Instructor: Jeanne Curran, Ph.D., Esq.
Course: Soc. 395-04: The Sociology of "Knowingness"
Office: SBS-B326
Telephone: 310-243-3831
Office Hours: TWTh 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.; evenings, before and after class
Teaching and Research Associate: Patricia Acone, A.B.T.

Course Description:

Course focuses on how we know, if we know, whether we need to know, and how we communicate what we feel we know about these issues to each other. We will deal particularly with "knowingness," Jonathan Lear's term for our need "to know the answer, to avoid ambiguity, to be certain." We are just beginning to recognize the extent to which objectivism and rationalism prejudiced our ways of seeing and knowing, and led us to believe that we coud be certain of more than we really could. Actually, while the academy focused more and more on the rational, positivistic perspective of knowledge, the world changed into one that focused more and more on the new approaches afforded by technology.

The texts I chose are anthologies by artists about their involvement in these issues. Nineteenth Century French poetry speaks of the poet as the pilot that guides the ship of the world. I know some poets I'd rather not give that role. But in 2003, we really are offering that role to some of our actors and even a porn star or two. So we're going to look at art as having a role in the expression of our ideology and our prespective of how our world is run and how it ought to be run. Although Shirley White speaks mostly to video, we will focus primarily on transforming and empowering potential learners, in formal school and beyond, in substantive discussions of real issues.

Texts:

Required Texts:

Shirley A. White, editor.Participatory Video: Images that Transform and Empower. Sage Publications. 2003. ISBN: 0761997636 (pbk)

• Linda Frye Burnham and Steven Durland, editors. The Citizen Artist: An Anthology from High Performance Magazine, 1978- 1998. The Critical Press. 1998. ISBN: 1883831-10-5

  Recommended Texts:

• Greg M. Nielsen. The Norms of Answerability: Social Theory Between Bakhtin and Habermas. State University of New York Press. 2002. ISBN: 0-7914-5228-X (pbk). $21.95 new on Amazon.com on August 8, 2003. On order through college bookstore. this text develops the concept of answerability, on which we will base much of our discussion. There are some summaries available on the site. But, if you are Penelope the Duck, who is never comfortable without a book under her wing, perhaps you should get it.

• Maria Pia Lara. Moral Textures: Feminist Narratives in the Public Sphere. University of California Press. 1998. ISBN: 0-520-21777-2 (pbk). $21.95 new on Amazon.com on August 8, 2003. On order through college bookstore. This text develops the concept of illocutionary force, on which we will also base much of our discussion. There are some summaries available on the site. If you are Penelope the Duck, who is never comfortable without a book under her wing, perhaps you should get it.

• Ann Raimes. Universal Keys for Writers. Houghton Mifflin. 2004. Reference book. Contains sample writings and corrections. Gives detailed advice and samples. Well done. Easy to find stuff. Expensive. Susan said $54 on Amazon.com. Get it only as a reference book. But it looks good as a reference book. Those of you who plan to continue in formal education should consider it. Term papers and theses and dissertations. Remember?

Course Objectives:

1. Objective: To develop a sense of "knowingness," of our need to know a "right" answer, to know what is "true," and to be certain of our knowledge.To recognize the extent to which this has been inculcated in us in our Western culture.

   Outcomes: Students will participate in class discussions on knowledge and its complexity. Students will also choose from these discussion topics for written discussion on the topic of "knowingness" that will enhance their skills at translating oral thinking into written documents and serve as one measure of learning for this class. Academic Assessment

2. Objective: To understand that there are many kinds of intelligence, many kinds of knowledge, and that we acquire that knowledge in many different ways.

   Outcomes: Students will identify examples of non-traditional knowledge transmission from their texts on art and discuss the potential for such learning. Students will also choose from these discussion topics for written discussion of the potential for broader dissemination of learning through the media.

3. Objective: To understand the ways in which the aesthetic process of answerability enhances broader inclusion in learning and knowledge transmission.

   Outcomes:

4. Objective: To master the concept of monologic non-answerability that is typical of bureaucratization that relies on rules and customs and denies answerability on the part of client or student. Non-Answerability

   Outcomes: Students will participate in class discussions on monologic non-answerability and the extent to which its presence in an institution harms the climate of learning. Students will also choose from these discussions topics for written discussion that will enhance their skills at translating oral thinking into written documents and serve as one measure of learning for this class. Academic Assessment

5. Objective: To master Maria Pia Lara's definition of illocutionary force as a feminist contribution to balance Habermas' step away from aesthetics in his focus on rationality.

   Outcome: Students will participate in class discussions on the meaning and application of illocutionary force, comparing Maria Pia Lara's extension of Habermas and Nielsen's extension of Bakhtin. Students will also choose from these discussions topics for written discussion that will enhance their skills at translating oral thinking into written documents and serve as one measure of learning for this class. Academic Assessment

6. Objectives: Students will review classic, modern, and postmodern social theory from which the concepts of aesthetic process of answerability have emerged: Bakhtin, Habermas, Nielsen, Pia Lara, and others, discussing the contributions of many theorists to today's theoretical developments..

   Outcomes: Students will participate in class discussions on theoretical foundations for present re-interpratations of social theory that lend themselves to peace and social justice. Students may choose measures of learning from these discussions.

7. Objective: Students will apply theoretical discussions to examples within their own institutions and lifeworlds. Focus on conceptually linking social theory to current events and presonal narratives shared in face-to-face and Internet discussions.

   Outcomes: Class discussions, summaries of which will appear on the Internet, will provide myriad examples for applications. Students will choose an application of specific personal interest and prepare an approach to the application, either for understanding, or in some cases, making it better, using the theoretical tools on which we have focussed. Students may choose measures of learning from these applications.

8. Objective: Towards the end of the semester students will look back on their own class interactions as an example of the creative production of a forum through application of the tools of the aesthetic process of answerability and the understanding of illocutionary force. This evaluation of the class will be initiated in class and internet discussions.

   Outcomes: Students may choose this evaluative process as a measure of their learning in this class.

Academic Assessment:

• Academic Assessment and Grading Policy
• Minimal Requirements for Passing Grades in Soc328-01
• Here Be Dragons: The Plagiarism Gotcha Game The university requires inclusion of this component, so it might be a good idea to take a look at it. I stole the title "here be dragons" from a feminist work on the site, but it was more in the spirit of "stealing theory," which is a good thing.

Common Sense:

Permission to enroll in this course is premised on upper division status, rendering you capable of performing competently. However, I recognize that crises occur and that you have many conflicting demands as students, family members, and workers. Please remember that A's are earned, not given for the status characteristic of "being a good student who could get an A if he/she made the effort." One way to deal with such crises effectively is to be sure that I know when they are happening. Because most of my lectures and your practice are on the site, it's easier to make up missed time over conflicts than you might think.

Nota bene: If you have the flu, please don't come and give it to the rest of us. We'll help you catch up when you're well. I lost three weeks to flu a year ago. The bugs are getting stronger and more resistant to medication. If I lose three weeks during classes, you'll be left with a substitute.

If you haven't slept, and are falling asleep from exhaustion, please stay home and sleep. Sleep deprivation is a very real problem. We all drive freeways to get here, and go home often late at night. You can kill yourself and others that way. Please don't.

I do not give specific deadlines, because I want you to use your common sense and your own discipline to study effectively. All work can be made up within university imposed limits. Attendance Requirements:

That means we can go more deeply into the issues and spend more time in applying them to field experience. Because the class is scheduled for three hours on a Wednesday afternoon, and because almost no one can sit still for a lecture for that amount of time. I've attempted to break the class up into lecture, activity, lecture. I remind you that the university expects you to be present during class time, and that I do, too. Please resist the tendency to just not come back for the concluding discussion of the class activity. I reserve the right to switch to three hour lectures if I must.

Preparations Schedule for Sociology of Knowingness Soc 328-01

Reading and Discussion Preparations for Soc 328-01

Minimal Preparations for Textual Readings in Agencies
Week	Topic	Readings
Week 1	Answerability and Academic Assessment	Bolman and Deal, Introduction Academic Assessment
Week 2	Dialogic Answerability in Hierarchical Institutions	Bolman and Deal Chapters 1 and 2 and The Aesthetics of Answerability Lecture on Dialogic Answerability in Institutional Hierarchy
Week 3	Organizations from McDonald's to Harvard University	Bolman and Deal Chapters 3 and 4
Week 4	What Do Managers Really Do? And What Do Workers Really Do?	Bolman and Deal Chapter 5 and Mintzberg, The Manager's Job: Folklore or Fact
Week 5	Managers: Stewards and Enterpreneurs And How Do They Fit?	Bolman and Deal Chapters 6 and 7
Week 6	Interpersonal and Group Dynamics And Answerability	Bolman and Deal Chapter 8
Week 7	The Political Perspective Is There a Right or Left? Is There a God?	Bolman and Deal Chapters 9 and 10
Week 8	Organizations as Political Agents	Bolman and Deal Chapter 11
Week 9	Organizations as Ritual, Symbol, Theatre	Bolman and Deal Chapters 12, 13, and 14
Week 10	Integrating Perspectives	Bolman and Deal Chapter 15
Week 11	But What Can I Do?	Bolman and Deal Chapters 16 and 17
Week 12	Does Any of It Really Matter?	Bolman and Deal Chapters 18, 19, and 20
Week 13	Review, Revise, and Practice Answerability as a Moral and Illocutionary Force in Social Agencies	jeanne and Pat not available
Week 14	Presentations Answerability as a Moral and Illocutionary Force in Social Agencies	One day for presentations. Thanksgiving Break
Week 15	Presentations Answerability as a Moral and Illocutionary Force in Social Agencies	Two days for presentations.
Week 16	Exam Week