Fall 2008

SOC 321L • Sociology of Education

Course Description

This course examines education from a sociological perspective. We will use various sociological concepts, methods and theories to explore the institution of education, going beyond our own individual experiences with education. Specific topics include higher education; and stratification within and between schools with a focus on race, class and gender.

Grading Policy

2 in-class short essay tests 20% each
Paper (with peer review and drafts) 25%
Group presentation (includes individual paper) 25%
Reading responses 10%

Texts

Arum, Richard and Irenee R. Beattie, The Structure of Schooling: Readings in the Sociology of Education, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000
Conley, Dalton, Honky, Vintage Press, 2000
Kozol, Jonathan, The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America, Three Rivers Press, 2006
Lareau, Annette, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race and Family Life, University of California Press, 2003
Nathan, Rebekah, My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005

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