Sociology 144: Marriage and Families

Fall, 2005

Mesa State College

Instructor: Gene H. Starbuck, Ph.D.

Office: Lowell Heiny Hall Room 401

Office Hours: TTh 9:30-10:45or by appointment

Phone: (970) 248-1761

Web site: www.mesastate.edu/~starbuck

Email: starbuck@mesastate.edu

Course Website: www.mesastate.edu/~starbuck/mfsyl.html

Grades: The “Paper Ttl” is total points on your papers. “Extra ttl” is quizzes and other extra points. In the two “Final Exam” columns, # is the number you got right out of the 100 questions; pts. is # times 2.3 to get your points out of 200 possible. The Course Total columns include the total points for the course and the % that total is out of 500 possible. Grade is grade for the course. If you think I have made a mistake, email me at the above address as soon as possible.

	Paper	Extra	Final	Exam	Course	Total	Grade
Code	Ttl	ttl	#	pts.	#	%
1203	92	9	60	138	385.87	77	C
7337	85	11	68	156	388.16	78	C
10031	100	15	60	138	374.21	75	C
10164	100	21	66	152	426.87	85	B
11078	100	16	55	127	365.4	73	C
11728	35	17	63	145	340.03	68	D
14005	94	17	85	196	501.05	100	A
14770	100	18	88	202	511.21	102	A
21035	100	15	59	136	382.79	77	C
23191	100	10	74	170	404.98	81	B
23379	100	14	87	200	499.49	100	A
24106	74	12	47	108	296.89	59	D
32126	100	4	71	163	426.79	85	B
32185	100	12	59	136	374.54	75	C
32688	100	13	72	166	438.13	88	B
32881	95	15	58	133	382.86	77	C
41685	35	5	51	117	287.6	58	F
42265	100	17	63	145	421.56	84	B
42486	100	15	52	120	328.24	66	D
43082	97	11	85	196	496.13	99	A
43871	10	2	21	48.3	153.84	31	F
47474	100	16	87	200	497.82	100	A
48198	100	1	35	80.5	271.53	54	F
52785	100	11	69	159	425.52	85	B
56252	100	16	65	150	410.42	82	B
57078	99	10	70	161	442.29	88	B
59961	100	4	60	138	366.71	73	C
63080	100	14	64	147	396.99	79	B
65656	55	0	82	189	419.83	84	B
66666	95	16	87	200	514.74	103	A
70655	100	5	43	98.9	301.04	60	D
72957	100	24	86	198	506.95	101	A
74564	90	18	82	189	471.15	94	A
77786	100	1	46	106	304.07	61	D
79793	100	9	33	75.9	283.99	57	F
80022	93	16	68	156	408.5	82	B
80537	100	4	59	136	355.29	71	C
81526	100	20	76	175	456.21	91	A
82515	86	5	49	113	324.74	65	D
84341	100	7	71	163	428.01	86	B
87984	100	15	83	191	456.37	91	A
94149	90	10	72	166	386.85	77	C

Course Textbook:

Required: Families in Context. 2002. Gene H. Starbuck. Wadsworth Publishing. Study Guide to Accompany Families in Context; and Power-Point Slides.

The Wadsworth web site for Sociology is found at http://www.wadsworth.com/sociology_d/index.html . To get to the student exercises for this course, go to that website. Under “Select a Course” click on “Marriage and Family/ Family. Under the icon that looks like the textbook cover, click “Student Book Collection Site.” You can then select the chapter you want and either “Internet activities” or “Tutorial Quiz.”

Course Prospectus:

The name of the textbook implies the basic point of this course: families must be understood in their social, historical, economic, religious, and educational context. This sociological approach will explore various kinds of families and societies in which those family forms are found. Students will learn to see families through the lens of social science theories and methods. Students will learn to apply critical thinking skills to various discussions about families. They will learn to integrate their personal family experiences and expectations into a social context.

General Education Course

SOCO 144 fulfills a social and behavioral sciences general education requirement for a baccalaureate degree. It does so because it helps students meet several of the objectives of general education. Specifically, a Mesa State College baccalaureate graduate should:

1. Have some knowledge of the origins of our own culture and the existence of others;

2. Be able to think critically and recognize issues across a broad spectrum of subjects;

3. Understand the complexities of our social, economic, and political environment.

The written assignments and the final exam will help to assess students’ ability to meet these expectations.

General Course Format:

The class periods will be a combination of lecture and discussion. Exams will include material found in the text but not in lecture. Exams will also include material found in lectures but not the text. Students will also turn in a number of written assignments selected from the Study Guide.

Schedule:

Date	Chapter
Tue, Aug 30	Ch. 1: Defining Family Variation
Tue, Sept 6	Labor Day—No class
Thur, Sept 8	Ch. 2: Studying the Family
Tue, Sept 13	Ch. 3: Families in Pre-Industrial Context
Tue, Sept 20	Ch. 4: Industrialization and the Family
Tue, Sept 27	EXAM ONE
Tue, Oct 4	Ch. 5: Gender, Work, and The Post-Industrial Family
Tue, Oct 11	Ch. 6: Social Class and Families
Thur, Oct 13	Ch. 7: Race/Ethnicity and Families
Tue, Oct 18	Fall Break
Thur, Oct 20	Ch. 8: Forming Intimate Relationships
Tue, Oct 25	Ch. 9: Mate Selection
Thur, Oct 27	Ch 10: Varieties of Sexual Scripts
Thur, Nov 3	Exam Two
Tue, Nov 8	Ch. 11: Population and Family Planning
Tue, Nov 15	Ch. 12: Negotiating Marriages
Tue, Nov 22	Ch. 13: Parents and Children
Thur, Nov 24	Thanksgiving Break
Tue, Nov 29	Ch. 14: Crisis and Violence in Families
Thur, Dec 1	Ch. 15: Divorce and Rescripted Families
Thur Dec 8	Ch. 16: Family Perspectives, Policy, and the Future
Tue, Dec 13	FINAL EXAM: 10:00-11:45

Exams:

Two hourly exams will be worth 100 points each. The final exam will be worth 200 points. One portion of the final will be over the most recent material; the other portion will cover the entire course, especially the glossary terms. Exam scores will be adjusted based on the highest reasonable score. Missed exams must be made up, but a make-up exam may not be used to improve a student's overall average.

Quizzes:

An undetermined number of unannounced quizzes will be given for extra credit. Students who miss these quizzes may not make up their missed opportunity.

Assignments:

A total of 100 points may be earned by completing written chapter assignments. Each chapter review in the Study Guide for the course has questions under the heading “Critical Thinking.” Students may answer one of these questions in a 1-2 page essay. Each assignment is worth a possible 20 points. Students will select which assignments they want to do, but they cannot earn more than 20 points per chapter nor more than 100 points total for the Assignments portion of the course.

Assignments must be turned in on the date specified on the Schedule for each relevant chapter. ABSOLUTELY NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED, REGARDLESS OF THE EXCUSE.

Grading Summary:

Two hourly exams, 100 pts each	200 pts.
Final exam	200 pts
Assignments 20 possible points each, limit 100 pts.	100 pts
Total Points Possible	500 pts

Letter grades will be assigned using the following percentage scale: A = 92-100; B = 84-91; C = 70=83; D = 60-69; F < 60.

Expectations of Students:

Students are expected to be in class, on time, throughout every class period.

Advanced approval from the instructor is required before bringing guests to class. Guests under the age of 18 are discouraged.

Students with special needs that are certified by the Educational Access Services office (248-1801) must notify the instructor by the third class period.

There are two sources of information for this class: the textbook and lecture. They are independent but overlapping sources. Students will need to know both in order to do well in the course.

No active beepers or cell phones will be allowed in the classroom.

All normative expectations of classroom behavior will apply.

Expectations of the Instructor:

The instructor will be prepared for class, will start and end class on time, will return assignments and test scores as soon as possible, will be available during office hours, will answer e-mail questions promptly, and will minimize class disruptions. The instructor will not play phone tag with students.