Course Requirements and
Grading:
Course grades will be based on
5
components.
|
Component |
Value |
Due Date
Fall Term |
|
1. Exercise
2. Paper
3.
Test 1
5. Test 2
6. Participation |
15 %
25 %
25 %
25 %
10 % |
Oct 12
Dec 14 (5pm)
Oct 26
Dec 7
Cumulative |
NOTE:
If you cannot give them to me in person, hand in exercises and papers in
Room 225 of the Sociology department, where there is an automatic date and
time stamper, and 4 deposit boxes.
Make sure you time-stamp your assignment. Once you have placed your assignment
into the box, please notify me
so I will know to go and retrieve it. Grade
deductions for late assignments will be made as follows:
|
Extent of Lateness |
Deduction |
|
Late, but turned in on due date
Late one business day
Late two business
days
Late three business
days
Late four or more
business
days
Late, turned in after assignment has been handed back |
No Deduction
minus 10%
minus 20%
minus 30%
minus 40%
minus 50% |
Attendance is not mandatory but
is expected; I strongly suggest that you come to class since you will
be responsible for knowing what is covered in the lectures (even
my jokes!). Besides, I will give up to 5 % bonus for exemplarily class participation (class
discussion, comments, questions, level of interest, commitment, enthusiasm,
etc.), and attendance is an essential precursor to that.
|
Letter Grade |
4-Point Scale |
Percentage (%) |
|
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F |
4.0
4.0
3.7
3.3
3.0
2.7
2.3
2.0
1.7
1.3
1.0
0.7
0.0 |
90to100%
85-89
80-84
77-79
73-76
70-72
67-69
63-66
60-62
57-59
53-56
50-52
0-49 |
*taken from ROSI
Readings
- REQUIRED TEXT: The course reader (CR) may be
purchased at Three Cent Copy Centre on 740 Spadina Ave, Just South
of Bloor St (416/923-0542). The reader cost less than 10
bucks!
- REQUIRED TEXT: Most of the readings must be
download from the class web page:
www.chass.utoronto.ca/~bberry/Soc396.htm. Due to
copyright restrictions, you must login using the username and password
that I gave you in class. From the download page, simply click the
link to view the Adobe Acrobat PDF file. You can either read the
document in the viewer or print it out. I assume that
everyone knows how to do this (if not, please let me know). The
university has numerous computers from which you can do this.
- SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT: For further reading, I recommend
that you purchase a copy of
Kevin Fitzpatrick and Mark LaGory’s book Unhealthy Places (UP). I
have put a copy on reserve (short-term loan) at the Gerstein Library (7
Kings Circle) as well as at the UTM library. You can also buy this book online at
http://www.chapters.ca it costs $24.49.
Readings on Reserve:
Where indicated, I have placed
reading materials on ‘reserve’ at the library. When using ‘reserved’
materials, please be considerate of others and always assume that they need
these materials as much as you do. Return them as promptly as you can and
don’t take them home unless you are absolutely sure that you will be making
use of them (in other words, don’t check them out ‘just in case’).
E-Mail:
Finally, I expect every one of
you to provide me with an e-mail address. Most of you already have one --and
probably use it frequently-- so all you have to do is e-mail or give it to
me in class during the first week of school. If you do not have an account,
get one. The easiest (and most economical) way is to get it through the
university. As a student, you are entitled to one --and to the use of
computers in the various computer labs. In my courses, e-mail (and the
ability to access the class webpage) is an essential supplement to lectures
and office hours. This means that you can expect to hear from me regularly
throughout the semester. I will use e-mail for reminders, clarifications,
last-minute notifications, etc. Needless to say, I expect you to check it
regularly. Conversely, you should feel free to contact me via e-mail with
questions, requests or problems that were not --or could not be-- addressed
in class.
The class email listserv is
SOC396HS-L@listserv.utoronto.ca
The email address that you give
me will be used on the listserv. I encourage you to share interesting and
informative information on urban health from sources such as newspaper
articles, political decisions, etc. with the class. However, please use the
class email responsibly. I reserve the right to cut you off by removing your
sending rights.
Comments on Reading:
The mathematician and
philosopher Bertrand Russell once suggested that all works of theory should
be read, in a sense, twice --although sometimes the two readings can be done
simultaneously. First, you should do a ‘sympathetic reading’. A reading in
which you try to understand the author’s point of view (i.e., where he is
‘coming from’). You put yourself ‘in the author’s shoes’ (or, changing the
metaphor, ‘get inside his head’), suspend any criticism, pretend that you
wrote the text or agree completely with it, and prepare yourself to defend
it. Secondly --and only after this first reading-- you should do a ‘critical
reading’. Here is where you get a chance to detach yourself from the writer,
see him as a historical figure subject to the influences and limitations of
his time and place, and criticize his argument. This technique will not only
guarantee a better understanding of the material, but will also guard you
from two common mistakes: unquestioned acceptance and ungrounded criticism.
Comments on writing:
My hope is that the topics we
discuss throughout the semester will inspire you to write good papers, and
that by the end of the semester all of you will have become better writers.
With writings and writers, as is the case with many other things, it is much
easier to spot a bad one than it is to recognize a good one. This is partly
due to the fact that good writing often appears as nothing more than just
writing: It’s direct and it conveys the message unambiguously. In other
words, the ‘craft’ becomes invisible while the message comes across clearly.
Furthermore, nowadays there is a broad spectrum of styles which constitute
good writing; and their appeal, like the appeal of any work of art, is often
a matter of taste. Fortunately, most of us eventually discover a style (or
styles) that we like. In time, we stumble upon authors or written pieces
that we enjoy reading and that impress us stylistically. Hopefully, we
remember them and model our writing after them.
A bad writer, on the other hand, is someone who lacks some basic skills.
Turgid prose, endless sentences, bad grammar and spelling, and unclear ideas
are some examples of the dangers that plague writing. Care and practice go a
long way towards preventing these errors. Two basic guidelines are: First,
‘keep it simple’, and second, ‘say what you mean the way you mean it’.
Finally, imitate. If you like somebody’s style, try to emulate it. In fact,
when I find myself in a ‘writing rut’ --either at a loss for words or unable
to put some great idea into comprehensible sentences-- I usually stop trying
to write and go back to reading something that I consider to be well
written. Try this. In this course there is plenty of reading material --most
of it well written-- so you will not be short of examples.
I urge you to use the university's writing resources, which are
described at the following link:
www.utoronto.ca/writing
I also am happy to read over drafts
of your work. All too often, bright students are one or two drafts from
where they need to be come paper due date. Just one rewrite can make the
difference between a "C" and an "A" paper.
A note
on Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is using somebody else's words without quotation and citation, or
somebody else's ideas without explicit citation. Students who are found to
have done this will be referred to the appropriate university body for
disciplinary action. There is no acceptable excuse. If you have any
questions about what constitutes plagiarism, ask the TA or the professor. It
is easy for us to use search engines to find the source of suspicious
paragraphs in papers. Please do not violate these rules.
Note: "Students agree that by taking
this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual
similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All
submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com
reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such
papers. The terms that apply to the University's use of the
www.Turnitin.com service are described on the Turnitin.com web site."
Meet
the Prof (won’t you?)
In the past, I have required
students to come and meet me in office hours, because students are often
too shy to do it on their own and they often really need to discuss material
and also because I like to know who's out there.. This year, I won't force
you to visit; I'll beg. I urge you to drop in or make an appointment.
Week by Week Class Schedule
I. Patterns, Definitions, and Contexts
of Urban Health
(Class 1) 14
September. Introduction
Meet
and Greet; Introduction
and Overview of the course and the emerging field of urban health
Basic Definitions: What is urban health? What is health?
What is urban? Is urban health a forced marriage of the sociology of health
and urban sociology? What is an ecological perspective of health?
(Class 2) 21 September.
Patterns of Health in Urban Areas
(with a
focus on Toronto)
Exercise 1
Description of Study Neighbourhoods and how to get there
Today's Discussion: How does
health differ across and within nations and cities? How do the worst and
best off compare in Canada to the U.S.? Health in urban areas is patterned
ecologically. Besides patterns of health along dimensions of stratification
(education, income, wealth, occupation), health and health behaviours are
patterned by social environments or settings, including neighbourhood,
workplace, and schools. We are interested not only in why “urban” people
are healthier than “rural” people. The urban/rural dichotomy is too
simplistic—life chances and quality of environments vary substantially
within urban areas, requiring a closer look at the texture of social
environments and milieu of daily life in various settings. Neighbourhoods
must be understood as embedded within metropolitan areas. Each is tied to
not only adjacent areas, but to the social and political economy of the
metro area.
Readings (each of these is short):
Trends in mortality by neighbourhood income in urban Canada from 1971 to
1996. Statistics Canada Report, Catalogue 82-003. Supplement to Health
Reports, Vol 13, 2002 (WEB)
“The Health of St. James Town” by Margaret Kittel Canale. Centre for Health
Promotion, University of Toronto. January 1997. (CR)
The
State of the City’s Health: Implications for Public Health.
City of Toronto, Public Health Dept. February 19, 1998.
www.city.toronto.on.ca/health/state_health.htm (web)
Threats
to Health in the Changing City: Choices for the Future.
City of Toronto, Public Health Department. September 9, 1997.
www.city.toronto.on.ca/health/state_health.htm (web)
A
Decade of Decline. (web)
www.unitedwaytoronto.com/media_tools/pdfs/Decade_in_Decline_Info_Pack.pdf
Strong
Neighbourhoods, Healthy City: Meeting the needs of Toronto’s Inner Suburbs.
(web)
www.unitedwaytoronto.com/media_tools/pdfs/strong_neighbour_press_release.pdf
www.unitedwaytoronto.com/media_tools/pdfs/strong_neighbour_fact.pdf
www.unitedwaytoronto.com/media_tools/pdfs/strong_neighbour_background.pdf
Further
Reading (optional):
Torontoprofile III. Toronto District Health
Council. I have put the full volume of Torontoprofile III on reserve
at the Gerstein library reserve if you wish to look further. I also have a
personal copy that you can look at. The Table of Contents is in your Course
Reader (CR).
Income inequality and mortality among working-age people in Canada and the
US. Statistics Canada Report. (WEB)
(Class 3) 28
September:
Health, Urban Settings, and the Concept of Upstream and Downstream
Determinants
Readings:
Fitzpatrick, Kevin M. and Mark LaGory. Forthcoming. "Placing" Health in an
Urban Sociology: Cities as Mosaics of Risk and Protection." City and
Community:1-26. (WEB)
Kaplan, George A. 1999. "Upstream and Downstream
Approaches to Inequalities in Health." Pp. 1-11 plus tables, Karolinska
Research Lecture at the Nobel Forum. (WEB)
Kaplan's Tables #1-15,
Kaplan's Tables #16-30,
Kaplan's Tables #31-39
(WEB)
(Class 4) 5 October.
Health in the city in historical context: The changing relevance of urban
life to health
Cities
have unique forms, densities, and patterns of interaction; the social and
physical environments of cities have always been relevant to health, but how
life in cities is relevant to health has changed over time. Changes in
institutional arrangements, the flow of capital, and corporatization of
public space have important influences on segregation, the currency and
symbols in social environments, and patterns of interaction and influence.
What consequence do these changes in urban life have for the health of urban
residents?
Readings:
Wirth, L. (1938). Urbanism as a Way of Life. American
Journal of Sociology, 44(1): 1-24. (WEB)
Fishman, Robert. "Megalopolis
Unbound." reprinted from The Wilson Quarterly (Winter 1990) in
Metropolis: Center and Symbol of our Times. Philip Kasinitz, ed.
p395-417. New York: New York University Press, 1995. (CR)
"Introduction" in Sorkin, Michael, ed. Variations on a Theme Park: The
New
American City and the End of Public Space.
New
York: Hill and Wang, 1992. (CR)
Further
Reading (optional)
Wacquant, Loic J. D. "The
Ghetto, the State and the New Capitalist Economy" reprinted in
Metropolis: Center and Symbol of our Times. Philip Kasinitz, ed. New
York: New York University Press, 1995. (CR)
Mann, P.H.,
The neighborhood, in Neighborhood, City and Metropolis, R.
Gutman and D. Popenoe, Editors. 1970, Random House: New York. p. 568-583.
Smith, Neil. 1996. The New Urban Frontier:
Gentrification and the Revanchist City. Routledge, New York, NY,
Bauman, Zygmunt, Community - seeking safety in an
insecure world, Cambridge: Polity, 2001.
(Class 5) 12 October. The
Health Climacteric: From Material Scarcity to Social Disadvantage?
Exercise 1 is due at the beginning of class (10 %).
Readings:
"The Determinants of Health from a Historical
Perspective"--by John W. Frank, Institute for Work and Health,
Toronto and J. Fraser
Mustard, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Canada. "Health
and Wealth" issue of Daedalus Volume 123, Number 4, Fall 1994.
(WEB)
"The Epidemiological Transition: From
Material Scarcity to Social Disadvantage?"--by Richard G. Wilkinson,
University of Sussex,
England. "Health and Wealth" issue of Daedalus Volume 123, Number 4, Fall
1994
(WEB)
Further Reading:
Cubbin,
C., W.C. Hadden, and M.A. Winkleby, Neighborhood context and
cardiovascular disease risk factors: The contribution of material
deprivation. Ethnicity and Disease, 2001. 11(Late Autumn): p.
687-700.
II. Explaining Patterns of Urban Health: Concepts and Controversies
(Class 6) 19
October.
Two Basic Explanations:
Health Investment and Patterned Responses to Social Structure.
Why do
some residents in the urban landscape have better health and behave in
healthier ways than other people?
Readings:
David
Williams. 1990
“Socioeconomic Differentials in Health: A Review and Redirection.”
Social Psychological Quarterly.
53:81-99. (WEB)
James P.
Smith and Raynard Kington. 1997. "Demographic
and Economic Correlates of Health in Old Age," Demography, Vol.
34, No. 1, February 1997, pp. 159-170. (WEB)
Victor R.
Fuchs “A Tale of Two States” pp50-51 in Peter Conrad’s Sociology of
Health and Illness: Critical Perspectives. 6th Edition (CR)
Other
Readings (optional):
James F.
Crow.
“Unequal by nature: a geneticist’s perspective on human differences.”
Daedalus, Winter 2002. pp 81-88. (WEB)
(Class 7) 26
October.
Test Today in class (25%) on Material and Lectures
through Oct 19th.
Last 15 Minutes of class:
Assign Paper, Due Dec 14
Pick one of the topics outlined here
(Class 8) 2
November.
How do we know that place matters? How do social environments influence health?
areas of concentrated health disadvantage exist simply as
consequence of selective migration of people with problems in (and those
without problems out), intergenerational transmission of disadvantage
(family background), lack of social services, problems of community (lack of
social capital), social supports, stress, pollution, systemic (a
discriminatory society).
In this class I will discuss the ways that selectivity
contributes to observed patterns of health in urban areas. Clearly some
urban areas are destination of at-risk populations, but social structure
constrains residential choice as well. Some places are receiving grounds of
the disadvantaged and at-risk populations. Other places have buffers.
After addressing selectivity, I will begin to discuss the importance of
context.
Readings:
Robert, Stephanie A. 1999.
“Socioeconomic Position and Health: The independent contribution of
community socioeconomic context.” Annual Review of Sociology.
25:489-516. (WEB)
Sampson, R.J. and J.D. Morenoff, and Thomas
Gannon-Rowley. 2002.
"Assessing "Neighborhood Effects": Social Processes and New Directions in
Research." Annual Review of Sociology 28:443-78. (WEB)
Yen, I.H. and S.L. Syme. 1999.
The social environment and health: A discussion of the epidemiologic
literature. Annual Review of Public Health. 20: 287-308.
(WEB)
Further
reading (optional):
Macintyre,
Sally, Anne Ellaway, Steven Cummins. 2002.
“Place Effects on Health: How can we conceptualise, operationalise, and
measure them?” Social Science and Medicine. 55 (2002): 125-139. (WEB)
Lewis, O.
(1966). The culture of poverty. Scientific American (215), 19-25.
Lieberson,
S. (1989). When Right Results Are Wrong. Society, 26(5), 60-66.
Ross, Catherine E. and John Mirowsky. 2001. "Neighborhood
Disadvantage, Disorder, and Health." Journal of Health and Social
Behavior 42:258-276. (WEB)
III. Special Populations in urban areas (A
social problems perspective)
Putting aside the debate about
the sources of patterns of health disadvantage, the reality is that some
urban areas contain a disproportionate share of disadvantaged people. The
next few lectures focuses on the most at-risk groups of the urban
landscape—the homeless, the young and old, the socially disadvantaged (the
poor, residents of public housing, stigmatized minorities), and recent
immigrants. We will also examine the community and service environments
intended to alleviate and sometimes aggravate health problems for these
populations.
(Class 9) 9 November:
Special needs of the homeless
and socially disadvantaged
Discussion
Topic: Needs and Risks of the Socially Disadvantaged (Homelessness,
Poverty, Family Structure, Race, and Gender dimensions).
Readings:
Chapter 6
of Unhealthy Places “Special Populations in the City: Needs and Risks
of the Socially Disadvantaged” pp 133-165. (CR)
Stephen W.
Hwang. 2001.
Homelessness and Health. Canadian Medical Association Journal 164(1):
229-33. (WEB)
"The Subculture of Street Life", Chapter 3 in Snow, David and Leon Anderson.
1993. Down on Their Luck: A Study of
Homeless Street People.
Berkeley, California: University of California Press. (CR)
Further Reading (optional):
O'Flaherty, Brendan. 1996. Making Room: The Economics
of Homelessness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
1997. "Uneasy Sanctuary: Homeless People Camping on
Public Lands." International Journal of Visual Sociology.
12(2):49-64.
House, James S., James M. Lepkowski, David R. Williams,
Richard P. Mero, Paula M. Lantz, Stephanie A. Robert, and Jieming Chen.
2000. "Excess Mortality among Urban Residents: How Much, for Whom, and Why?"
American Journal of Public Health 90:1898-1904.
In-class film (time permitting)
HOMELESS NOT HELPLESS: OPENING DOORS
1991 44 min. VC #2977 Jerry Jones
A critical assessment of programs that deal with the problems of homelessness.
Emphasizes solutions including takeovers of abandoned housing by the homeless.
(Class 10) 16
November: Special
Populations: the young and old
Discussion
Topic: Special Populations in the City: Needs and Risks of the Young and
Old.
Readings:
Chapter 7
of Unhealthy Places “Special Populations in the City: Needs and Risks
of the Young and Old” pp 167-200. (UP)
Aneshensel, CS, Sucoff CA. 1996. "The
neighborhood context of adolescent mental health." Journal of Health
and Social Behavior 37:293-310. (WEB)
“The "Squash It" Campaign to Prevent Youth Violence.”
Harvard School of Public Health, Center For Health
Communication.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/chc/squashit.html
Further Reading (optional):
Ward, Russell, Mark LaGory, and Susan Sherman. 1988.
The Environment for Aging: Social, Interpersonal and Spatial Contexts.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press.
Ostbye, Truls; Runa Steenhuis; Christina Wolfson; Ruth
Walton; Gerry Hill. 1999. "Predictors of Five-Year Mortality in Older
Canadians: The Canadian Study of Health and Aging." Journal of the
American Geriatrics Society 47:1249-54.
Russell, C., Hill, B. & Basser, M. Identifying needs
among ‘at risk’ older people: Does anyone here speak health promotion? In V.
Minichiello, N. Chappell, H. Kendig and A. Walker (eds) Sociology of
Aging: International Perspectives. Melbourne: International Sociological
Association Research Committee on Aging, 1996, pp. 378-393.
(Class 11) 23
November:
Special populations: immigrants
Discussion
Topic: Special Populations in the City: Needs and Risks of Immigrants
Noh, Samuel and William R. Avison. 1996.
"Asian Immigrants and the Stress Process: A Study of Koreans in Canada."
Journal of Health and Social Behavior 37:192-206. (WEB)
In-class film (time permitting)
HOME FEELING
1983 57 min. MP #23C006-7/23D023-24 and VC #0218
National Film Board of Canada
Describes conditions in the Jane-Finch area of Toronto that prevent residents from
developing a sense of community. (Videocassette 002460 at the Audio Visual Library)
JANE FINCH AGAIN
1997 47
min. VC #4526
Roger McTair speaks to residents who were in the 1983 film, HOME FEELING, about the impact
of changes undertaken by community organizations and the police to improve
life in the area. (Videocassette 004297 at the Audio Visual Library)
(Class 12) 30 November.
Critical Perspectives on Urban Health and the Study of Urban Health.
A Critical Look at
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Health: What does sociology have to
contribute?
Kelly, M.P., J.K. Davies and B.C. Charton (1993). Healthy Cities. A modern
problem or a post-modern solution?. In J.K. Davies and M.P. Kelly (Ed.),
Healthy Cities. Research and practice (pp. 159-167). London / New York:
Routledge. (CR)
McKinlay
JB, Marceau LD. 2000.
To boldly go ... American Journal of Public Health. 90 (1): 25-33 (WEB)
Further
readings (optional):
Hancock,
Trevor. 1992. "The Development of the Healthy Cities Project in Canada" in
John Ashton's (eds) Healthy Cities. Open University Press. pp43-48.
(CR)
Hancock,
Trevor. 1992. "Toronto" in John Ashton's (eds) Healthy Cities. Open
University Press. 175-185. (CR)
Klawiter, Maren. 1999.
Racing for the cure, walking women, and toxic touring: mapping cultures of
action within the Bay Area terrain of breast cancer. Social Problems
46(1):104-26. (WEB)
Leeuw, E.
de (1993). Health policy, epidemiology and power: the interest web.
Health Promotion International, 8(1), 49-52.
(Class
13) 7 December
Final
Exam (25%)
in class.
Note: I am giving you an extra week to
turn in your paper (25%). You have until December 14 at 5pm to turn in
your paper.
Enjoy
your well-deserved break!
