Bismarck (Bryan):



University of Southern California Professor: Paul Lichterman

Sociology 250gm Office: KAP 356; lichterm@usc.edu

Fall 2011 Hours: Weds. 3:30-5:30 and by appt.

Lecture: Mon.-Weds. 2:00-3:20pm TA: Max Greenberg

Grassroots Participation in Global Perspective

Course description

This course introduces you to different forms of citizen participation. We will learn about volunteer and community service groups, social movement organizations, community-organizing campaigns, and nonprofit organizations that produce public goods. We will ask: How and why do ordinary people get involved in organizations that address local, national or global problems? What do the different forms of participation accomplish? What are their benefits and drawbacks? The course does not aim to say which form of participation is “better.” It certainly does not review the many different problems that citizens try to address. The point, rather, is to investigate very different ways of being an active citizen, and understand in social-science terms the problems and possibilities of each.

We focus mostly on the contemporary U.S., using international comparison cases to help us understand U.S. citizen participation better. Contextualizing U.S. civic life globally helps us avoid assuming that American civic engagement is just natural or logical for a democracy.

Many public organizations, and many nations, want to increase citizen participation. This class takes a scholarly, dispassionate look at citizen participation. It does not suppose that any kind of participation or volunteering is always “good for society.” There are heated debates inside and outside academia about citizen participation, what it should accomplish, why it has been declining. You will learn these important debates, and develop some tools for making your own decisions about the virtues and drawbacks of different kinds of participation.

While introducing you to different forms of citizen participation and debates about participation, the course also introduces you to ethnographic research. Los Angeles is a fabulously diverse city with many different kinds of citizen participation, and many, many problems that citizens try to address. Everyone will need to attend at least three meetings or events of a “grassroots” civic group, organization, coalition, or project: an activist group, volunteer group, local political party organization, or non-profit organization working on some social problem, or else a government-sponsored forum that involves average citizens. You will learn some basic skills of social science research: listening closely to everyday conversation, taking detailed notes, applying social science concepts to your observations. The course presents at an introductory level what professional ethnographers do. If you are not interested in this kind of research experience, or if you do not like the idea of going to observe groups, you need to find a different course.

In short, this course’s goals include:

•introducing you to enduring scholarly questions and themes regarding citizen participation

•introducing different kinds of participation, their potentials and limits

•giving you concrete, introductory research experience

•sharpening your ability to think critically about citizen participation, beyond the usual clichés

Readings

These books all are required for our course. All are available in paper at the USC bookstore.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Harper Perennial edition).

Richard Wood, Faith in Action. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

A photocopied course reader also is required. It is available at the university bookstore. You need to get it right away since it contains our first reading. A few required readings will be posted on Blackboard.

Requirements

Lectures: All classes are mandatory. Some lectures will present new material that is crucial for exams and not available in the readings. Some discussion section periods will present new material or explain material in ways you would not know from readings or lectures alone. You will not do well in the course if you do not take good lecture notes, every lecture, and attend discussion section regularly too. Lectures are not available online. We need you in class, and you will benefit from hearing students (including yourself) participate.

Exams: There are two midterm exams and one final exam, as scheduled on this syllabus. We will discuss the contents of midterms and the final exam in class.

Make-up exams: There will be, at most, one make-up time for each of the midterms, and each will be set at the professor’s or TA’s discretion. There will not be multiple make-up times; the class is far too large for that. We will not consider requests for alternatives to the single make-up time for each midterm. Of course it is best to take the exam on the day it is scheduled. Make-up exams will not necessarily have the same questions as original exams and may be harder. There will be no make-up for the final exam.

Submitting your exams and field assignments: Exams will take place in class and you will need to bring a completely blank blue book. You will submit some or all of your field assignments on the university’s Blackboard system. If many are unfamiliar with using the Blackboard system, it will be explained in class. Don’t worry; it’s easy. Assignments will have strict time deadlines, after which Blackboard will not accept your assignment.

Field research for this course: As the USC course catalogue promises, this course draws you into associational life in Los Angeles. All students will attend at least three meetings or events of a local association, write observations in notes and a memo to go with the notes for each field session, and turn in the three field assignments.

**You need to have contacted potential field research sites by the end of the third week.**

Field assignment 1: Proposal, first field notes and memo (due by the start of class, Sept. 21)

Field assignment 2: Second field notes/memo (due by the start of class, Oct. 26)

Field assignment 3: Third field notes/memo (due by start of class, Nov. 30)

Explanation of field assignments: Separate handouts will explain the three field assignments. See the end of the syllabus for a short, practical guide to starting your field research. We will assume you have read and know this and all other material given to you regarding field work. We will discuss and practice with the assignments in class: You need to be in class to understand how to do the assignments.

Quizzes: Your lecturer and discussion section instructor may give you quizzes or quick-response questions any day, anytime. These help us see if you are understanding, as well as attending to, readings and lectures. Class is much more interesting for everyone when you keep up with the reading and ask questions that help other students as well as you.

Attentiveness and participation: We actively encourage questions and participation, in lecture as well as discussion section. We hope it goes without saying, but we will say it: Respecting fellow students, your professor, your TA and yourself is essential for everyone. Please turn off all cell-phones and put away all communication devices other than a laptop for note-taking if you choose to take notes that way.

**Use of laptops for anything other than note-taking is rude, detracts from your work in our course, and will be penalized when we tally up course grades. If we cite you more than once for inappropriate use of laptops or other technology in class, you lose the privilege of taking notes on a laptop. If you persist in using a laptop or other devices after that you will lose more points, and we will urge you to drop the course immediately. Please just do the right thing to begin with.

If you miss a day of lecture or discussion section, you need to be responsible for any handouts, announcements (including announcements of make-up dates or other deadlines) and the content of instruction that day.

Attentiveness in lecture and section is worth 10% of your total grade; this includes scores on in-class quizzes and participation in discussion section. You may be penalized—that means losing grade points—for rudeness, inappropriate use of communication devices in class, disrespectful attitudes, or failure to contact a potential field site by September 7. If you use up all your participation points on penalties and continue to earn penalties, they will be taken off the rest of your point total. We hope not to talk further about classroom inappropriateness since it takes time away from education and in turn penalizes the majority. Please respect your fellow students. Please respect your instructors; we have worked hard on designing a valuable course for you.

Grading

First midterm: 35 points 17.5%

Second midterm: 35 points 17.5%

Final exam: 50 points 25%

Field assignment 1 20 points 10%

Field assignment 2 20 points 10%

Field assignment 3 20 points 10%

Attentiveness and

participation

(includes quizzes) 20 points 10%

You may drop your lowest midterm grade. That means I will count your highest midterm grade. You may not drop the final exam or any field assignment grades.

Lateness: The policies are simple.

•Each midterm exam will have at most exactly one make-up day/time, as described above, and the final exam will have no make-up.

•Field assignments will be lowered one grade for every class day they are late. A “class day” is a day with either a lecture or a discussion section. (Lowered one grade means losing a grade’s worth of credit, i.e., going from a ‘B’ to a ‘C’.) If your assignment is not turned in by the exact time as well as day that it is due, it is LATE. If you skip class to work on an assignment and e-mail it to us during class or hand it in at the end of class, it is late. If you turn it in later than the start of the very next class day, it is “two class days late,” and will be lowered two grades’ worth of credit, and so on. For field assignment 3, papers received after the start of lecture, Nov. 30, count as late and will be lowered a grade. Every two days they will go down another grade. If you miss the final exam, you get a zero for the exam. There will not be exceptions.

•There will not be extensions on due dates for field assignments. Observing people in everyday life requires flexibility and time. Late field assignments really hurt your chances of doing well in the field research part of our course. They do not get better by being later; if anything the opposite is true. If you are having trouble with field research even after reading handouts and attending carefully to discussions, talk to your T.A. or professor.

•Your TA will give you a schedule for discussion your projects in section. Once set, you may not change your discussion day unless you (not us, you) have arranged a switch with another student. If you miss your day to discuss your project and do not arrange a switch with another student, you lose the opportunity to get valuable help with your project! You also hurt your fellow students, who will have prepared to discuss your project and will have wasted their time. Please be respectful and help make this a fascinating, not frustrating, part of our course.

Plagiarism: The policy is simple. Plagiarism is theft. It is absolutely against university as well as class policy. We are very strict about plagiarism. It is punishable with penalties including expulsion from the university. It also is unfair to your fellow students and cheapens university life. It is easy to recognize copied material and we will use the Turnitin program to help us.

We follow the professional academic standard: If you copy a phrase or sentence from ANY source, you must put the phrase or sentence in quotation marks, and cite your source. If you closely paraphrase anything, even if not a word-for-word copy, you must cite your source. If you use secondary sources not assigned in this class (books or articles from library for instance) you must give each of your sources credit, with a footnote that makes it clear exactly which ideas you have quoted or paraphrased from the source. Often, Internet sources are unreliable, sometimes laughable. You already know not to lower yourself to stolen or shoddy information; stick with your ethical intuition and your own good ideas.

Schedule

R marks reading in the course reader

B marks reading or website access available on Blackboard

F marks reading with concepts you can try applying to your field project if appropriate

Week 1

Aug. 22 Introduction to course: What is grassroots participation and why

care about it?

Understand the course requirements, decide whether or not this course is

for you.

Aug. 24 read in time for today: R Amy Gutmann, “Freedom of Association: An

Introductory Essay,” pp. 3-7 and 23-32 only.

Week 2

Aug. 29 A classic theory of grassroots participation: Alexis de Tocqueville’s

Democracy in America and introduction to field research

read in time for today the following selections from Tocqueville

(roughly 43 pages total), and please bring the book to class with you.

"Author's Introduction,” (9-12),

Vol. 1, Part II, Ch. 7, “The Omnipotence of the Majority” and 8, “What Tempers the Tyranny of the Majority” (246-256, 259-270 [skip 257-259])

Vol. 2, Part I: Ch. 2, “Principal Source of Beliefs Among Democratic

Peoples” (434-436)

Vol. 2, Part II: Chapter 2, “Of Individualism in Democracies” (506-508) Ch. 14, “How…the Taste for Physical Pleasure is Combined With Love of Freedom and Attention to Public Affairs” (539-541); Ch. 20, “How an

Aristocracy May Be Created by Industry” (555-560)

continued next page

R=course reader; B=on Blackboard; F= can apply to field project if appropriate

Vol. 2, Part III:

Ch. 15, “On the Gravity of the Americans…” (609-611)

Vol. 2, Part IV:

Ch. 6, “What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear” (690-695)

Aug. 31 Tocqueville on conditions for democracy; field research, continued

read in time for today the following selections from Tocqueville

(roughly 28 pages total), and please bring the book to class with you.

Vol. 1, Part II: Ch. 4, “Political Association in the US” (189-195)

Ch. 6, “Public Spirit in the US, “ (235-237), “Activity Prevailing in

All Parts of the Body Politic…” (241-245)

Ch. 9, “The Main Causes Tending to Maintain a Democratic

Republic” (286-287, 301-315) AND

B Photocopied packet of information on how to begin field work and take

fieldnotes

Week 3

Sept. 5 Labor Day, no class

Sept. 7 Tocqueville on associations r

read in time for today the following selections from Tocqueville

(roughly 23 pages total), and please bring the book to class with you.

Vol. 2, Part II: Ch. 4, “How the Americans Combat the Effects of Individualism by Free Institutions;” Ch. 5, “On the Use…of

Associations;” Ch. 6, “On the Connection Between Associations and

Newspapers;” Ch. 7. Relationships Between Civil and Political Associations;” (509-524)

Ch. 8, “How the Americans Combat Individualism by the Doctrine

of Self-Interest Properly Understood (525-528); Ch. 18, “Why

Americans Consider All Honest Callings Honorable” (550-551)

Vol. 2, Part III: Ch. 1, “Mores Become More Gentle…” (561-564)

You need to have contacted potential field sites by Sept 7, class time. We will ask you in lecture and discussion section about this. We will help if you have sincerely tried. If you have not seriously tried contacting (realistic) potential field sites, you should drop the course now.

R=course reader; B=on Blackboard; F= can apply to project if appropriate

Week 4

Sept. 12 A comparative view: applying Tocqueville’s ideas to inter-war

Germany

read in time for today: R Sheri Berman, “Civil Society and the collapse of

the Weimar Republic.” World Politics 49(3):401-429, 1997.

Sept. 14 What’s so great about civic associations today? Three viewpoints read in time for today:

R F Robert Putnam, “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital,” Journal of Democracy 6: 65-78 (1995).

R F Michael Foley and Bob Edwards, “Escape from Politics? Social Theory and the Social Capital Debate,” The American Behavioral Scientist 40:550-561 (March-April 1997).

R F Berger, Peter, and Richard Neuhaus, selections from

To Empower People: From State to Civil Society (AEI Press, 1977).

Week 5

Sept. 19 “Volunteering”: a recent invention

read in time for today: R F Wuthnow, “The Changing Meanings of

Involvement,” pp. 31-57 in Loose Connections (Harvard U Press, 1998).

Sept. 21 Volunteering in a loosely connected society

read in time for today: B F Wuthnow, “Porous Institutions,” pp. 58-82 in

Loose Connections.

Field assignment 1 due by the start of class, 2:00pm, September 21

.

Week 6

Sept. 26 Comparative perspectives on volunteering

read in time for today: R Agnes Camus-Vigué, “Community and civic

culture: the Rotary Club in France and the United States,” in M. Lamont

and L. Thévenot, Rethinking Comparative Cultural Sociology. (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000).

Sept. 28 Comparative perspectives on volunteering, continued, and review

R Martin Kaiser, “Volunteering as a Topic of Intercultural Learning. Experiences from German-American Exchange Programs.” Pp. 203-212

in A. Liedhegener and W. Kremp, Civil Society, Civic Engagement and

Catholicism in the U.S. (Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2007).

Week 7

Oct. 3 MIDTERM 1 in class

R=course reader; B=on Blackboard; F= can apply to project if appropriate

Oct. 5 What are social movements and why do people join them?

read in time for today: F McAdam, Freedom Summer, pp. 3-66.

Week 8

Oct. 10 How social movements define social problems

read in time for today:

R F Joel Best, “Typification and Social Problems Construction,” pp. 3-10

in Images of Issues (Aldine de Gruyter, 1995).

R F D. Snow and R. Benford, “Ideology, Frame Resonance and

Participant Mobilization,” in International Social Movement Research,

Vol 1, pp. 198-207 only (listen up for extra explanation in class).

B The Port Huron Statement of the Students for a

Democratic Society, 1962, excerpts, website access

B World Social Forum website access: “What the WSF is” and “Charter

of Principles (2002)”

Oct. 12 How social movements change “participation” itself; how movement

participation changes individual lives

read in time for today: F McAdam, Freedom Summer, 77-101, 126-145, 186-198, 208-228.

Week 9

Oct. 17 Social movements and styles of participation today

read in time for today:

R F J. Juris and G. Pleyers, “Alter-activism: emerging cultures of

participation among young global justice activists.” Journal of Youth

Studies Vol 12 (2009), read pp. 57 to top of p. 59, then pp. 62-73.

R F Paul Lichterman, “Crying Out: Social Critics,” Pp. 99-122 only

of Elusive Togetherness. Princeton: Princeton University Pres, 2005.

Oct. 19 What does community organizing do, and how?

read in time for today: F Wood, Faith in Action, pp. 1-17, 23-49.

Week 10

Oct 24 Comparing race and religion as ways of organizing communities

read in time for today: F Wood, Faith in Action, pp. 89-105, 111-116,

119-123; 125-151.

R=course reader; B=on Blackboard; F= can apply to project if appropriate

Oct 26 Religion and race as sources of power in community organizing:

which wins more and why?

read in time for today: F Wood, Faith in Action, 171-182, 197-217.

Field assignment 2 due by the start of class, 2:00pm, October 26

Week 11

Oct. 31 MIDTERM 2 in class.

Nov. 2 Combining approaches: changing housing policy with social

movement activism and community organizing

read in time for today: B Jan Breidenbach, “LA Story: The Coalition That

Made a $100 Million Trust Fund Happen,” Shelterforce (2002).

Week 12

Nov. 7 Non-profit organizations: sponsored, paid participation

read in time for today: R F excerpts from Smith and Lipsky,

Nonprofits for Hire, pp. 20-26; 111-116; 191-200.

Nov. 9 Non-profit organizations and government: relying on the state, pressuring the state

read in time for today: R F S. Smith, “Government and Nonprofits in the

Modern Age: Is Independence Possible?” pp. 3-18 in Frumkin and Imber,

eds., In Search of the Nonprofit Sector (Transaction, 2004).

Week 13

Nov. 14 Non-profit organizations: practical change or buying out idealism?

read in time for today:

R F Paul Kivel, “Social Service or Social Change?”Pp. 129-149

in INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, editors, The Revolution

Will Not Be Funded (South End Press, 2007).

Nov. 16 Non-profit organizations in comparative perspective: addressing

homelessness in Paris and Los Angeles

read in time for today:

B “Homeless Families,” pp. 83-109 in Irene Glasser, Homelessness in

Global Perspective (G.K. Hall, 1994).

(read the Glasser chapter mainly for terminology and as an introduction to

homelessness as a worldwide problem.)

B material on Samusocial International, website access

B material on PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), website access

R=course reader; B=on Blackboard; F= can apply to project if appropriate

Week 14

Nov. 21 You decide: Are some kinds of participation better than others?

read for today: R F M. Schudson, “Varieties of Civic Participation, pp. 23-47 in P. Lichterman and C.B. Potts, The Civic Life of American

Religion, (Stanford U Press, 2009).

Nov. 23 Thanksgiving recess, no class

Week 15

Nov. 28 Is face-to-face participation so great after all? An argument

read in time for today: F Debra Minkoff, “Producing Social Capital: National Social Movements and Civil Society,” The American Behavioral Scientist 40:606-619.

Nov. 30 Conclude our course with new questions

review material you have found difficult or puzzling and come prepared to

ask questions

Field assignment 3 due by the start of class, 2:00pm. Nov. 30

FINAL EXAM: Friday, December 9, 2-4 p.m.

How to begin and carry out field work on associations in Los Angeles

Many thanks to Professor Nina Eliasoph, who developed these highly sensible guidelines.

**You need to find a group, organization, coalition, or project that has ongoing meetings or events. In other words, do not try to do your field assignments on a one-time event or conference or festival, or a succession of one-time events. The point is to get a sense of how a group of citizens talk and act together over time by observing the group several times.

**You will be attending a group as a typical participant, and should act like one. You will enter an organization as a typical member, do tasks that typical members do, and try hard not to stick out or disrupt the organization’s normal process.

How to get started

• If going around the city of Los Angeles seems intimidating, feel free to make an on-campus organization into your field site, but beware that it is much harder to get a useful, reflective distance on people (students) who are so close to you in so many ways. On-campus groups may be harder for you to study, not easier, because a lot will seem obvious and uninteresting.

• We (the TA and professor) will offer suggestions for field sites, on and off-campus, but it is your responsibility to find a site; we cannot simply find one for you.

• If you already have a site you want to study (an organization in which you already participate, for example), please run your idea past the professor and the TA first.

• For some possibilities for on-campus research sites, go to .

• You can learn about grassroots activist groups in small, local weekly or monthly newspapers that cover them and report events of interest to them.

Asking permission to study a group, organization, network, collection of people

Whoever you study, you need to ask permission first. It is best to phone or e-mail before a meeting of the group, organization, etc. that you hope to study, and introduce yourself briefly and simply. Almost no one wants to read long notes or hear a long run-down on why you need to write a paper. Simply say you are a USC student learning about citizen participation in Los Angeles. There are many different kinds of participation and you find this group interesting. All of this should be true, or else you should find another group for which this introduction would be true about you. Then ask if you may observe three meetings or events for a course paper. Very few people say “no.”

I assume you have no plans to publish your course paper; it is an educational exercise for a course. In the unlikely event that you really do hope to publish this paper, other rules apply and you should talk to the professor first.

How to act while observing your group

• It is very important not to disrupt the organization you study, for three reasons: one is that if you disrupt it, you are not observing what it would do without your presence. The second is a simple matter of grace and politeness. Third, it would give USC a bad name. It is also important to stay safe, of course.

• Do not talk too much—try to talk less than other members do.

• DO do something helpful for your group. For example, if the group is handing out leaflets, you should offer to help. If you are studying an organization with which you disagree (on one side of a political controversy), this might cause you moral problems. For example, a sociologist in the 1970’s started to study a racist organization, to learn about how people become racists and stay racist, but she gave it up as soon as she realized that she was doing a lot of work raising funds on behalf of this organization!

• You have probably never been told, “don’t be a leader; be a follower,” but in this case, being a follower is, indeed, the best approach.

• Do not argue with the group’s basic premises (for example, if you are studying a religious organization, do not argue about its form of prayer). However, acting naïve is often a good way to get people to explain activities that seem “obvious” and “common sense” to them, but might be fascinatingly strange to you; you WILL be naïve about some things and that’s the best place to start learning

• Do not waste other members’ time with arguments, or make members repeat things that are obvious to them.

• Be safe. We assume you are mature, but some pointers include: Do not walk around in unfamiliar places at night; avoid big empty parking lots and parking structures. “Well-lit” does not necessarily equal “safe,” but can provide a false sense of security. If something feels creepy, just leave right away (and write about it in your fieldnotes!). Metro busses and subway stations are generally very safe, but getting to them might not be. Know your route before you go (if you are taking public transportation, try trip planner or look at a map).

After your observations in the group setting

• Take your fieldnotes in an inconspicuous place, or immediately upon getting home, or right after a good night’s sleep (studies show that memory/ability to recall conversations and actions degrades rapidly, except when one is sleeping, when one’s memory stays on hold).

• Do not gossip about or criticize other members. Avoid getting embroiled in any disputes or animosities between group members; stay friendly and neutral, if possible. In some cases, there is a big conflict in an organization. In that case, people will try to make you take sides, and you will either have to dodge the conflict or leave.

A few ideas, in no particular order, for groups you might consider researching

• AIDS Project Los Angeles (contact person: Jim Williams, 213.201.1379, at )

• Korean Immigrant Workers Association (3465 West 8th Street, LA – about a fifteen minute bus ride straight north of campus) Rebeca Ronquillo, Tel: 213-738-9050 x104)

• The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (contact person: Lulu Amadore, 213-977-7500 x217).

• Amnesty International (contact person is Keith McAleer, mcaleerkj@, (310)441-1712, but meetings are quite far—near UCLA).

• League of Women Voters: Students might observe and/or participate in these kinds of activities: First Tuesdays of the month, Board and committee meetings are held in the office; some days there are volunteer activities scheduled irregularly.

• You might observe a local chapter of a Democratic or Republican Party, or Green Party, or any other party or activist group, as long as it is not dangerous or violent, or city council meetings in which “the public” participate. You may study any Los Angeles Neighborhood Association () (the closest one to USC is NANDC; check it out online. These are all-volunteer organizations; this one meets twice monthly: See for more info)

• You will find a listing of many Los Angeles grassroots political organizations’ meetings in the little newspaper Change~Links, which can be found in cafés around town. See also it’s website:

• You could find an after-school program that has meetings for staff, parents, and/or volunteers.

You can study organizations ranging from The Red Cross, to an animal shelter to a religious charity, to a union. One easy, common possibility is a religious organization that sponsors volunteer projects or discussion groups about social issues; they exist all over the city.

A COURSE HANDOUT WILL DESCRIBE HOW TO LISTEN IN YOUR FIELD SITE AND HOW TO WRITE FIELDNOTES. Await this handout and make sure you have it before you begin field observations.

LECTURES WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW TO CODE FIELDNOTES IN ORDER TO DO THE FIELD ASSIGNMENTS.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download