SOCIOLOGY OF COMMUNICATION
Dr. Myron Orleans;
Soc. 345; 3 Units; Tues 7:00-9:45; H426; Spring, 2002
Tel: 278-3868; Fax:
278-2001; e-mail: morleans@fullerton.edu
Office:
H-725L; Office Hrs: Mon and Wed 5:30-7:00pm, Tues 3:00-4:00.
SOCI 345: Sociology of Communication—Catalog Description:
Prerequisite: Sociology 101 or consent of instructor. The social processes involved in
communicating with symbols—verbal, visual and "body-language"—in
interpersonal settings and the mass media.
Course Objectives:
Texts:
THE
PRODUCTION of SOCIAL REALITY: Essays and Readings on Social Interaction, Jodi O'Brien and Peter Kollock, Third Edition,Thousand
Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 2001.
MEDIA/SOCIETY:
Industries, Images, and Audiences, David Croteau and William Hoynes, Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 2000.
Online Book Price Comparisons: www.bookarea.com
Requirements:
Project—The
student will observe communication activity focusing on any small group of
people (3-8 participants) who are experiencing or creating any form of mediated
communication. Each student will write a 5-page paper interpreting the
observations sociologically. You will analyze the data that you collect
using ideas developed in this course, including class lectures, class
presentations and material from the texts. For each description of a
communication event, offer an interpretation of the meaning of the event using
a highlighted sociological
term discussed in class or provide a direct quotation from one of the
texts. Provide a reference to the term used in class by including a date
in parentheses followed by a period. Provide a reference to the text quotation
by including the names of the author(s) and a page reference to the text
quotation in parentheses followed by a period. At least five applications
of terms from class discussions and at least 10 brief quotations from diverse
sections of both texts are expected. Introduce your paper with an issue
or process of sociological interest that is evident in this situation, such as
how intergroup communication is achieved or how speaking coordination is
accomplished while a form of mediated communication is being experienced. Insert appropriate organizational and
conceptual subheadings, such as Introduction, Conversational Sequencing and
“The Medium is the Massage,” for each section.
Conclude your paper with an overall explanation of how this
communicative situation is made possible.
Please word process the paper employing a spell checker. Use a 12
point font with 1" margins. Single space with a blank line between
paragraphs. Please do not refer to yourself in the first person and
remain in the past tense throughout the paper. The project is due on Tuesday, May
21. You are invited to discuss the paper or review drafts of the paper
anytime prior to submission.
Presented
version of a student paper
Published
collection of student papers
Service
Component—Students will provide service that is some manner
facilitates and enhances communication among individuals who experience some
social disadvantage. This service activity must take place within a
formal organizational setting for a minimum of 10 hours during the semester
exclusive of training. Services may include tutoring, mentoring, social
services, health and nutritional services, recreational activities, employment
development, substance abuse counseling, violence reduction, family and
personal enrichment and other similar kinds of assistive functions directed at
persons experiencing communication difficulties. Proper certification of
the program specifying the services that the student will provide must be
submitted by a director, principal, pastor, or administrator on the
organization's letterhead prior to the start time and no later than February
26. A supervisor-validated typewritten tally of hours along with a
typed one-page single spaced description and assessment of your activities,
contributions to clients and learning benefits must be submitted on May 28.
[Students may participate in the Ruby Drive School computer-tutoring
program as a means of fulfilling this assignment. Information on this and
other CSUF service learning programs can be obtained from The Volunteer &
Service Center at (714) 278-7623, Titan Student Union Rm. 2 (lower level, TSU
on west end of the Garden Cafe) or email at volunteer@fullerton.edu. Other contacts include Susan Schuman,
Director of Public Relations for the Volunteer Center of Orange County at (714)
953-5597 ext. 136 or Tom Linnert of THINK Together; (714) 543-3807 Fax: (714) 543-3852; http://www.thinkoc.org/; email: tlinnert@thinkoc.org.] Service may
be coordinated with other internships or placements, but the student is
required to work with communicationally disadvantaged individuals and meet the
requirements of this course. Up to two class absences may be made up by
performing an additional three hours of service for each absence. No more
than three hours service may be performed in any given week.
Presentations—Each student will prepare an oral presentation to the class explaining assigned chapters from the texts. A schedule of presentations that correlates with the assigned readings will be set up during the second week. Each presenter will be responsible for providing a one-page synopsis of his/her presentation for class distribution. The presenter is expected to explain the content of the material by talking extemporaneously and not reading the synopsis. The presenter may use visual or other means to enhance communication. Please make sure that your name is on your synopsis and that sufficient copies are available for easy distribution to all members of the class.
Essay Exam—An open notebook essay exam covering the topics discussed subsequent to the midterm will be given on May 28 at 7:30pm. Questions are posted on our Web site. A small blue book is required.
Attendance—Students are asked to sign an attendance sheet at the start of each session of the class meetings. Students who arrive late or leave early may sign the session sheet but, in fairness to all students, are required to note this on the sheet next to their signature.
Grading Policy:
1) The
project is worth up to 40 points.
2) The
tally sheet and one-page assessment of the service experience is worth up to 10
points.
3) Presentations
to the class are worth up to 10 points.
4) Participation
in class discussion is worth up to 5 points.
5) Students with a perfect attendance record receive 12 points toward the final grade. Students who miss no more than one full class meeting (two sessions) receive 11 points toward the final grade while 10 points are given if a student misses no more than two full classes. Seven points are given if no more than three full classes are missed and five points are given if there are no more than four full class absences. No points are given if more than five full class meetings are missed. Thus, a student who misses eleven sessions loses 10 points out of 100.
6) The essay exam is worth up to 25 points.
**Failure to meet a stated deadline results in the loss of 3 points. **
Final Grade---The student’s points are totaled and an appropriate letter grade is awarded in the following manner: A=102-90; B=89-80; C=79-70; D=69-60; F=59 and under. The highest grade for an Incomplete is "C".
Internet Support:
Our course syllabus is posted on
the World Wide Web at the following address: http://hss.fullerton.edu/sociology/orleans/345.htm
This home page will point you to sources of information that will significantly
supplement our course materials. Links to sites of relevance to social
communications will be added as we proceed through the semester. Please
check our home page regularly. E-mail additional site addresses to me and
I will add them as appropriate. Any suggestions regarding this page would
be very much appreciated and extra credit may be awarded for contributions.
For information on how to gain
Web access and e-mail via CSUF:
http://www.access.fullerton.edu/general.html
For
assistance in finding employment:
http://www.fullerton.edu/career/jobresources.htm
Course related links:
Please view and enjoy the Sociology Department’s
very own online Journal of Mundane Behavior: http://www.mundanebehavior.org/
Of special relevance issue 2.1: Media/Mundania,
February 25, 2001.
Annual Review Sociology Online
Blackwell
Publishers - Sociology Journals
Links to Sociology on
the Web
CSUF Sociology Dept.
web page
CSUF Library Links to Social
Science Internet Resources
ELR Sociology Resources
A Sociological Tour
Through Cyberspace
Web sites of
general sociological interest
Communication Institute for Online Scholarship
The Media and Communications
Study Site
Academic communications sites
in North America
Social
Science Communication Research
On-Line Books and
Texts
Families, Technology, and
Education Conference:
Early Adolescent
Social Networks and Computer Use
Topical Outline
1) Introduction; read O'Brien and Kollock pp 3-12; present: ch 1-3.
The meanings of
communication
Interpersonal and mediated communication
Studying communication
practices
ethnographic research
the
sociological perspective
the interpretive approach
2) Symbolization-language; read O'Brien and Kollock pp 61-85; present ch 6-16.
Cultural
foundations
culture as context
culture as resource
Whorf-Sapir hypothesis
The power of
symbolization
cognitive
structuration
typifications and
recipes for action
stocks of
knowledge
common sense
the taken for
granted world
3) Communication practices; read
O'Brien/ Kollock pp 189-205; present ch 18-32.
conversation and conversational
structuring
speech
sequences
interruptions
ritualized discourse
openings
talk
gaming: ritualized interaction
audiencing: communication and community making
Gestural and
nonverbal communication
bodywork
facework
distance and territoriality
ritualized
interaction
Impression management: strategic
interaction
Dramaturgical analysis
of scenes
Defining the proper
function of gynecology
4) The multidimensional self; O'Brien and Kollock present 27-32.
the embodied self: biosocial
foundations
self as symbol
the socially constructed self
the cultural self
the communicative self
"Doing" self: The social self
performing identity: The mind and the
self
Goffman's concept of self in interaction
5) The Social Construction of Reality; read pp 347-364; present ch 33-41.
(a solipsistic world?)
Phenomenology:
perceiving reality
Schutz's analysis of
intersubjectivity: making agreement
Garfinkel 's
ethnomethodology: making sense of the ordinary
The practical problem of interpretation: making meaning
Berger
and Luckmann’s
reality constructionism
Poststructuralism
Postmodernism
deconstructionism
Doing culture:
reification
Doing situation: the fallacy of missplaced concreteness
Reflexivity: Escher's
hand drawing hand
6) Media and the social world; read
C&H ch 1,8.
Media and social
relations
Reflection and
refraction
Resonance theory: the responsive chord
Media content
Selling and marketing:
commercial
and advertising construction of reality
audience relations: para-sociality
pseudo-personalism
7) Communications
technology and society; read C&H ch 9.
The medium as the massage
Neurosocial impact
Alpha surfing
Media and cognitive structuring
Technology and
the mediated environment
Social
construction of media technologies
radio and television
films
computer mediated communication
machine/human relationship
ersatz
relationships
lost in the
Web
8) Media representations of the social world; read C&H ch 5,6.
Media and ideology
Entertained Into
Social Change; Soap operas are found to influence
Race and gender depictions
Images of social class
Television and reality
Family
sitcoms
9) Audiences; read C&H ch 7.
Media and politics
Media influence
Audience structure and scale
Creating the mass
Mass
society: atomization
Mass
culture: kitsch vs. niche marketing
Pop culture
The
hypodermic needle model
Broadcasting
and narrowcasting
The interpreting audience
Meaning
construction
Decoding
media meanings
The two-step
influence flow model
Entertainment media
Media
creation of violence,
aggression
and sex
Making the news
social
perceptions and media exposure
the phenomenon of the crime wave
the newsworthy
nonnews
Children's programming: the plugged-in drug thesis
cartoons
No sense of self or place
Social context of media use
Interpretive resistance
Media pleasures
10) Cultural domination through media; read C&H ch 10.
Ideology
Hegemony
Media elites and masses
Conglomerate
and corporate power
Cultural messaging
Mediated reality
Media technology and social change
mass media and the modernization of
consciousness
socio-cultural change and adoption
of technology
communication in traditional society
the “olds”
village
communication
The cultural impact of advertising
advertising and the globalization of
culture
Globalization
and cultural hegemony
Global media content and consumption