SOCIOLOGY 850 - Sociology of Social Control

Fall 2005

 


Professor: Dana Britton Office Phone: 532-4968
Office: Waters 204B
Email: brittn@ksu.edu
Office hours: Wednesday 12:00 - 2:00, Friday 12:00 - 1:00

  

Course Description
Required Texts
Course Requirements
Reading Assignments

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
 
This course is an analysis of social control.  The focus will not be on individual deviants or deviants, per se.  Instead, we break the link between deviance and responses to it and in doing so begin from the assumption that there is no necessary relationship between the two.  The focus will be on critical theories of deviance, particularly as they relate to class, race, gender, and sexuality.  Students are expected to have some background in sociological theory or in criminology/criminological theory.
 
The course will begin with an overview of brief overview of the classic paradigms in the study of social control (articles).  We then move to the work that has served as the inspiration for most modern critiques of social control (Foucault’s Discipline and Punish) and at an illustration of his work (Odem).  We will then take on Foucault’s influential work on sexuality (The History of Sexuality), and some applications and critiques of this work (Jenkins, articles, Irvine).    
 
REQUIRED TEXTS:
 
Foucault, Michel. 1977. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books.  ISBN: 0679752552
_____. 1980. The History of Sexuality. Volume 1: An Introduction. New York: Vintage Books.  ISBN: 0679724699
Irvine, Janice. 2005. Disorders of Desire: Sex and Gender in Modern American Sexology. Philadelphia: Temple University Press (revised edition).
Jenkins, Phillip. 1998. Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America.  New Haven: Yale University Press.
Odem, Mary E. 1995. Delinquent Daughters: Protecting and Policing Adolescent Female Sexuality in the United States: 1885-1920. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.  ISBN: 0807845280.
And a collection of articles, below.  Distribution to be discussed at first seminar meeting.
 
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
 
This course is a seminar.  Students will be required to complete the scheduled reading assignments on time and participate in class discussions.  Attendance is noted, and will be considered in the final evaluation.

Students will have the option of writing one 25-30 page term paper due on the last day of class, or completing three take-home examinations (8-10 pages in length) which will be scheduled throughout the semester.

The term paper option is intended for students with already well-defined interests in the sociology of deviance who wish to pursue a particular seminar topic in depth.  My general philosophy about written work in graduate school is that every paper you write should serve some well-defined purpose, i.e., it should be part of your thesis/dissertation or a piece that will be submitted for publication.  If this paper would work in that way for you, I encourage you to choose this option.  Topics must be approved by September 21.  A second consultation must be scheduled during the week of October 26 to discuss the work in progress.  At that meeting, I will want to see an outline and an annotated bibliography.  Final papers are due the last day of class, December 7, and will be presented in class at that meeting.  Late papers will be graded down one full grade.  Given that you have the option of take-home exams I will be much less than enthusiastic about giving grades of "Incomplete" for those who fail to complete their papers on time.  Barring extremely unusual circumstances, papers will be due on December 7. 

The examination option is for students who want to develop a broad background in the study of deviance.  Exam questions will cover only the assigned readings.  Exam questions will be distributed in class on September 21, October 26, and December 7.  Students will have one week to complete each examination.  Late papers will be marked down one full grade.

In addition to the paper/examination requirement, students are required to prepare a presentation and lead the seminar discussion (not just summarize the readings) during one or more class periods.  Presenters are expected to email a preliminary presentation outline to me by 9:00 PM on the Monday preceding the seminar.  I will then comment and request that revisions be made/make suggestions for focusing the discussion.

Students not presenting are expected to prepare 3-5 discussion questions on the week's material.  These questions must be prepared by 5:00 PM on the Tuesday preceding the seminar and posted to the course message board. 

Final grades will be based on the paper or examinations (50%) and on seminar presentation and participation (50%).

READING ASSIGNMENTS
 
8/24: Introduction, course overview, presentation assignments
 
8/31: Overview/Classical theories of social control
Read:  Meier, Robert F. 1982. Perspectives on the Concept of Social Control.   Annual Review of Sociology 8: 35-55.
URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0360-0572%281982%298%3C35%3APOTCOS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
 
Ross, Edward Alsworth. 1896. Social ControlAmerican Journal of Sociology, Vol. 1 (5): 513-535.
URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9602%28189603%291%3A5%3C513%3ASC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G
 
Ross, Edward Alsworth. 1901. Social Control. XX. The Vicissitudes of Social ControlAmerican Journal of Sociology 6(4): 550-562.
URL:  http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9602%28190101%296%3A4%3C550%3ASCXTVO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z
 
Mead, George Herbert. 1918. The Psychology of Punitive JusticeAmerican Journal of Sociology 23 (5): 577-602.
URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9602%28191803%2923%3A5%3C577%3ATPOPJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23
 
9/7: Critical perspectives - Foucault I
Read: Foucault, Discipline and Punish, Parts I and II
 
9/14: Critical perspectives - Foucault II                            
Read: Foucault, Discipline and Punish, Part III
 
9/21: Critical perspectives – Foucault III                                                   Exam I Distributed       
Read: Foucault, Discipline and Punish, Part IV                                     Paper topics due
 
9/28: Inequality and social control - gender                                             Exam I Due
Read: Odem, Delinquent Daughters, Chapters 1 - 3
 
10/5: Inequality and social control - gender                     
Read: Odem, Delinquent Daughters, Chapters 4 - 7  
 
10/12: Critical perspectives - Foucault IV                         
Read: Foucault, History of Sexuality
 
10/19: Inequality and social control – sexuality and law
Read: Jenkins, Moral Panic, Chapters 1-5
 
10/26: Inequality and social control – sexuality and law                          Exam II Distributed
Read: Jenkins, Moral Panic, Chapters 6-10                                           Paper consultation this week
 
11/2: Applications and critiques of Foucault                                           Exam II Due     
Read:                                                
Bartky, Sandra Lee. 1988. Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power.  Pp. 61-86 in Feminism and Foucault, Reflections on Resistance, edited by Irene Diamond and Lee Quinby.  Boston: Northeastern University Press.
Garland, David – Foucault chapter from Punishment and Society
Haney, Lynne. 1996. Homeboys, Babies, Men in Suits: The State and the Reproduction of Male Dominance. American Sociological Review 61(5): 759- 778.
Pitts, Victoria. 1996. Controlling homeless mothers: The surveillance of women in a homeless shelter. Pp. 247-266 in Martin D. Schwartz and Dragan Milovanovic (eds.), Race, Gender, and Class in Criminology: The Intersection. New York: Garland Publishing.
McCorkel, Jill. 2003. Embodied Surveillance And The Gendering Of Punishment. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 32(1): 41-76.
 
11/9: Inequality and social control – Sexuality and Science                   
Read: Irvine, Disorders of Desire – Part I
 
11/16: CANCELLED FOR ASC MEETINGS
11/23 CANCELLED FOR THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
 
11/30: Inequality and social control – Sexuality and Science
Read: Irvine, Disorders of Desire – Part II
 
12/7: Last class day                                                                           Exam III Distributed
FINAL PAPERS DUE / PRESENTED
 
12/14: EXAM III due by 5PM