Course Overview

Welcome to SOCI 112, Social Interaction!

As an instructor, I see a class as a cooperative, group effort, which means that we learn together and with one another. In this effort, I see us as cooperating toward achieving a joint goal, rather than competing as individuals to achieve solo goals. I will help you with course content, and I hope that you will help your fellow students as well. I expect to learn from you, and for you to learn from each other. But, enough about my philosophy and me, you probably want to know a bit more about the course itself.

Well, here’s what you’re getting yourself into!

About the Course

This is an introductory course in microsociology. This means that we will look closely at social interaction, rather than focusing on the abstractions of social structure examined by most macrosociology courses. We will go “inside social life” to explore the ways that people create, make sense of, reproduce, and/or challenge the meaning and experience of everyday life. We will use a theoretical perspective known as “symbolic interactionism,” which views humans as continually engaged in the process of seeking and creating meaning through interaction with others. Our starting point will be the social construction of “the self.” However, we will give increasing attention as we move through the course to the ways that individual action both shapes and is shaped by social contexts and institutional structures. Ultimately, the goal of this course is to provoke thought about what we take for granted as “natural” about the social order of everyday life, in order to think more critically about the ways our own social interactions both reinforce and challenge the cultural practices and social institutions that constrain those very interactions.

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Required Reading

Textbooks

The required textbooks for this course are listed below. You can order them from Friday Center Books & Gifts at the Friday Center either online or by using the book order form.

• Spencer E. Cahill. (2004). Inside Social Life: Readings in Sociological Psychology and Microsociology, 4th edition. Los Angeles: Roxbury. ISBN:1-931-71914-4
• Schwalbe, Michael. (2004). The Sociologically Examined Life: Pieces from the Conversation, 3rd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 0-072-82579-0

E-reserves and E-Journals

Throughout the semester, I will have several assigned readings available online through the UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Web site. Some of the readings will be listed as “e-reserve,” and you can access them through the library's electronic reserves system. Others, designated “e-journal,” will be available through the library’s electronic journal subscriptions. Both types of articles will be in PDF format, so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the articles. If you don’t have it on your computer, you can download it for free at www.adobe.com. More information on accessing the library's electronic resources is included in Course Mechanics.

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Course Structure and Requirements

Your final grade will be based on the following assignments:

• Analytic Reflection Papers (40%)
• Discussion Forum Participation (20%)
• Midterm Exam (20%)
• Final Exam (20%)

I will describe each component in detail below, but please let me begin by suggesting that you save all of your work! Technology can be a temperamental beast, and if you lose an assignment somewhere in cyberspace, I’m not savvy enough to help you retrieve it. You’d be responsible for doing the assignment all over—not the most fun prospect!

Also, please note that you are responsible for submitting all work by the due date. I do not accept late work unless there is an exceptional circumstance, in which case you should alert me as soon as possible.

Readings, Guiding Questions, Lesson Notes

I have based this course on the one I teach in a traditional classroom, and I have assigned the typical amount of reading I would assign in that setting. It may look like a lot of reading, but I promise that it is consistent with what you’d be getting if we were in the traditional classroom. Besides, you’re paying good money for this course, and I want you to get your money’s worth!

For each reading, I will provide a list of “main points” questions. You don’t need to write out answers to these or hand them in. The questions are guides that will help you pick out what I see as key ideas in the readings. When you’re finished with a reading, go through the questions again to check your understanding—you should be able to answer the questions for yourself. If you can’t or are unsure of an answer, then you know to follow up with me either using our Online Q&A discussion forum or via e-mail.

Each lesson also includes Lesson Notes to guide you. For some of the more challenging readings, these notes will be especially helpful.

Analytic Reflection Papers

For each lesson, I will assign a question, topic, or activity based on the readings. You will need to answer in a reflection paper of approximately two double-spaced pages. Please prepare your paper using 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins. Reflection papers should be sent to me via e-mail, preferably as Microsoft Word attachments, before the Tuesday of each lesson (the due date will be indicated in each lesson). Please put “SOCI 112 Reflection” in the subject line of your e-mail. I will be sure to let you know that I have received it, so don’t assume that it has been received until I send a confirmation. I will look for a thesis statement, whether you used ideas from the reading in your work, and whether you made an argument instead of merely stating “I like this.”

I will grade reflection papers with a check, check-minus, or zero. Omitting components of the assignment are an automatic check-minus. By the way, I may write a lot of comments on your papers. Many students have the idea that a lot of comments from the instructor means a bad paper. Quite the contrary in this class! It is my job to challenge you, and the reflection papers give me a chance to respond to you individually. So, lots of comments in this class means that you stimulated my thinking!

Here are some guidelines on how to write reflection papers (excerpted and paraphrased from Sherryl Kleinman’s “Guidelines for reaction pieces”:

• “Society says…” : If you’ve written “society says…” or “society makes us feel or do…,” ask yourself who and what you’re referring to. Society consists of people doing things; it is not some object doing things to people. We produce society and are a part of it. So, be specific. Do your friends, your parents, the writers at Time magazine, for example, teach you certain ideas? Think about where you learned particular ideas. Also, think about the ways you participate in society, or reinforce certain ideas and practices. For example, I might write, “In a recent issue of Cosmo, I saw X, which made me think Y.”
• “Human nature…” : Sociologists look at variation among people rather than posit that there is a (or the) human nature. So, if you’ve written “that’s just natural” or “it’s just human nature,” think instead about the conditions or circumstances that might produce particular behaviors from a person in a certain group in a given time period. Some circumstances may elicit “good” (or bad) behaviors. Also, remember that what people considered “natural” in one time period for certain groups of people may change over time.
• Reacting isn’t just writing “I agree,” “it’s great,” or “this was simplistic.” Although these are starting points, tell me why you think it was great or simplistic. Maybe it made you think differently about a topic. Tell me about it. Or, tell me what you think the article left out. Offer an alternative or argue with particular points.
• One way to start is with a quote you found particularly insightful or disagreeable. Or, find a quote that best summarizes the article, and go from there. Tell me what you found insightful (or disagreeable) about the quote.
• Relate the article to your own experience. Think about something you’ve read or seen on TV; think about a conversation you had recently. How did the article help you to understand what you read, saw, or talked about?

If you need help with writing, check out UNC-Chapel Hill's Writing Center. The Writing Center has an online tutor option, too.

Discussion Forum Participation

Each lesson will include a short online activity or a couple of thought questions to provoke and guide discussion. You need to submit two posts each week. The first should be your thoughts on the reading (or answer to the guiding question) and the second should be a response to at least one other student. Your first response to the reading should be at least four sentences long.

Your posts will be graded with a check, check-minus, or zero. Like the grading for the reflection papers, I will look for a thesis statement, whether you brought ideas from the reading assignment into your post, and whether you made an argument instead of simply stating “I like this.”

The quality of your posts will count more than the quantity. I will assess quality by determining if you integrate the readings into your comments and make a good argument. If you agree or disagree with something or someone, explain why and give sound empirical evidence for your position (for example, you can’t cite Al Franken or Bill O’Reilly as “proof” of your position; you have to find peer-reviewed examples, rather than rhetorical positions).

Online discussion need not be limited to the activity or questions I provide. If you find another idea in the readings compelling, I welcome additional thoughts or comments. Additionally, you could share examples from your reflection paper (though “double-dipping” would not count towards your discussion forum grade—if you paste a paragraph from your reflection paper, you would need to add another paragraph making an original comment about it).

A note about civility: We’ll be creating “guidelines for interaction” soon, but I want to remind everyone to be respectful and sociological in your responses. Sociology is a science. Personal experiences are welcome, but keep in mind that your individual experience is not a counterargument against a trend. For example, if you saw one mini-van speeding, it wouldn’t be logical to say that all mini-van drivers are speeders, or if you like to talk during a movie, that doesn’t invalidate the fact that most people don’t talk while at a theater.

When considering your personal experience in the discussion forum (or in the analytic reflection papers), you might think about why and how you fit (or don’t fit) the trend. This doesn’t mean that your personal experiences don’t matter; of course, they have meaning for you. But, they are not counterarguments.

Online Q&A: An optional component of the course is our Online Q&A forum. If you have questions about the readings, you can post them to the Online Q&A for answers from your classmates or me. You can also e-mail me privately, but if your question is important for everyone to know, I’ll also post an answer on the Online Q&A.

One more reminder: You are responsible for submitting all posts on time. I will not accept late posts (unless you have compelling reasons for their lateness). You should verify that your post appears in the forum after you submit it.

Exams

We will have two exams during this course—a midterm and a final. Each exam will consist of several short essay questions, and will cover the readings, activities, and discussions. Two weeks before each exam, I will provide a pool of possible questions. On exam day you will be asked to write on four questions of my choosing. The week of the exam will be set aside for review, and I encourage you to use the Online Q&A forum to help each other study for the exam. Each exam is worth 20 percent of your final grade and is closed book. You should allow yourself two hours for the exam. I will post each exam on a Friday so that you can take it at a time of your choosing over the weekend. All exams will be due by the following Monday.

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Grading

For the purpose of determining your final grade, checks and check-minuses are translated to point values as follows:

• reflection papers:  check = 3.6 points, check-minus = 1.8 points
• discussion forum participation:  check = 1.8 points, check-minus = .9 point.

Letter grades will be assigned using the following scale:

A	95-100
A-	90-94
B+	87-89
B	83-86
B-	80-82
C+	77-79
C	73-76
C-	70-72
D+	67-69
D	63-66
D-	60-62
F	under 60

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Course Mechanics

Blackboard

Your discussion forums are accessed through a software program called Blackboard. There is a link to the Blackboard site in the gray navigation bar at the top of every page in this course. Click on that link, and then use your Onyen to log in to Blackboard. Click on the "SOCI 112" link, and you will see a navigation button on the left taking you to the forums.

If you experience problems accessing Blackboard, this is what you should do:

• If you do not already have a UNC Onyen, go to the Onyen Web site and follow the instructions for creating an Onyen.

• If you have an Onyen but have forgotten it (or the password), visit the Onyen Web site.

• If you have your Onyen but can't log in to Blackboard, contact Janice Durham at the Friday Center.

• If you can log in to Blackboard but can't find this course listed, contact Janice Durham at the Friday Center.

• If you can't locate an exam or discussion forum in Blackboard, contact the Instructional Designer.

• If you have other technical problems while using Blackboard, contact Blackboard Help (use the Help button in Blackboard, or call 919-962-HELP).

Library Services and E-reserves

Students enrolled in Carolina Courses Online can access online library resources from the UNC Library System by linking to Library Services for Distance Education Students. This site includes information on using general online reference works as well as accessing e-reserves and e-journals. If you are off-campus, when you click on a restricted library resource (such as e-reserves), you will be prompted to enter your Onyen. If you are unable to access the library's licensed resources, please contact the proxy team for further assistance.

E-mail

E-mails regarding the course will go to your UNC Onyen e-mail address (the one that appears when you post to the discussion forum). Off-campus users can access their UNC mail using Webmail. You can have your Onyen e-mail forwarded to a different e-mail address by clicking “Forward email” at the Onyen Web site. Please also notify Janice Durham at the Friday Center of the change.

If you use a filter on your e-mail account, you are responsible for ensuring that it does not prevent you from receiving messages from me, the course listserv, or Friday Center staff.

Hotmail users should be aware that Hotmail will block messages sent from within Blackboard because Blackboard uses “blind carbon copy” to protect privacy. We recommend that you use your UNC Onyen e-mail account rather than forwarding to Hotmail for this course.

Submitting your work

It is extremely important for you to save copies of any work you send to me via e-mail. If I don't receive your work, you must have a duplicate copy, indicating the date sent, to prove that you submitted the assignment on time. It is your responsibility to maintain copies of your sent e-mails, as there is no way to guarantee that any e-mail message will be delivered.

Please check your e-mail software to see how it manages sent and saved messages. Some software automatically deletes messages one month after they have been sent; others only save messages if they are filed in folders; others save messages received but not those sent. You may need to send yourself a copy of your e-mailed assignment at the same time you send it to your instructor, or you may need to print a copy of the e-mail message and any attachments to keep in your paper files. No matter how your system works, make sure you know how to save a copy of all work that you submit to me and that you save the copy for several months beyond the end of the course.

Other Questions

Contact me with questions regarding the content of the course and your progress. There is an e-mail link to my address at the top of every lesson page. Please include "SOCI 112" in the subject line of your e-mail.

Contact your Instructional Designer at the Friday Center about problems with this Web site, including bad links.

If you have any logistical questions as you work through the course (enrollment, Onyen, credits, withdrawal, and so on), contact the Student Services staff at the Friday Center for Continuing Education (phone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669)

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Lesson Schedule

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Honor Code

The Honor Code is in effect for all assignments in this course—all of your work must be your own or cited properly so that you don’t take credit for someone else’s work or ideas. If you borrow ideas from other people, books, Web sites, or sources inside or outside of class, I expect you to cite the source in a footnote. You are encouraged to study together, but your reflection papers, discussion forum postings, and exam responses must be your own.

If you have questions about what constitutes plagiarism, you can ask me. You might want to refer to this helpful Web page that explains plagiarism.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Honor Code states that:

“It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University students or academic personnel acting in an official capacity.”

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Lesson 1