Globalization,
Work, and Inequality
Sociology 58 -
University of North Carolina
Course website: http://www.tedmouw.sites.oasis.unc.edu/soc58/soc58.html
Course grades:
Sakai
Professor: Ted Mouw |
|
268 Hamilton Hall
(962-5602) |
|
email: tedmouw@email.unc.edu |
|
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays by
appointment. |
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_________________________________________________________________________________
Contacts
You can reach me by email at tedmouw@email.unc.edu. For simple questions, this is the quickest
way to reach me. I will also be
available before and after class to answer questions. I welcome your questions and opinions. For more difficult questions, please come to
see me during office hours.
Teaching
Philosophy
I believe that the classroom experience can be both
fun and intellectually stimulating. I
will have high standards for your participation and performance in the
course. At the same time, the class will
be a friendly environment. For example, I will expect you to come to class
prepared to discuss, and I will call on you to participate in class. However, class participation will be conducted
with a mixture of seriousness, humor, and respect to ensure a diversity of
opinions and a supportive atmosphere for participation.
Readings:
I have deliberately selected the reading for this
course to reflect this lack of consensus.
My guiding principle has been to avoid textbooks that spoon-feed
answers, but to give you a sample of the diversity of opinion. I believe that the function of the college
classroom is to confront opposing arguments rather than ignore them. The
challenge is for you to sort through these conflicting perspectives, and my
expectation is that the class will work cooperatively to decide what is
“right.” As much as possible, I will try
to moderate a discussion based on the reading rather than impose my own views
of what is right and wrong.
Requirements
Components of
your grade:
1) Reading
notes |
1 point per
class |
28 points |
2) In class
essays |
25 x 4 |
100 points |
3) Final
exam |
|
50 points |
4) Final
Paper |
|
50 points |
5) Class
participation |
|
65 points |
Note: Your grades will be posted on Sakai.
1) Reading notes:
My expectation is that you will come to class
everyday prepared to discuss the assigned reading. The reading in this class is not
optional. As much as possible, I will
try not to repeat things in lecture that were covered in the reading. The class discussion and lecture will begin
where the reading left off.
On the class schedule page on the web, you we see
links to reading questions for each class period. As you do the reading, take notes on these
questions. These are intended to be
notes, so you do not need to write in full sentences or complete
paragraphs. All I want to see is
evidence that you have read and thought about the material. I only expect you to turn approximately
1-page of notes.
Each day’s questions are worth 2 points. They are graded on a Ö+ (2 points), Ö (1.8 points), Ö- (1 point) basis.
The reading notes should be turned in before class
starts. ¼ point will be deducted from notes turned in after class starts.
Absence policy
on reading notes:
If you let me know in advance, you may turn your
reading notes in ahead of time if you have a scheduled absence for full credit.
If you are not able to attend class, you may email
the TA your reading notes as long as they arrive in his/her email box by the
time class ends. No late reading notes will be accepted after the end of each class. The only exceptions to this policy are
medical situations accompanied by a doctor’s note. If you turn in the reading notes and duck out
of class, you get partial credit.
2) Class
attendance
Class attendance is mandatory. Because this is a discussion class, I expect
you to be present in class and prepared to contribute.
I will take attendance each class. If you miss more than 3 classes during the semester,
every additional absence will lower your class grade by 2 percentage
points. The only exceptions to this are
official UNC activities, illness accompanied by a doctor’s note, and sudden
family tragedies etc.
Example: You
have a 91 average and miss 5 classes.
Your final grade is an 87, a B+.
For your first 3 absences, it doesn’t matter why you
were absent. (The first three absences
count as “unexcused absences” regardless of the reason).
Absences after #3 that are (1) related to UNC
athletics or (2) accompanied by a doctor’s note, may be made up (i.e., so your
final grade is not penalized) by adding 2-pages
on to your final paper per absence, and making the final paper a research
paper, with at least outside 10 references and a bibliography. Research papers will be graded as research
papers, not as essays (i.e., my expectation will be higher).
Unexcused absences after the 6th
unexcused absence may be made up by turning your final paper into an 11 page
research paper + 2 pages for each absence after #6, with at least 15 outside
references. Your grade will still be
penalized 6 percentage points for absences #4-#6 (2 per class).
Example: You have a 91 average but have missed 10
classes. Normally, your final grade
would be 14 points lower. Instead, you
may write a 19 page research paper, and be penalized 6 points for absences.
If you miss
more than 14 classes, you will automatically fail the class. The only exception would be a serious medical
illness that required an extended hospital stay. It is your responsibility to keep me informed
of your situation during extended absences or I will drop you from the class.
3) In-class essays
Each of these will be a single 15-minute essay
question. The material covered will be
everything since the previous in-class essay.
Typically, these essay questions will be taken from the reading
questions or the discussion questions in class (see the class notes for a list
of questions).
Absence policy on in-class essays: If you miss an in-class essay please talk to
the TA to coordinate a time and place for a makeup. Makeup essays will be 15-minutes long and
will be on a different question from the one given in class. Makeup essays must be completed within a week
of the original in-class essay. It is your
responsibility to make sure you get it done.
No credit will be given for essays after the 1-week deadline
4) Final
Exam
At least 2/3 of the questions on the final will be
taken from reading notes questions. All
the questions will be short-essays.
Note: see the
Registrar’s exam calendar for the exam time, http://regweb.oit.unc.edu/calendars/index.php
5)
Final Paper
A final paper of 6+ pages is due the day after the final day of class. The paper should explore one of the subjects discussed in class. If you turn a draft of your paper in two weeks before the end of class, I will read it and give you comments on it.
6)
Class Discussion
I
expect everyone to come to class prepared to discuss. Your class participation is worth 65
points. An “A” discussion grade must be
earned by outstanding and memorable comments and questions during the semester. A “B” grade is “average” class
participation—which means that you are prepared and willing to answer questions
from the lecture notes (it doesn’t necessarily mean you get the answers right,
but that you can discuss them based on the reading), and that you occasionally
volunteer a comment or question. Less
than a B indicates a lack of preparedness or cooperation in discussion or when
called on.
I
expect everyone to come to class prepared to discuss. Your class
participation is worth 65 points, or about 20% of your grade.
As
discussed above in “Teaching Philosophy” I want the classroom environment to be
supportive of discussion and not frightening.
Please come and talk to me during office hours if you are worried about
participating in class…we will find a solution.
Discussion
guidelines:
In
order to encourage regular contributions to class discussion and base your
discussion grade on observed performance, I am going to ask you to speak in
class at least once every three classes.
By “speak” I mean (1) answer one of the questions discussed in class
(either from the reading notes, the lecture notes, or a question that arises
spontaneously) (2) comment in a substantive way on another student’s
reply. Questions that do not relate to
the material being discussed or trivial contributions (such as a one word response
or adding something to a list) do not count.
Grades will be assigned as follows: 93-100%=A, 90-92%=A-,
87-89%=B+, 83-86%=B, 80-82%=B-, 77-79%=C+, 73-76%=C, 70-72%=C-,
67-69%=D+,
63-66%=D, 60-62%=D-, below 60=F
(fractions of a point will be
rounded down)
Note: the official class schedule is on the class web
page. The class schedule and readings
may change, so don’t print all the reading notes at the beginning of the
semester.