Sociology 360
Fall 2004

"Somewhere is better than anywhere." - Flannery O'Connor

TEXT:

Wilkinson, Kenneth P. 1991. The Community in Rural America. Middleton, WI: Social Ecology Press.

In addition to the text, a set of readings will be made available.  

"What we want to do is build a society where it is easier for people to be good." - Peter Maurin

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Sociology has always been a progressive discipline. That is, sociology has always been interested in "better living through science." As a part of this effort, sociologists often work to get people to see how social forces affect their perceptions and actions; however, sometimes we tend to forget that people's actions occur someplace and that the effects of people's actions can be felt locally as well as globally.

If you think about your life thus far, it is probably hard to deny the importance of your hometown or neighborhood in shaping who you are. And it's probably easy to recognize that you and I and everyone else, through our actions and interactions in the places we go, shape the lives of the others around us. This course examines how we as human beings organize ourselves in space to meet our daily needs. We do so with an eye toward how to make our lives and the lives of future generations better.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

I want this course to give you a certain set of knowledge, feelings, and skills. These would specifically be:

• An interest in the scientific study and practice of community and community development.
 
• A set of skills that allow you to conceptualize and analyze community issues.
 
• An understanding of the basic elements and processes of community organization through review and discussion of theories, methods, and findings of major studies in community sociology.
 
• The ability to identify issues in community and community development needing research attention
  
• An uncontrollable urge to work on community and community development issues

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Class Attendance. 

Class attendance is required. These classes are too small for students to hide the fact that they are not coming to class. More important, missing class diminishes discussion, depriving us of your valuable insights.

Class Participation. 

This course will consist of both lectures and class discussion. This means that both the instructor and the students are responsible for making the course successful. Much of our class time will be spent discussing the concepts, theories, and examples in the assigned readings. I want to encourage you to ask questions and create discussion. Active class participation provides additional information to me and your fellow students on the issues being discussed. You are expected to read the material prior to class and be prepared to ask and answer questions and share your opinions. (NOTE: The instructor reserves the right to: a] require students to submit a written set of questions about the day's readings, and b] require students to leave the classroom if they are not prepared for the class discussion.)

Mid Term Examination. 

The course will have a take home mid-term examination. There will be no final--the Community study will be viewed as the final project.

Community Study. 

Each student will conduct a case study of a community. The case study will be comprised of four parts. See attachment for a description of the project and due dates. Due dates are firm. Late papers will be penalized one letter grade for each day that the paper is late.

Community Ethnography Book Review. 

As preparation for your community study, you will read and submit a book review on a community ethnography. I will provide the class with an extensive list of community ethnographies-both old and new, urban and rural. These books will be available either at Helms-Cravens or through interlibrary loan. You will choose one (NOTE: if the ethnography you choose is shorter than 50 pages, you will be asked to read an additional short ethnography), read it, and write a summary of it. Your report should place the authors study of community within the context of the course thus far. You will point to social structures and/or processes the ethnography emphasizes as well as where you think the argument community lost, found, liberated framework and why. No plagiarism of the text will be tolerated. All paraphrases of material will need citations. If I discover any problems, you will be asked to correct it before I will grade the paper.

Student Self-Assessment. 

Near the end of the course, the student will be asked to perform a self-assessment of their participation in this course. This assessment will be due at the start of the class on the day the course is evaluated. It will not be accepted after the course is evaluated.

GRADING PROCEDURES:

Class Attendance	05%
Class Participation	10%
Mid-Term	10%
Community Study	40%
Community Ethnography Book Report	30%
Self-Evaluation	05%

COURSE CALENDAR:

• A  The Concept of Community

  • Berry, Wendell. 1987. "Does Community Have a Value?" Pp. 179-92 in Home Economics. San Francisco: North Point Press.

  • Miller, Mike.  2002.  "The Meaning of Community." Social Policy 32(4): 32-7.

  • Wilkinson, Kenneth P. 1991. "Introduction: Studying the Community in Rural America." Pp. 1-10 in The Community in Rural America. Middleton, WI: Social Ecology Press.

  • Freie, John F.  1998.  "Chapter 2.  Genuine Community"  Pp. 21-37 in Counterfeit Community:  The Exploitation of Our Longings for Connectedness.  Lanham, Maryland:  Rowman and Littlefield
    
• B  The Concept of Community in Urban Areas:  The Neighborhood
  • Orum, Anthony M. 1998. "The Ur ban Imagination of Sociologists: The Centrality of Place." The Sociological Quarterly 39:1-10.
  • Lee, Barrett E. and Karen E. Campbell. 1997. "Common Ground? Urban Neighborhoods as Survey Respondents See Them." Social Science Quarterly 78(4):922-36.
  • Meegan, Richard and Alison Mitchell.  2001.  "'It's Not Community Round Here, It's Neighbourhood':  Neighborhood Change and Cohesion in Urban Regeneration Policies."  Urban Studies 38(12):2167-94.
    
• C  The Community Concept in History I
  • Stoneall, Linda. 1983. "Classical Theories of Social Changes and the Question of Community." Pp. 8-11 in Country Life, City Life. New York: Praeger.
  • Lyon, Larry. 1987. "The Typological Approach: Community on a Rural/Urban Continuum." Pp. 17-31 in The Community in Urban Society. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • Bender, Thomas. 1978. "Chapter 3. Community in American History." Pp. 45-85 in Community and Social Change in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers, University Press. Chapter 3.
    
• D  The Rural-Urban Variable in Community Research
  • Wilkinson, Kenneth P. 1991. "Chapter 2: The Rural-Urban Variable in Community Research." Pp. 37-60 in The Community in Rural America. Middleton, WI: Social Ecology Press.
  • Hart, John Fraser. 1995. "'Rural' and 'Farm' No Longer Mean the Same." Pp. 63-76 in The Changing American Countryside: Rural People and Places, edited by Emery N. Castle. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
  • Friedland, William H. 2002. "Agriculture and Rurality: Beginning the 'Final Separation'." Rural Sociology 67(3):350-371.
    
• E  The Community Concept in History II
  • Bender, Thomas. 1978. "Chapter 3. Community in American History." Pp. 86-120 in Community and Social Change in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers, University Press. Chapter 3.
  • Bridger, Jeffrey C., A.E. Luloff, and Richard S. Krannich.  2002.  "Community Change and Community Theory."  Pp. 9-21 in Persistence and Change in Rural Communities:  A 50-Year Follow-up to Six Classic Studies, edited by A.E. Luloff and R.S. Krannich. New York: CABI Publishing.
    
• F  Human Ecological Approaches to Community
  • Poplin, Dennis E. 1979. "Chapter 4: Human Ecology." Pp. 83-119 in Communities: A Survey of Theories and Methods of Research. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
  • Stoneall, Linda. 1983. "Chapter 3: Human Ecology: Community as Competition." Pp. 65-101 in Country Life, City Life. New York: Praeger.
    
• G  Systems Approaches to Community
  • Stoneall, Linda. 1983. "Chapter 4: Structural Functionalism: Community as Consensus." Pp. 103-133 in Country Life, City Life. New York: Praeger.
  • Lyon, Larry. 1987. "Chapter 4: The Community as a Social System." Pp. 54-63 in The Community in Urban Society. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
    
• H  The Symbolic Interactional Approach to Community
  • Kaufman, Harold F. 1958. "Toward an Interactional Conception of the Community. Social Forces 38(October):8-17.
  • Wilkinson, Kenneth P. 1991. "Chapter 1: The Community an Interactional Approach." Pp. 11-36 in The Community in Rural America. Middleton, WI: Social Ecology Press.

   

• I  Social Network Approaches to Community
  • Stoneall, Linda. 1983. "Chapter 7: Network-Exchange Analysis: Community as Connections." Pp. 213-249 in Country Life, City Life. New York: Praeger.
  • Granovetter, Mark S. 1973. "The Strength of Weak Ties." American Journal of Sociology 78(6):1360-1380.
  • Wellman, Barry and Barry Leighton. 1979. "Networks, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Approaches to the Study of the Community Question." Urban Affairs Quarterly 14(3):80-92.

   

• J  Social Capital
  • Flora, Cornelia Butler and Jan L. Flora.  2003.  "Social Capital."  Pp. 214-227 in Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century, edited by David L. Brown and Louis E. Swanson.  University Park, PA:  Penn State Press.
  • Putnam, Robert D. 2000. "Chapter 22: The Dark Side of Social Capital." Pp. 350-363 in Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster.
  • Bridger, Jeffrey C. and A.E. Luloff. 2001.  "Building the Sustainable Community:  Is Social Capital the Answer?" Sociological Inquiry 71(4):458-72.
    
• K  The Symbolic Interactionist: Social Fields and Social Worlds
  • Shibutani, Tamotsu. 1955. "Reference Groups as Perspectives." American Journal of Sociology 60:562-569.
  • Unruh, David R. 1980. "The Nature of Social Worlds." Pacific Sociological Review 23:271-296.
  • Smith, Douglas Clayton. 1996.  Pp. 7-25 in Power and Process in the Siting of Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University.

Movie: Dadetown

• L  Community Power
  • Hunter, Floyd. 1953. "The Structure of Power in Regional City." Pp. 60-113 in Community Power Structure. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.
  • Logan, John R. and Harvey L. Molotch. 1987. "The City as a Growth Machine." Pp. 50-98 in Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
    

• M  Community and Domestic Dependency Relations
  • England, Lynn and Ralph B. Brown. 2003.  "Community and Resource Extraction in Rural America."  Pp. 317-328 in Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century, edited by David L. Brown and Louis E. Swanson.  University Park, PA:  Penn State Press.
  • Cottrell, W.F. 1951. "Death by Dieselization: A Case Study in the Reaction to Technological Change." American Sociological Review 16:358-365.
  • Lovejoy , Stephen B., and Richard S. Krannich. 1982. "Rural Industrial Development and Domestic Dependency Relations." Rural Sociology 47(3):475-495.

   

• N  Social Well-Being and the Community
  • Wilkinson, Kenneth P. 1991. "Chapter 3: The Community and Rural Well-Being." Pp. 61-79 in The Community in Rural America. Middleton, WI: Social Ecology Press.
  • Smith, Michael D., Richard S. Krannich, and Lori M. Hunter.  2001.  "Growth, Decline, Stability and Disruption:  A Longitudinal Analysis of Social Well-Being in Four Western Rural Communities."  Rural Sociology  66(3): 425-50.
    

• O  Community Attachment
  • Berry, Wendell. 1990. "The Work of Local Culture." Pp. 153-169 in What Are People For? San Francisco: North Point Press.
  • Hummon, David M. 1990. "Community Identity." Pp. 141-164 in Commonplaces: Community Ideology and Attachment in America. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
  • Theodori, Gene L. 2001.  "Examining the Effects of Community Satisfaction and Attachment on Individual Well-Being"  Rural Sociology 66(4): 618-628.
    
• P  Community Demography
  • Johnson, Kenneth M. 2003. "Unpredictable Directions of Rural Population Growth and Migration."  Pp. 19-31 in Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century, edited by David L. Brown and Louis E. Swanson.  University Park, PA:  Penn State Press.
  • Lewis, Peirce. 1995. "The Urban Invasion of Rural America: The Emergence of the Galactic City." Pp. 39-62 in The Changing American Countryside: Rural People and Places, edited by Emery N. Castle. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
    
• Q  Consequences of Shifting Populations: Thinking about Solutions
  • Maine State Planning Office. 1997. The Cost of Sprawl. Augusta, ME: Maine State Planning Office. http://www.maine.gov/spo/landuse/docs/CostofSprawl.pdf
  • Jackson-Smith, Douglas B. 2003.  "Transforming Rural America:  The Challenges of Land Use Change in the Twenty-First Century."  Pp. 305-316 in Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century, edited by David L. Brown and Louis E. Swanson.  University Park, PA:  Penn State Press.
  • Beatley, Timothy and Kristy Manning. 1997. "Chapter 3. Principles of Urban Form." Pp. 40-85 in The Ecology of Place. Washington, DC: Island Press.
    
• R  Community Development and Organizing
  • Wilkinson, Kenneth P. 1991. "Chapter 4: Rural Community Development." and "Chapter 5: In Search of the Community in the Changing Countryside." Pp. 81-109 in The Community in Rural America. Middleton, WI: Social Ecology Press.
  • Alinsky, Saul. 1969. "Chapter 6: Community Traditions and Organizations." and "Chapter 7: Organizational Tactics." Pp. 76-131 in Reveille for Radicals. New York: Vintage Books.

   

• S  Community Needs Assessment
  • Ilvento, Tom, Lori Garkovich, Gary Hansen, Ron Hustedde, and Rick Maurer.  No Date.  "Alternative Methods of Community Needs Assessment" http://www.ca.uky.edu/snarl/CommunityPubs/AltMethodCommNeedsAssess.pdf
  • Israel, Glenn D. and Thomas W. Ilvento.  1995.  "Everybody Wins: Involving Youth in Community Needs Assessment" Journal of Extension 33(2) http://www.joe.org/joe/1995april/a1.html
  • Melamid, Elan, and Gabriel Brodbar. 2003.  "Matching Needs and Services:  An Assessment Tool for Community-Based Service Systems." Child Welfare 82(4):397-413.

   

• T  Asset Based Community Development
  • Kretzmann, John P. and John L. McKnight.  1993.  "Introduction" Pp. 2-10 in Building Communities from the Inside Out.  Chicago, IL: ACTA Publications.
  • Kretzmann, John P. and John L. McKnight.  1993.  "Asset-Based Community Development:  Mobilizing an Entire Community."  Pp. 345-354. in Building Communities from the Inside Out.  Chicago, IL: ACTA Publications.
  • Snow, Luther K. 2001.  "Introduction." Pp. 4-8 in The Organization of Hope:  A Workbook for Rural Asset-Based Community Development.  Chicago, IL: ACTA Publications.
  • Snow, Luther K. 2001.  "How to Use ABCD in Your Rural Community." Pp. 71-77 in The Organization of Hope:  A Workbook for Rural Asset-Based Community Development.  Chicago, IL: ACTA Publications. 
    
• U  Community Economic Development
  • Green, Gary Paul.  2003.  "What Role Can Community Play in Local Economic Development?"  Pp. 343-352 in  Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century, edited by David L. Brown and Louis E. Swanson.  University Park, PA:  Penn State Press.
  • Beatley, Timothy and Kristy Manning. 1997. "Chapter 5. Building a Restorative Economy." Pp. 137-170 in The Ecology of Place. Washington, DC: Island Press.
  • Aldrich, Lorna and Lorin Kusmin. 1998. Rural Economic Development: What Makes Rural Communities Grow? Washington, DC: USDA, Economic Research Service, Food and Rural Economics Division. Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 737. http://www.ers.usda.gov/epubs/pdf/aib737/
    

• V  Environmental Conflict and Community Development
  • Spain, Daphne. 1993. "Been Heres Versus Come Heres: Negotiating Conflicting Community Identities." Journal of the American Planning Association 59(2):156-171.
  • Schnaiberg, Allan. 1986. "Reflections on Resistance to Rural Industrialization: Newcomer's Culture of Environmentalism." Pp. 229-258 in Differential Social Impacts of Rural Resource Development edited by Pamela Elkind-Savatsky. Westview Press.
  • Berry, Wendell. 1993. "Out of Your Car, Off Your Horse." Pp. 19-26 in Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community. New York: Pantheon.
  • Couch, Stephen R. and Steve Kroll-Smith. 1994. "Environmental Controversies, Interactional Resources, and Rural Communities: Siting Versus Exposure Disputes." Rural Sociology 59(1):25-44.

Finally, my disclaimer: