from the slides only that he or she understand and remember the basic points Attendance Policy Attendance all the way through each class meeting is required I insist on this policy because I have found that whenever I do not require it students trickle out of the classroom one by one during the final several minutes and they do so in a way that destroys our collective focus I wish to discourage that as much as possible Leaving before the end of class will be noticed by your TAs I am instructing them to take careful note of it and will absolutely result in your section grade and therefore perhaps also your final grade being lowered On the Use of Laptops and Other Electronic Devices in Class I realize this will be an unpopular policy but laptops and other electronic devices cell phones iPods etc cannot ever be used in class i e lecture unless with special permission of the instructor which will be granted only rarely I am instructing your TAs to take note of this when determining your section grade Whether or not laptops can be used during sections is up to each TA Academic Misconduct Cheating Students who cheat or attempt to cheat during an examination will automatically receive an F for that examination Use of electronic devices for any purpose during an examination will be considered cheating In addition the incident will be reported in writing to the Dean of the student s college as well as to the Dean of Students so that the latter may decide whether further disciplinary action is needed A clear definition of plagiarism as well as information about disciplinary sanctions for academic misconduct may be found at the Dean of Students website http students wisc edu saja misconduct UWS14 html Knowledge of these rules is each student s responsibility and lack of familiarity with the rules does not excuse misconduct Special Needs Students with disabilities should contact the McBurney Disability Resource Center and provide me with a hardcopy of their VISA at the beginning of the semester Email Policy Due to the large size of this class all emails should be addressed to TAs If it is early in the semester and you do not have a TA yet you should send your email to any one of the other TAs The TAs and their email addresses are Courtney Luedke cluedke wisc edu Molly Noble mollysociology gmail com Charity Schmidt charitysociology gmail com and Daniel Suarez TAdanielsuarez gmail com Please note I will only answer emails passed on to me by one of the TAs The sole exceptions to this rule should be instances when there is some conflict with a TA or when there is some other matter that can be taken up exclusively by me Office Hours Policy Same as email policy see above If you have a question that requires an office hour visit please first see your TA or any one of the other TAs during their office hours Biographical Information About Your Instructor In case you might be interested to learn more about me I have included extensive biographical information on my personal website which is located at http ssc wisc edu emirbaye 3Course Syllabus Always Subject to Change September 2 No reading Introduction course organization review of the syllabus September 7 9 Preface Ch 1 September 14