SOC100 Introduction to Sociology Fall 2024 PDF

This slide is not on the test. Lecture 1 SOC100 Intro to Sociology Dr. McIvor  This slide is not on the test. Introduction Welcome to SOC100! Question 1: What is this class all about?...

This slide is not on the test. Lecture 1 SOC100 Intro to Sociology Dr. McIvor  This slide is not on the test. Introduction Welcome to SOC100! Question 1: What is this class all about? 2  This slide is not on the test. What is SOC100 About? 1) We’re going to look at current issues. That way, worst case scenario you learn about our world, and perhaps learn some new perspectives. This is important because… 3  This slide is not on the test. What is SOC100 About? Not a lot of people are super optimistic about where things are headed in the world: 4  This slide is not on the test. Introductions 5  This slide is not on the test. What is SOC100 About? In looking at current issues/events we’re going to try and answer… A. What is the current state of things? B. Why is this the current state of things? C. What can be done to improve the current state of things? What things am I talking about… 6  This slide is not on the test. What is SOC100 About? Topic Schedule: Week 1: Intro to the Course & Sociology Week 2: Education & Soc. Theories- Part 1 Week 3: Education & Soc. Theories- Part 2 Week 4: Health & Mental health Week 5: Social Class & Economic Inequality Week 6: Environmental Problems Midterm Week 8: Labour & Technology Week 9: Culture & Media Week 10: Gender & Sexuality Week 11: Racial Inequality Week 12: Crime & Deviance 7  This slide is not on the test. What is SOC100 About? 2) We’re going to develop skills that are useful to succeeding in your future lives. You are in university to learn content but also to work on mastering important skills that will serve you well in future courses and endeavors. SOC100 Skills How Learned Writing a course essay and learning writing skills in tutorial will help you learn to 1. Written Communication communicate better. Studying and completing tests teaches you to synthesize large amounts of information 2. Synthesizing & Applying down to only the most relevant/important parts as well as how to apply that information Information to familiar and unique situations Engagement with material in lecture & tutorials, and writing an essay on a debate topic 3. Critical Thinking will help you learn problem solving within and for different contexts. 4. Equity and Through lectures & tutorials, you will gain a better understanding of different people, Inclusion/Leadership social locations, and cultures; helping you create and maintain collaborative 8 relationships.  This slide is not on the test. What is SOC100 About? 3) We’re going to learn how to view the world SOCIOLOGICALLY. Quick Group Activity: Form little groups of 2-4 Introduce yourselves to each other (names, majors or interests, what you did over the break, favourite Toronto restaurant, whatever you want). Then answer this question: What is Sociology? 9  What is Sociology? Sociology is actually not very easy to define. For example, most textbooks and dictionaries will give you definitions like this one from Merriam Webster (2023): “the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships specifically: the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings” I don’t know about you, but I find this definition about as helpful as my PhD in a medical emergency. 10  What is Sociology? Merriam Webster (2023), Sociology: “the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships specifically: the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings” If you really try to analyze what these textbook/dictionary definitions mean, it’s quite difficult. So why is Sociology so hard to define? What it comes down to is that most disciplines are defined by what they study and that doesn’t work well with Sociology. For example… 11 Studies business and buying. More technically: production, consumption, and the transfer of wealth. History is the study of the past. Criminology is the study of crime and justice systems. Political Science is the study of governance, voting, and people’s thoughts and behavior regarding governance. And Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. And Sociology…. “the systematic/scientific study of society”. See the Problem?  What is Sociology? The problem is that society or social forces, touch absolutely everything, which means that Sociology studies absolutely everything (and we really do). In this way, Sociology includes economics, political science, medicine, psychology, criminology, anthropology, history, natural sciences, and every other subject/discipline. In fact, Auguste Comte, one of the founders of modern science, referred to Sociology as the Queen or Royalty of the sciences because it wasn’t limited. It has no borders. 18  What is Sociology? Consider even whales swimming in the middle of the ocean that have never encountered a human being or a boat in their whole lives. Even they are affected by society through pollution, climate change, fishing practices, and more just as all sea and land life are. There is no escaping society, and so there is nothing that escapes Sociology. 19  What is Sociology? There is no question you could ask, no topic you can pick that is not Sociological. This is awesome, but it is also why Sociology is hard to define. Not to get too philosophical, but if you think about it: “Something that is everything, is also nothing.” 20  What is Sociology? For example, imagine trying to describe someone that was everything. Are they tall? Yes! Are they short? Yes! Do they have blonde hair? Yes! Do they have black hair? Yes! Do they wear glasses? Yes! Do they not wear glasses? Yes! Get what Are they bald? Yes! I mean? Do they have nice hair? Yes! 21  What is Sociology? The trick with Sociology is that it’s easier to tell you how to do it than it is to tell you what it is (because saying it’s the study of society/everything doesn’t help anybody). In other words, Sociology is best defined by the way we approach problems, which is to search for social and structural explanations to the topics we study instead of relying on biological or individual explanations. For example, take a very personal issue like depression among teenagers (a problem that’s been on the rise). 22  What is Sociology? ❑ A Biological Explanation to Teen Depression: There may be genetic factors at play, teenage years are also a time of life where one’s body changes biologically as a result of hormones and sexual maturation, it is also a time where people begin to experiment with drugs and alcohol both of which have biological effects on the brain and body. ❑ An Individual Explanation (common in Psychology) to Teen Depression: Something has happened in the life of a teen suffering with depression that has influenced them towards suffering from the condition. For example, maybe they have an unstable home life, maybe their parents were just divorced, maybe they lack friends or social acceptance, and so on. 23  What is Sociology? ❑ What do you think Sociological Explanations of Teen Depression might look like? There are many ways to look at teen depression socially or Sociologically. We can ask why teens are more depressed than people of other ages? Or why women on average report more depression than men? Or why men report higher rates of substance abuse than women? We can ask if the increased use of social media among teens is part of the problem, or whether the increased acceptance of mental illness culturally means that more teens are just OK admitting to their depression. In other words, maybe teen depression hasn’t increased at all, maybe teens are just less likely to hide it today than in prior years. 24  What is Sociology? ❑ What do you think Sociological Explanations of Teen Depression might look like? One interesting Sociological explanation is the cognitive dissonance theory of teen depression (Stadler & Anderson, 2014). Cognitive dissonance is when a person is confronted by simultaneously holding conflicting beliefs, ideas, or values. Usually this occurs when new evidence is presented and a discomfort arises from needing to resolve the contradiction. For example: 1. You believe lying is wrong and only bad people lie, but 2. You tell a lie to protect someone’s feelings. This contradiction will lead to cognitive dissonance until it is settled with a change in beliefs or values. For example, deciding that white lies are different and do not make you a bad person, or deciding that sometimes lying is ok. 25  What is Sociology? ❑ What do you think Sociological Explanations of Teen Depression might look like? The cognitive dissonance theory of teen depression argues that teens experience a great amount of cognitive dissonance as a result of the transition from childhood to adulthood, which is accompanied by a realization that many of the values we teach children are not upheld as adults. For Example… 26  Cognitive Dissonance & Teen Depression When you’re a kid! True love is real & magical!! It doesn’t even matter what you look like! Beauty is on the inside! 27  Cognitive Dissonance & Teen Depression When you’re older: What you look like matters a lot and love is complex (divorce, rejection, heart break, etc.) 28  Cognitive Dissonance & Teen Depression When you’re a kid! People are good! And good conquers evil! 29  Cognitive Dissonance & Teen Depression In real life… Evil wins a lot, people can be apathetic 30  Cognitive Dissonance & Teen Depression When you’re a kid! You can do anything you put your mind to! In real life… many things aren’t possible, and achievement isn’t easy. 31  What is Sociology? Rejecting individual explanations and learning to think Sociologically is called using your “Sociological Imagination” (C.Wright Mills, 1959). Mills defined it as “an ability to connect personal challenges to larger social issues”, but it more generally refers to the ability to look at things Sociologically. This Sociological Imagination includes 2 General Principles that I think you’ll find helpful in learning to exercise your Sociological imagination. Principle #1: “See the General in the Particular” Look at seemingly individual issues as social/societal issues instead. Again, do not unilaterally accept individual or biological explanations find social/structural ones. For example, let’s take the increase in mental distress among university students. 32  Principle 1 & University Student Anxiety 41% of college students report that they experience severe anxiety, and relatedly another 36% report experiencing diagnosable depression (Lipson et al, 2018; Oswalt et al, 2018; Storie et al, 2010). These rates are way higher than they used to be. So what happened? Well, if we took a psychological or individual approach, we would look at each individual college student’s brain and ask: “What’s going on in here and how do we fix it?” But how can we use our sociological imaginations to take a sociological approach? In other words, how do we see the general in the particular in this case? 33  Principle 1 & University Student Anxiety Instead of asking, what’s wrong with this person’s brain, Sociology would look at that brain and ask: Tell me how Society hurt you? What has society done to you? 34 Principle 1 & University Student Anxiety From a Sociological perspective, we have little interest in what increased college student anxiety has to do with the individual students. We want to know what’s happening to students as a social group that could be causing this. Current University students face: Highest tuition rates ever seen (Statistics Canada, 2024) Highest student debt rates ever seen (Statistics Canada, 2024). Not surprisingly the highest hours at part-time jobs ever seen (Statistics Canada, 2024). 35  Principle 1 & University Student Anxiety Further, we can also add in… More students attending university than ever before (Statistics Canada, 2023). Which means everything is more competitive and further degrees like Masters, Medicine, Law, etc. are required more than ever and are also harder to get into. Take Medical School, you used to just need good grades. Now? Add in that older generations that didn’t face these same problems don’t understand and often express a belief that college students today are just soft. We can also add in that studies find parents are more involved in their children’s education and potential jobs than in prior generations so there is often more parental pressure on top of all of this. 36  Principle 1 & University Student Anxiety And for good measure, let’s add in the traditional college student problems… Deciding what you want to do for the rest of your life. Becoming an “adult” (whatever that means). Trying to find your soulmate/romantic connections. Loneliness associated with moving away from family, friends, and your prior community. And social pressure to have the time of your life while also balancing how much work you have. 37  Principle 1 & University Student Anxiety Because of all of these social/structural factors, Sociology would say that the anxiety college students face isn’t a personal or individual problem, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with the brains of college students facing severe anxiety. A college student isn’t mentally ill because their stressed, a Sociological analysis of the issue may actually suggest that you’d have to be mentally ill not to be stressed! And for the people who get through college without stress or with less stress, it is not necessarily because they’re mentally stronger. It’s often because they have better financial, social, and emotional support that reduces the amount of stressors that they have in their lives. 38  Principle 1 & University Student Anxiety This distinction isn’t just an academic exercise either, consider the solutions that stem from believing this is an individual/biological versus social problem. If anxiety in college students is an individual or biological problem, then the solution would be perhaps more psychologists and counselors as well as greater access to medication (sound familiar?) If it’s a social problem, then it means things like lowering tuition and student debt. Further, it means finding ways to remove the pressure on students. This is an example of how Sociology approaches issues, the consequences of doing so, and how you can see the general in the particular. 39  What is Sociology? This second of the Sociological Imagination’s 2 General Principles that help develop a Sociological Imagination… Principle #2: “See the Strange in the Familiar” In other words, you need to challenge everything. You should accept very few things as having to be the way they are currently formulated. And things you might not see as weird, you need to start trying to see as weird. For example, take the act of shaking hands. 40  Principle 2 & Shaking Hands Why do we shake hands? Is it necessary? Is there a natural law that makes us do it? Is it somehow a biological requirement for us to live? Maybe just an individual preference we all keep making with amazing consistency? We know historically that it started as a symbolic gesture, it meant “I have no weapon in my hand” and symbolized that you came in friendship. Is this why we still do it? It’s silly when you think about it. And movies often show this. 41  Principle 2 & Shaking Hands Now regardless of its historical origins, shaking hands has come to serve a purpose in North America as a sign of respect and friendliness. Many are offended if they offer you their hand and you refuse. Yet shaking hands is not the only way to show respect and friendliness. For example, other cultures perform other acts like bowing, which is more common in East Asian cultures like Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, and others. An interesting question arising now is: since the COVID pandemic, should we have ever gone back to hand-shaking? 43  Principle 2 & Shaking Hands In working to see the strange in the familiar, you learn to challenge the rationale behind social conditions. In other words, you ask why is this a normal thing that is done? By doing so, you’ll quickly realize that often the rationale for doing things one way versus another, is simply because that is how it has always been done. Indeed, many people are often against changes in society simply because of a belief that change will result in things becoming worse (for example, many would be against no longer shaking hands). The idea here is that society has historically evolved to be the way it is and that we shouldn’t tamper with this ‘natural’ order. This is called Decline Bias- believing that change leads to worsening conditions compared to the past. 44  Let’s Take a 5 Minute Break time for a stretch break - praise the lord cat - Meme Generator 45 This slide is not on the test. 46 Lecture 1- Part 2: General Class Info  This slide is not on the test. Where we’re at We’re Here Tutorial 1 is next week, NO Tutorials this week 47  This slide is not on the test. SOC100 Course Design Part of this course is me showing you how to do Sociology within lectures. I also wanted to show you how Sociology can be used to make improvements, by which I mean structural improvements. As such, I designed this course Sociologically and tried to build improvements into how the course operates and is designed in order to help with some of the problems university students face (like anxiety and a lack of flexibility). With that being said, let’s consider this course. 48  This slide is not on the test. Teaching Components There are two teaching or ‘lecture’ components to SOC100: 1) Lectures 2) Tutorials And then there is one independent learning component: i) Assigned Material 49  This slide is not on the test. Lectures Lectures are NOT recorded, but I post my detailed lecture slides and everything on the tests IS in the slides. Therefore, if you miss class the slides are all you need. No need to let us know if you can’t make lecture, there are no attendance points, and you can just review the slides. Lectures slides are posted in full on Quercus (I 100% understand that you want the slides early and well before lecture. However, please understand that I am making these slides as we go. In other words, the slides do not yet exist, I’m making them each week and sometimes/often that includes during the day of lecture so I will post them before lecture always but sometimes/often, it will be right before lecture). The slides contain detailed text and serve as the course textbook. I studied student debt so I made this course free for you, there is no textbook to buy. In exchange, please don’t complain about the slideshow lengths (most of it is pictures/memes anyways!) There is an FAQ page about lectures on Quercus if you want to know more. 50  This slide is not on the test. Tutorials Tutorials will follow 6 out of the 12 lectures, they DO NOT occur after each lecture. You can see what weeks tutorials run on the course schedule at the end of the syllabus. Our first course tutorials are next week! Tutorials are held in-person, please see Acorn for your tutorial room/location. Tutorials teach skills that will help you succeed in the course and provide opportunities to engage course content on a deeper level. They are focused most specifically on helping you with the course writing assignment/paper. 51  This slide is not on the test. Tutorial Activities/Reflections After each tutorial, you are asked to complete a tutorial activity/reflection. Each of the 6 tutorial activity/reflections are worth 1.5%, which means these make up 9% of your final grade. These reflections are graded based on putting in an ‘honest effort’ (i.e. as long as you use the time provided in the tutorials to do the activity, think about your answers, and write a sufficient amount then you will get full points) Tutorials attendance is not mandatory though it is highly recommended. Any missed tutorial/tutorial activity will result in the weight of the missed activity (1.5% each) shifting to the final. This shift happens automatically, you don’t need to let us know. There are no make-up assignments for tutorial activities. 52  This slide is not on the test. Tutorials You do not need to let us know if you are going to miss a tutorial (remember that any missed tutorial activity just results in its weight shifting to the final automatically) There is a Tutorial FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on Quercus if you have further questions. There is also a Tutorial Discussion Board on Quercus if your question is not answered by the FAQ. 53  This slide is not on the test. Assigned Material There is no textbook or any other outside resource that you must purchase for SOC100. Instead of readings for each lecture, I will Assign Material. This usually takes the form of a YouTube playlist with the total length of all videos falling between 30 and 60 minutes. Treat this material like you would a textbook in that you review them before lecture. However, unlike a textbook, this material is NOT on the midterm or Final exam. Instead, it has its own quiz before each lecture. 54  This slide is not on the test. Assigned Material Quizzes The assigned material for each week will be available following the prior lecture. You can find the links on Quercus (for example, the assigned material for next lecture on Education is available now). You are to review the assigned material and complete a 10 multiple-choice question quiz on the material. You are given 15 minutes to do the quiz and they are open book and NOT proctored (i.e. no one watches you take them). The Quizzes open following the prior class and close at the end of the week the lecture occurred in (e.g. AM Quiz #2 is due by the start of next class). You can take the quiz anytime before that due date that you wish but it must be done before class. 55  This slide is not on the test. Assigned Material Quizzes Each AM quiz is worth 1% of your final grade and, since there are 11 lectures total, this means the AM quizzes are potentially worth 11% of your final grade. As with tutorials, however, assigned material quizzes are not mandatory. Any AM quizzes that you miss will result in the weight of those quizzes shifting to the final exam (again, this happens automatically so there is no need to email us about it). The missed AM quiz replacement policy means that technically, you don’t have to do the AM quizzes if you don’t want to. I recommend you do (they are easier than the final exam), but if you choose not to do one or all of them then you won’t lose points, your final will just be worth more. I designed it this way to provide you flexibility. For example, if you have a particularly busy or stressful week then you can skip the AM Quiz without worry. 56  This slide is not on the test. Assigned Material Quizzes The quizzes are accessible on the Quercus page under the assignments tab (also linked in modules tab and on the home page). In addition to the final exam replacing the AM quizzes you miss, your final exam grade will also automatically replace any AM quiz grade that it is higher than. If you have further questions about the AM quizzes, please see the AM Quiz FAQ page on Quercus. There is also an AM Quiz Discussion Board on Quercus if your question is not answered by the FAQ. In regard to the AM Quizzes for this lecture (Lecture 1) and next lecture (Lecture 2)… 57  This slide is not on the test. LECTURE 1 ASSIGNED MATERIAL QUIZ 1 The assigned material for this lecture, Lecture 1, is the syllabus, which you can find on Quercus. AM Quiz #1 is unique in that it’s just a syllabus quiz and that it isn’t due the week of lecture because I wasn’t going to make it due today/week 1. So for AM Quiz #1 on the syllabus, it’s due before lecture 4, i.e. Thursday, Sept.26th by 4:10pm). The quiz will be available starting the end of this class (opens at 2pm today) and because I want you to know the syllabus and course policies well, I’ll also give everybody two attempts at it (again, this is not usual, it’s a special trait of Lecture 1).  This slide is not on the test. NEXT LECTURES ASSIGNED MATERIAL The assigned material for next week’s lecture (Lecture 2) is already available on Quercus. AM Quiz #2 opens after class today (i.e. at 6pm) and then it is due by next lecture (i.e., Thursday, September 12th by 4:10pm). Am Quiz #2 will be 10 multiple-choice questions and you’ll get 15 minutes to answer them. The quiz is open-book and not proctored. Be sure to take notes when watching the videos. You only get one attempt at this quiz.  This slide is not on the test. INDEPENDENT Debate Research Papers Everyone is required to write 1 independent debate research paper worth 25% of their final grade. You MUST submit at least one. The papers are required to be 3.5 double spaced pages. Detailed instructions, a FAQ, a grading rubric, and writing guide are provided and tutorial #1 & 2 also covers how to succeed on the paper. The goal of the paper is to take a contentious debate and to make EMPIRICAL arguments for both sides. Empirical as in you will not just be giving yours or others’ opinion, you instead must provide evidence (statistics, research findings, other empirical evidence) that support each argument you make. This is an important step for university compared to high school (i.e. opinions are not valuable because everyone has them and they can be wrong, which is why we must back our opinions up with evidence that suggests they are correct. 60  This slide is not on the test. Debate Research Papers Your paper must be on one of the 3 debates we will have in the class during tutorials. Each debate has a different due date, the topics and corresponding due dates are: Topic Due Does Gen-Z have a more difficult university experience than Fri, Sept.27th by 11:59pm prior generations in Canada? Canada should implement universal mental health care? Fri, Oct.4th by 11:59pm Social media apps do more harm to society than good? Fri, Nov.22nd by 11:59pm When you submit a paper, the due date you submit for must match the topic. For example, if you want to write on universal mental health care then you must submit it for the Friday, Sept. 4th due date (it cannot be submitted on any of the other due dates). This is true for all topics. 61  This slide is not on the test. Debate Research Papers I built in a lot of flexibility for the papers to try and reduce stress and let you tailor our class due dates to your schedule. These include: You can submit a paper to any of the 3 due dates. You must submit at least one paper, and the topic must match the due date for that topic, but otherwise you can submit for whichever of the 3 dates work best for you. In other words, you choose when to submit a paper. Every due date has a “grace period” which is a universal, no questions asked free-extension for everyone. As long as we receive your paper by the end of the grace period you will not receive any late penalties (tip: don’t plan to use the grace period, it is for if something unexpected comes up). 62  This slide is not on the test. Debate Research Papers Please be advised: Because there are multiple opportunities to submit a paper and because a grace period is built into each deadline, we DO NOT offer further extensions lightly. Specifically, we do not offer extensions for the first two deadlines at all. Once the grace period for each deadline ends, we will not accept any further papers on that topic. Instead, we will tell you that you can write for the next deadline (this is because the debates are taken up in tutorial following the deadlines and that would be an unfair advantage). Further, we already provide a 7-day grace period (i.e. a free 7-day extension) so any request for further extensions will have to be because an illness or extenuating circumstance came up before the original deadline and extended throughout the grace period. 63  This slide is not on the test. Debate Research Papers In addition to flexibility, since this is the first year in university for many of you and because transitioning from high school papers to university papers can be a learning experience, I also offer a re- submission opportunity. Specifically, if you write a paper for the first or second debate/due dates and you are unhappy with your grade, then you can write a NEW (not fixing the old paper, a brand-new paper) paper for the third debate. This let’s you learn from your feedback and try to improve. I also hope it reduced the stress you feel about getting the grade you want since you can have two attempts at the paper if you need. Just to emphasize though, if you write a paper for debate #3 only, then there will be NO re- submission opportunity offered. You have to write for one of the first two debates in order to be eligible to re-submit 64  This slide is not on the test. Midterm Test We will have a midterm on Thursday, Oct.17th. The midterm will cover Lectures 1-6 and Tutorials #1-4 (assigned material is not included on tests). It will be 50 multiple choice and true-false questions and it is worth 20% of your final grade. Again, to offer flexibility and reduce stress, if you end up unhappy with your midterm grade, I offer the ability for your final exam grade to replace it. This is done automatically, wherein if your final exam grade is higher than your midterm grade, then it will automatically replace the midterm grade (if it is not higher then the midterm grade will remain). I will also provide a practice test so that you can get used to the types of questions you can expect to see. 65  This slide is not on the test. Midterm Test If you have further questions about the midterm, please see the Midterm FAQ page on Quercus. There is also a Midterm Discussion Board on Quercus if your question is not answered by the FAQ. 66  This slide is not on the test. Final Exam We will have a final exam during the final exam period. The university will set when this exam is (I have no control over when they set the test date for or when they announce the date). The final will be held in-person and will be worth a minimum of 35% of your final grade (it will be worth more for each AM Quiz and/or tutorial activity that you miss). More details about the final exam will be announced closer to the final exam date. One key detail to emphasize though, I do not schedule the final exam or have any say over when it is. The university will create and announce the final exam schedule and we will not know the exact date for a while. PLEASE do not email asking us when it will be, we find out the same time you do, and I’ll announce it on Quercus and in class as soon as we know the date. 67  This slide is not on the test. Course Evaluation Summary To summarize, your course grade is determined as follows: 68  This slide is not on the test. Course Evaluation Flexibility Summary To summarize the course’s flexibility and stress reduction policies: Assessment Flexibility Policy Any missed quiz (for any reason) is automatically replaced by the final so that no points are lost AM Quizzes (there is no limit on how many quizzes can be replaced by the final). Any quiz grade that is lower than your final exam grade will be replaced by the final exam. Any missed tutorial activity (for any reason) is automatically replaced by the final so that no points Tutorial Quizzes are lost (there is no limit on how many tutorials can be replaced by the final). Ability for final exam to replace midterm grade if it is higher (the ‘crap, I bombed the midterm’ policy, Midterm if your final exam grade is NOT higher than your midterm grade then it does not replace it) three different deadlines to submit the paper. No-questions-asked 7-day grace periods to submit a paper with no late penalties for each deadline. Term Paper Ability to submit more than one paper to try and learn from your feedback and improve your grade (please note: this does require submitting for the first or second deadline though) 69  This slide is not on the test. My ‘How to Succeed’ Advice I recommend that you do the following five things: 1. Review the Assigned Material & do the AM quiz before each lecture (they are easier than the final); 2. Pay attention during lectures and tutorials and do all tutorial activities; 3. Study hard for the midterm test by going over the lecture content and asking any questions you have during TA or Professor office hours; 4. Write and submit a term paper for deadline #1 or #2 so that you have time to learn from your feedback and re-submit a new paper for deadline #3 if you are unhappy with your grade; 5. If doing 1-4 and still not having success, take advantage of Professor and TA office hours to seek assistance and solicit advice. 70 Part 3: Final Notes  This slide is not on the test. Understanding your TA’s I have tried to understand the structural barriers that you face and to design the course accordingly. In return, I would like you to consider the structural barriers I and your TA’s face. Your TA’s are full-time graduate students. They have classes and student responsibilities for 40 hours a week. They work these positions to pay their bills on top of their full-time student positions. Further, they are given limited hours to teach tutorials, grade your tutorial activities/reflections and papers, respond to emails, invigilate the midterm and final, and hold paper grade review office hours. Please treat them with respect and understand that they are limited in what they can do and what they are paid to do. 72  This slide is not on the test. Understanding Your Professors For myself, please understand that us professors are given 8 hours a week to teach each class. Consider the breakdown of those hours: 2 hours each week to lecture 1 hour to hold office hours 4 hours to prep each lecture (takes more like 12 hours each lecture) 1 hour to keep Quercus up to date and to respond to the discussion board. This is not the only class I teach, and I also have service and research expectations that I must complete to keep my job. All that to say, I work a minimum of 50 hours a week just to try and stay on top of everything so I will always do my best to be there for you but please understand that I am severely limited in the time I have available and outside of office hours it is VERY difficult and often impossible for me to schedule individual meetings. 73  This slide is not on the test. Getting Questions Answered I mention this because I ask that as a community we try and respect each other, and I need all of your help to ensure the class operates smoothly for all of us. Primarily, I need your help to keep our email inbox functioning properly and efficiently. We have a course email that all inquiries must go to: [email protected] I have 5 course coordinators that have 1 hour each week to answer emails. If it takes us 5 mins to answer each email, that means we can quickly respond to 60 emails per week. To put this in perspective, if every SOC100 student in the class emailed in one week, that would be roughly 2000 students * 5 mins =10,000 mins or 166.6 hours. All this to say, the more emails we get, the longer it takes us to respond to them so please help us keep the email operating efficiently. 74  This slide is not on the test. Getting Questions Answered This means that when you need help, we ask you to follow these steps versus emailing immediately: Steps 1 & 2: Check Syllabus & FAQ documents (see Quercus page → Home Page or Modules Page) Steps 3 & 4: Check & then Post your question to the appropriate discussion board (see Quercus page → Discussions or links on home page and modules tab) Step 5: Attend Prof. McIvor Office Hours (see Quercus page → Home Page → Office Hours section of each week) Step 6: Email us at [email protected] Please note: I’m not telling you not to email at all, I’m just asking that you please follow these steps and try to bring questions to office hours as much as possible. This will keep the email inbox functioning efficiently and will stop it from getting bogged down. 75  This slide is not on the test. Visiting Online Office Hours Sometimes when people consider meeting with their professor, I think they picture this… I assure you that this is not the case! I’m really not scary… 76  This slide is not on the test. Visiting Online Office Hours You are ALWAYS welcome at office hours. Mondays, 4:15-pm. Thursdays 12:30-1:15pm Fridays, 3:15-4:00pm Zoom link on Quercus 77 Part 3: Bias  This slide is not on the test. Introductions Who I am (Professor McIvor) Where I’m from 79  Understanding Bias So why did I introduce myself? We are all biased. This bias is often unconscious and is unavoidable. Remember that science (of which Sociology is a part) relies on being objective, which is the opposite of being biased. Being objective is defined as basing conclusions on empirically verifiable facts collected with sound scientific principles rather than personal opinions, feelings, preferences, or experiences. And there are many types of bias that we must be aware of. 80  Understanding Bias 1. Social location bias. An individual's social location is defined as the combination of factors including gender, race, social class, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, geographic location, and many more. Social location is particular to each individual; that is, social location is never the exact same for any two individuals.” (NCFR, 2019) People prefer first-hand knowledge or experience to build beliefs on (for what is more believable than things you personally see, hear, and experience with your own senses?). But this is problematic because our social location influences what experiences we have in the world (including what we experience and how we experience it). For example, your experience in a certain setting will be specific and is shaped by your social location. 81  Understanding Bias 1. Social location bias. Personal experience is also referred to as Anecdotal evidence. In other words, “evidence in the form of stories that people tell about what has happened to them” (Merriam- Webster, 2022). To use anecdotal evidence to understand the world around you is to engage in social location bias. When you do this, you are not explaining or understanding the world, you are explaining or understanding YOUR world or your experience of the world. This is especially problematic because people think their experience is the truth. An easy example of this is a White person stating that racism doesn’t exist because they don’t personally experience it happening in their day-to-day lives. Or someone getting an asymptomatic case of COVID and deciding that it is, therefore, not a big deal worth all the government precautions being taken (or the reverse, someone has a loved one die from COVID and decides anyone against strict precautions is incompetent and dangerous). 82  Understanding Bias 1. Social location bias. Now this type of bias may seem obvious and easy to avoid. But your social location unconsciously affects all of your decisions and perceptions. For example, what problems you find interesting or important, what subjects you choose to study, what profession you want to go into are all tied to your social location and experiences. They are all biased in this way. I studied student debt for my Ph.D dissertation because I come from a working-class background, I took a lot of debt in order to attend university, and it was stressing me out. So I wanted to know how it affected people in general. If I had a different social location, I would have had other interests and chosen a different dissertation topic. 83  Understanding Bias We are also subject to other types of bias, such as… 2. Confirmation Bias “the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs” (Brittanica 2022) 84  Understanding Bias We are also subject to other types of bias, such as… 3. Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency to attribute the observed failings of others to internal factors like their disposition, personality, or intelligence. For example: seeing that someone got a poor grade in one of their classes and thinking to yourself that they must be dumb or lazy. 4. Self-Serving Bias Essentially the opposite of fundamental attribution error, i.e. the tendency to attribute one’s own failings to external factors outside of our control rather than taking personal responsibility. For example: getting a poor grade in a course and thinking to yourself that the professor is unfair or incompetent, that external factors negatively affected your performance, etc. 85  Understanding Bias There is even bias as simple as… 5. Optimism Bias The tendency to view things positively while in a good mood. 6. Pessimism Bias The tendency to view things negatively while in in a bad mood. 7. Cultural Bias Perceiving one’s own culture as being normal and, therefore, other cultures as being abnormal. For example, in Italy it is seen as abnormal to move out of your parent's house before you are married whereas in North America it is often seen as unusual to live with your parents past your early twenties. 86  Understanding Bias I introduced myself and mentioned these forms of bias because I want you to know where I am coming from as I’m not immune to bias either. How I teach this class would undoubtedly be different if I had different social traits and a different social location. In other words, how I teach this class is affected by who I am and what my experiences are. I also mention it because one of the first things we need to do in the course is understand where the potential for bias comes in and to understand how we avoid it. We avoid bias by using the scientific method to come to conclusions, by being self-reflective about our biases, by engaging in empathy or imagining ourselves in different social locations, and by thinking critically. This class will emphasize these characteristics. 87 The End. Have a great week!