Course Overview:
In the 1950s, an actor named Ronald Reagan appeared in magazine ads that entreated readers to “always buy Chesterfield.” Thirty years later, this same actor – now a U.S. President – would urge Americans to D.A.R.E. to keep their kids off drugs and away from cigarettes. By 2000, the question “smoking or non-smoking?” was unthinkable in many states, as anti-smoking ordinances swept the country. How did America go from a pro-smoking to anti-smoking? A similar question can be posed about obesity. In the early 1900s, being fat was a sign of wealth. Today, it is viewed as an unhealthy indicator of a sedentary lifestyle and linked with heart disease, diabetes, and chronic fatigue. Is America really fatter than it has ever been? Or, is there a moral panic about obesity?
This course considers questions such as these through the lens of the social construction of deviant behavior. We will look at the cultural creation of social problems – smoking, “satanic” daycares, obesity, coffee drinking – and examine how various moral entrepreneurs shape what some sociologists call our “culture of fear.” Through course readings, discussions, and empirical research projects, students will learn to critically analyze how certain behaviors come to be labeled “deviant” or “acceptable,” and how these labels shift historically, culturally, and politically.
Through participation in this course, students will gain experience in:
• Critically analyzing media and social science reports on social problems.
• Gathering and analyzing qualitative data.
• Constructing a empirically-based research paper.
Required texts:
- Levin, Jack and James Alan Fox 2006. Elementary Statistics in Social Research Tenth Edition Boston: Pearson Education
- Green, Samuel B. and Neil J. Salkind 2005. Using Spss for Windows and Macintosh: Analyzing and Understanding Data Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall
- Schroeder, Larry D., David L. Sjoquist and Paula E. Stephan. Understanding Regression Analysis: An Introductory Guide. Newbury Park : Sage Publications
Recommended Reading (Can be Found on Course Reserves)
Instructor Information:
Dr. Kristen Schilt
Krs1@rice.edu
Office: Sewall 588
Hours: 11-12 pm or by appointment.
Required Texts:
Erikson, Kai. The Wayward Puritans. New York: Wiley and Sons.
All other course readings are available via on-line library reserves found at: http://alexandria.rice.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/T8qO4GfN0D/FONDREN/265700122/81/52065/15413
The password and log-in will be provide in class only.