Division of Sociology School of Humanities and Social Sciences HS217 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (AY 14/15, Semester 1) Day, Time, Venue: Lecture: Tuesday, 11:30 13:30, LT 18 T1: Tuesday, 14:30 15:20, SPMS TR+19 T2: Tuesday, 15:30 16:20, SPMS TR+19 T3: Tuesday, 16:30 17:20, SPMS TR+16 Coordinator: A/P Patrick Williams Office: HSS 05 41 Phone: 6513 2713 Email: patrick.williams@ntu.edu.sg Text: O Brien, Jodi. 2011. The Production of Reality: Essays and Readings on Social Interaction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. [available at the Popular bookstore on campus] Notices: 1. The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; changes, announced to the class by the professor, may be necessary. 2. Textbook (required) may be purchased through the campus bookstore. I will post any additional required and suggested readings on NTULearn. 3. Condensed lecture notes may be posted online at my discretion. Please do not complain to me about this it s a pedagogical decision and not negotiable except under circumstances of my choosing. Course description: In this course I will introduce you to the sociological study of social psychology. Sociological social psychology aims to understand how we as human beings make sense of ourselves, others, and the social world. There are several sociological perspectives on social psychology; we will focus primarily on symbolic interactionism. We will study a number of different aspects of social life, including perspective, reality, language and meaning, minds, selves and identities, interaction and social order, and broader conceptions of social behavior and relationships. Grades: : Occasionally circumstances arise which are out of your control and that thus may prevent you from attending lecture or tutorial. Absences will be excused only when you can produce a certified and verifiable MC or similar document (e.g., police report). In cases where you miss an assignment (e.g., a quiz) and the absence is excusable, all make up work will be 100% essay format and must be completed within 5 days of the MC s expiration date. Quizzes: Over the course of the semester, there will be five quizzes, each consisting of 5 multiple choice questions. Quizzes will occur at the end of the lecture and will cover readings and lecture for 1
that week and the preceding week. Quizzes will the administered via Clickers and will serve as a method of continual assessment. At the end of the semester, I will use your best four scores to compute your quiz grade. Tutorial participation: To help facilitate your active engagement with the concepts we will learn during the semester, I will expect your participation in tutorials. Credit will be given to those students who regularly attend tutorials and who take an active role during discussions. I expect students to be prepared for tutorials by having completed all assigned readings for the week. Team based film paper: We will watch one film during the semester in lecture. After viewing the film, you will work in teams of three to write a 1,500 word essay addressing specific questions about the film, which I will provide before the film begins. All team members will evaluate each other s participation in the project. All team members will receive the same grade, unless peer evaluations suggest otherwise. Papers that are turned in after Monday, Oct. 27 th @ noon will receive a 30% penalty (up to one week late). No papers will be accepted after Nov. 3 rd @ noon. Final exam: The final exam will consist of a mixture of close ended, short answer, and essay questions. Students should be prepared to discuss any and all readings, lectures, videos, writing assignments and tutorial topics from the semester. Item Value Quiz 20% Tutorial participation 10% Team based paper 20% Final exam 50% Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in any form. All students should understand University policies related to it: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ai/pages/index.aspx. Tentative Time Table: The timetable is subject to change, but I will announce in class any changes and hand out new syllabi if need be. The assignment listed under each class meeting should be completed BEFORE that class meeting. Week 1 (12.Aug.) Introduction to sociological social psychology Holstein, James A., and Jaber F. Gubrium. 2003. Points of departure. In Inner Lives and Social Worlds (pp. 1 13). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (19.Aug.) Annual symbolic interaction conference in the US 2
Week 2 (26.Aug.) The social construction of reality Quiz 1 at the end of lecture (Clicker required!) Essay 1: What is real? Ch. 1: Islands of meaning. Ch. 30: Five features of reality. Ch. 29: Conceptual machineries of universe maintenance. Reynolds, Alastair. 2009. Cardiff afterlife. In Zima Blue. London: Orion. Week 3 (2.Sept.) Shared meaning and symbolic interaction Essay 2: Shared meaning is the basis of humanness. Ch. 5: A clue to the nature of man: The symbol. Ch. 9: Metaphors we live by. Ch. 6: Yes, father sister. Ch. 8: Mindfulness and mindlessness. Week 4 (9.Sept.) Methods of study in sociological psychology Quiz 2 at the end of lecture (Clicker required!) Ch. 4: The perspective of social science. Couch, Carl J. 1986. Symbolic interaction and generic sociological principles. Symbolic Interaction 7(1):1 13. Prus, Robert. 1996. Symbolic interaction and the study of lived human experience. Symbolic Interaction and Ethnographic Research (pp. 10 21). Albany: SUNY Press. Week 5 (16.Sept.) Kleinman, Sherryl, and Kenneth H. Kolb. 2011. Traps on the path of analysis. Symbolic Interaction 34(4):425 446. The social self Essay 3: Who am I? Developing character. Hewitt, John P. 2010. Self and the control of behavior (pp. 45 58). Self and Society: A Symbolic Interactionist Social Psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Ch. 11: The self, the I, and the me. Ch. 12: Looking glass self. Tutorial Readings Ch. 13: A theory of genius. 3
Week 6 (23.Sept.) Socialization Quiz 3 at the end of lecture (Clicker required!) Essay 4: Learning the script: Socialization. Ch. 17: Socialization: The internalization of society. Ch. 18: Reference groups as perspectives. Tutorial Readings Ch. 21: The development of feeling norms underlying romantic love among adolescent females. Recess Week 29.Sept 3.Oct Week 7 (7.Oct.) Identities and culture Hewitt, John P. 2010. Identity, social settings, and the self (pp. 75 101). Self and Society: A Symbolic Interactionist Social Psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Miles, Andrew. 2014. Addressing the problem of cultural anchoring: An identity based model of culture in action. Social Psychology Quarterly [advance copy] Optional reading Calarco, Jessica M. 2014. The inconsistent curriculum: Cultural tool kits and student interpretations of ambiguous expectations. Social Psychology Quarterly 77(2):185 209. Ch. 14: Sissy boy, progressive parents. Week 8 (14.Oct.) Readings Establishing the social order Quiz 4 at the end of lecture (Clicker required!) Blumer, Herbert. 1969. Society in Action. Pp. 312 316 in Inside Social Life: Readings in Sociological Psychology and Microsociology. Los Angeles: Roxbury. Essay 5: Meaning is negotiated through interaction. Ch. 23: Behavior in private places: Sustaining definitions of reality in gynecological examinations. Markham, Annette. 2013. The dramaturgy of digital experience. Pp. 279 293 in Charles Edgley (Ed.) The Drama of Social Life: A Dramaturgical Handbook. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. 4
Week 9 (21.Oct.) Applying social psychological concepts We will watch a 2 hour film in class. The film will start promptly at 11:30 in order for us to finish on time. Film paper is due via NTULearn by Monday, 27.Oct. at 12 noon. Tutorial There will no face to face tutorial meeting Week 10 (28.Oct.) Negotiating the social order Essay 6: Building and breaching reality Scott, Marvin, and Stanford Lyman. 1968 Accounts. American Sociological Review 33(1):46 62. Ch. 24: Smell, odor, and somatic work: Sense making and sensory management. Ch. 27: The managed heart: commercialization of human feeling. Week 11 (4.Nov.) Deviance and the moral order Quiz 5 at the end of lecture (Clicker required!) Hewitt, John. P. 2007. Deviance and the social order. Self and Society: A Symbolic Interactionist Social Psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Goffman, Erving. 1963. Stigma and social identity. In Stigma: s on the Management of Spoiled Identity. (pp. 1 40). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Rosenhan, David L. 1973. On being sane in insane places. Science, vol. 179:250 258. Week 12 (11.Nov.) Review No assigned readings. Bring your questions from the semester to the review session as I will not 5