PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES:   PREJUDICE & DISCRIMINATION
 VAL 340-001
 
 

Dr. Kathryn Russell - Fall 1999
Dept. of Philosophy - SUNY Cortland
Phone: 2014  Office Hours: T & R 10:00-noon; Wed. 2:00-4:00
138B Old Main or by appointment
 

 Readings:

Andersen, Margaret L. and Collins, Patricia Hill.  Race, Class and Gender:  An Anthology, 3rd ed.  Belmont, California:  Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1998.

Bigelow, Bill, et. al. Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools. Ltd., 1994.

Kivel, Paul. Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work For Racial Justice. New Society Publishers, 1996

Articles on reserve in the library and some handouts will supplement the main textbooks.

Course description:

This course will examine oppression due to race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender and class.  Strategies of social change will be evaluated as ways to enhance freedom, justice and equality.  We will be particularly interested in how power is distributed by social group and how institutionalized patterns of behavior allow inequality to persist.

The class will emphasize critical thinking about ethical and political problems that confront us in everyday life.  It will challenge you to develop your own stand on selected issues but to sympathetically understand alternative points of view.  You will be encouraged to work collaboratively with other students in responding to class material.

VAL 340 satisfies requirements for Category 2 in the General Education program.  The 1996-98 Catalog describes GE2 as follows:

 The goal of this category is to educate students about the nature of prejudice and discrimination and their impact on the people of this country and throughout the world.
 

 Assumptions

  1. A liberal education should enable students to examine critically the ways they think about themselves as well as other people.
  2. Understanding prejudice and discrimination is necessary as a first step in eliminating them.

 Objectives (from Catalog, continued)

  1. To examine issues such as power and bias as they relate to prejudice and discrimination, and how these issues have determined attitudes, institutions, dominance and subdominance.
  2. To analyze how various beliefs can lead to conflicting conclusions about a society and its norms, values, and institutions.
  3. To study the individual and institutional nature, as well as the extent of prejudice and discrimination, either in the American context with attention given to the global dimension, or in the global context with attention given to the American dimension.
  4.  To examine prejudice and discrimination in relation to unequal distribution of power.
  5.  To examine various aspects of prejudice and discrimination such as a moral, historical, educational, health, economic, linguistic, political psychological, and social dimensions.  Other intellectual perspectives may be included.  No course need embrace all disciplinary perspectives.
  6. To examine the factors upon which prejudice and discrimination may be based, e.g.:  race and/or gender as well as, class, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, or disability.

 Course requirements and grading:

  Due dates Portion of grade
• Two Reading and Writing Logs October 5 December 14 25%
25%
   
• One media project November 16 or 18 20% •
Homework and in class writing   10%
• Two Outside Activity Reports   10%
one segment of Eyes on the Prize before Sept 21
a campus event of relevance to the class by one week after the event
• Class participation   10%
• Optional Extra Credit will be given for turning in additional activity reports    

Policies and additional information:

1. SUNY Cortland is committed to upholding and maintaining all aspects of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

 If you are a student with a disability and wish to request accommodations, please contact the Office of Disability Services located in B-40 Van Hoesen Hall or call (607) 753-2066 for an appointment.  Any information regarding your disability will remain confidential.  Because many accommodations require early planning, requests for accommodations should be made as early as possible.  Any requests for accommodations will be reviewed in a timely manner to determine their appropriateness to this setting.

2.  Absolutely NO late work will be accepted unless PRIOR arrangements are made with the instructor.  Such arrangements will be made only under unusual circumstances.

3. Plagiarism:  All work submitted must be your own.  Ideas borrowed from others, either directly or through paraphrase, must be well-documented through endnotes or footnotes.  If I suspect plagiarism the student will be reported to the Provost and can either accept the charge or defend her or himself in the Grievance Tribunal.

4. If you are absent, you are responsible for finding out what went on in class, whether any assignments were given, and for keeping up with your work.