SOCY 300: AMERICAN SOCIETY (3)

Term (TBA), Academic Year (TBA)

Date (TBA)

Instructor: Warren R. Johnson
E-mail: wjohnson@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
Home address:  

Outline. As a model of diversity and cultural plurality America is viewed as a grand experiment by many. Yet some regard the experiment as an utter failure. Why? What is there about America to cause debate among some, and wonder among others? In search of answers to these and similar questions we will be discussing among a variety of topics: individualism in private and public life, community patterns and policies, racism, social change, stratification, and American culture.

Assignments. In addition to class participation, the midterm and the final exam, an 8 to 10-page paper or report will be due not later than the sixth week of class.  Grades depend on A = 90-100%; B = 80-89%; C = 70-79%; D = 60-69%, etc.

Three books are required for the course:

Week         Chapter Topics

    1             American Story - The Mob at the Gates
    2             The Triumphant Individual - The Benevolent Community

    3             The Rot at the Top - Retelling the Story
    4             Midterm- Social Change to Imaginary Trends

    5             Trends from Family to Leisure
    6             From Government to Intoxication

    7             Ethnic Trends and Social Movements
    8             Future Trends - Final Exam

 

Lecturer. Collegiate Associate Professor.  Born and raised in Chicago, he returned to Illinois following three years in the U.S. Army to attend Northern Illinois University, from where he graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Sociology.   In addition to teaching evening classes, he taught for the Day Campus in Germany, AFCENT in the Netherlands, and UMUC in Manama, Bahrain. He started teaching DE six years ago  with a focus on demography, religion, sociological theory, and military sociology. He recently participated in a Washington Post.com interview promoting the PBS Special and book The First Measured Century and is a Fellow in the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society (IUS). He is a participant in the UMUC ADE Project--Accessibility in Distant Education, helps train teachers for the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL),  and works for the Faculty Consultant Service.