Prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites for L216, but students are expected to command a basic competence in expository writing, as we shall not spend class time on basic writing skills.  For those who need extra help with their writing skills, Writing Tutorial Services (WTS) in Ballantine 206 offers free writing help to all I.U. students.  Call 855-6738 to make an appointment and inquire about tutorial hours.

Required Texts

Course Packet, available at Collegiate Copies (1434 E. Third St.).

Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld (New York: Ballantine, 1995).
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Visit, trans. P. Bowles (New York: Grove Atlantic, 1962).
Henrik Ibsen, Four Great Plays by Henrik Ibsen, trans. R. F. Sharp (New York: Bantam, 1958).
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (New York: Penguin, 1949).
George Orwell, Animal Farm (New York: Signet, 1956).
George Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society (Thousand Oaks, Calif.:  Pine Grove, 2000).

Course Description

L216 (Business and the Humanities) explores the relationship between the values of the marketplace and our social structure by means of diverse cultural productions that appear as written, performed, pictorial, and even plastic texts.  Organized as a true seminar (a course in which all participants are responsible for constructing knowledge), this course will rely heavily on student participation in examining the variety of texts we read together; much of the teaching and learning will also rely on the findings of the projects completed by individuals and groups.

Course Goals and Objectives

L216 is designed as an interdisciplinary course; it will draw on several academic disciplines, including sociology, history, political science, world literature, journalism, film, drama and theater, and fine arts.  Over the course of the semester you can expect to:

• Reflect for a sustained period (i.e. the entire semester) on various permutations of the question “To what extent do the values and goals of the business world form and constitute our values, assumptions, and perceptions?”
• Project, develop, and refine a provisional answer to the above question especially vis-à-vis the capitalist, consumerist, and materially-oriented society of contemporary America.
• Gain exposure to a wide variety of cultural texts (discursive and non-discursive) and learn to discuss them competently both verbally and in writing.
• Practice rhetorical and oral communication skills by reporting to the class, both individually and in groups.
• Work in groups and practice producing collaborative projects, learning to recognize diverse strengths among group members and employing them to accomplish your collective goal.
• Improve your written communication skills by preparing short, medium-length, and long written projects.

I. Attendance, Participation, and Preparation

a. Because of its seminar format, this course will rely heavily on student contribution and preparation for its teaching.  To this end, it will be important that students arrive prepared for each class meeting, ready to discuss the assignment of the day and to contribute to a deeper understanding of our course topic.
b. Punctual and regular attendance of all participants is therefore imperative to the success of our seminar.

II. Written Work

Students will write:
a. Short, informal response papers (1-page written responses to texts covered in our course).
b. Mid-length formal papers (about 3 to 4 pages long, in which you take a position on the course question based on some of the texts we read together).
c. A longer final project (6-10 pages, in which you explain your own researched topic of inquiry and argue your position vis-à-vis the course topic of inquiry).

III. Oral Presentations

a. Each student is required to prepare two short oral presentations during the semester.  Some examples of oral presentations include, but are not limited to 1. leading a discussion about a text; 2. giving background information about an author, text, or social movement; 3. reading a scene from a dramatic text with classmates; and 4. giving the class an interpretation of a work of art.  Students are strongly urged to avoid waiting till the end of the semester to make arrangements to do their oral work.
b. During the last two weeks of classes, students will give oral reports of their collaborative findings with group members.  This requirement is separate from the two required oral presentations described above.

IV. Collaboration

a. Students will work in groups of 4 or 5 for the semester, sharing related individual research in order to investigate a cultural phenomenon collectively that relates to the topic of inquiry for the seminar.
b. Students will work together for a sustained period to prepare a collaborative oral report.  Students will also be expected to assist one another in their individual research in preparation for the final writing assignment.

 
a. The criteria for assigning grades will vary from assignment to assignment.  Students will be informed of these specificities when work is assigned.

b. Your grade for this course will be weighted as follows:

 Informal Response papers (5 @ 3% each) 15%
 Mid-length Defining paper 10%
Mid-length Position paper 15%
Oral Presentations (2 @ 2.5% each) 5%
Group Presentation 15%
Individual Final Project 20%
Daily Participation and Preparation 20%

TOTAL 100%

I. Attendance

a. Because of the seminar format of this course, regular attendance of all seminar members is crucial not only to individual student learning, but also to the learning of the entire class.  Students should strive for perfect attendance, but in case of illness or family emergency, students are allowed three absences, no questions asked.  Students who miss more than 3 class meetings can expect the “Daily Participation and Preparation” portion of their grade to suffer subject to the instructor’s discretion.

b. In case of prolonged difficulty, students should stay in contact with the instructor so assignments can be completed and falling behind can be avoided.

II. Tardiness

a. Class will begin promptly at 4 p.m.  Please arrive on time so to avoid disrupting the class.  Neither habitual nor excessive tardiness will be tolerated.  Students more than 15 minutes late to class will be marked absent for the day.

III. Late Assignments

a. In order to ensure fairness, assignment due dates will be strictly observed.  You will be given a date and time when your assignments must be handed in.  The grades of assignments handed in after that time will be docked, subject to the instructor’s discretion (depends on circumstance and severity of lateness).

IV. Academic Dishonesty

a. Part III of Indiana University’s Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct reads as follows:

The university may discipline a student for academic misconduct, which is defined as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution.  Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following: cheating, fabrication (lying), plagiarism, interference (harming another student’s work), violation of course rules, and facilitating academic dishonesty.

b. Because the graded work in this course will be primarily student papers and not examinations, the section on plagiarism is especially pertinent:

A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, words, or statements of another person without appropriate acknowledgement.  A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge an indebtedness whenever he or she quotes, paraphrases, uses ideas, or borrows from another’s work.

V. E-mail Communication:

a. In this course we will likely communicate often via e-mail.  E-mail, however, can be a double-edged sword.  On the one hand, it can provide an excellent means of communicating speedily with the instructor or other students at any time.  Students are urged to ask any questions that pertain to the course and I shall try my best to answer them promptly and professionally.

b. On the other hand, e-mail should never be used as a forum for expressing frustration or dissatisfaction about a grade, a policy, or any aspect of our course together.  Should a difficulty arise, students are urged to see the instructor personally during office hours, where differences can be ironed out in-person and non-verbal communication and bodily presence allow for full communication rather than the disembodied text of e-mail.

Schedule of Readings and Assignments

January

8    Course Introduction.

  Read Course Reader 1-12, selections from

Allen “Horatio Alger”
Conwell “Acres of Diamonds”
Heller “By Success Obsessed
Rabiner “How the Superwoman Myth Puts Women Down”
White “The Second Tree from the Corner”

Read Course Reader 13-36, selections from

Carnegie How to win Friends and influence People
Cawelti Apostles of the Self-Made Man
Miller Death of a Salesman, Act I

17    Discussion: Critique of the American Dream.

Read Miller Death, Act II

Read Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society, chapters 1-2.

Read Ritzer, McDonaldization, chapters 3-6 (divided among groups)
Read Ritzer, McDonaldization, chapter 7.

Read Ritzer, McDonaldization, chapter 9.
Read Ritzer, McDonaldization, chapter 10 (fifth group only).
Optional: Ritzer, McDonaldization, chapter 8.

Preparation for Art tour I.
Video Presentation, John Berger, Ways of Seeing.
Write mid-length paper I, DUE Friday, February 9, 5 p.m.

5    Art tour I.  Meet in the Lobby of the I.U. art museum at 4 p.m.

Write 1-page paper (related to art tour), DUE Thursday, February 7, beginning of class.

Read Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, Introduction, chapters 1-3.
Read Course Reader 37-40, Laurence Shames, “The More Factor.”
Write Project prospectus, DUE Friday, February 16, 5 p.m.

Read Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld,  chapters 4-7.

Read Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld,  chapter 8-9.
Read Course Reader 40-49, Gloria Steinem, “Sex, Lies, and Advertising.”

Read Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld,  chapters 15-18.
Write position paper on course inquiry question, DUE Friday, March 2, 5 p.m.

Read Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld,  chapter 19, Afterword.
Prepare group presentation on art for 2/28

28    Art tour II.  Meet in the Lobby of the I.U. art museum at 4 p.m.

March

5, 7    Career Week and Job Preparation.

12,14    Spring Break.  No Class.

19    Film screening, Cradle will Rock.

Read Course Reader 50-67, Howard Zinn, “The Socialist Challenge,” from A People’s History of the United States.

Read Course Reader 68-74, Selections from K. Marx, “Manifesto of the Communist Pary.”
Read Orwell, Animal Farm, 25-97.

Read Orwell, Animal Farm, 98-139.

Read Ibsen, Enemy of the People, acts I, II, and III.

2    Discussion: Henrik Ibsen’s Enemy of the People

Read Ibsen, Enemy, acts IV and V.

Read Dürrenmatt, The Visit, acts I and II.

Read Dürrenmatt, The Visit, act III

16    Student Group presentations

18    Student Group presentations

23    Student Group presentations/ begin peer review of final project

25    Peer review session

30    Individual project papers DUE 5 p.m.