SYP4730: SOCIOLOGY OF AGING AND THE LIFE COURSE
Fall 2010
Class: Tuesdays
11:45 a.m-1:40 p.m. and Thursdays 12:50-1:40 p.m. in CSE E221
Instructor: Monika Ardelt,
Ph.D.
Office: 3350
Turlington
Phone: 392-0265 ext.
247
E-mail: Ardelt@ufl.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays and
Thursdays 1:45-2:45 p.m. and by appointment
WWW: http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/ardelt/
Info
about the undergraduate sociology program on the Internet: http://soccrim.clas.ufl.edu/sociology/undergraduate/index.html
Course
Content
How and why do we age? Is old age necessarily
a period of decline? What are the benefits of old age? Why is it important to
study aging? How is individual aging related to the structure of society? What
are the problems of an aging society? These and other questions are the topic
of this course. We will examine aging from the perspectives of sociology, psychology,
social demography, history, biology, the medical sciences, and economics. In
particular, we will start by studying aging from a developmental or life course
perspective. Then we will discuss health care for the elderly and issues of
death and dying. We will end the course with a social and economic outlook for
an aging society.
Required
Reading
Moody, Harry R.
2010. Aging. Concepts and Controversies. 6th Edition.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge. See also the Online Appendix available through
the publisher’s Web site at www.pineforge.com/moody6study that includes self-quizzes, e-flashcards, additional
readings, and web resources and activities.
Course packet
(abbreviated as “CP” in the reading list) available at Target Copy (1412 West
University Avenue right next to Chipoltle Resturant).
Recommended
Reading
Ram Dass. 2001.
Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying. New York: Riverhead Books.
Maimon, Elaine P.,
Janice H. Peritz, and Kathleen Blake Yancey. 2007. A Writer’s Resource. A
Handbook for Writing and Research. 2nd Edition. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Requirements
Readings and Class Participation: An interaction between students and
instructor will be the basis of most classes. Hence, it is absolutely essential
that you read the assigned material in advance so that you are able to
participate in class discussions.
For each of the ten controversies that we will discuss in class, you
will prepare one or more questions on the issue at hand and write down possible
answers to those questions or issues that should be considered when attempting
to debate the controversy. On the day when the particular controversy is
discussed in class, you are encouraged to ask your question(s) to stimulate
class discussions. You will receive 1
point per Q & A if you write at least 300 words that were not copied
directly from the Moody book or course packet. Answers that only repeat what
can be found in the course packet or the Moody book will not count.
Q & A entries for each controversy should be submitted via e-Learning
in Sakai after the file has been saved either
as a Word document (*.doc or *.docx) or as a rich text format (*.rtf) file. I will not be able to download,
read, and grade any other file format. The deadline for submission is before class on the day the respective Q
& A submission is due. For general
information about e-Learning
in Sakai visit https://lss.at.ufl.edu/sakai-training/student_index.shtml.
To submit your MS Word file or *.rtf file in e-Learning, go to the
University of Florida e-Learning Support Services home page at <http://lss.at.ufl.edu/>
(bookmark this page). To sign into e-Learning in
Sakai, click on the “Continue” link under “Sakai System Entry” using your assigned
Gatorlink username and password. If you do not have a Gatorlink
ID or if you cannot remember your Gatorlink login information, go to the
Gatorlink website at <http://gatorlink.ufl.edu> or to the CIRCA Help Desk in the Hub
(phone: 392-HELP) for assistance.
After you have successfully logged into e-Learning, you will be taken to your My Workspace, where you can
access the sites you own and/or the sites you belong to. The “?” icon
set to the right side of each title bar will bring up a help file associated
with that window. Note: You can also access the Help tool in the
left tool bar of each site. For further assistance please contact e-Learning Support Services at
(352) 392-4357 select option 2 or email: learning-support@ufl.edu
To submit a Q & A entry via e-Learning, navigate to our course and click on Assignments in the
menubar. Assignments are displayed in the order they are due. Do the following
to submit a Q & A entry:
Step 1: Click the Q
& A entry you want to submit.
Step 2: Follow the directions.
Step 3: To add an attachment, click the Add Attachments button. Browse
for a Local File and click Continue.
Step 4: Click Submit when you are done. Once you have submitted the
assignment, you can view it later, but you cannot modify it.
NOTE: Please click the Honor
Pledge checkbox stating that you have not received outside help with the Q & A entry
before submitting the assignment.
To view your grades, click on Gradebook
in the menubar.
Attendance:
Attendance of class is required because non-attendance by several students at a
time will destroy the dynamic of the class. If
you attend class regularly (i.e., not more than 3 absences – for all or part of
a class), you will be rewarded with 1 extra credit point that will be added to
your grade at the end of the term!
Debate
Teams: At the beginning of
the semester, I will divide the class into debate teams. Each debate team will
be responsible for presenting relevant material and leading the class
discussion on one of the controversies introduced in the Moody book. The debate
team will conduct one class session (50 minutes) on the controversy. The team
will research the issue at hand further by including material into the debate
that is not already published in the Moody book. Each member of the team will
contribute at least one additional empirical or theoretical aspect to the
debate. The particular format of the class session is open but it is required
that all members of the debate team actively participate, that they introduce
several aspects of the controversy, and that they involve the rest of the class
in the discussion. Grading will be based on the quality of the actual class
session and the quality of the material used to prepare for the debate,
including the bibliography.
Interview Project: As a class project, you will conduct and
analyze 30-minute qualitative interviews with two older adults, age 55 or above, every week for a total of 8
weeks over the course of the semester. Preferably, you should interview one of
your older relatives and one nursing home or assisted
living facility resident. Those interviews and analyses can be used as the
basis of an optional individual or
group term paper for extra credit
that is due on November 30th after class. The term paper should be
8-10 pages long for an individual paper and 15-25 pages long for a group term
paper (double spaced). Detailed instructions for the interview project and the
term paper can be found in the course packet. We will talk about the interview
project during the section on “Techniques for qualitative
interviewing” and about the term paper during the week after the 2nd
exam.
Cheating: I define copying parts or all of an author’s
or another student’s work, allowing another student to copy parts or all of
your work, or simply duplicating parts or all of your interview or analysis
notes as cheating.
WARNING: Students who are caught cheating in this way will fail the
class immediately!
Exams: There will be 3 exams. The first two exams
will be on September 30th and November 4th. The third
exam will be during Final Exam Week on December 16th between 3 p.m.
and 5 p.m. All exams will consist of multiple choice questions. The exams will
be based on the readings and material from class, including class discussions.
The exams will not be comprehensive, i.e., they will cover only material
presented in class or in the readings that were not covered by the previous
exam(s).
I do not plan to give any make-up exams. If you should encounter or
anticipate any difficulties, please come and see me early!
Accommodations
for Students with Disabilities:
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean
of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to
the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when
requesting accommodation.
Note: This section is NOT a Writing Requirement
section for the 24,000 word writing requirement.
Grading
|
OPTION
1 |
OPTION
2 |
||
|
Requirements Questions for debates Debate team Interview project Three exams Term paper |
% of Final Grade 10% 20% 20% 33% 17% |
Requirements Questions for debates Debate team Interview project Three exams |
% of Final Grade 10% 20% 20% 50% |
Your grade will be
calculated according to the formula of either Option 1 or Option 2, whichever
results in a higher grade for you.
Plus, you can earn
1 extra credit point that will be added to your final grade points if you did not miss all or part
of class more than three times during the semester!
I will not grade on a curve, i.e. your grade
will depend on your absolute performance, not your performance compared to
other students.
The points that you will earn can be translated into letter-grades as
follows:
|
92.5 - 100.0 = A 90.0 - <92.5 = A- 87.5 - <90.0 = B+ 82.5 - <87.5 = B 80.0 - <82.5 = B- 77.5 - <80.0 = C+ |
72.5 - <77.5 =
C 70.0 - <72.5 =
C- 67.5 - <70.0 =
D+ 62.5 - <67.5 =
D 60.0 - <62.5 =
D- <60.0 = E |
For information on current UF grading policies for assigning grade
points, see http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html.
Three Tips for Staying
Awake in Class (and make class more interesting to you):
1.
Ask questions.
2.
If you feel
yourself falling asleep, ask provocative questions. Challenge your professor.
3. Read the assigned material before class to do #1 and #2.
|
Tentative
Class Schedule |
||
|
Date |
Topic |
Readings |
|
08/24 –
8/26 |
Differences
between individual and population aging. http://www.agingstats.gov/Agingstatsdotnet/Main_Site/Data/2008_Documents/Population.aspx Theories
of aging |
Pp.
xxi-xxix Pp. 7-11 |
|
08/31 –
09/02 |
Pp. 1-7 & 11-26 |
|
|
09/07 |
Volunteer orientation and techniques for qualitative
interviewing. |
CP: Qualitative Interviewing |
|
09/07 – 09/14 |
Controversy 1: Does old age have meaning? |
Pp. 27-51 |
|
09/16 – 09/21 |
Controversy 3: Does intellectual functioning decline
with age? |
Pp. 93-128 |
|
09/23 – 09/28 |
Controversy 2: Is
biological aging inevitable? |
Pp. 53-91 |
|
9/30 |
First exam: A life course perspective
on aging. |
Pp. xxi-xxix and 1-128 |
|
10/05 – 10/07 |
Aging, health care, and society http://www.agingstats.gov/Agingstatsdotnet/Main_Site/Data/2008_Documents/Health_Care.asp |
Pp. 129-161 |
|
10/12 – 10/14 |
Controversy 4: Should we ration health care for
older people? |
Pp. 163-193; CP: Callahan vs.
Cassel, 2003; Kaufman et al., 2004 |
|
Controversy 5: Should families provide for their
own? |
Pp. 195-228; CP: Kalb and Juarez, 2005 |
|
|
10/26 |
Controversy 6: Should older people be protected from
bad choices? |
Pp. 229-256 |
|
10/28 – 11/02 |
Controversy 7: Should people have the choice to end
their lives? |
Pp. 257-286 |
|
11/04 |
Second exam: Aging, health care, and
society |
Pp. 129-286 |
|
11/09 |
Discussion of term paper. |
Pp. 287-317 |
|
11/16 – 11/18 |
Controversy 8: Should age
rather than need be the basis for entitlement? |
Pp. 319-356 |
|
Controversy 9: Should
social security be privatized? |
Pp. 357-390 |
|
|
11/30 |
All sets of interview notes and
(optional) term paper due! |
|
|
12/02 – 12/07 |
Controversy 10: Is retirement
obsolete? |
Pp. 391-428 |
|
12/16 |
Third exam (3-5 p.m.): |
Pp. 287-428 |
Note:
All page numbers refer to Moody, Harry R. 2010. Aging. Concepts and
Controversies. 6th Edition.