Professor Leland Saito
Office: KAP 338B. 740-3604.
Office hours: Tuesdays 450-530pm, Thursdays 300-330pm. Other times available by appointment.Please feel free to drop by during office hours, but if possible, email beforehand so that I can schedule student visits.
Teaching Assistant: Jazmin Muro
SOCI 142: DIVERSITY AND RACIAL CONFLICT Fall Semester 2012 KAP 144
(changes may occur if circumstances warrant them)
Course Description
This course examines the importance of race in relation to major political, economic, gender, social, and economic issues in the United States with an emphasis oncontemporary Southern California. This is not a history course on Southern California. Instead, we use the region as a way to examine issues. Throughout the course, theories will be introduced that are used in the social sciences to study the development of urban regions and how power works (urban ecology and political economy),race (assimilation and the social construction of race), and inequality (pluralism and the power elite). Through the theories introduced in this course, we will analyze topics such as economic redevelopment, environmental racism, income inequality, the working poor, and politics.
A major focus of this course is to analyze systemic forms of power, that is, to understand the ways in which our society’s institutions shape our economic, political, and social relations. Using race, we examine the ways in which race is defined, given meaning, and has important consequences through systemic processes. Race is not important simply because of the attitudes and actions of individuals, but because of the combination of systemic processes and individual actions that give race significance.
One of the key goals of this course is to equip students --through course readings, writing assignments, in-depth section discussions, and examinations -- with a working knowledge of a range of contrasting theories that they will learn to critically and systematically apply in the process of evaluating a range of issues in the United States.
Course Requirements(To pass this course, all course requirements must be satisfactorily completed.)
section 25% of grade
midterm exam (Thursday October 18) 25% of grade
research paper
preliminary outline duein section October 3
final version due in lecture Tuesday November 20
due 1:30pm - uploaded on Turnitin
due 3:330pm - hardcopy in lecture 25% of grade
final exam (Tuesday December 18, 2-4pm) 25% of grade
Required Texts
Bonacich and Appelbaum. 2000. Behind the Label: Inequality in theLos Angeles Apparel Industry
Saito. 2009. The Politics of Exclusion: The Failure of Race-Neutral Policies in Urban America
Pardo.1998. Mexican American Women Activists: Identity and Resistance in Two Los Angeles Communities
Course Reader is online on Blackboard
Research Paper
OUTLINEdue October 3 in section. 2 pagesmaximum, double-spaced;at least 5 references.
The outlinewill summarize your topic, competing theories/explanations, and how you are going to construct your argument.
Final paper due Tuesday November 20. 6-8 pages (double-spaced, not counting page(s) with references), minimum of 8 academic references(academic journals and/or books).
Due1:30pm -uploaded onTurnitin.
Dueat 3:330pm -hardcopy beginning oflecture.
Your paper will not be considered complete until both a hard copy is received and your paper is uploaded on Turnitin.
Critically examine one of the issues presented in this course (or, discuss an alternative topic with Jazmin Muro) by examining TWO CONTRASTINGexplanations for an issue and discuss why you believe one explanation -- or a combination of the explanations -- is best supported by the evidence. A discussion of how race relates to your topic is required.
OUTLINE FOR PAPER1) Introduction. Briefly explain what the topic is and why it is important. 2)Review of the literatureand discussion. Explain the major competing theories/explanations and controversies surrounding the topic. Describe the major research findings/data on the topic. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the different theories/explanations in terms of the data you presented. Explain why you believe that one theory offers a better explanation of the issue than the other theories/explanations. Or, explain how each theory offers a partial explanation and how parts of the theories can be combined to provide a better explanation than one theory alone.
3)Conclusion. Implications or significance of your research. 4)References. Minimum of 8sources from academic journals and books should be cited within the body of your paper and listed at the end of your paper. Up to three course readings can count as part of the sources. Information from newspapers, news magazines, websites, and other sources, can be cited in your paper but DO NOT count as part of the academic (minimum 8) sources. Use any standard citation format unless Jazmin Muro directs you to use a particular style.
Americans with Disabilities Act
This course is offered in full compliance with the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with the Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations must be obtained from DSP. Please be sure that the letter is delivered to the professor and teaching assistant within the first two weeks of the semester. DSP location and phone number: STU 301, 213 740-0776. Email:
Class Schedule and Readings
Week 1: Course Introduction; Class and Power
Ritzer et al., Basic Characteristics of a Stratified Society
Kornhauser, Power Elite or Veto Groups?
Week 2:Urban Space and Power: Urban Ecology and Political Economy,Urban Renewal
Palen, Structure and Organization of American Cities
Feagin, Building American Cities
Levy, Contemporary Urban Planning
Hines, Housing, Baseball, and Creeping Socialism
Week 3:Race and Public Policies: Development and Historic Preservation
Saito, The Politics of Exclusion, Chapters 1, 2, 3
Week 4: Universities and Development: The University of Southern California
(Columbia University)
Williams, In West Harlem Land Dispute, It’s Columbia vs. Residents
Williams, Harlem Area Is Blighted, State Agency Declares
Bagli, Court Upholds Columbia Campus Expansion Plan
(USC)
Roseman et al., A University and a Neighborhood USC
Redevelopment Plan. Hoover Redevelopment Project
USC 1966 Master Plan
The Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles
EIR II. Project Description
Time Princeton Review 1999
Media Advisory
Unidad July 24
Unidad Press Conference
Saillant, LA Panel Puts Hold on USC Plan
Week 5: Race and Poverty
Lewis, The Culture of Poverty
Ryan, The Art of Savage Discovery-How to Blame the Victim
Bonilla-Silva, The Central Frames of Color-Blind Racism Race,
Week 6: WalMart, Preliminary paper outline due in section October 3
Gereffi and Christian, The Impacts of Wal-Mart
Freeman, Wal-Mart Supercenters
Dube and Jacobs, Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs
Saillant, In Panorama City, a Wal-Mart's not so unwelcome
Zahniser, Wal-Mart plans to open grocery store in L.A.'s Chinatown
Bloomekatz, Thousands rally against Wal-Mart in Chinatown
Newton, A Proposed Wal-Mart Grocery Store
Week 7:Whiteness, Economic Development, and Community Politics
Rodriguez and Cordero-Guzman, Placing Race in Context
Lipsitz, Possessive Investment in Whiteness
Saito, Race and Politics Chapter 2
Week 8:MidtermTHURSDAY October 18, 2012
Whiteness, Economic Development, and Community Politics, continued
Week 9:The Global Economy and the Working Poor
Bonacich and Appelbaum, Behind the Label, Chapters Introduction, 1, 2, 3
Week 10: The Global Economy and the Working Poor, continued
Bonacich and Appelbaum, Behind the Label, Chapter 5, 6, 8, 9
Week 11:Race and Public Policies: Redistricting
Gordon, Assimilation
Schlesinger, The Disuniting of America
Saito, The Politics of Exclusion, Chapter 6
Week 12:Redistricting, continued.Gender, Race, Class and Grassroots Mobilization
Saito, The Politics of Exclusion, Chapters 4, 7
Pardo, Mexican American Women Activists,Chapter 9 (pp. 226-240)
Week 13: Final papersDue: Uploaded on Turnitin by 1:30pm,
Hardcopy Due in Lecture 330pm
Grassroots Mobilization andEnvironmental Racism
Pardo, Mexican American Women Activists, Chapter 1
Russell, Environmental Racism
Week 14:Grassroots Mobilization andEnvironmental Racism, continued
Pulido, Rethinking Environmental Racism
Pardo, Mexican American Women Activists,Chapters 2,3
Week 15:Grassroots Mobilization, continued
Pardo, Mexican American Women Activists,Chapters 5, 7
(8/28/07 this syllabus is available on BLACKBOARD)
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