Psychology 489/689
FGSS 488/688
Daryl J. Bem
Fall, 2006

Beliefs, Attitudes, and Ideologies

 

Class Hours

T 2:30 -4:25

Room

Uris 204

Office:

Uris Hall 230; 255-6352 d.bem@cornell.edu)

Office Hours:

Tuesdays 12:30-2:00 & by appointment

Web Page:

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/psych489/

 

Texts:

Bem, D. J., Supplementary Readings for Beliefs, Attitudes, and Ideologies

Bem, S. L., The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality

Brumberg, J. J., Fasting Girls: The Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa as a Modern Disease

Carter, S. L. Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby

Harris, S. The End of Faith

Hunter, J. D. Culture Wars

Lane, H., The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community

Luker, K., Abortion & the Politics of Motherhood

Rauch, J., Gay Marriage: Why it is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.

Singer, P., Practical Ethics (2nd ed)

 

Overview:

This is a course in "cultural analysis," a blend of social psychology, sociology, and politics--with a bit of history and anthropology added in to give us comparative perspectives across time and culture. The major goal is to comprehend some of the hidden assumptions and invisible ideologies that underlie our manifest beliefs, attitudes, and political disputes and to understand how they get embedded into our individual psyches, our cultural discourses, and our social institutions. In short, we will try to learn to look at rather than through the lenses that filter our perceived realities.

There will be a some lecturing and a lot of discussion. A brief commentary on each week's reading will be due via E-mail by Monday night at 10:00 (d.bem@cornell.edu).

A midterm examination will be due in class on October 17th; the final examination will be given in class on the last day of the course, November 28th. A term paper that analyzes an ideology not covered in class will be due on Tuesday December 5th.

 

 

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