SOC 105 WY                                                                                                                                     

Spring2004

Dr. Roxana Moayedi                                                                                                 Office Hours:

Office: Main 193                                                                                                 Tu/Th: 11:45 -2:00

E-mail moayedir@trinitydc.edu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        11:45-1:30

Telephone:  202/884-9266                                                                                                                

 

Social Crisis and Social Policy

FLC IV

Goal:

 

The overreaching goal of this course is to help students incorporate sociological perspective into their explanatory repertoire of social problems and public policies.  The sociological perspective is based on two fundamental assumptions.  The first is that individuals are shaped by their social environment.  This view suggests that as an observer, one cannot gain an adequate understanding of racism, crime, homelessness, or other problems, by studying only bigots, criminals and the homeless.  The incorporation of sociological perspective requires that one examine the structure of society in order to understand these and other social problems.  Because of the course emphasis on social structure, the students are required to incorporate another fundamental assumption of the sociological perspective: a critical stance toward all social forms.  A critical examination of society can demystify existing myths, stereotypes and social dogma.  It helps explain how political and economic processes affect what is currently being done about social problems and thus why so many social policies fail.

 

Required Text Books:

 

!                   Social Problems: Society in Crisis (5th edition) by Daniel J. Curran and Clair M. Renzetti

 

 

Course Objectives:

 

1.         Understand how a social problem is constructed

2.         Understand different theoretical perspectives used to explain particular social problems and develop a more critical and open mind on issues.

3.         Recognize the importance of theory and research in social policy formation.

 

 

Course Requirements:

 

Midterm exam                          30%

Final exam                                40%

CB Research Paper and           30 %

 Presentations                          

                                Total:     100 %

Exams:

 

There will be 2 examinations in this class; tentatively the date for the midterm is March 4.  Any adjustment to this date will be announced in the class.  Only under exceptional circumstances (verified illness or emergency) will exams be rescheduled.  The date of the final exam will be announced in class when it is scheduled by the Registrar’s office.  You are responsible for everything that occurs in class WHETHER YOU ARE PRESENT OR NOT.

 

Community Based Research Paper

 

All students are required to complete a CBR paper. CBR is a collaborative process that produces research information that will be used by community-based organizations. The CBR project integrates civic action with classroom knowledge.  The CBR paper should INTEGRATE the course materials, readings and class discussions with what you are learning from your CBR. More information will be provided in the class.

 

The paper must be typed, double spaced, proofread and written in complete sentences, with correct spelling.  You must cite properly all written sources that you used for the paper on a references page.  Citations should always follow the ASA format.  At the end of the syllabus are examples of how to make bibliographic citations.

 

You should use the resources in the campus Writing Center to improve your writing skills as needed.  The paper should be 7 to 9 pages in length.  Shorter papers or significantly longer ones will lose points.  Students must receive permission in advance if a deadline is to be extended.  Missing your deadline will result in an F.

Online Housing Resource Project: Background/Statistics:

During the 1990’s, the District of Columbia lost over 16,000 rental housing units.  Prices have risen much faster than inflation in recent years.  The average cost of obtaining a modest rental unit in DC is $943 per month for a two-bedroom apartment.  A family would need an annual income of at least $37,720 to afford a unit at this cost without spending more than 30 percent of its income on housing.  Additional losses of affordable housing are expected as contracts for thousands of units in Section 8 housing will expire without being renewed in the near future.  At present, over 10,000 families in the District of Columbia are on the waiting list for public housing or a Section 8 voucher, and the wait is 1-2 years for people who are homeless, and up to 16 years for non-homeless residents.  In addition, demand for emergency shelter is at a historically high level, with approximately 600 homeless families on the waiting list.  Once a person receives a Section 8 voucher in DC, after likely waiting many years for their “big break,” the phrase many of our clients use to describe receiving a voucher, they face a 50% chance that they will not find an apartment complex in DC that will accept their voucher.  Thus, on any given day in the District, 400 residents have a voucher in hand, and 200 of them will fail after the three month time-limit which the law places on the validity of their voucher.   

After conferring with each other, the member organizations of this project have isolated several clearly recognizable obstacles to our clients’ successful placement of their vouchers once they receive them.  One of these obstacles is the lack of widely proliferated and up-to-date information about apartment complexes that accept the voucher in the District of Columbia.  These organizations work with clients on a regular basis with the overwhelming, and often unsuccessful, process of placing their vouchers somewhere in the city.  Social workers, caseworkers, and lawyers of these member organizations find themselves with large caseloads, and an overwhelming amount of valuable legal and social work to accomplish on any given day.  Running across town (with a client or in assistance of a client who cannot navigate the process alone) to pick up advertisements for rental properties from the DC Housing Authority ( DCHA) is wildly impractical and a drain upon these individuals’ potential as career professionals.  At present, neither HUD nor the DCHA disperse or distribute readily available information to service organizations in the city with regards to landlords that are “approved” to receive the Section 8 voucher.  For this reason, OHRP will be an incredible mechanism of change for the legal and advocacy communities in Washington, DC, as the information will be collected and stored in a centralized and easily accessible online location. 

Project Goal:

National Student Partnership (NSP) intends to develop an online resource system in which caseworkers, social workers, and advocates from member organizations (members include the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, the Legal Aid Society of Washington, DC,  Bright Beginnings, Inc., and National Student Partnerships-DC) may access an updateable database listing of current available DC Housing Authority approved Section 8 rental vacancies in Washington, DC and an updateable listing of relevant landlord information and criteria.  In order to achieve this goal, student advocates are needed to contact landlords and gather the data which will be presented in this format. 

Project Details:

Students would be involved in interviewing landlords, via telephone, about their acceptance of housing vouchers as part of their housing qualifications and renting procedures.  A specific protocol will be provided for students to follow.  National Student Partnership representatives will also provide a training session.  Data from the interview will be entered directly into the OHRP website to be updated periodically by OHRP and NSP volunteers. 

Student Responsibilities:

You are required to complete all the assigned readings before the lecture, attend classes and participate in all discussions of the material.  Each student is responsible for her own learning.  Therefore, a student who misses class consistently (three or more classes) or fails to participate in classroom discussions will have her final course grade lowered at the discretion of the instructor.