How your final grade is calculated
10%
10%
40%
40%
Special Note:
Academic accommodations are available for students with disabilities who are registered with the Office of Disability and Support Services. Please schedule an appointment with the instructor early in the semester to discuss any accommodations for this course which have been approved by the Director of Disability and Support Services as indicated in your DSS accommodation letter.
Class attendance and participation
First, regular attendance is a must for this class. Absence in more than two classes will definitely impair your participation grade.
To be successful, this class requires its members to complete the readings by the day they are assigned, participate in discussions frequently, and engage the issue of corporate power seriously. Do not just answer my questions; pose your own, and call attention to other issues or events of relevance. Participation also means employing your interest in corporate power outside of the class. Via the business news I have linked to the scheduled readings, keep abreast of current events or public concerns that relate to the topics we discuss. Think about how corporate power pertains to ideas you have learned in other classes.
I realize that all students are not equally vocal in class, whether by general disposition or an occasional loss for something to say. If you do not speak up in class on a given week, you should compensate by joining in subsequent on-line class discussions that I initiate, starting your own on-line discussion (e.g., by calling attention to a relevant news item and posing some relevant questions for discussion), or at least attending my office hours to ask substantive questions.
For 10 weeks, the class will read between one to four required articles or books, as listed in the schedule. Each student will be responsible for choosing one of these readings (to be assigned in the first class) and giving a 15-minute presentation at the beginning of the class when the reading is due. The presentation should include:
For eight (8) weeks of your choice, you will write a brief roughly 500 words (1 1/2 pages) long. Plan your reading/writing well over the course of the semester. I expect that these briefs will have a clear analytic progression (thesis, evidence, counter argument, conclusion). You have choice with regard to format, which need not be a narrative but can be in the form of an outline, memo, combination text/bullet points, etc. However, stream of consciousness or personal feelings, no matter how potentially fascinating, are inappropriate. There will be two kinds of briefs, for which you will write 4 of each: (a) those written before the class, and (b) those written after the class.
Briefs written before the class will explicitly respond to the reading(s) assigned for that week (no bibliographic citation is necessary). They are due at the beginning of class, and no late briefs will be accepted. These can take the form of either (a) a theoretical discussion or (b) an application of the readings to a real-life example you find in the news. In either case you should strive to analyze, synthesize, integrate, or apply the ideas you have found provocative. Do not simply summarize or compare two readings. Think of topics that you would like to discuss in class. Good commentaries often raise more questions, so you may conclude your analysis by listing several additional concerns.
Briefs written after the class will correspond to the readings and debates discussed in this previous lecture. These are due within 24 hours after each class meeting; for example, one student will submit by October 10th a statement that pertains the October 9th seminar discussion of Welch's Jack: Straight From the Gut. The point of these on-line statements is to reflect and build upon the ideas generated in seminar and the readings; they should demonstrate a more knowledgeable and sophisticated understanding of the materials, after you have resolved confusion over and/or better understood the readings and had some time after class to mull the ideas over. On-line statements can address various issues that include:
The final assignment is a term paper in which you select a case study event or problem of corporate power, describe its history, and analyze it in terms of the theory and methods we encounter in the course. You will turn in a proposal after fall break, present your case study during the last two weeks of class, and turn in the final paper during finals week.
The Case: Select a corporation, nonprofit business organization, business event, or social problem that is current and relevant to the class. Here are some examples, although I encouraged you to propose your own topic:
Data Sources: I expect that you will rely upon secondary sources for this case study, primarily journalistic and electronic. I have assembled some general research resources to help you find a topic of interest; Vassar librarians can help you find articles, books, and other online resources once you have chosen a case study. Corporations produce numerous documents about themselves, so you should request an annual report as well as other legally mandated reports; use written advertisements, promotion brochures, and media communications. You may also gain enough access so that you can obtain internal memos or press releases, or possibly complete interviews with key informants.
Case Description and Analysis: Your challenge will be to consolidate the various sources of information into a 10-12 page case description, followed by a 5-6 page case analysis.
The description should include
This portion will be graded for completeness and clarity of presentation.
The analysis should assess the case as a whole from several sociological perspectives, as covered throughout the course readings, lectures, and additional sources that I refer you to. This section should also include alternative solutions to the issues at hand. This portion will be evaluated for depth and breadth of analysis, use of course concepts, and writing ability.
For an excellent example of a Corporate Power term paper, here is one written by Rob Strauss in Spring 2000. (For some reason, it lost its title page on its way to this site -- don't let that happen to your paper!)
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