State University of New York Buffalo State
Sociology 393: Sociology of Mental Illness
Fall Semester 2016 Syllabus

Dr. ZHANG Jie

zhangj@buffalostate.edu

Course Call No.: 2540
Class Place: Classroom Building B309
Class Time: 4:30pm - 5:45pm TR
Office Location: Classroom Building B312
Office Phone: 878-6425
Office Hours: 2:00pm - 3:00pm TR or by appointment

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

This course addresses the medicine and medical care as a social institution.  The medical sociology is concerned with the ways in which social groups influence and are influenced by illness and medical care.  The sociological perspective focuses on the social aspects of medicine with particular emphasis on the position of medicine in the structure of society.  Students of the course will learn the structure of medical sociology, health and illness behaviors from the sociological perspective, medical service providing system, and the organization of health care in society.

TEXTBOOK

William C. Cockerham. 2011. Sociology of Mental Disorder. (8th Edition) Prentice Hall.

In addition to the above textbook, some course related information such as handouts, study guides, and this syllabus is available on the course’s website http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/zhangj.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Reading the textbook is a must to earn a grade for this course. You are promised to have no busy work beyond reading this textbook and brief handouts, which are the only homework (besides writing a term paper and preparing for exams) you are required to do. I will occasionally check your reading the text by randomly picking up one or more of you to answer questions before I start to lecture. Your efforts in answering the questions are considered to be part of your participation of the class.

EXAMINATIONS

There will be four major exams, three during the course and one final. Each exam consists of 50 multiple choice questions, and will be given on the day indicated in the course schedule. The maximum score you may be able to make for each of the four exams is 50 points. The final is comprehensive or accumulative, and covers the materials throughout the semester. You will be provided with a study guide on the courses’ website http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/zhangj prior to each exam.

No early exams are allowed for any reason. If you have to miss an exam, you need to provide me before the exam with some written document as your excuse. If you want to make up the missed exam, it may be available on the last day of classes. As the instructor, I reserve the right to refuse any make-ups not approved in advance and to give you a “0” for that test. In other cases, even if the make-up was approved in advance, the instructor reserves the right to reduce your score for that test by 10 to 15 points if your reasons and/or the documentation are not satisfactory.

TERM PAPER AND PRESENTATION

Each student is required to write a term paper on a subject given by the instructor during the course. The whole paper should be approximately of 3,000 words. More information about the format of the term paper is provided at the end of this syllabus. You may be given a chance to present your paper in class. Using at most five minutes, you will talk about the most interesting part of your paper in your own words. This presentation may be considered to be part of your participation.

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

The relationship between the instructor and students is based on mutual respect. My job is to teach the course by making it as interesting as possible and help you earn a highest grade you deserve. Your duties as students include reading the textbook, attending classes, taking notes, participating in classroom discussion, writing a term paper, and taking exams. Classroom courtesy is expected of everyone in the class. Talking without permission from the instructor, reading newspapers or other materials, using cell phone and laptop for internet, doing homework, sleeping, packing up before the instructor dismisses the class, and etc. are not courteous behaviors in this class. Classroom behavior is considered to be part of your participation.

ATTENDANCE AND CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION

A good or perfect attendance record, productive participation, and courteous behaviors in classroom will help you improve your final grade. You are discouraged to miss classes. However, there are no points deducted from your final score if you have missed two or less classes in the semester. From the third class you have missed, each one will cost you three percent of your final score (final percentage). Coming late or leaving early is also discouraged. If you have committed to this class this semester, do not schedule anything such as doctor’s appointment, academic advisement, etc. for the class time. Each coming late or each leaving early will be counted as ½ missing. As for missing classes, you do not have to present to me any excuses. All students are treated equally. For these purposes, you are asked to sit through the semester at the same place you chose at beginning, and the class roll is taken in each class period.

GRADING
The final course grade will be based on 300 possible points:
Exam 1 = 50    Exam 2 = 50    Exam 3 = 50    Exam 4 = 50

Presentation = 50 Participation = 50    Term Paper = 50
Grades will be assigned using the following percentage scale:

	A = 94 - 100	A- = 90 - 93
B+ = 87 - 89	B = 84 - 86	B- = 80 - 83
C+ = 77 - 79	C = 74 - 76	C- = 70 - 73
D+ = 65 - 69	D = 60 - 64
	E = 0 - 59

If you score a certain percentage, you will be ensured to get a grade corresponding to that percentage. If you did not score a percentage you desired, you still have chance to improve your grade by showing me that you are working hard and making progress in the course.

NOTE:     The policies and schedule for this class are subject to change in accordance with circumstances that may change in the quarter.

Course Schedule

DAY	Month	DATE	TOPIC	READ
				Chapter
Tue	Aug.	30	Introduction to the Course	1
Thu	Sep.	3	The Problem of Mental Disorder	1
Tue		6	Types of Mental Disorders	2
Thu		8	Concepts of Causes and Cures	3
Tue		13	Concepts of Causes and Cures	3
Thu		15	Mental Disorder as Deviant Behavior	4
Tue		20	Mental Disorder as Deviant Behavior	4
Thu		22	EXAM #1
Tue		27	Epidemiology	5
Thu		29	Epidemiology of Mental Disorder	5
Tue	Oct.	4	Social Class and Mental Disorder	6
Thu		6	Gender, Age, and Marital Status of Mental Disorder	7
Tue		11	The Effects of Location and Migration	8
Thu		13	The Effects of Location and Migration	8
Tue		18	Race and Mental Disorder	9
Thu		20	EXAM #2
Tue		25	The Experience of Mental Illness	10
Thu		27	The Experience of Mental Illness	10
Tue	Nov.	1	Schizophrenia	11
Thu		3	Anxiety	11
Tue		8	Depression	11
Thu		10	Mental Patients	12
Tue		15	The Mental Hospital	12
Thu		17	EXAM #3
Tue		22	Mental Disorder and Suicide in the World
Thu		24	Thanksgiving Day Recess
Tue		29	Mental Disorder and Suicide in the World
Thu	Dec.	1	Term Paper Presentation (Term Paper Due!)
Tue		6	Term Paper Presentation
Thu		8	Last day of Classroom Instruction
Tue	Dec.	13	Final Examination (5:40pm – 7:30pm)

NOTE:      Plagiarism will cause a failure of the course.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE TERM PAPER
Sociology 393: Sociology of Mental Illness

I.     Title Page: (5%)
This page consists of the title of the paper, the writer's name, course number, section number, professor's name, and the date.

II.     Outline and thesis statement: (10%)
The thesis statement is a paragraph consisting of one or two sentences pointing out the thesis of the paper. The outline of the paper follows immediately after the thesis statement. The two parts should appear on the same one page, with the title of the paper at top of it.

III.   First Page of the Text: (5%)
The title of the paper should appear again on top of the first page of the text exactly as on the title page and outline page.

IV.    Text: (5%)
The whole paper including the title page, outline page, the text, and references should be typed and on one side of the paper only. The text should be double-spaced and confined to seven pages in length.

V.     References: (10%)
All authors you have cited should be given credit, first in the text by putting the last name followed by the publication year in parentheses, and then in a list of references that appears at the end of the paper. You can use any format in references as long as you keep consistent.

VI.     Page number: (5%)
The page number should be put either at center bottom position or on the right upper corner of each page. No page number should be put on the title page or the outline page. If you decide to have the number on the right upper corner, the number on the first page is omitted.

VII.   Organization: (10%)
The text of the paper should consist at least of three parts: (1) introduction, (2) body, and (3) conclusion. In the introduction, you tell what your study is, why your study is important, and the hypothesis statement. Then in the body part of the paper, you develop your analysis or argument with or without literature review, empirical evidence or your personal observations to test your hypothesis. The conclusion part should include a brief summary of the study, and send a signal of ending for the paper.

VIII.   Content: (50%)
The content of the paper is both specified in the syllabus and discussed during the course.