Psychology 488-01
(Senior Seminar)/WGSS 405-1
Lives in
Context: Psychology and Social Structure
Fall 2007
|
Professor: Joan Ostrove Olin-Rice
325 696-6464 |
Office hours: Wednesdays, 1 –
4 p.m., and by appointment |
Course overview:
This
seminar will explore the relationship between individual lives and broad social
systems. We will read theory, research,
and case material from psychology as well as other disciplines about the
individual and interpersonal implications of social organization/social
structure (in the domains of gender, social class, race, physical ability,
sexuality, etc.). We will explore the
ways in which oppressive messages and experiences (based in sexism, racism,
classism, homophobia, etc.) are experienced and sometimes internalized by
individual members of particular social groups, thereby shaping our
“personalities” and influencing our psychological perceptions and expectations
about the world and about other people.
In addition to the
above, this course will also allow us to think about HOW best to study and
understand the relationship between individual lives and social structure. How can we really understand lives in their
myriad contexts? What’s the best
strategy for doing this? Is it even
possible? What are some of the
methodological, conceptual, and ethical dilemmas and challenges involved in
such an undertaking? Because feminist
psychologists have played a critical role in shaping methodology and research
in these areas, we will read a considerable amount of work by feminist
psychologists and other feminist academics.
Although these are some
of the ideas that have formed the basis for how I’ve thought about and
organized the class, there is an opportunity in the structure of a seminar for
the class to evolve in a variety of different ways over the course of the
semester. The topic for the course is
huge – we could spend an entire semester on one aspect of social structure and
not read or think about everything there is to read or think about! And, of course, you’ll notice plenty of
things that are left out of the course that you (and probably I!) might wish were
there. In keeping with the department’s
goal that senior seminars include substantial student-generated ideas for
course content, and in order to give you a chance to expand on an area
of the class that you find particularly interesting – or to introduce an area
that the class doesn’t cover – you’ll sign up in pairs to lead one of the
classes during the semester. We’ll spend
more time figuring out the logistics of how this will work during the first
couple of classes. In general, though,
you will work with me and your partner to develop a topic, will do some
research on that topic and will find a research article that you will assign to
the rest of us, and will lead class on the day for which you sign up.
Requirements:
It is your primary responsibility to
come to class prepared, having read and thought about the readings for the
day. Participation may mean a lot of
different things – sharing your ideas and thoughts; listening well to others’
ideas; asking questions; connecting the course material to issues in your life
or the lives of other people you know, and/or to issues on campus and in the
world, etc.
In addition, the course has the following
requirements:
·
Essays – There will be two somewhat informal,
personal essays, and one more formal, midterm essay due during the
semester. The more informal essays will
be a chance for you to reflect – at the beginning and at the end of the
semester – on the social contexts that you think have most influenced your own
life (especially on why and how they’ve influenced you). You may pick one dimension of social
structure (e.g., gender, class, race, etc.) and explore how you think it has
affected you, or you may focus on more than one dimension. If you’d prefer not to write about yourself,
you may choose another person whom you know well, but I encourage you to use
this as an opportunity to understand the ways in which learning is about
personal as well as intellectual transformation. This essay should be about 3-5 pages
in length and despite the title “informal” should be well-written and contain
no grammatical or typographical errors.
The formal midterm essay question(s) will be available later in the term
and will be a chance for you to integrate the course material and to think “on
paper” about what we’ve been learning and thinking about in class.
·
Leading class – This is an opportunity for you to work with one
other person in class to prepare and lead one section of the class. The “slots” for student-led classes are
listed in the syllabus and are at the end of the semester. By that time, we’ll have read and talked
about some theoretical frameworks for understanding the relationship between
individual psychology and aspects of the social structure, and will have read
many examples of how psychologists have actually gone about studying this
relationship. We will talk more about
this and about how to pick an effective topic during the semester. You will need to hand in a proposal for your
presentation, and will meet with me after you hand in the proposal and again
right before you lead class. You will be
responsible for picking an article to assign to the rest of the class. You’ll need to get copies of the research
article to each of the rest of us (or put it on electronic reserve in the
library 10 days in advance) so that we can read the article in time for your
class section.
·
Applying the principles – I would like each of
you to engage in some activity over the course of the semester that allows you
to apply the concepts of “psychology and social structure” and “lives in
context” in settings beyond the classroom and, possibly, beyond what you would
already encounter in your life. You have
a choice about exactly how to do this, and will write up your
reflections/analysis of the experience toward the end of the semester. Possibilities for applying the principles
include: joining one of the “identity
collectives” sponsored by the Lealtad-Suzuki Center (you would have to join the
one that is most relevant to your own identity); attending all of the “Soup and
Substance” sessions run by the Lealtad-Suzuki Center; work with a community
organization that will afford you an ongoing opportunity to see people’s lives
in structural contexts that you may not regularly encounter (and also the ways
in which people work to eliminate the effects of structurally-based
oppressions; e.g., a soup kitchen, an AIDS organization, a women’s
organization, etc.). Your written
analysis of this experience should use concepts from at least three different
readings. A more detailed description of
this assignment will be available later in the semester.
·
A final paper/project will be due Monday,
December 17th, by 5 p.m.
I want this to be an opportunity for you to explore in depth an issue
that you are interested in, and I want to provide you with a variety of
possible formats in which to do this.
We’ll talk about this more as the semester goes on, but a couple of
possibilities include: 1) An interview
project. This would be a chance to
explore one particular “life in context” by interviewing someone whose life you
think is interesting, and providing an analysis of the ways in which various
aspects of the social structure have had an influence on his or her
“psychology;” 2) An archival case study. This would be similar to the interview
project, but would be about someone to whom you do not have direct access for
an interview but about whom you can collect other information (biographies,
autobiographies, etc.) that would be sufficient for writing about their life
from the perspective of how their social structural position(s) influenced them
as people; 3) A literature review. Perhaps you are interested in how social
class influences personality. You could
review the psychological (and perhaps sociological) literature on this topic
and provide a critical summary of the findings, including your assessment of
both the strengths of particular pieces of research as well as your suggestions
for future work in this area.
Assignment
|
Percentage
of final grade
|
|
Participation |
10% |
|
Personal
essay 1 |
5% |
|
Personal
essay 2 |
10% |
|
Midterm
essay |
25% |
|
[Leading
class proposal |
Subtract
2 pts from leading class grade if not turned in] |
|
Leading
class |
10% |
|
Applying
the principles analysis |
10% |
|
[Final
proposal |
Subtract
5 points from final project grade if not turned in] |
|
Final
project |
30% |
Course policies:
·
Academic integrity: I expect
all of you to follow the college’s guidelines regarding academic integrity,
outlined in the Student Handbook. Please
talk to me if you are not clear how these guidelines apply to the course. I will report any suspicion of academic
dishonesty to the Dean of Academic Programs.
Academic dishonesty usually results in at least a failing grade on the
assignment, and a second instance of dishonesty may result in a failing grade
in the course.
·
Late work: You may not
receive extensions on work in the class, except in the most extraordinary
circumstances (in which case you will need documentation from the Dean of
Students Office or Health Services).
Work that is turned in late for any other reason will have a third of a
grade taken off for each day that it is late (e.g., a B+ would become a B if
you hand in an essay or your final paper any time after the exact time that it
is due – the “day late” begins immediately after the time the assignment is
due).
·
Incompletes: I will
only grant incompletes under extraordinary circumstances that occur in the
second part of the semester. This will
not include being really busy at the end of the semester.
·
Written assignments: Please type,
double-spaced with 12-point font, all of your written assignments for this
course. Please do not use margins that
are larger than 1 inch – all around.
Don’t use smaller margins, or smaller font, either – length is not
necessarily strength!
·
Grades: Grading policies
are explained on the last page of the syllabus.
·
Accommodations for students with disabilities: I will provide any reasonable accommodation
for students with disabilities that will assist in making this course
accessible and will provide an optimal educational experience for everyone.
Please speak to me at the beginning of the semester so that we can make an
effective plan. Assistant Dean of
Students Irene Kao is responsible for Disability Services and is an excellent
resource.
The
following books are available at the college bookstore:
Articles are available electronically
through the library site (E) or through the psychology department (P). For articles that are available full-text
online, go to our syllabus on my website, and click on the journal title for
the appropriate reading. This should get
you very close to the full-text version of the article, you’ll just need to
enter the year, and volume and page numbers.
CLASS SCHEDULE:
NOTE:
Thurs, Sept 6 – Introduction to the course and each other
Part I: UNDERSTANDING the
relationship between psychology and social structure: examples, theories, examples…
**Film screening tonight:
“People Like Us”** (Olin-Rice 300)
Thurs,
Sept 13 – NO CLASS (Rosh Hashanah)
Tues,
Sept 18 – Theorizing the relationship between social structure and psychology I
*** PERSONAL ESSAY #1 DUE IN
CLASS ***
Thurs,
Sept 20 – Theorizing the relationship between social structure and psychology
II
Tues,
Sept 25 – Social and psychological meanings of gender and sexuality
Thurs,
Sept 27 – Social and psychological meanings of disability
Tues,
Oct 2 – Internalization of and resistance to oppression
Thurs,
Oct 4 – More examples of research on psychology and social structure: Quantitative examples (and, preparing for
your day)
Tues,
Oct 9 – More examples… a memoir
Thurs,
Oct 11 – More examples…case studies
Thurs,
Oct 16 – Some strategies for taking account of social structure when doing
research
Thurs,
Oct 18 – Ethical and personal considerations in studying lives
Tues,
Oct 23 – More strategies, some challenges
*** MIDTERM ESSAY DUE IN CLASS
***
FALL BREAK
Tues,
Oct 30 – A life in context: The hearing
daughter of deaf parents
Thurs,
Nov 1 – The context of deafness, continued
Guest: Laurie Lee Johnson, Ph.D. (Deaf
culture and psychology)
(optional for this section of
the class: view the film “Sound and
Fury” available in Media Services)
** LEADING CLASS PROPOSAL DUE
TODAY **
Tues,
Nov 6 – Relations across social structural differences: What works, what doesn’t?
*** FINAL PROJECT PROPOSAL DUE
TODAY ***
Thurs,
Nov 8 – Relations across social
structural differences, continued
Tues,
Nov 13: Student led
Thurs, Nov
15: Student led
Tues, Nov
20: Student led
*** APPLYING THE
PRINCIPLES ANALYSIS PAPER DUE TODAY ***
THANKSGIVING BREAK
Tues, Nov
27: Student led
Thurs,
Nov 29: Student led
Tues,
Dec 4: Student led
Thurs, Dec
6: Student led
***
PERSONAL ESSAY #2 DUE IN CLASS ***
Tues, Dec
11: Student led
Thurs,
Dec 13: LAST DAY OF CLASS
*** FINAL PAPER DUE BY 5
P.M. ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 17TH ***
Grading Guidelines
Below
are the guidelines I follow when assigning grades to essays and final
papers. I use plusses and minuses when
the work falls in between the qualities associated with each letter grade. Grades are based both on content and on
writing style. I encourage you to ask
for help from me, the
“A” grades are assigned to outstanding
papers. These papers reflect a deep
engagement with ideas, insightful analysis, and excellent mastery of the material
from the course. Argumentation is
logical and coherent, as well as well-documented. The paper addresses all aspects of the
assignment fully and clearly. Finally,
these “A” papers are well-written with respect to style and grammar.
“B” grades are assigned to papers that demonstrate
good understanding of the material, are coherently written, and that contain
some insightful ideas. Sometimes “B”
papers contain some really good ideas, but do not put things together as
elegantly as they could. Other times all
of the aspects of the assignment are there, but the ideas are not particularly
innovative.
“C” grades are given to papers that do not
adequately cover the assignment, demonstrate that the material was not fully
understood, and/or have problems with writing style. Sometimes “C” papers have some really good
parts, mixed in with some parts that seem like they were not well-thought
out. Papers with consistent grammatical
or stylistic problems may receive a “C.”
“D” grades are assigned to papers/essays that have
serious problems – parts of the assignment are totally missing or are really
incomplete, the writing is full of errors, the material was seriously
misunderstood.
“NC” grades are hardly ever given if a student has
put even some work into the paper/essay.
However, if the content is totally irrelevant, or the writing is such
that it is simply impossible for me to follow the arguments, then I would
assign a failing grade.