Week 1: Thinking about social problems

Citations for week's readings

• Dustan Prial. 2011. Wisconsin reality: There's no money. February 18, Fox News.
• Channel 3000. 2011. Budget repair bill timeline of key events.
• Michael A. Fletcher. 2011. GOP revamps state, local agendas . March 25, Washington Post.
• Wisconsin State Journal. 2011. Walker's budget: the issues. March 27, Wisconsin State Journal.
• Mary Bottari. 2011. National right-wing spin machine gears up in Wisconsin. March 3, PRWatch.org. (some short videos here)
• C. Wright Mills. 1959. Sociological Imagination. New York: Pelican (chapter 1, 'The Promise'). Available online at www.lclark.edu/~goldman/socimagination.html

By the end of this week, you should have a pretty good handle on what we mean by 'structure,' what is the difference between a 'structural' and 'individualist' explanation of a social problem, and how social problems are really 'social constructions.' In other words, you should be ready to practice thinking about social problems and how to analyze them.

back to schedule

Week 2: Do we have a free press?

Monday:	FAIR, Media Research Center
Tu/Th:	Magazine advertising
Wednesday:	Farley, Center for Media and Democracy
Friday:	mediachannel.org. 2002. Media concentration, mergers, concentration of ownership

Citations

• Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. 2010. How to detect bias in news media.
• Media Research Center. 2010. Media Bias Basics. 
• Robert Farley. 2010. Our favorite pundit fact-checks of 2010. Dec. 29, Politifact.  
• mediachannel.org. 2002. Media concentration, mergers, concentration of ownership.
• Fake news--watch two of these videos from the Center for media and democracy. They're VNRs, video news releases, fake news produced by the public relations industry for a client and distributed to news outlets as, yes, news.

Optional

• John Nichols and Robert McChesney. 2003. Media monopoly versus democracy. Commondreams.org. Online at http://commondreams.org/views03/0521-06.htm
• Eric Alterman. 2003. Bias, slander and BS. Chapter 1 from What liberal media? New York: Basic Books. Online at http://www.whatliberalmedia.com/intro.pdf (13 pp)

This week we're trying to understand about the news media, how it might influence how the public thinks about social problems, and how media outlets themselves may be influenced by powerful forces in society. Are the media biased? And if so, to whose benefit? And why would this be important in understanding social problems?

Week 3: Free press and democracy

Monday:	watch the Corporation video
Tu/Th	A tax on fat (in food)?
Wednesday:	Chester and Larson
Friday:	Ken Silverstein. Their men in Washington

Citations

• Jeffrey Chester and Gary Larson. 2002. A twelve-step program for media democracy. The Nation, July 23.
• Ken Silverstein. 2007. Their men in Washington. Harper's Magazine, July.
• From 'The Corporation' (video segment titled 'Basic Training', about 10 min. in length)

Can anyone be president? Governor? Mayor?? Or does the office often go to the highest bidder? If so, who's funding the campaigns and what do they get out of it?

Week 4: What (or who) is causing global warming?

Monday:	have read: Science Daily. Ice-free arctic ocean ... Walsh. Dire fate ... Vincent. Ice shelf in peril ... Reuters, acid seas
Tu/Th:	What's a living wage?
Wednesday:	have read: Richard Lindzen,Climate of fear. Kolbert's chapters (in Blackboard)
Friday:	have read: Chris Mooney, Some like it hot Craven's video (no, not Wes!)

Citations

• Elizabeth Kolbert. 2006. Field Notes from a Catastrophe. NY: Bloomsbury. In Blackboard
• Reuters News Service. 2009. Climate change turning seas acid. May 31, Reuters. Online at www.reuters.com/article/2009/05/31/us-climate-oceans-idUSTRE54U1ZB20090531
• Science Daily. 2009. Ice-free arctic ocean possible in 30 years, not 90 as previously estimated. April 3, Science Daily. Online at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090402143752.htmA
• Michael Vincent. 2009. Antarctic ice shelf in peril as bridge snaps. April 6, ABC News. Online at www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/06/2535739.htm
• Bryan Walsh. 2009. The dire fate of forests in a warmer world. April 14, Time. Online at www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1891121,00.html.
• Richard Lindzen. 2006. Climate of fear. Apr 12, (Wall Street Journal) Opinion Journal. Online at www.heartland.org/custom/semod_policybot/pdf/20143.pdf.
• Chris Mooney. 2005. Some like it hot. May/June, Mother Jones Magazine.
• Greg Craven, 'How it all ends' (video)

Is the earth warming, and are humans a major contributor?

Week 5: Can we spare an extra planet or two?

Monday:	Garrett Hardin. 1968. The tragedy of the commons.
Tu/Th:	Who owns food stamps?
Wednesday:	Jared Diamond. What's your consumption factor? Corwin, Sixth extinction
Friday:	Wrap-up, prepare for midterm

Citations

• Garrett Hardin. 1968. The tragedy of the commons. Science 162: 1243-1248. Online at dieoff.org/page95.htm
• Jared Diamond. 2008. What's your consumption factor? New York Times, Jan 2. Online at www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02diamond.html
• Jeff Corwin. 2009. The sixth extinction. Nov 30, Los Angeles Times. Online at www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-corwin30-2009nov30,0,7760875.story
• George Orwell. 1949. 1984. (You should begin reading this, or be seriously thinking about getting started).

Optional:

• William Catton. 1998. Malthus: Now more relevant than ever. npg.org, forum series, Online at www.npg.org/forum_series/catton_malthus.htm
• EnergyBulletin. 2007. Peak Oil Primer. EnergyBulletin.net. Online at www.energybulletin.net/primer.php#primer

Week 6: Midterm, start McDonaldization

Monday:	individual midterm (Feb 2)
Tuesday	2nd day of midterm: small group 're-test' (Feb 3)
Wednesday:	Supersize Me
Thursday:	have read: Ritzer, chapter 1
Friday:	have read: Ritzer, chapter 3

Citations

• Ritzer, G. 2008. The McDonaldization of Society. Pine Forge Press. Chapters 1 and 3
• George Orwell. 1961. 1984. New York: Signet. (begin reading this--the paper is due May 30)

Week 7: Applying McDonaldization to the social world

Monday:	have read: Ritzer, Chapter 4
Tu/Th:	Endangering species
Wednesday:	have read: Ritzer, chapter 5
Friday:	have read: Ritzer, chapter 6

Citations for week's readings

• Ritzer, G. 2008. The McDonaldization of Society. Pine Forge Press. Chapters 4, 5 and 6.

back to schedule

Week 8: So what?

Monday:	have read: Ritzer, chapter 7 (and we'll discuss Orwell this week)
Tu/Th:	Channeling Disney
Wednesday:	have read: Sanneh
Friday:	have read: Ritzer, Chapter 9

Citations for week's readings

• Ritzer, G. 2008. The McDonaldization of Society. Pine Forge Press. Chapters 7 and 9.
• Kelefa Sanneh. 2011. The reality principle. May 9, The New Yorker.

Week 9: War and terrorism

Monday	New Internationalist. Facts on war and peace.
Tu/Th:	The McMusic World
Wednesday	Bacevich, These colors run red PNAC: Letter to Pres. Clinton ... Nelson, The time of the hangman (in Blackboard)
Friday	Klare, the Great Superpower Meltdown

Citations:

• New Internationalist. 1999. The facts on war and peace. Online at www.newint.org/features/1999/04/01/thefacts/
• Andrew Bacevich. 2009. These colors run red. Oct 1, The American Conservative. Online at www.amconmag.com/article/2009/oct/01/00018/
• Project for the New American Century. 1998. Letter to President Clinton on Iraq. Online at www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm
• Joyce Nelson. 1989. Sultans of Sleaze. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press. Chapter 2, 'The Time of the Hangman.' In Blackboard.
• Michael Klare. 2009. The great superpower meltdown: Welcome to 2025. Oct 29, TomDispatch.com. Online at www.tomdispatch.com/dialogs/print/?id=175113

back to schedule

Week 10: Globalization gets tricky

Monday:	Intro
Tu:	Glantz and Nguyen
Wednesday:	David Korten. 1995. When corporations rule the world.
Thur:	So now what?
Friday:	final exam prep

Citations

• David Korten. 2006. The great turning: From empire to earth community. Yes! Magazine (Summer). Online at www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1463
• Rent-a-womb: Outsourcing surrogacy in India (video). Youtube.

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Week 11 Final