Sociology 398
Special Studies: Research on Race-Related Riots
Fall 1999
Flanner 725
M 5:00-7:00
Professor Dan Myers
Office: 735 Flanner Hall, 631-3839
e-mail: Myers.33@nd.edu
Office Hours: M,W 10:45-11:45
Web Page for this course: http://www.nd.edu/~dmyers/team/
Listserv address (send mail to this address and it will be distributed to everyone in the class):
RIOTS-L@listserv.nd.edu
Purpose of the Course:
This course is a research practicum in which you will participate in an on-going research project conducted by a sociology faculty member. In it you will learn about the theoretical basis of the research problem and techniques for conducting research on the research problem. Activities range from reading articles about the research question, to coding data, to interpreting primary and secondary materials, to performing statistical analyses and writing papers about the research topic.
Requirements for the course center around the research activities of the team and will be discussed in detail when we first meet. First and foremost, however, is active participation in the research team. This means coming to the weekly research meeting prepared to discuss the readings and the issues that have come up during data collection and processing in the prior week. Also, you must fulfill your weekly obligation of research work. Flexibility is permitted to accommodate your other activities, but these exceptions should be cleared with the instructor first. In addition to the research tasks, there will also be required readings and a writing exercise.
Readings:
Required readings will be distributed by the instructor; there is no text or course packet to purchase. The anticipated reading schedule is given below, however, this schedule is subject to changes as the activities and interest of the team evolve throughout the semester. Students are encouraged to suggest reading topics or specific selections.
Writing exercise:
As part of our research enterprise, we will be developing an annotated bibliography on riots, collective violence, race relations, and other kinds of protest. This means that we will be reading articles, creating a bibliography, and writing a brief (less than 250 words) description/summary for each entry in the bibliography. During the semester, you will be required to contribute two entries to the annotated bibliography. One entry will based on one of the required course readings and the second will be based on an article that you select. The entry you select should be from a professional social science journal (not a newspaper or magazine article). I will show you how to locate these kinds of articles.
Doing research means collaborating with others. collaborating is not always easy and takes some practice, therefore I'm going to give you some. You will write your annotations in pairs that I will assign. This means you both have to read the articles very carefully and write draft summaries. You should then would together to merge your summaries to create the annotation. I will give you more information on how to write the annotations, formatting and so forth when we begin meeting.
You will also distribute your annotations to the group on a specifically assigned day and you will briefly present a summary of your articles to the group (5 minutes tops).
You will also need to turn in a electronic version of your annotations which will be added to our web site.
Tentative Schedule of Readings
(Note: returners have read some of these previously, but you should review them.)
Week 1:1. Clark McPhail. 1994. The Dark Side of Purpose: Individual and Collective Violence in Riots. The Sociological Quarterly. (pages 1-16)
2. Useem, Bert. 1998. Breakdown Theories of Collective Action. Annual Review of Sociology.
Week 2:
1. Gary T. Marx. 1979. External Efforts to Damage or Facilitate Movements: Some Patterns, Explanations, Outcomes, and Complications. In Zald and Mccarthy (eds.) Dynamics of Social Movements.
Week 3:
1. Perez and Berg. 1999. UROP Final Report: "The Contribution of Policing to Racial Rioting in the 1960s."
2. Sanchez and Kirvida. 1999. UROP Final Report: "The Societal and Institutional Causes of School Riots in the Late 1960s."
Week 4:
1. Baggetta. UROP Proposal. "Frame Development and Alignment in the U.S. - 1967-68."
2. Quinlan. UROP Proposal. "The Benefits of Grassroots, Peaceful, and Youth Led Initiatives in Curbing Street Violence."
Week 5:
1. Alsbrook. The Turn to Violence.
2. Thomas. The Separate Worlds of Black, Brown, and White.
Week 6:
1. Brazier. Police Maltreatment: Bite My Tongue and Keep My Mouth Shut.
2. Governor's Commission. I'm Throwing Rocks Because I'm Tired of a White Man Misusing Me.
3. Hacker and Harmetz. The Riot: A Liberating, Identifying Force
Week 7:
Forman, James. 1967: The Hide Tide of Black Resistant.
Week 8:
Widick, B. J. 1972. "A City Besieged: The Riot of '67." Ch. 11 from Detroit: City of Race and Class Violence.
Week 9:
Georgakas, Dan and Marvin Surkin. 1975. "Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets: STRESS." Ch. 8 from Detroit: I Do Mind Dying.
Week 10:
Press Stories on Student Unrest and the Police in Iran
Week 11:
Clark, Kenneth B. 1965. "The Wonder Is There Have Been So Few Riots." New York Times Magazine.
Woodward, C. Vann. 1965. "After Watts--Where is the Negro Revolution Headed?" New York Times Magazine.
Week 12:
Hamilton, Charles V. 1968. "An Advocate of Black Power Defines It." New York Times Magazine.
Week 13:
Stern, Sol. 1967. "The Call of the Black Panthers" New York Times Magazine.