SOCIOLOGY of POPULAR CULTURE

Soc 142 Fall 2010

Course Information Instructor: Dr. Timothy Kubal

units : 3 Office Number: SS 224
Time: MoWeFr 11:00AM - 11:50AM email : tkubal@csufresno.edu
Location: Social Science Bldg Room 207 Telephone: 278-5145
Website: http://142.posterous.com Office Hours: 1230-130,3-430 MW

This course examines the impact of popular culture on modern society, including movies, television,
fiction, news, art, popular ideas, religious beliefs, sexual mores, music, memory and other forms of
popular culture. We will study the contemporary research that has grown from the classical traditions in
sociology. We will consider the meaning, the creation and production, and the future of popular
culture. G.E. Multicultural/International MI. Prerequisites: G.E. Foundation and Breadth Area D.

Readings

Griswold, Wendy. Cultures and Societies in a Changing World.

Regnerus, Mark. Forbidden Fruit.

Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society, 5th ed.

Eyerman, Ronald and Andrew Jamison. Music and Social Movements.

Kubal, Timothy. Cultural Movements and Collective Memory

Semester Requirements

Eight ½-hour quizzes on the readings (32% of course grade)

Two 4-page papers applying the readings and incorporating outside sources (36% of course grade)

Four ½-page peer-review responses (12% of course grade)

Two five-minute oral presentations (8% of course grade)

Four ½-page blog posts (6% of course grade)

Participation in class throughout semester (6% of course grade)

Each week you will have the opportunity to display your understanding of the course material through
several available assignments: complete a quiz or an oral presentation, write and submit a 2 page
paper, post to your new popular culture blog, or write a review response of a peer’s 2 page paper.
There will be no weeks where you do all of these on the same week, because most of the assignments
are only required a few times throughout the semester. Throughout the semester, you are required to
complete a few of each of these forms of displaying your understanding of the material. Of course,
these are also opportunities to practice, reflect on, and improve your work habits. For the most part,
you will have to choose ahead of time which days you will complete each of these assignments for the
course. The guidelines for each assignment are listed below. The topic for your paper will depend on
the readings covered on the Monday and Wednesday directly before the paper’s Friday 5pm deadline.
The topic for the presentation will be dependent on the day you present (you present on the day’s
reading topic). You can write whatever you want on your personal blog page, as long as the content
relates to the class. During the first week you will chose due dates for most of the required assignments.

Some Very Important instructions

By the end of the first week, each student will use the posterous blog system to sign up for dates you
will complete:

2 papers

4 peer reviews

2 oral presentations

1 blog (w/survey)

Students that have not properly completed the signup for assignments and the signup process for
becoming a contributor to the rough draft and final draft blogpost by the end of the second week will
be removed from the course for nonparticipation.

The course is built around blog pages. There is a blog page for each of the traditional pages within
blackboard – announcements, syllabus, course documents, instructor assistance, etc. Posterous is
preferable to blackboard for several reasons besides cost – first and most importantly, unlike
blackboard, using blog sites instead of blackboard forces the student to learn a skill that is portable to
other parts of work life. Students cannot setup a blog, discussion group, or website for a future
employer by using blackboard, but they can do these things by using posterous. And posterous is
just as simple as Blackboard. Think about how you will feel having gained a skill and freed yourself
from Blackboard at the same time! Blogs and websites can be as important as other types of
communication, and students in this class are given the opportunity to practice their original skills in
writing, speaking, and web-based communication.

Via posterous, you turn in much of the work for this course by sending an email:

To turn in one of your rough drafts or to complete one of the required peer reviews of a rough draft,
just email

post@142draft.posterous.com

To turn in you oral presentation outline and the political music selection, just email post@142orals.
posterous.com

To turn in the final draft of your paper, just email post@142final.posterous.com

To post to your personal 142 blog page, just email post@142<yourname>.posterous.com

There are several pages where you can post ungraded stuff:

To post to the (unmoderated, ungraded) student blog, just email post@142student.posterous.com

To turn in questions for the instructor about the class or the material covered in the class, just email
post@142faq.posterous.com

To turn in private questions for the instructor (e.g., about personal grades), just email
tkubal@csufresno.edu

To post an announcement for the class, just email post@142announce.posterous.com (all

announcements will automatically be sent to me for approval before being sent to the class)

And, of course, you can post as many posts as you wish to your 142<yourname> blog page.

You must sign up for posterous with your official university email address and your first and last name, and
both of these must be exactly as shown in the enrollment roster for this class. To receive credit for the required
blog, you must create and maintain a popular culture blog that has this address:

http://142<your last name>.posterous.com

For example, your instructor’s popular culture blog is here:

http://142kubal.posterous.com
It is assumed that you will learn about posterous and its operation. To do this, please read the instructions and
view the video help here:

http://help.posterous.com/

The posterous twitter page is a good place to look for updates with posterous:

http://twitter.com/posterous

The grading rubrics for the short papers you will write are attached to a post on the course documents page, or
you can access the post directly here:

http://142docs.posterous.com/rubrics

Your gradebook will likely be visible on Blackboard (likely only for displaying your quiz scores). It provides a
running total, which can include several kinds of points that will not be included in your official course grade,
such as points from practice quiz. Your grade is based on adding the scores you receive from the official
assignments, as defined by the syllabus; it is not based on the total in Blackboard.

This is a hybrid course that uses Blackboard or other electronic means to deliver significant portions of
course content. According to the university, the course may substitute up to half of the original course
meeting time with online meeting times. We will not reach anything near 50%, but periodically we will
likely not have class on Friday. In the event that we do not hold class on a particular Friday, all the
regular reading and writing assignments and quizzes will still be required.

Detailed Semester Requirements

32% Quizzes

*Your grade for the quizzes comes from the best 8 out of the first ten quizzes taken [4% of course grade
for each quiz]. Normally, quizzes will be taken every Friday, and will be about half multiple choice and
half short answer. Everyone must take the first and second quiz (at the end of the first and second
weeks) and the final exam. One or two of these required quizzes can be dropped, if you include them as
one of the first ten quizzes taken. It is possible to take 10 quizzes and count the best 8, or you may elect
to simply take 8 quizzes. If you take nine or ten quizzes, I will drop either one or two of your lowest quiz
scores. I will not honor this special offer if you are caught cheating in any part of the course. You must
choose which quizzes to complete, within the constraints described below.

You can choose any eight (or 10) quizzes, with a few exceptions: you must take the first two quizzes and
you must take the final quiz. You can drop the final quiz or the first two quizzes if they represent a low
ninth or tenth quiz score, as long as you earned above passing on these quizzes. In other words, you
cannot drop the first, second, or final quiz if you earn an F on them. If you take neither of the first two
quizzes by the stated deadlines, you will be removed from the class for non-participation.
You may use the course textbooks and notes handwritten or typed by yourself during the quiz. You may
not talk to any other student about the content of the quiz, or use any other help besides your notes
and your book. Students will be given different versions of quizzes than their peers, and will be
aggressively prosecuted for cheating. Quizzes are usually given as scantron in class or given by testing
services. Quizzes may be given online. Coming to class will not be sufficient to pass the quizzes.
Students will have to read the material to do well on the quizzes. Quizzes will normally be on only “new
material,” although any quiz may be up to 10% comprehensive, with the exception of the final, which is
100% comprehensive. Comprehensive questions are repeat questions from previous quizzes, and
because not every quiz is required, comprehensive questions may come from previous quizzes that the
student chose not to take. Attendance will likely be enough to recall the information in such situations.
Students need to bring their own scantron sheets to the weekly quiz, including bluebooks for essays.
Each quiz will include at least 16 questions, and typically 18 or less questions. Multiple choice questions
are worth 1 point each. Essay/short answer questions will be worth variable points, up to 15 points
each. Each quiz is worth 30 points and you will have 30 minutes to complete each quiz.

You will have to know the material to complete the quiz within the allotted time (don’t think open book
means you don’t have to read/study). The more you know the material the easier it will be to quickly
answer the quiz questions. If you are having trouble answering the questions in the allotted time, lack of
preparation is likely to blame. Quizzes not finished in 30 minutes will be penalized by 1 point per
minute late, with a 1 minute free leeway in the classroom, and a 2 minute free leeway in testing
services. After this leeway, if the quiz is still not turned in, the quiz will earn a zero. The official time
kept in terms of computing late penalties is that stated by the attendant at testing services or the
instructor in the classroom. While you are taking the quiz, it is your responsibility to monitor the time
you take to complete each of your quizzes. You may not be reminded to submit your quiz before the
deadline. It is your responsibility to turn in the quiz before the deadline. There may not be a clock
available in the room.

Each quiz is computer-graded (quantitative questions) and instructor graded (short answer questions).
Your score is computed from correct answers, and averaged out of thirty to compute a percentage.
This percentage figures into the final course grade by multiplying your percentage earned on each of
your top 8 out of ten quizzes taken by .04 (because each quiz is worth 4% of course grade). The final
counts the same in points as other quizzes. You have 30 minutes to complete each quiz, with the
exception of the final, which has a 2 hour timer. Quizzes typically will be given at testing services on
Fridays, or will be taken during class on Fridays.

Students not present when the quizzes are distributed in class will receive a zero for that week’s quiz.
In the event that quizzes will be taken at testing services, no quiz can be started after 450pm on Friday.
Students that have not started the quiz at testing services by 450pm Friday will be given a zero for that
week’s quiz. The week’s quiz normally will be available at testing services at least by Thursday, and
always must be completed by 5pm Friday.

Quiz questions will be based on the readings, and class discussion, student presentations, and professor
lecture regarding the readings. Quizzes may have one short answer question based on the weekly
posted video. Videos typically will be animated lectures or documentaries related to the readings, will
be available on the blog site, and usually will be about 40 minutes per week (See topics in the
assignment schedule, below).

No student will be allowed to makeup a missed quiz unless there is university travel or a doctor-verified
sickness. A makeup for travel must be scheduled with the professor (via class or email, including
documentation) before the missed quiz deadline. A makeup for sickness must be scheduled with the
professor (including medical documentation) on the day of returning to class after the sickness.
Changes to these rules will not be allowed, and other excuses to makeup missed quizzes will not be
allowed. Grades for completed quizzes will typically be made available within two weeks. Students
that need more immediate feedback can see the professor during office hours.

36% papers

*two, 4-page formal papers, both submitted as a rough draft and a final draft (18% of course grade for
each rough draft/final draft combination) . In this class, a 4 page paper is a maximum of 1200 words,
and a minimum of 800 words (as measured by MS word). Rough draft and final draft papers are bound
by the same word count requirements.

Papers going over 1200 words or under 900 words (not counting, name, title, citations, and
bibliography) will be given a zero.

Each of the two papers is submitted in two drafts, one draft is submitted to a rough draft blog (60% of
paper grade), and another draft is submitted to a final draft blog (40% of paper grade).

The topic of the paper will be determined by the day on which you choose to turn in the paper. You will
write on the topic we cover in the reading schedule on your particular chosen due date. There are a few
restrictions on which topics you will write your papers: Each of the two papers must be on a different
book. No paper will be accepted during the first two weeks or during/after consultation days. You will
sign up for a due dates at the beginning of the semester, which will determine the topic of your paper.
There are limited slots for each due date (only two to three students per class period). You will
complete an online signup process. Your choice may be constrained by many factors; you may not get
your first choice.

Each paper must be written alone, and based on original work. When you borrow from the ideas of
anyone else, it should be documented in the paper through proper academic citations. The paper may
use limited quotations – one or two quotes of one sentence or less per paper. The paper should cite not
only quotations, but also should include page number citations each time a new idea from any source is
referenced. There should be parenthetical citations in the body of the paper, and a bibliography at the
end of the paper. You can use any format for citations, as long as it is thorough and consistent.

The grade for the rough draft will be based on the instructor’s perception of the paper’s ability to use
each word within the word-count-limit to accomplish four tasks (not necessarily in this order):
1) Summarize the readings assigned for the day you chose to submit your paper. (25% of rough draft
grade, about 250 words)

2) respond to at least one fellow student’s paper. You may respond to any fellow student paper posted
to the rough draft or final draft blogs, within these restrictions: you may not respond to a paper posted
on the same week as your paper, you may not respond to a paper posted more than 4 weeks prior to
your rough draft due date, you may not respond to a paper that you have included in one of your
previous papers, and you may not respond to a paper for which you completed a peer review. In the
response you may include some additional information or your own critique, but you should spend more
than half the space simply summarizing some idea or observation you found compelling in a fellow
student paper. Make sure to use first and last name along with identifying them as a classmate (25% of
rough draft grade, about 250 words).

3) summarize one peer reviewed journal article from sociological abstracts; this needs to go beyond the
1 paragraph abstract to show that you actually read the article – the summary should make sure to
discuss findings from the article and the methods used in the article (25% of rough draft grade, about
250 words)

4) summarize two newspaper articles that are indexed in lexis/nexis – each must be either a) from a
different country than the other or b) published at least ten years apart from the other (25% of rough
draft grade, about 250 words)

5) Provide an introduction, conclusion, and transitions throughout the paper to make it a thoughtful
paper (about 100 words).

The best papers typically have not only used every word to accomplish these four tasks with as much
depth and detail within the word limit, but also have thought about the presentation of the material so
there is clarity in presentation and argument. For example, students typically do better if they have a
common thread throughout all four of the components in the paper. This common thread might be a
theoretical idea or concept, but also could be a common empirical topic (of course, both of which would
be drawn from the assigned readings for the day). Another example of quality presentation is to not
simply accomplish the four tasks with separate headings for each, but to use the sources to write a
paper that displays your sociological imagination. Finally, another example of quality writing is to
remove all prepositions (see GRE guidelines for more ideas on writing). Papers should include
introductions, transitions, conclusions, and full academic citations (citations, titles, and name are not
included in word count).

The grade for the final draft will be based on the work you did on the paper after receiving comments on
your rough draft from the instructor and fellow students that posted comments about your paper to the
rough draft blog, as evidenced by 1) improvement in accomplishing the four required tasks for the paper
(i.e., the four main tasks of the paper, as outlined above), 2) improvement in the efficiency of the writing
(which allows for the addition of more content), and 3) the demonstrated and argued response to
comments from peers and professor. To help accomplish this third objective, the final draft of the
paper should include a cover letter that has a paragraph describing what you have done to improve your
paper because of the comments received on the rough draft (and defending why you did not change
some parts of the paper, if you choose to not follow advice). This should be included as part of a formal
cover letter, addressed to the professor at the address listed on the professor’s official department
website, and turned in with the final draft of the paper to the final draft blog by 5pm one week after
your chosen due date for the rough draft. Papers not turned in by 5pm on the date chosen and one
week after the date chosen for the rough draft and final draft papers respectively, will incur a 1 point
per hour penalty until submitted.

During the first week of class, you will choose a deadline to complete the rough draft of your three
papers. Once chosen, deadlines to turn in papers cannot be changed. The final paper is due no later
than 7 days after the rough. To receive a grade the paper must be a written document attached to an
email that is correctly sent to the correct blog site (not pasted into the blog site), and that document
must be saved as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf format. There should be no question about whether your paper
was posted correctly: you can see the draft blog page or final blog page where you posted your paper by
clicking on the url link for the rough draft (142draft.posterous.com) or final draft page
(142final.posterous.com).

You turn in rough draft papers by sending the paper as an email attachment to:

post@142draft.posterous.com

You turn in the final draft of the papers by sending the paper as an email attachment to:

post@142final.posterous.com

No student will be allowed to makeup any missed paper deadline unless there is university travel, a
doctor-verified sickness, or a death in the immediate family. A makeup for travel must be scheduled
with the professor (via class or email, including documentation) before the paper deadline. A makeup
for sickness of family death must be scheduled with the professor (including documentation) on the day
of returning to class. Students that do not complete the paper by the chosen deadline will receive a
zero for the paper. Changes to these makeup rules will not be allowed, and other excuses to makeup
missed paper deadlines will not be allowed. Grades for first draft of papers will be provided within 48
hours of the weekly Friday 5pm deadline. Grades for final drafts of papers may not be provided until the
end of the semester. Students desiring more immediate feedback can see the instructor during office
hours.

12% peer review

* Four responses to fellow student papers (3`% of course grade for each peer review, ½ page double
space response minimum (100 word minimum; no maximum); due each week by Saturday at 1159pm.
You must complete the peer reviews on your own. You must use citations if you take ideas from others,
and you must use quotations and citations if you borrow words. The goal of the peer review is to
intelligently discuss and critique one paper. You may want to read multiple papers from that week, but
for a grade you will comment on one fellow student paper posted to the rough draft blog that week. The
four tasks are to 1) describe the basic argument or idea of the paper, 2) evaluate the best parts of the
paper, overall; 2) evaluate the part of the paper that needs improvement; 3) offer some specific
suggestions for improvement; 4) complete the survey evaluation based on the rubrics (see course
documents for rubric). The assignment is completed by clicking the url link of the proper paper, and
completing the review, which includes closed and open ended questions that will accomplish the four
tasks listed above.

Each student turning in a rough draft will post to the rough draft blog by Friday at 5pm. Your task for
peer review is to post to the rough draft blog an original response to one paper turned in during the
current week (deadline for peer review is Saturday 1159pm). During the first week of class you must
sign up for the 6 dates on which you will complete your peer review. You will complete the signup by
stating your intent to present on the blog page that corresponds to the day on which you wish to
complete your peer review (there is one blogpage for every day of the class). There will be more than
one person signed up to complete a peer review on each class day. It is the responsibility of the people
signed up on that day to work together to make sure each person does a peer review of a different
paper, and that each student paper turned in on that day is reviewed. If you do not coordinate with
other peer reviewers to complete these tasks, your grade will be penalized. If no one completes a paper
on a day you signup for a peer review, you must contact the instructor via his university email account
within 24 hours of the peer review deadline to be reassigned a new peer review; if you do not contact
the instructor to be reassigned, your grade will be a zero. Peer reviews do not influence the grade of the
paper, so there is no grading reason to “go easy” on your classmates.

The more rigor you put into your peer review, the higher grade you will receive. This certainly does not
mean you should be mean to get a good grade. The purpose of the peer review is to offer some
constructive criticisms for improvement, so if you are mean instead of constructive, it defeats the
purpose of peer review and your peer review grade will suffer. Being critical and encouraging at the
same time is what we are looking for here. Peer reviews that do not put intellectual energy into offering
thoughtful, original suggestions for improvement of the paper will receive significantly reduced grades.

Peer reviews will not be anonymous. This will allow us to practice working within an environment of
open criticism and dissent, where alternative viewpoints are suggested in an atmosphere of support and
helping toward a better product (in this case, the paper). The process of writing peer reviews thus helps
us think about how to organize people into communities of self-policing, self-critical professionals. The
public nature of the reviews is important because the sociological research shows that there is a
silencing effect that can occur in some types of groups and organizations, if there is not honest public
discussion and critique. In this class, we want to foster an environment of open, public dissent, and
practice operating within such an environment where we feel comfortable offering constructive
criticism of the work of our peers. This has important implications for most students future jobs. You
can see this sort of ethic in the newspaper industry, where journalists try very hard to avoid quoting
anonymous sources off the record. You can see this open public dissent in the incessant and heated
public debates within the United States Congress, and with most aspects of public policy debate. You
can see this also in corporations’ increasing celebration of the emotional skills necessary for open
discussion of differences. You will likely be in a professional, government, or corporate job where these
skills of open dissent within the workplace are important for your career. You will be a citizen where
these skills are important for your country. We will be practicing these skills during your peer review
exercises.

No student will be allowed to makeup a missed peer review unless there is university travel, a personal
doctor-verified sickness, or a death in the immediate family. A makeup for travel must be scheduled
with the professor (via class or email, including documentation) before the peer review deadline. A
makeup for sickness or death must be scheduled with the professor on the day of returning to class.
Changes to these rules will not be allowed, and other excuses to makeup missed peer reviews will not
be allowed. Students that do not complete the peer review assignment on the chosen due date will
receive a zero. Peer review grades typically will be provided at midterm and after final exams. Students
desiring more immediate feedback can see the instructor during office hours.

8% oral presentation and outline

* two original oral presentations, each with a written outline (4% for each presentation/outline pair).
Each oral presentation/outline must be on a different book. It is expected that students will present on
similar topics to which they wrote the paper, thus you should choose the same (or very close) dates for
the presentations/outlines as the dates chosen for turning in the formal papers. Each student must sign
up for oral presentations at the beginning of the semester. No oral presentation/outline will be
scheduled on Fridays (only M,W). The date you sign up for will determine the topic of your
presentation/outline (you present on that day’s readings). Grading includes two parts: 1) individually
produce an outline of your oral presentation and post it to the “142 orals” blog at least 12 hours before
the start of class in which you will present (20% of the assignment grade), and 2) complete a classrom
oral presentation (50% of assignment grade), which is graded primarily on your ability to efficiently and
intelligently communicate your portion of the day’s reading material to your peers within a 5 minute
time period.

Students will be given a zero for the oral presentation if they are not ready to present at the beginning
of class on which they are scheduled, or if they are not ready to present in the order agreed-upon by the
group via the day’s blog page where the group discussed the collective presentation. Students that post
their outlines late will have the outline grade penalized by 5 points per hour.

If the instructor postpones your presentation, you are expected to present on the next class period, or your
presentation will receive a zero. You can reschedule your oral presentations only in the case of your
personal doctor verified sickness. The grades for both the oral presentation and outline are based
partially on your ability to work with others in a team. It is your responsibility to divide the labor of
covering the day’s reading material with other presenters scheduled on your day so the group covers
the entire assigned reading without overlap between presenters. Oral presentation grades typically will
be provided after final exams. Students desiring more immediate feedback can see the instructor during
office hours.

6% blog
*a new, original blog on popular culture, which, by the last week of classes, has at least 3 significant,
original posts (2% each), each of which combines ideas from class with some example of an observation
that you have had about a real-world example of popular culture during this class. Significant blogposts
include at least ½ page of thoughtful written words. One of your blogs must include a link to a short
surveymonkey survey that asks the respondents name (so we can track which of your peers is taking
your survey) and includes at least 5 questions, and another blog post must include the findings from the
survey, including a full disclosure of the peer names that completed the survey. The best surveys repeat
questions used in professional or academic research instruments (e.g., GSS or NLSY), or at least used by
someone else, as archived in ipoll, although that is not absolutely necessary here. It is less desirable but
also acceptable to make up thoughtful questions that meet your need for information. You can write on
any topic you wish as long as it is related to popular culture, although the more the topic relates to the
course and the readings, the better. Question wording must include documentation of borrowing. This
blog assignment is to be completed alone. You must use citations if you take ideas from others, and
you must use quotations and citations if you borrow words. Just as you will sign up for due dates for
your rough draft papers and oral presentations, you will sign up for a date on which you will post the
blog which includes your survey (you do not need to signup for due dates for the other three blog
posts). This is accomplished simply; there is a blog page for every day of the class. To signup, you
simply send a posting to the blog page on the date you will post your survey blog, stating that you will
complete a survey blog on that date. Only one survey blog can be completed per class period, so if
someone else has chosen that class period, you will need to choose another. When completing your
blog, return to that day’s blog page where you posted your intentions, and post the url so students can
easily be directed to your blogpage to complete your survey and/or read your thoughts about popular
culture. Make sure to make it clear in the title of your posting that you are posting a link to a survey
blog.

For the grade, the instructor chooses your best 4 blogs, and builds the grade by assessing the
distribution of quality of your blog posts, as dispersed relatively evenly throughout the semester, and
the depth at which your posts applied material related to the course. There is no maximum number of
posts you can complete, and grades for blogs will be positively adjusted for students that consistently
produce insightful blogs throughout the semester. Blog grades typically will be provided at midterm and
at the end of the semester. Students desiring more immediate feedback can see the instructor during
office hours.

6% participation

*based on original participation in the class, as measured primarily by a sample of the semester’s
attendance records (50% of assignment grade), and participation in peer blogs(including surveys on peer
blog pages) throughout the semester (50% of assignment grade). Participation is to be completed alone.
The entire participation grade will be a mandatory zero if there is excessive absenteeism from class (10
or more unexcused absences throughout the semester), or if there is, at the instructor’s discretion, a
breach of the university code of conduct (see below for code), or if you are caught cheating in any part
of the course. Participation grades typically will be computed after final exams. Students desiring more
immediate feedback can see the instructor during office hours.
For the paper, I grade what you turn in. You are not allowed to make changes or additions to the paper
after the deadline. A paper is considered turned in once it has been received at either blog site:
“142draft” or “142final”. It is your responsibility to make sure that your paper has posted correctly; you can
do this by checking yourself: http://142draft.posterous.com (this is also the same link to check your peer review
submission), and, for the final draft: http://142final.posterous.com.

If you are having any sort of trouble with the submission of work, you can send email to the instructor (and
make sure to also send the completed work via email attachment directly to the instructor), and you should
contact posterous support directly, via the support page: http://posterous.com/help and/or via email:
help@posterous.com Also, you should check their twitter page to check on possible problems with the posterous
server: http://twitter.com/posterous Most problems can be solved by simply retunring in an hour or so. Thus,
in case a problem arises, make sure you are not waiting until the last hour to turn in material. The instructor
does not normally accept work via personal email, and sending work via the professor’s university email will not
be constituted as properly turning in work before the deadline, unless the instructor can verify that there is a
legitimate problem with the posterous site or university email (not with the student’s understanding or use of the
site or email). In such cases, it is the student’s responsibility to send the work to the professor via email
attachment (tkubal@csufresno.edu), and to repost it correctly as soon as the site/email problem is fixed. In
these circumstances, the paper will not be considered submitted until it is properly submitted to the posterous
site, but the late penalty will be rescinded. This is a very simple system for turning in work, and there should be
very few to no problems that will necessitate sending work directly to the instructor’s personal university email.

Students sometimes submit a paper and then realize a problem with it and want to post a revised paper. It is
possible to change your rough draft or final draft submission, and resubmit an alternative document, as long as
the deadline has not passed. The instructor will always allow revised drafts before the deadline once, but the
instructor may not allow this more than once, and is not obligated to take more than one revised draft of a
rough draft paper before the deadline throughout the semester. This is a general rule that applies in all
circumstances: If the deadline has passed, you cannot alter or resubmit a rough draft or final draft. The only
circumstance that would allow the subversion of this deadline rule is a doctor-documented personal sickness,
university travel, or death in the immediate family.

The instructor reserves the right to not accept late papers, or, depending on the circumstances, to accept the
paper with a penalty of at least one point per hour late. Missed presentations or quizzes cannot be made-up
without doctor or university excuse. If the instructor postpones your presentation, you are expected to present
on the next class period, or your presentation will receive a zero. If you go over word count on the rough draft
or the final draft of a graded paper, the paper will receive a zero. If you go under word count on any required
paper, or the peer review, your work will receive a zero. The syllabus is subject to change at the instructor’s
discretion. It is the student’s responsibility to check for updates to the syllabus, announcements, instructor
FAQ, and course documents page.

Students caught cheating in any part of the course will not be allowed any sort of extra credit, dropped quizzes,
free points or curve in any part of the course. Even if these scores were “earned” earlier in the semester, they
will be removed if a student is caught cheating in any part of the course. Cheating means that you not only get
a zero on the assignment, but also will have many of your other scores throughout the whole semester reduced
as well.

Class Conduct Details

Students are responsible for meeting the deadlines posted in the course calendar and for completing
work by the deadlines. No extensions will be given. No privilege will be given for students with work or
family conflicts, or who have difficulty acquiring the readings.

I expect you to come to class each period; rewards and punishments in the course grade will be
connected to attendance and participation.

I expect you to complete the reading assignment before class, arrive to each class on time,
avoid distractions (chatting, newspapers, cell phones, etc are inappropriate), and remain
engaged with the class material until dismissed. Student conduct that disrupts the learning
process shall not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary action and/or removal from class.

The classroom is a special environment in which students and faculty come together to
promote learning and growth. It is essential to this learning environment that respect be
maintained for the rights of other learners and teachers in the classroom. Differences of
viewpoint or concerns should be expressed in terms which are supportive of the learning
process, creating an environment in which students and faculty may learn to reason with
clarity and compassion, to share of themselves without losing their identities, and to develop
and understanding of the community in which they live. The University Policy on Disruptive
Classroom Behavior (APM 419) will be followed. It can be found in the Schedule of
Courses and the Academic Policy Manual.

Students will work in groups to distribute the content of coursework covered in the presentations, but
other than distributing which work is to be done by who for the presentations, all work for this class is to
be completed alone. Cheating will not be tolerated. Cheating is the actual or attempted practice of
fraudulent or deceptive acts for the purpose of improving one's grade or obtaining course credit; such
acts also include assisting another student to do so. Typically, such acts occur in relation to
examinations. However, it is the intent of this definition that the term 'cheating' not be limited to
examination situations only, but that it include any and all actions by a student that are intended to gain
an unearned academic advantage by fraudulent or deceptive means. Plagiarism is a specific form of
cheating that consists of the misuse of the published and/or unpublished works of others by
misrepresenting authorship of part or all the material. All papers must contain full citations; neither
ignorance nor carelessness will serve as valid excuses for plagiarism. Careful use of grammar and
citations usually diffuses most unintended cases of plagiarism. Students may not work together on
exams, discussion papers, or research. If you want to use ideas or evidence from another student’s
presentation or from another student’s paper, you must give them proper authorship and citation. I will
check papers for plagiarism with turnitin.com and other plagiarism detection services. Students are
encouraged to carefully check their work for such errors. Penalties for cheating and plagiarism range
from an F on a particular assignment (and loss of other grades, as defined elsewhere in the syllabus),
through an F for the course, to expulsion from the university. For more information on the University's
policy regarding cheating and plagiarism, refer to the Schedule of Courses (Legal Notices on Cheating
and Plagiarism) or the University Catalog (Policies and Regulations).

Honor Code: “Members of the CSU Fresno academic community adhere to principles of academic
integrity and mutual respect while engaged in university work and related activities.” You should:

a) understand or seek clarification about expectations for academic integrity in this course
(including no cheating, plagiarism and inappropriate collaboration)
b) neither give nor receive unauthorized aid on examinations or other course work that is
used by the instructor as the basis of grading.
c) take responsibility to monitor academic dishonesty in any form and to report it to the
instructor or other appropriate official for action.

For free tutoring on campus, contact the Learning Center in the Peters Building Annex
Trailers (phone 278-3052 or visit www.csufresno.edu/learningcenter ). Students with disabilities
should contact the instructor in the first two weeks of class. All reasonable accommodations will
be made. For more information, contact Services to Students with Disabilities in Madden
Library 1049 (278-2811).

This syllabus is subject to change in extenuating circumstances. Students are responsible for
obtaining from other class members the class notes and announcements made in class while they
were absent. If students are unclear after consulting with classmates, then they may consult the
instructor during office hours for clarification.

Computers and communications links to remote resources are recognized as being integral to the
education and research experience. Every student is required to have his/her own computer or
have other personal access to a workstation (including a modem and a printer) with all the
recommended software. The minimum and recommended standards for the workstations and
software, which may vary by academic major, are updated periodically and are available from
Information Technology Services (http://www/csufresno.edu/ITS/) or the University Bookstore.
All written assignments must be turned in with Microsoft Word for Windows. A Broadband -
DSL or Cable - connection is recommended. Efforts will be made to accommodate slower
connections. Alternative locations such as school labs connection should be considered.
Problems with technology or Blackboard should be directed to Digital Campus.

Copyright laws and fair use policies protect the rights of those who have produced the material. The copy in
this course has been provided for private study, scholarship, or research. Other uses may require permission
from the copyright holder. The user of this work is responsible for adhering to copyright law of the U.S. (Title
17, U.S. Code). To help you familiarize yourself with copyright and fair use policies, the University
encourages you to visit its copyright web page:
http://www.csufresno.edu/library/libraryinformation/campus/copyright/copyrtpolicyfull.pdf
For copyright Questions & Answers:
http://www.csufresno.edu/library/libraryinformation/campus/copyright/faqcopyright.pdf
Digital Campus course web sites contains material protected by copyrights held by the instructor, other
individuals or institutions. Such material is used for educational purposes in accord with copyright law and/or
with permission given by the owners of the original material. You may download one copy of the materials on
any single computer for non-commercial, personal, or educational purposes only, provided that you (1) do not
modify it, (2) use it only for the duration of this course, and (3) include both this notice and any copyright
notice originally included with the material. Beyond this use, no material from the course web site may be
copied, reproduced, re-published, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way without the
permission of the original copyright holder. The instructor assumes no responsibility for individuals who
improperly use copyrighted material placed on the web site.

Getting Help

Contacting the Instructor -- There are multiple communication tools that provide several flexible options
for students to seek instructor support. Your instructor’s office hours, phone number, and email address
are listed at the beginning of the syllabus. All discussions of grades should come through private
communication via email, telephone or in-person discussion. Email is the preferred method of
communication for private discussions. Please use your csu email address to send me messages or they
may not be received. Please include in your email message your name as it appears on my roster, and
the course in which you are enrolled. If you have questions that are not private, please do not send
them to my email, but rather post them to the FAQ site.

Questions about grades or other private issues that are mistakenly posted to the public discussion
board will be deleted without notice. Students may send email questions about grades and course
content to tkubal@csufresno.edu. Please allow 24 hours for a reply. If I do not respond after 24 hours,
please send another message.

For free tutoring on campus, contact the Learning Center in the Peters Building Annex
Trailers (phone 278-3052 or visit www.csufresno.edu/learningcenter).

Finally, you can call the help desk or digital campus, and ask questions. The people there are students
and school employees dedicated to helping you. Don’t be shy about using their resources. You could go
to digital campus or the help desk and ask for help in person. You will notice that the instructor's name
and number are not listed when you click on "Blackboard Support." If you have a question about the
course content you should contact the instructor, preferably in the discussion board forum titled
“instructor assistance.”

Help Desk -- For afterhours support, contact the Help Desk. Help Desk agents are available via telephone
seven days a week between 7:00 AM and 10:00 PM. Students can contact the Help Desk by calling 278-
7000. The Help Desk can also be reached for assistance via email at help@csufresno.edu or by accessing
the Help Center website at http://help.csufresno.edu/.
 Tentative Course Schedule

Fall 2010

Date Topic Reading Assignment

http://142class1.posterous.com PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Mon, Aug 23 None
Introduction to Course

Read: Introductory Chapter “Theory

and Method”;

http://142class2.posterous.com Wed, Aug 25 Introduction to sociology View weekly video: Part 1:

Introduction to sociological theory
and method; part2 Introduction to
culture.

Read Introductory chapter “culture“

Introduction to the
http://142class3.posterous.com Fri, Aug 27
sociology of culture
Mandatory Quiz

Read Griswold, Ch1

Culture and the Cultural
http://142class4.posterous.com Mon, Aug 30
Diamond View weekly video: theory and
culture of honor

http://142class5.posterous.com Wed, Sept 1 Cultural meaning Read Griswold, Ch2

Culture as a Social Read Griswold Ch. 3; Mandatory

http://142class6.posterous.com Fri, Sept 3
Creation; Quiz

Mon, Sept 6 HOLIDAY – Labor Day

The production, distribution

http://142class7.posterous.com Wed, Sept 8 Read Griswold 4
and reception of culture

Read Griswold Ch.5;

Identities, Problems, and
http://142class8.posterous.com Fri, Sept 10
Movements View weekly video: social
movements and culture; Quiz

Organizations in a
http://142class9.posterous.com Mon, Sept 13 Read Griswold Ch.6
Multicultural World

http://142class10.posterous.com Wed, Sept 15 Culture and Connection Read Griswold ch.7

http://142class11.posterous.com Fri, Sept 17 Culture and Power Read Griswold Ch. 8; Quiz
 Date Topic Reading Assignment

PART 2: WEBER
(Ideologies of
Read Ritzer, Ch1;
Rationalization)
http://142class12.posterous.com Mon, Sept 20
View weekly video: Weber, pt1
Introduction to
McDonaldization

The Past, Present and

http://142class13.posterous.com Wed, Sept 22 Read Ritzer ch.2
Future of McDonaldization

http://142class14.posterous.com Fri, Sept 24 Efficiency Read Ritzer ch.3; Quiz

Read Ritzer Ch.4

http://142class15.posterous.com Mon, Sept 27 Calculability
View weekly video: Weber, pt2

http://142class16.posterous.com Wed, Sept 29 Predictability Read Ritzer Ch.5

http://142class17.posterous.com Fri, Oct 1 Control Read Ritzer Ch.6; Quiz

Read Ritzer ch.7

http://142class18.posterous.com Mon, Oct 4 Irrationality of Rationality
View weekly Video: McDonaldization
of education (College, Inc., etc.)

Globalization of
http://142class19.posterous.com Wed, Oct 6 Read Ritzer Ch.8
McDonaldization

Dealing with
http://142class20.posterous.com Fri, Oct 8 Read Ritzer Ch.9; Quiz
DeMcdonaldization

The De-McDondaldization
http://142class21.posterous.com Mon, Oct 11 Read Ritzer Ch.10
of Society

http://142class22.posterous.com
Part 3: Durkheim
(Religious Ideology,
Read Regnerus Introduction;
Socialization, and
Wed, Oct 13 Positivism)
View weekly video: Durkheim , pt1
Introduction

Fashioning New Stories

http://142class23.posterous.com Fri, Oct 15 Read Regnerus Ch.1; Quiz
from Old Wisdom

Read Regnerus Ch.2

Can Religion Cause
http://142class24.posterous.com Mon, Oct 18
Behavior?
View weekly video: Durkhiem, pt2

http://142class25.posterous.com Wed, Oct 20 Learning Sexuality Read Regnerus Ch.3

 Date Topic Reading Assignment

Motivating Sexual
http://142class26.posterous.com Fri, Oct 22 Read Regnerus Ch.4; Quiz
Decisions

Read Regnerus Ch.5

http://142class27.posterous.com Mon, Oct 25 Sexual Experience
View weekly video: sexual
abstinence and religion

Read Regnerus Ch.6

Initiation Sex and the New
http://142class28.posterous.com Wed, Oct 27
Middle Class Morality

A Typology of Religious
http://142class29.posterous.com Fri, Oct 29 Read Regnerus Ch.7; Quiz
Influence

Part 4: Marx (history, Read Eyerman and Jamison,

ideology and praxis) Introduction;
http://142class30.posterous.com Mon, Nov 1
Introduction View weekly video: Marx,pt1

on Social Movements and

http://142class31.posterous.com Wed, Nov 3 Read Eyerman and Jamison, ch.1
Culture

Read Eyerman and Jamison Ch2. ;

http://142class32.posterous.com Fri, Nov 5 Taking Traditions Seriously
Quiz

Read Eyerman and Jamison Ch3

Making an alternative
http://142class33.posterous.com Mon, Nov 8
popular culture
View weekly video: Marx pt2

Read Eyerman and Jamison Ch4;

http://142class34.posterous.com Wed, Nov 10 Movements of Black Music

Politics and Music in the Read Eyerman and Jamison Ch5;

http://142class35.posterous.com Fri, Nov 12
1960’s Quiz

Read Eyerman and Jamison Ch6

From the Sixties to the
http://142class36.posterous.com Mon, Nov 15
Nineties View weekly video: music and
resistance

Structures of Feeling and

http://142class37.posterous.com Wed, Nov 17 Read Eyerman and Jamison Ch7
Cognitive Praxis

Part 5: Synthesis
Read Kubal, Preface, introduction;
(Collective Memory and Ch.2; Quiz
http://142class38.posterous.com Fri, Nov 19 political process)

Introduction to Collective
Memory and the Political
 Date Topic Reading Assignment

Process Model; Patriotic

http://142class39.posterous.com Mon, Nov 22 Religious Read Kubal ch.3

HOLIDAY – Thanksgiving
Wed, Nov 24
Recess

HOLIDAY – Thanksgiving
Fri, Nov 26
Recess

Read Kubal, Ch.4

http://142class40.posterous.com Mon, Nov 29 Ethnic: American Indian
View weekly video on Kubal’s book,
pt1, pt2

Read Kubal, ch.5

http://142class41.posterous.com Wed, Dec 1 Ethnic: Hispanic

http://142class.42.posterous.com Fri, Dec 3 Ethnic: Italian American Read Kubal, ch.6; Quiz

http://142class43.posterous.com Mon, Dec 6 Anti-Colonial; conclusion Read Kubal, ch.7, conclusion

Part 6: Conclusion
44 Wed, Dec 8 None
Course Conclusion

Final Exam Preparation & Faculty Consultation Days: Thursday and Friday Dec 9 - 10

Final Semester Examinations Monday-Thursday Dec 13 - 16

Mandatory Final Exam in this course