49.311A*

2

Overview of the Course for Fall 1998
In your opinion, what are the social problems facing Canadians today? Would your list of problems be the same as a friend's list or your parents'? Research indicates that these lists would vary considerably. Just how we define, study and seek to solve "problematic" aspects of our social world provides the focus for this course.

Studying social problems in one academic term imposes serious limits on what we can hope to accomplish and how we approach our study. Certainly, we will not be able to discuss every potential topic of interest, particularly during class time. In order to make the best use of our time in class together and to allow each student to explore topics that are of personal interest, I have structured the course (and evaluation) around three broad activities:

1. Reading of a text which covers a wide range of material to provide as
   comprehensive a perspective as possible.
2. Analysis of current social problems of personal interest through journal writing
   and class presentations.
3. Research and group work on a specific topic from the text in order to provide
   more thorough investigation based on reading from journals, related texts and
   Web sites.

The details of the assignments and evaluation are provided here in the course outline. What is important to understand in terms of a general overview of the course is that we will be using class time together as a seminar to discussreadings and weekly media analyses, not for lectures and note taking. You will be expected to acquire conceptual knowledge and related research through your reading outside of class. Class learning will be based on the negotiation and clarification of ideas through discussion, small-group work and student presentations. Careful, consistent weekly preparation is essential in this course.

Learning Objectives
Students in this course will be expected to meet a number of objectives:

• demonstrate knowledge and comprehension of various approaches to studying
  social problems,
• develop an appreciation for and basic understanding of the complexity of social
  problems as well as the interdisciplinary perspectives, theories and models that
  have been proposed in the research literature,
• identify assumptions related to our understanding of social problems,
• critically evaluate media reports of social problems,
• synthesize and summarize research related to a particular social problem,
• work in small groups to analyze a social problem of interest to the group,
• communicate, orally and through written work, key aspects of social-
  psychological research relevant to social problems, and
• create a Web-based research resource about a social problem of interest.