Course Overview

Welcome to SOCI 415, Economy and Society. SOCI 415 will provide you with a diverse set of perspectives on economic sociology, while covering some of the most significant and promising areas of research in the field. These areas are:

• institutions
• networks
• power
• cognition
• inequality
• consumption.

Underlying each of the eight lessons is this basic premise: economic behavior is eminently social behavior, and therefore it is organized according to the same social logic that can be found in conventional social phenomena such as marriage or education. We can better understand and explain economic activities such as buying Nike tennis shoes, hiring an employee, shopping at Wal-Mart, or obtaining a bank loan to start a business if we use sociological perspectives. In this course, we will group those perspectives into six main areas:

• institutions and institutionalism
• social networks and social capital
• cognition and decision-making processes
• power
• inequality based on race and gender
• consumption patterns, social class and social groups.

Readings in economy and society courses are typically grounded in theory. This course is no exception, and it emphasizes the importance of theory for understanding the complex interplay of economic and social structures and actions. However, because I think that linking theory with everyday experiences and practices empowers your learning experience, I will give special attention to bridging the knowledge acquired in the course with your own perspectives on social problems and life experiences. We will achieve this by:

1. engaging in assignments that allow you to translate classroom learning into the “real world”
2. using some study materials that are originally non-sociological but will allow you to debate sociological issues.

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Course Objectives

There are two main goals for this course:

1. to help you develop your sociological skills and knowledge by looking at the work of sociologists who study both the social embeddedness of economic action and the influence of economic action on social realities. Instead of imparting a unitary perspective of economic sociology, the course is organized in a way that presents diverse perspectives on social topics.

2. to provide you with some tools to think critically about events and issues related to the market, corporate world, and economic behavior in general.

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Required Reading and Viewing

Textbooks

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

• Frank Dobbin, ed. (2004). The New Economic Sociology: A Reader. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 1-691-04906-8

We will refer to the textbook as Reader for assignments and other references.

E-reserves and Documentaries

You will be required to read additional articles or book chapters that are available through the UNC-Chapel Hill library e-reserve system. More information on accessing the library's electronic resources is included in Course Mechanics. In addition, there are two Frontline documentaries you will be required to view. These documentaries are available online on the PBS Web site.

Lesson Notes

The Lesson Notes that accompany each lesson are an integral part of your required reading; you should use them as a reading guide.

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Course Requirements and Grading

Course assignments and the grade distribution is as follows:

For each lesson, you will have an assignment (either a lesson assignment or a mini-essay). In each lesson, you will also be required to participate in the discussion forum. Additionally you will have a midterm and a final exam. The University of North Carolina Honor Code will be in effect for all work in this course.

Lesson Assignments

There will be five lesson assignments. Lesson assignments consist of either one or two questions and a small exercise, or three to four questions. The questions in the lesson assignments may include some of the review questions that follow assigned readings, or they may include questions similar to the review questions. The small exercises involve some type of Web research activity.  One example of a small exercise is entitled “Media Piece,” in which you are given a topic or a question and asked to find a newspaper article or an audio program (publicly accessible on the Web) that illustrates or relates to your topic of research.

Mini-essays

There will be three mini-essays on the assigned readings. Each mini-essay should be two to three pages long (double-spaced) and should include the following elements:

1. Summary: a one paragraph summary, in your own words, of the main points raised in the readings (three to four sentences). This paragraph should focus on the main questions of the readings.
2. Discussion of most interesting and least interesting arguments.
3. Conclusion: a one paragraph conclusion that best summarizes the arguments that you found most compelling.

More detail is provided when the mini-essays are assigned.

Discussion Forums

For each lesson, there is a proposed topic of debate for the discussion forum. The discussion forum should work as the equivalent of a class discussion. Your participation in the discussion forum will be graded, so please participate frequently. I do not expect you to post every day, but I do expect you to give your opinion and comments on the proposed topic and to answer and comment on your classmates’ postings.  Please check the discussion forum every day and read any new postings.

The discussion forum is also available for you to post questions and comments on the readings that you may want to share with the group. You may always e-mail me with your own questions, but you may choose to open discussion on a particular topic or to “hear” your classmates’ opinions on a particular subject.

Please be respectful and considerate of your fellow classmates in your postings. Also, think before posting. Remember that the discussion forum is a collective space and therefore only post the comments and experiences you are willing to share with your classmates and instructor.

The discussion forum is not the proper place to address your questions regarding the content of assignments. Please address those questions to me.

Exams

There will be a midterm and a final exam during the semester. The exams will be a combination of short essay, multiple choice and short answer questions. The midterm covers the first part of the course (Lessons 1 through 4) and the final exam covers the second part of the course (Lessons 5 through 8). The exams cover the assigned readings as well as the lesson notes. The final exam is not cumulative except with regard to the knowledge of concepts that you have gained throughout the course.

The midterm and final will be administered via Blackboard. Although you will have a period of twenty-four hours during which to take the exam, once you start the exam you are limited to a period of two-and-a-half hours. A link to your midterm and final exam will be available at the Blackboard site during the time and dates specified in your Lesson Schedule.

Submitting Assignments

1. Please submit all assignments as MS Word documents.
2. Use the Assignments button on the Blackboard site to submit your assignments.
3. Put your name and identifying information on the last page of your assignments in order to keep anonymity during grading.

Late Penalties

It is very important to turn in your assignments on time. I like to grade all assignments together. Therefore, late assignments have a negative impact on my ability to return graded assignments in a timely fashion. You will be penalized five percent of the assignment’s grade for each day that it is late. Please note that deadlines are listed in Eastern time; if you are in a different time zone you will need to adjust to Eastern time in order to meet the deadlines.

Study Suggestions

Here are some suggestions on how to organize your work for this class:

1. Start by reading the class notes.  The notes give you the main arguments of the readings but they do not replace the readings.  Additionally, sometimes I give you some background information on the specific reading, or I try to clarify a dense argument.  Additionally, take a look at the review questions and important terms as this will give you an indication of the type of information you may want to retain from the readings.
2. Read the assigned readings and other teaching materials.
3. Go back to the class notes and read the important terms and the review questions.  The important terms give you an indication of the terminology I expect you to know.  Try to answer at least some of the review questions.  Pay attention to the review questions.  Many of the questions on the assignments and exams will be based on these questions.
4. Post your comments and opinions on the lesson’s discussion forum topic and keep the discussion updated.
5. Complete the required assignments.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me at teixeira@email.unc.edu (type SOCI 415 on the subject line).

A last note on the use of direct quotations.  When you use a direct quote you are required to use quotation marks and cite your reference (author, year, page, book, and so on).  If you do not cite your source, you are committing plagiarism, a very serious violation of the honor code.  It is also a good practice to give the reference of your source when you use another author’s ideas or arguments.  It will only show that you have conducted research and that you know the literature.

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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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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 415 ” 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 (phone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669)

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Lesson Schedule

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Lesson 1