Jeanne Holcomb

Ph.D. Candidate, University of Florida

SYA 4930: Sociology of Childhood
Section 5714
MWF 6th Period, 12:50-1:40
Little 121

Instructor: Jeanne Holcomb, M.A.
Office: 3357 Turlington (or 3305)
Office Hours: Wednesday 7th and 8th periods and by appointment
Phone: 392-0251 ext 287
E-mail: holcombj@ufl.edu

Objectives: The main objective of this course is to engage students in a learning process that will help them to develop an understanding of contemporary childhood in the United States.  Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:

• Understand the historical context of family diversity
• Understand common methodologies, methodological concerns, and theories that influence research on children
• Understand and apply a social constructionist perspective
• Understand current ideologies regarding parenting
• Understand and analyze social location variables that give rise to diversity in children’s lives including gender, class, race, sexuality, and disability
• Evaluate the role of public policy in children’s lives, indicators of child well-being, social problems related to childhood, and avenues of social change
• Create a map of major themes and issues related to contemporary childhood

How to succeed:  Come to class!!  Just as teaching the course requires a commitment for me to come to class everyday, taking the course requires the same commitment from you.  If you are not willing to come to class everyday, to do readings before class, and to participate in class conversations and activities, please consider dropping the course.

Books:   There is a required course pack available from University Copy.  It is your responsibility to obtain the book you choose for your presentation.

E-learning:  Your grades will be posted via UF’s e-learning system.  You will need a functional gatorlink username and password to logon.  Go to http://lss.at.ufl.edu/ to access the class page.

Grading:        
3 exams at 80 points each                             240
10 activities at 10 points each                        100
12 reading quizzes at 5 points each                 60                 
Book Paper                                                    75
Book Presentation                                          25
Total possible points                                      500

Final Grades:             
A-     450-460              A     461-500                           
B-     400-410              B     411-439               B+     440-449
C-     350-360              C     361-389               C+     390-399            
D-     300-310              D     311-339               D+     340-349          
E       0-299           

Information about the grade point equivalencies for each letter grade can be found at http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html  

Exams:  There will be three exams during the semester.  All will be held during class time.  Each exam will include multiple choice and true/false, but the main emphasis on all exams will be short answer questions.

Activities:  There will be ten activities, each worth ten points.  Some of these activities will be completed in-class, and others will be completed through e-learning. 

Reading Quizzes:  At the beginning of each week of assigned readings, there will be a brief reading quiz worth five points.  There will be thirteen quizzes, but your lowest score will be dropped. 

Book Review:  As part of the class, you are asked to choose a book, read it, and write a review of the book.  Book sign-ups will occur during the second week of the semester.  See the assignment description for more information.
           
Class Presentation:  Based on what book you chose to read, you will be part of a group that presents that book to the class.  As a part of the presentation, you will be asked to give the other students background information about the book (such as if it was part of a larger study and how information was gathered), to explain the book’s main points to the class, and to engage students in a discussion about topics related to the book.

Make-Up Policy:  If you must make-up an exam, come talk to me after class or e-mail me.  I expect all assignments to be turned in on time; if you cannot meet a deadline, let me know as soon as possible.  Late work will result in a lower grade.  If you are concerned about missing in-class activities or reading quizzes, come see me.  You need to talk to me within a week of the missed assignment, quiz, or test to make arrangements to complete missed work.  I will not accept late work if you do not touch base with me within one week after the original due date. 

Attendance Policy:  Attendance is not required.  However, if you don’t regularly come to class, you will miss the in-class activities.

Conduct Code/Honor Code:  The University of Florida has a conduct code and an honor code that it expects all students to abide by.  To read the entire documents, visit http://www.dso.ufl.edu/studentguide/studentconductcode.php and http://www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/procedures/studenthonorcode.php. 
The honor code includes the following:  “On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied:  "On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment." “
Cheating is not tolerated in this class.  Anyone caught cheating, on exams or written assignments, will automatically fail the course.

Disabilities: Students who need accommodations must register with the Disability Resource Center.  Visit http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/  for more information.

Counseling:  The University provides free counseling services to students.  For more information, visit http://www.counsel.ufl.edu/.

Gordon Rule and Gen Ed:  This class does not fulfill Gordon Rule or Gen Ed requirements. 
Even though a great deal of time and thought were put into making this outline, this is tentative schedule.  Changes are always possible. 

Week 1:  Aug 24 – 28                                    Historical Context
Readings:
Cherlin.  Children and Parents.  Chapter 9 (p. 292-326)in Public and Private Families: An Introduction. New York: McGraw Hill.  2008.

Fass and Mason.  Childhood in America Past and Present.  p. 45-50. In Childhood in American Society: A Reader.  Sternheimer (ed.)  Allyn & Bacon 2010.

Mintz.  Laboring Children.  Excerpt from Huck’s Raft.  p. 96-106.  In American Families: A Multicultural Reader.  Coontz, Parson, and Raley (eds).  Routledge.  2008.   

Week 2: Aug 31 - September 4                    Methods, Theory
Readings:
Corsaro.  Children’s Interpretive Reproductions. p. 102-116.  In Childhood in American Society: A Reader.  Sternheimer (ed.)  Allyn & Bacon 2010. 

Elder.  1998. The Life Course as Developmental Theory.  Child Development 69, 1, 1-12.

Wyness.  Researching Children and Childhood. p. 168-180.  In Childhood in American Society: A Reader.  Sternheimer (ed.)  Allyn & Bacon 2010. 

Week 3: September 7 – 11                          Medicalization
September 7: No Class

Readings:
Rothman.  Laboring Now: Current Cultural Constructions of Pregnancy, Birth and Mothering.  p. 29-93 in Laboring Now. Simonds, Rothman, and Norman.  Routledge 2006.

Zola, I.  1972.  Medicine as an Institution of Social Control.  Sociological Review, 20, 487-504.

Week 4: September 14-18                        Parenting Ideologies
Readings: 
Douglas and Michaels.  The New Momism.  p. 235-247.  In Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology.  Disch (ed.)  McGraw-Hill Higher Education.  2009.

Gerson. Dilemmas of Involved Fatherhood.  p. 215-255 in No Man's Land: Men's Changing Commitments to Family and Work. New York, NY: BasicBooks. 1993.

Hays.  From Rods to Reasoning: The Historical Construction of Intensive Mothering.  p. 19-50.  In The cultural contradictions of motherhood. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.  1996.

Smith.  A Child of One’s Own: A Moral Assessment of Property Concepts in Adoption.  p. 112-131.  In Adoption Matters: Philosophical and Feminist Essays.  Haslanger and Witt (eds.)  Cornell University Press.  2005.

Book:   Born in the USA
Family Wanted: Stories of Adoption

Week 5: September 21-25                Work and Family        
Readings:
DeVault.  1999.  Comfort and Struggle: Emotion Work in Family Life. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 561, 1, 52-63.

Perry-Jenkins, M., Repetti, R., and Crouter, A.  2000.  Work and Family in the 1990s.  Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 4, 981-998.

Risman.  1998.  Ideology, Experience, and Identity: The Complex worlds of Children in Fair Families.  p. 128-150 in Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Usdansky and Wolf.  2008. When Child Care Breaks Down: Mothers' Experiences With Child Care Problems and Resulting Missed Work.  Journal of Family Issues, 29, 1185-1210

Book: Competing devotions: Career and family among women executives

Week 6: September 28 – October 2               
October 2: Exam 1

Week 7: October 5 – 9                              Gender and Sexuality
Readings:
Kimmel.  “What about the boys?” What the current debates Tell Us – and Don’t Tell Us – about Boys in School.  p. 369-382.  In Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology.  Disch (ed.)  McGraw-Hill Higher Education.  2009.

Martin.  2009.  Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers’ Assumptions, Talk, and Strategies with Young Children.  American Sociological Review, 74, 2, 190-207.

Martin.  1998.  Becoming a Gendered Body: Practices of Preschools.  American Sociological Review, 63, 4, 494-511.

McGuffy and Rich.  1999.  Playing in the Gender Transgression Zone.  Gender & Society, 13, 5, 608-627.

Book:   Gender Play
So Sexy, So Soon
The Trouble with Boys
It’s All For the Kids: Gender, Families, and Youth Sports

Week 8: October 12 – 16                                Social Class
October 16: No Class

Readings:
Letiecq and Koblinsky.  2004. Parenting in Violent Neighborhoods: African American Fathers Share Strategies for Keeping Children Safe.  Journal of Family Issues, 25, 715-734

Lee, Katras, and Bauer.  2009. Children's Birthday Celebrations from the Lived Experiences of Low-Income Rural Mothers.  Journal of Family Issues, 30, 532-553.

McKendrick, Bradford, and Fielder.  Time For a Party.  p. 100-116.  In Holloway and Valentine (eds) Children’s Geographies: Playing, Living, Learning.  2000.

Pugh. Windfall Child Rearing: Low-Income Care and Consumption. p. 366-376.  In American Familes: A Multicultural Reader.  Coontz, Parson, and Raley (eds).  Routledge.  2008.  

Book:   Unequal Childhoods
Longing and belonging: parents, children, and consumer culture    
Purchasing Power: Black Kids and American Consumer Culture

Week 9: October 19 – 23                    Intersectionality, Race
Readings:
Collins.  Bloodmothers, Othermothers, and Women-Centered Networks.  p. 318-324.  In Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology.  Disch (ed.)  McGraw-Hill Higher Education.  2009.

Collins.  Shifting the Center:  Race, Class, and Feminist Theorizing about Motherhood.  In Ferguson (Ed.) Shifting the Center: Understanding Contemporary Families (3rd ed.).  Boston, MA: McGraw Hill

Van Ausdale and Feagin.  1996.  Using Racial and Ethnic Concepts: The Critical Case of   Very Young Children.  American Sociological Review, 61, 5, 779-793. 

Book: The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America

There are no children here

Week 10: October 26-30                           Disability and Illness
Readings:
Clark.  In Sickness and in Play: Children Coping with Chronic Illness.  p. 437-451 in Childhood in American Society: A Reader.  Sternheimer (ed.)  Allyn & Bacon 2010. 

Connors and Stalker.  2007.  Children’s experiences of disability: pointers to a social model of childhood disability.  Disability & Society, 22, 1, 19-33.

Early, Gregoire, and McDonald.  2002. Child Functioning and Caregiver Well-being in Families of Children with Emotional Disorders: A Longitudinal Analysis.  Journal of Family Issues, 23, 374-391.

Week 11: November 2 -6
November 6: Exam 2              


Week 12: November 9 – 13                            Child Well-being
November 11: No Class

Readings:
Land, Lamb, Mustillo.  Child and Youth Well-Being in the United States, 1975-1998: Some Findings from a New Index. p. 393-443.  In Key Indicators of Child and Youth Well-Being: Completing the Picture.  Brown (ed.).  Taylor & Francis.  2008.

Sarkadi, Kristiansson, Oberklaid, Bremberg.  2007.  Fathers’ involvement and children’s    developmental outcomes: a systematic review of longitudinal studies.  Acta Pædiatrica, 97, 153–158.

Book: Last child in the woods

Week 13: November 16 – 20                          Social Policy
Readings:
Letiecq, Bailey, and Porterfield.  2008.  "We Have No Rights, We Get No Help": The Legal and Policy Dilemmas Facing Grandparent Caregivers.  Journal of Family Issues, 29, 995-1012.

Mason, Fine, and Carnochan.  2001.  Family Law in the New Millennium: For Whose Families?  Journal of Family Issues, 22, 859-881

Book: Invisible Safety Net

           
Week 14: November 23 – 27                          Social Problems
November 27: No Class

Readings:
Kitzinger.  Who Are You Kidding: Children, Power, and the Struggle Against Sexual Abuse.  p. 421-436.  In Childhood in American Society: A Reader.  Sternheimer (ed.)  Allyn & Bacon 2010. 

Mishna, Saini, and Solomon.  2009.  Ongoing and online: Children and youth's perceptions of cyber bullying.  Children and Youth Services Review.  Retrieved June 23, from http://www.sciencedirect.com

Newman, Woodcock, and Dunham.  2006.  ‘Playtime in the Borderlands’: Children's Representations of School, Gender and Bullying through Photographs and Interviews. Children's Geographies, 4, 3, 289 – 302.

Sun and Li.  2001.  Marital Disruption, Parental Investment, and Children's Academic Achievement: A Prospective Analysis.  Journal of Family Issues, 22, 27-62.

Book: All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated
Peer Power

Week 15: November 30 – December 4           Social Change
Readings:
Bould.  2003. Caring Neighborhoods: Bringing Up the Kids Together.  Journal of Family Issues, 24, 427-447

Corsaro. The Future of Childhood.  p. 283-310.  In The Sociology of Childhood.  Pine Forge Press.  2005.

Book:  Child Poverty and Inequality: Securing a Better Future for America’s Children

Week 16: December 7 -9                   
December 9 –  Exam 3                       

 
Possible Books (in order of class presentation dates and topics)

Born in the USA: How A Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to put Women and Children First.  Wagner.  2008.  University of California Press.  312 pages.  $13.57

Family Wanted: Stories of Adoption.  Holloway.  2006.  Random House.  320 pages.  $11.66

Competing devotions: Career and Family among Women Executives.  Blair-Loy.  2005.  Harvard University Press.  288 pages.  $19.44

Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School.  Thorne.  1993.  Rutgers University Press.  $23.35 

So Sexy, So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.  Levin and Kilbourne.  2009.  Ballantine Books.  240 pages.  $10.20

The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do.  Tyre.  2008.  Three Rivers Press.  320 pages.  $10.20

It’s All for the Kids: Gender, Families, and Youth Sports.  Messner.  2009.  University of California Press.  288 pages.  $19.75

Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls.  Simmons.  2003.  Harvest Books.  320 pages.  $10.98 

Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life.  Lareau.  2003.  University of California Press.  343 pages.  $14.93

Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture.  Pugh.  2009.  University of California Press.  320 pages.  $19.75           

Purchasing Power: Black Kids and American Consumer Culture.  Chin.  2001.  University of Minnesota Press.  258 pages.  $22.50

The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Kozol. 2006. Three Rivers Press. 432 pages. $10.17

There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. Kotlowitz. 1992. Anchor. 336 pages. $10.17

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Louv. 2008. 224 pages. Princeton University Press. $18.95

The Invisible Safety Net: Protecting the Nation’s Poor Children and Families.  Currie.  2008.  224 pages.  Princeton University Press.  $18.95

All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated.  Bernstein.  2007.  New Press.  320 pages.  $11.53

Peer Power: Preadolescent Culture and Identity.  Adler.  1998.  Rutgers University Press.  272 pages.  $21.95

Child Poverty and Inequality: Securing a Better Future for America’s Children.  Lindsey.  2008.  Oxford University Press.  224 pages.  $23.96

Sociology of Childhood
10 Assignments
Due Dates will be announced in class

• Write a brief reflection on your childhood (1-2 double spaced pages).  How does your experience influence your opinion of what childhood should be like?
• Research resistance to childhood immunizations and this form of opposition to medical authority.  Write a brief summary of what you find, including references.  Summaries should be 1-2 pages, double spaced.  Include information about what immunizations guidelines are and why and by whom they are being opposed.
• Do some on-line research about child care.  As more parents are in dual-earner families or are single parents, child care becomes increasingly important.  Research child care standards.  Are there national standards?  Look for full-time childcare for a one-year old in Gainesville.  Where would you try to place your child?  How expensive is child care in Gainesville?  How did you find "quality" places?  Be sure to include your references.
• Watch Ma Vie en Rose (we'll watch it in class).  Write a brief (1 page) reaction to the film, including how the film portrays gender trangression zones and patrolling behaviors.
• Visit key children's stores on-line or in person, if you prefer.  (Suggestions:  Toys R Us, Old Navy, Children's Place, Target.)  Try to find birthday gifts for a four year old boy AND a four year old girl.  You're trying to find one clothes outfit and one toy for each child.  Describe what you find.  What options are there for the girls' clothes?  The boys' clothes?  What toys are available to boys and girls?
• Watch Mickey Mouse Monopoly (we'll watch it in class).  Write a brief (1 page) reaction to the film.
• Watch an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras (in-class).  Apply an intersectional perspective to the show.  What race, class, and gender demographics are featured?  What qualities are favored for girls and boys?  Where are disabled children?
• Look at the following websites: Childstats.gov and http://datacenter.kidscount.org/databook/2009/Default.aspx.  What types of indicators of well-being are used?  Which ones seem most relevant?  What would you add to the indicators already used?  Also browse local statistics for child well-being.  In class, we'll discuss local groups that try to address needs of local children and participation in a class service project.
• Find one national news article related to childhood well-being.  Most news articles focus on some sort of social problem.  What problem related to childhood does your article address?  Suppose you work for an organization designed to address children's needs.  What type of program would you develop to specifically meet the need in your article?  How would this program be implemented? 
• Browse through an issue of a key parenting magazine (I will provide magazines).  What do you notice about what messages the magazines have about parenting?  What images of childhood are portrayed?  What do ads look like?  What products are being sold?