SYLLABUS 

SOCY 426: Sociology of Religion (3)
Term (TBA), Academic Year (TBA)

DATES (TBA)

Instructor: Warren R. Johnson
E-mail: wjohnson@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
Home address: Von Arnim Str. 26, 86157 Augsburg, Germany


Outline:  SOCY 426 provides 3-semester hours of upper-level (senior) sociology for the specialization in sociology or the minor in sociology.  The course examines sociological perspectives on religion, the varieties of religious experiences, and religious movements. Other topics include social stratification, secularization, civil religion, religion and prejudice,  telemarketing of religion, and religion and globalization. 

Course Description:  This course is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the functions of religions, the conflicts within and between them, and the interactionist dramas that underscore them.  Religions serve functions as varied as providing strangers in a strange land with an identity, to blessing their children and burying their grandparents.  Conflicts frequently arise not only between generations in, say, the same church, but between religions right next door to each other.  Is their Sabbath on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? Sometimes the dramaturgy is very subtle.  If you cross yourself, do you do so from the right to the left, or from the left to the right?  If you do not cross yourself does the difference seem insignificant?  It is just such differences, however, which are of the utmost significance to others.  

In other words, there are three viewpoints to the sociological study of religion.  The functionalist view, the conflict theory, and the interactionist perspective at times see the same things in different ways.  More often they are looking at quite different aspects of religion and so we must keep them in mind.

Texts: RELIGION IN SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE by Keith A. Roberts.  Other books you might find useful at your library include The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Emile Durkheim, Gods in the Global Village by Lester Kurtz The Sociology of Religion by Max Weber, The Scientific Study of Religion by J. Milton Yinger.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course you should be able to

1. Distinguish between functionalist, conflict theory and symbolic
    interactionist interpretations of religion.
2. Analyze the significance of symbols for religous organizations.
3. Discuss the relationship between stratification and religion.
4. Determine the depth of religion in society.
5. Express your knowledge formally in essays and tests.

Course Requirements: You can expect to write about 500 words a week. Each week you will answer one or more questions in the form of opinion papers (i.e., essays, commentary, disputation). The questions will come from the book or the course lessons. Your answers will be due one week after the question is posted. Grades will depend on 12 opinion papers (each worth five points for a total of 60 points) and a take-home final exam worth 40 points. In the opinion papers you might seek to expand on an idea, such as the similarity between several viewpoints; elaborate on contrasting views; develop a new idea; or dispute an idea at hand. Needless to say plenty of ideas will occur to you.

The final examination will be posted during final exam week. As soon as possible return your answers by e-mail. The test will have twelve essay questions. You should answer the first four questions and choose four more from the remaining eight to complete the test.

It is University of Maryland European Division - Distance Education Program policy "that students must attend, i.e., read and respond to their e-mail 3 or more times per week during the first THREE WEEKS of class".

If you know you will be gone from the course for a while, please tell me. If you must be gone on emergency leave, arrange for someone to tell me. Please do not play games with your grade.

 Student Responsibilities: You should be prepared each week to write an opinion paper (approximately 500 words long); participate in class by exchanging thoughtful views on lessons, classmates' opinions, or books as if you were in a classroom situation. The final examination will require you to send eight answers to me at my e-mail address. You should neither seek nor accept assistance from your fellow students while working on your take-home final. The final exam will be posted during a window of opportunity in the final exam week. Points toward grades amount to:

1. Final Exam.......... 40%
2. Opinion Papers.... 60%
                quantity... 30%
                 quality.... 30%
__________________
                               100%

Faculty:   Collegiate Associate Professor.  Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he returned after three years in the U.S. Army (1966-1969) and graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Sociology from Northern Illinois University.  He has lectured for the European Division since 1974 while living in Augsburg with his wife Karin and son Michael.  In addition to teaching evening classes, weekend seminars, and open university courses including the Psychology of Advertising, he taught for the Day Campus in Germany, AFCENT in the Netherlands, and UMUC in Manama, Bahrain.  Other DE courses he teaches are Intermediate Sociological Theory, Military Sociology, Social Demography, Personality and Society, and The Sociology of Gender.  He recently was asked to participate in the WashingtonPost.com interview promoting the PBS Special and book The First  Measured Century.