UNIV 190: Clarkson Seminar, Fall 2008

Instructor: Rick Welsh
Office: Bertrand H. Snell Hall/Hill Campus, Room 270
Telephone: x3988
website: www.clarkson.edu/~welshjr
e-mail: welshjr@clarkson.edu
Office Hours: Mondays & Wednesday 9:30-11a & 1-2:30p
(Other times by appointment)

INTRODUCTION

The Clarkson Seminar welcomes first year students into a world of cultures, histories, and the global forces that will shape their personal and professional lives well beyond their Clarkson education. Students will learn to define issues within a broad cultural context and gain experience in evaluating and interpreting texts.

THE COMMUNICATION COMPONENT

C2 (2 point) courses are the most communication intensive courses addressing communication outcomes. C2 courses must demonstrate the following characteristics.

Communication instruction is a part of the course pedagogy. Pedagogical support may include on-line components or an accompanying handbook or guide (e.g., a writing manual).
Communication assignments are frequent. At a minimum, communication assignments should be frequent (often one-third to one-half of the weeks) and distributed over the entire term during which the course meets. A majority of the communication assignments should be graded. While formal instruction may not be extensive, courses must demonstrate formative assessment of communication outcomes.

3. Communication assignments include regular feedback from peers and instructor, including the opportunity to use feedback to revise and resubmit one or more assignments. Responses from peers and instructor include critique of both content and mechanics for each assignment.

4. Communication assignments require sufficient volume of spoken or written work for the course to be deemed communication intensive. For example, assignments in a writing-intensive course commonly result in 5000-10,000 words of student writing (without revision, roughly 20-40 pages of double-spaced, typed work).

THIS COURSE

I have developed this class around the theme of explaining the functioning of modern capitalist society. Traditionally, students of modern society have turned to the works of three theorists: Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim. These theorists are often called the big three.

Karl Marx is the best known of the three and is considered the most radical of the three. Marx of course focuses on class divisions and the ownership of the means of production as the central dynamic of capitalist society. Emile Durkheim is generally considered to be a conservative theorist because he often focuses on the role of morality in society, and how society is bound together through shared interpretations and values. Max Weber is generally considered to be more critical of capitalism than Durkheim, but less radical in many ways than Marx. Weber differs with Marx as to the role of class divisions and the desirability of a socialist revolution or socialism. In the first half of the course we will review some of the writings of the big three.

Present day social scientists still turn to the works of the big three for insight. However, many people argue that because Marx, Weber and Durkheim are all males writing in the European tradition, their insights are limited. Specifically, some feminist writers and those interested in the roles of race and ethnicity in modern society believe that the works of Marx, Weber and Durkheim need augmentation, others disagree. In the second half of the course, we will read works by women and non-European writers. We will then assess the extent to which new and important issues and dynamics have been raised by these writers; and, whether the big three adequately deal with these issues and dynamics.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Author Title

Chinua Achebe                                     Things Fall Apart
Frederick Douglass                               Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Karl Marx and Frederich Engels           The Communist Manifesto
Arundhati Roy                                      The God of Small Things

These texts will be augmented by a packet of readings I will provide.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Attendance. You are permitted three absences without receiving a penalty. After three absences you will have points deducted from your final grade for each additional absence. After six absences you fail the course. I do not differentiate between excused and non-excused absences. If you miss a class, you are responsible for the material we covered during that class. This is the case no matter the reason for the absence.

Tardiness will also count against your attendance grade. Arriving late to class twice, counts as one absence.

2. Class Participation. Participating in class discussions is extremely important. Class is composed largely of discussion of the assigned readings. In order to participate well, and receive a high grade in this area, you must complete the reading assignments before you come to class.

One way of getting ready for class is to make some notes about points in the reading which you found interesting in some way. You can make these notes in a notebook or in the margins of your texts. I make notes in the margins of the text as I read it. I also underline passages which I find particularly thought provoking.

We will often answer questions about the reading in groups of 2 to 4 people. These assignments will be included in your class participation grade.

To receive an A in class participation, you must perform well on the group assignments, and make intelligent and relevant comments about the assigned readings in just about every class. If you say little or nothing during class, you will receive a low grade for participation.

3. In-class writing. Several times during the semester I will assign in-class writing assignments. These assignments primarily will entail the answering of one or two discussion questions. You may use your texts and class notes to complete these assignments, but nothing else. The first two of these assignments must be revised based on the comments provided by me. After this you have the option of revising the in-class writing assignment once after the initial grading. Revised writings are due by the date of the next in-class writing. I will be happy to read drafts of revisions if you wish to e-mail them to me or stop by the office. I average the grades for the original and revised assignments.

4. Quizzes/Group Work. On a regular basis you will work in small groups (2-4) students on a set of discussion questions. Each group will turn in one set of answers which will be graded.

5. Homework/Short writing assignments. I will provide a question or topic based on recent reading assignments for you to address in a brief (1-2 page) essay. If I suspect that you plagiarized the assignment, I will have you resubmit it through Turn-it-in.com.

You are not required to use secondary sources to write your papers. If you decide to consult secondary sources you must cite the sources used. Correctly citing secondary sources can enhance your grade. I will lecture on how to correctly use and cite secondary sources. Secondary sources include books, articles, papers on the web or other web information sources such as "Spark Notes".

To correctly cite a source, paraphrase the information you decide to use, and in the text of your paper where the information was used write the author of your source and date of its publication in parentheses. For example:

Around 300 B.C. Greek developed into a singular language. Prior to that time, the Greek language was composed of large numbers of somewhat distinct dialects (Finley, 1979).

This passage was constructed by material found in a work by M.I. Finley. This is not a direct quote. I have paraphrased Finley. A direct quote is set apart from the text, indented and placed within quotation marks (" "). Also, the page number from where the quote is taken should be included in the citation. For example,

It is important to understand the nature of the historical development of the Greek language and its effect on Greek society. Greek has not always existed as a singular language. For example, Finley (1979:18) writes that,

"For a considerable time, until about 300 B.C., Greek was a language of many dialects."

In either case the cited reference must be included in a reference list at the end of the paper. In this case:

Finley, M.I. 1979. The World of Odysseus. New York, New York: Penguin Books Ltd.

If you consult a source on the world-wide-web you must also cite it. The citation in the text is the same as a book: author’s name and year of publication in parentheses. However, in the reference list the citation is somewhat different. For example, an article about druids and Stonehenge in the on_line Washington Post, authored by T.R. Reid, would be cited in the text as: (Reid, 1998). In the reference list the citation would be:

Reid, T.R. "Druids Return to Stonehenge." Washington Post 22 June 1998 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp_srv/WPlate/1998_06/22/045I_062298_idx.html>

The Writing Center can also help you cite sources correctly. However, I am less concerned about the format of the citations than I am about the use of them to avoid plagiarizing. Plagiarizing is the presentation of another person’s work as your own. If you consult a secondary source and use information from it in your essay and you do not cite the source, you are plagiarizing. If I catch you plagiarizing you will receive a failing grade on that assignment (I will provide a handout to clarify what constitutes plagiarism).

GRADING

Class participation:                                            10%
Quizzes:                                                            25%
In-class writings                                                50%
Home work/Short writing assignments: 15%

WRITING CENTER

This Center provides assistance to students for improving their writing. The staff can also answer questions about issues such as citing sources and avoiding plagiarism. The center is in 139 Snell Hall (p: x4439; email: writcent@clarkson.edu).

READING SCHEDULE (subject to change)

August
25 Monday            Course Outline, Introductions and Introduction to Marx, Weber and Durkheim
27 Wednesday     Communist Manifesto, pp. 33-77

September
01 Monday            Film: Marxist Philosophy
03 Wednesday     IN-CLASS WRITING #1

08 Monday            Reading Packet: Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, pp. 67-74
10 Wednesday     IN-CLASS WRITING #2

15 Monday            Handout by Lewis Coser on Class, Status and Party
                                Reading Packet: Class, Status and Party, pp. 180-195
17 Wednesday     IN-CLASS WRITING #3

22 Monday            Reading Packet: Origin of the Idea of the Totemic Principle, pp. 167-186
24 Wednesday     Reading Packet: Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, pp. 187-206

                                                FALL BREAK
October
01 Wednesday     IN-CLASS WRITING #4

06 Monday            Things Fall Apart, "About the Author" at end of book; pp. 3-125
08 Wednesday     Things Fall Apart, pp. 129-167.

13 Monday            Things Fall Apart, pp. 171-209
15 Wednesday     IN-CLASS WRITING #5

20 Monday            Frederick Douglass
22 Wednesday     Frederick Douglass

27 Monday            Frederick Douglass
29 Wednesday     IN-CLASS WRITING #6

November
03 Monday            The God of Small Things, pp. 3-89
05 Wednesday     The God of Small Things, pp. 89-157

10 Monday            The God of Small Things, pp. 158-216
12 Wednesday     The God of Small Things, pp. 217-287

17 Monday           The God of Small Things, pp. 287-321.
19 Wednesday     IN-CLASS WRITING #7

24 Monday            To be announced

                                THANKSGIVING BREAK
December
01 Monday            To be announced
03 Wednesday     Summary and Wrap-up

Final Assignment due at my office, 270 Snell Hall, by 4pm on December 8.