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Dr. Bill
Dr. Bill
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  • 2025-26 Academic year
    • Fall ’25
      • Soc 206z (Social Problems), online
      • Soc 315 (Social Welfare), online
      • Soc 370 (Environment & Society), online
  • All Course websites
    • Soc 205 (Social Problems)
    • Soc 310 Climate& Migration
    • Soc 315 (Social Welfare)
    • Soc 344 (Selling the News)
    • Soc 345 (Media, politics & propaganda)
    • Soc 365 (Communities)
    • Soc 370 (Environment & Society)
    • Soc 371 Technology & Society
    • Soc 403 (Senior Capstone)
    • Soc 454 (Social Theory)
    • Soc 460 (Women in Poor Countries)
    • Soc 499 (Senior Seminar)
Dr. Bill
Dr. Bill
  • 1984 links: Doublespeak
  • 1984 links: Information control
  • 1984 links: Perpetual war
  • 1984 links: Police state
  • 205 Americans’ relationship with stuff
  • 205 Assignments: On campus
  • 205 Discussion Weekly share
  • 205 final exam study guide
  • 205 lecture material for midterm
  • 205 McDonaldization’s darker sides
  • 205 Midterm multiple choice sample questions
  • 205 Midterm study guide
  • 205 On Campus Calendar
  • 205 Orwell Main
  • 205 Orwells 1984 links big brother
  • 205 Readings Week 10
  • 205 Small group discussion: Ground rules
  • 205 Small group discussion: Main
  • 205 Small Groups Dr. Strangelove meets 1984
  • 205 small groups put me in charge
  • 205 Social problems: Thinking about causes
  • 205 tax cuts and doge
  • 310 Assignments
  • 310 Beck: Risk Society
  • 310 Climate change: A whirlwind primer
  • 310 Geography of risk in maps
  • 310 Glossary
  • 310 Midterm study guide
  • 310 Migration concepts
  • 310 Mitigating climate destabilization
  • 310 page links
  • 310 POET model
  • 310 Source material
  • 315 A very brief history of welfare in the US
  • 315 Assignments: On campus
  • 315 Assignments: Online
  • 315 Bi-weekly quizzes 
  • 315 Business pushback
  • 315 Calendar
  • 315 Capitalism
  • 315 Caricatures of the poor
  • 315 Children Project Questions
  • 315 community development
  • 315 Community development and social capital
  • 315 Comparing child-rearing practices
  • 315 Comparing households
  • 315 Corporate welfare
  • 315 Course resources
  • 315 End of term evaluation
  • 315 Fries with that career?
  • 315 Get a job . . .
  • 315 Group discussion children and anti-fragility
  • 315 group discussion children’s mental health
  • 315 group discussion homelessness
  • 315 group discussion social security
  • 315 group discussion taxes
  • 315 Is poverty functional?
  • 315 lecture material Capitalism
  • 315 Looking back
  • 315 Making up discussion threads
  • 315 midterm lecture pages
  • 315 midterm mcq examples
  • 315 midterm study guide
  • 315 Outline
  • 315 Policies
  • 315 Poverty and inequality
  • 315 Questions
  • 315 Questions
  • 315 Readings
  • 315 Reflection paper: Developing (or refining) a welfare philosophy
  • 315 Reflection paper: Developing (or refining) a welfare philosophy
  • 315 Reforming the reform
  • 315 Regulating the poor?
  • 315 Research questions: Discussion and response
  • 315 Research-based discussion
  • 315 Rural poverty
  • 315 Schools compared
  • 315 Small groups
  • 315 Small groups (remote)
  • 315 Social insurance social security
  • 315 Social Welfare
  • 315 Social welfare in your area/community
  • 315 Social welfare in your area/community
  • 315 Stigma and welfare
  • 315 Structure, agency, and social welfare
  • 315 Summarizing
  • 315 Summary: bureaucracy
  • 315 Systems of privilege
  • 315 The bureaucracy
  • 315 The changing nature of work
  • 315 There’s work, and then there’s work
  • 315 There’s work, and then there’s work
  • 315 Unequal childhoods … in a social welfare class??
  • 315 Unequal Childhoods: Underlying theory
  • 315 Victim blaming as common sense, ritual
  • 315 Week 1 summary
  • 315 Week 7 Summary
  • 315 Weekly ‘share’
  • 315 Welfare and ‘Family Values’
  • 315 Welfare and work ethic
  • 315 Welfare as a tool to regulate labor markets?
  • 315 Welfare basics
  • 315 Welfare Concepts
  • 315 Welfare expands in the 1960s
  • 315 Welfare programs–Some basics
  • 315 What does the welfare system look like?
  • 315 What if?
  • 315 What’s in a wage?
  • 315 Why is poverty in the US so persistent?
  • 315 Work hard, play by the rules, and . . . . (part deux)?
  • 315 Working poor
  • 344 Advice 1
  • 344 Alternative news sites
  • 344 Assignments
  • 344 Bait
  • 344 Calendar
  • 344 Class Outline
  • 344 Countering propaganda
  • 344 Course Materials
  • 344 Fake news
  • 344 Four strategies of persuasion
  • 344 Four strategies of persuasion War
  • 344 Heuristics
  • 344 journalists and bias
  • 344 Left vs Right
  • 344 Left vs right stereotypes
  • 344 Media bias?
  • 344 Media structure
  • 344 More on propaganda
  • 344 More resources
  • 344 News filtering 2
  • 344 News filters
  • 344 Participation
  • 344 Persuasion and global warming
  • 344 Persuasion strategies and global warming
  • 344 Pierce’s ‘rules’
  • 344 Project Censored paper
  • 344 Psychology of mass persuasion
  • 344 Selling The News
  • 344 Spin journal assignment
  • 344 Spin journal sources
  • 344 The media ‘echo chamber’
  • 344 Using the media (techniques)
  • 345 A different mnemonic device?
  • 345 A new paradigm
  • 345 Act independently
  • 345 Assignments
  • 345 Authority–a brief review
  • 345 Basic Advice
  • 345 Be accountable
  • 345 Bias
  • 345 Bias (classroom outline)
  • 345 Calendar
  • 345 Cautious optimism, hopeful skepticism, or jaded cynicism?
  • 345 Checking the dailies
  • 345 Code of ethics
  • 345 Coke, Pepsi, Fox, CNN, Republicans, Democrats
  • 345 Combatting elder fraud
  • 345 Conspiracies and you
  • 345 Countering propaganda
  • 345 Framing war for public consumption–Iraq
  • 345 from the Daily Show
  • 345 Glossary
  • 345 Heretofore aforementioned misnomers
  • 345 Heuristics
  • 345 How we got here
  • 345 Imagery
  • 345 Investigative reports
  • 345 Junk Food for the Soul
  • 345 Left vs right stereotypes
  • 345 Media, politics and propaganda
  • 345 Minimize harm
  • 345 More resources
  • 345 News Filters
  • 345 News filters 2
  • 345 News filters illustrated
  • 345 Outline, resources
  • 345 Outlines
  • 345 Participation: Discussion forums and weekly share
  • 345 Persuasion strategies illustrated
  • 345 Persuasion vs news
  • 345 Pierce’s Rules
  • 345 Policies
  • 345 Politics and TV
  • 345 Power and media
  • 345 Psychology of mass persuasion
  • 345 Quizzes
  • 345 Readings
  • 345 Resources
  • 345 Seek the truth
  • 345 Social proof
  • 345 Spin journal
  • 345 Structure, agency, and the news
  • 345 Student Pages
  • 345 Tools
  • 345 Tricks of the trade
  • 345 TV and presidents
  • 345 TV and showbiz
  • 345 What makes the ‘news?’
  • 345 What? To do?
  • 345 What’s ‘news?’
  • 365 Assignments
  • 365 Assignments Midterm
  • 365 assignments midterm exam
  • 365 assignments term project
  • 365 assignments term project presentation
  • 365 Calendar
  • 365 Communities Home
  • 365 Course resources
  • 365 Demographics
  • 365 Design principles checklist
  • 365 Design principles for development
  • 365 Emergency response/public safety
  • 365 Labor force
  • 365 Lecture material power
  • 365 Participation and community-based research
  • 365 Policies
  • 365 questions and issues
  • 365 Readings
  • 365 Smart Growth
  • 365 Some questions to ask
  • 365 sources infrastructure
  • 365 Water resources
  • 365 Week 6 readings
  • 370 ‘Tropic of Chaos’
  • 370 A page from the skeptic’s playbook
  • 370 Americans’ stuff–hands off!
  • 370 Buddhist Economics
  • 370 Climate change: Action
  • 370 Discussion forums
  • 370 Earth
  • 370 End of term survey
  • 370 Energy
  • 370 Environment and humans
  • 370 Environmental ethics
  • 370 Environmental movements, timeline (an abridged version)
  • 370 Environmental Racism
  • 370 Glaciation and glaciers
  • 370 Global warming: How high are the stakes?
  • 370 Grades
  • 370 Humans and greenhouse gases
  • 370 Humans and natural resources
  • 370 Humans and natural resources
  • 370 Humans and the environment
  • 370 Miscellaneous
  • 370 More on energy
  • 370 Movements
  • 370 Overshoot
  • 370 Persuasion and warming
  • 370 Population growth and the ‘tragedy of the commons’
  • 370 Property
  • 370 Property
  • 370 Quizzes
  • 370 Risk Society
  • 370 Summary
  • 370 Summary Week 7
  • 370 Summary-outline
  • 370 The greenhouse effect
  • 370 Thinking about technology
  • 370 Understanding change
  • 370 University
  • 370 Website Analysis
  • 370 Week 4 Summary
  • 370 Wise use vs environmentalism (according to Arnold)
  • 370 Your carbon footprint
  • 370 Your carbon footprint
  • 371 Assignment: Final reflection/journal
  • 371 Assignments Remote
  • 371 Assignments: On site
  • 371 calendar on site
  • 371 Calendar remote
  • 371 Class attendance
  • 371 Class outline
  • 371 Course Resources 
  • 371 Definitions
  • 371 Discussion forums
  • 371 European colonialism
  • 371 History
  • 371 Industrialization and risk
  • 371 Overheard …
  • 371 Participation (attendance) on site
  • 371 POET: A model of social change
  • 371 Policies
  • 371 Readings
  • 371 Summary/analysis of readings
  • 371 Technology & Society
  • 371 Technology & Society Home
  • 371 The resource process
  • 371 Thinking about change
  • 371 Thinking about technology
  • 403 Capstone Getting Started
  • 403 Field placement
  • 403 Final paper
  • 403 Journal
  • 403 Learning Objectives
  • 403 Research component
  • 454 Social Theory
  • 454 What’s going on?
  • 460 Analysis of development measures
  • 460 Assignments
  • 460 Calendar
  • 460 Change happens
  • 460 Change happens (part 2)
  • 460 City life
  • 460 Conventional assumptions of development
  • 460 Course Resources
  • 460 Design principles.
  • 460 Development
  • 460 Development and colonialism
  • 460 Discussion forums
  • 460 Factory work
  • 460 Farming and gender
  • 460 Farming systems
  • 460 Gender and poverty
  • 460 Gender bias
  • 460 Important dates on campus
  • 460 Informal sector
  • 460 Land tenure
  • 460 Planning
  • 460 Policies
  • 460 Power and women
  • 460 Power, tradition, authority
  • 460 Power, women, and the state
  • 460 Privilege systems
  • 460 Quizzes
  • 460 Reading schedule
  • 460 Roots of development
  • 460 Rural urban migration
  • 460 Sex trafficking
  • 460 Social movements: Incorporating gender, then environment
  • 460 Structural adjustments
  • 460 Summarizing development
  • 460 Summarizing women and environment
  • 460 Term project
  • 460 The future …
  • 460 Thinking about change
  • 460 Violence: A public health issue
  • 460 Week 1 Summary Outline
  • 460 Week 3 wrap-up
  • 460 Week 5 Summary
  • 460 Week 6 outline
  • 460 Women and health
  • 460 Women in Poor Countries
  • 460 Women, development, and social movements
  • 460 Writing (in discussion forums)
  • A day in the McLife
  • Academic year 2023-24
  • All Courses
  • Assignment: News media paper
  • Assignments on campus: Group discussion
  • Assignments: Midterm exam
  • Authority
  • Community Development and Social Capital
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 205
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 327
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 344
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 345
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 370 Environment & Society
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 371
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 403
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 420
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 454
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc 460
  • Dr Bill Courses Offered Soc-315
  • dr-bill-courses offered
  • Elementor #9301
  • Extra credit: Course evaluation
  • Fall 22′ Courses
  • Filtering the news
  • Giddens and Bourdieu
  • Global warming and humans
  • Global warming: Harmless (no)? Hopeless (no)?
  • Global warming: Some facts
  • Global warming: Some trends
  • Global warming: Understanding the scientific case, concepts
  • Greenhouse Effect
  • Home
  • How to think about addressing social problems
  • Important dates
  • Journalism ethics: Act independently
  • Journalism ethics: Be accountable
  • Journalism ethics: Minimize harm
  • Journalism ethics: Seek the truth and report it
  • Journalistic ethics and standards
  • Lareau’s thesis: Comparing child-rearing practices
  • Left and right stereotypes
  • Marx: Some terms and concepts
  • McDonaldization
  • McDonaldization and irrationality: Outline and resources
  • McDonaldization and Reality TV
  • McDonaldization as social problem: Applying the SP framework
  • McDonaldization as social problem: Irreversible trend?
  • McDonaldization as social problem: Outline and resources
  • McDonaldization as social problem: Supersize that cage 4 U?
  • McDonaldization: A primer
  • McDonaldization: Applying the principles
  • McDonaldization: Outline and resources
  • Media and politics (outline)
  • Media as social problem?
  • Media as social problem?
  • Media bias (outline)
  • Media bias?
  • Media paper
  • Media Structure
  • Midterm exam
  • Money and politics
  • More on social problems
  • Natural resources
  • Natural resources: Are we running out?
  • Neolexicon
  • new file
  • News media: Coverage of the presidential election
  • On campus assignments: ‘Wednesday’ projects
  • On campus assignments: Community projects
  • On campus assignments: Exams
  • Online assignment: Weekly ‘share’
  • Orwell and 1984
  • Orwell: Outline and resources
  • Overshoot: Is there a problem, Officer?
  • Participation (attendance)
  • Poetry Korner
  • Poetry korner: Change
  • Poetry korner: In the village
  • Poetry korner: On the street
  • Poetry korner: Random miscellany
  • Poetry korner: Rants
  • Pot-Pourri du jour
  • Publications
  • Quotable
  • Rationalization
  • Reflection paper: Your welfare philosophy
  • Small group discussion: Readings schedule
  • Small groups: AI
  • Small groups: Conspiracism
  • Small groups: Smart phones
  • Small groups: The McMusic Industry
  • Small groups: The McSignment
  • Soc 205 Campus Resources
  • Soc 205 Discussion Forums
  • Soc 205 End of term survey
  • Soc 205 Lecture Pages
  • Soc 205 Left vs Right Stereotypes
  • Soc 205 Quizzes
  • Soc 205 Reading Week 1
  • Soc 205 Reading Week 2
  • Soc 205 Reading Week 3
  • Soc 205 Reading Week 4
  • Soc 205 Reading Week 6
  • Soc 205 Reading Week 8
  • Soc 205 Readings Framing war and terrorism
  • Soc 205 Readings Week 5
  • Soc 205 Readings Week 7
  • Soc 205 Readings Week 9
  • Soc 310 Climate and Migration
  • Soc 315 Online assignments discussion forums
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 10
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 2
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 3
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 4
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 5
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 6
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 7
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 8
  • Soc 315 Reading Week 9
  • Soc 315 Readings Week 1
  • Soc 315 Writing in discussion forums
  • Soc 344 How to trick friends and influence suckers
  • Soc 345 Assignments on campus exams
  • Soc 345 course evaluation
  • Soc 345 Four stratagems of persuasion
  • Soc 345 Glossary
  • Soc 345 Heuristics
  • Soc 345 Psychology of persuasion
  • Soc 345 Reading Week 10
  • Soc 345 Reading Week 3
  • Soc 345 Reading Week 4
  • Soc 345 Reading Week 5
  • Soc 345 Reading Week 6
  • Soc 345 Reading Week 7
  • Soc 345 Reading Week 8
  • Soc 345 Reading Week 9
  • Soc 345 Readings Week 1
  • Soc 345 Readings Week 2
  • Soc 345 Some advice
  • Soc 365 Assignments Community Event
  • Soc 365 Assignments Interview Project
  • Soc 365 Course resources Demographics
  • Soc 365 Small group discussion
  • Soc 365 Smart growth
  • Soc 365 week 1 readings
  • Soc 365 Week 10 readings
  • Soc 365 Week 2 readings
  • Soc 365 Week 3 readings
  • Soc 365 Week 4 readings
  • Soc 365 Week 5 readings
  • Soc 365 Week 7 readings
  • Soc 365 Week 8 readings
  • Soc 365 Week 9 readings
  • Soc 370 Assignments
  • Soc 370 Buddhist Economics
  • Soc 370 Environment & Society
  • Soc 370 Environmental racism (and justice)
  • Soc 370 final study guide
  • Soc 370 Heuristics
  • Soc 370 Important dates
  • Soc 370 midterm study guide
  • Soc 370 On campus assignments term projects
  • Soc 370 Policies
  • Soc 370 Reading Week 8
  • Soc 370 Readings
  • Soc 370 Readings Week 1
  • Soc 370 Readings Week 10
  • Soc 370 Readings Week 2
  • Soc 370 Readings Week 3
  • Soc 370 Readings Week 4
  • Soc 370 Readings week 5
  • Soc 370 Readings Week 6
  • Soc 370 Readings Week 7
  • Soc 370 Readings Week 9
  • Soc 370 Risk Society
  • Soc 370 Risk Society What’s that?
  • Soc 370 Week 1
  • Soc 454 – Where does theory come from?
  • Soc 454 Assignments
  • Soc 454 Assignments: (bi) weekly ‘share’
  • Soc 454 Bureaucracy
  • Soc 454 Calendar
  • Soc 454 capitalism
  • Soc 454 Discussion forums
  • Soc 454 Durkheim and suicide
  • Soc 454 Extra credit opportunities
  • Soc 454 Haiku forum
  • Soc 454 Main Reading Page
  • Soc 454 Marx: Some terms and concepts
  • Soc 454 on campus calendar
  • Soc 454 Policies
  • Soc 454 Privilege systems
  • Soc 454 Quizzes
  • Soc 454 Reading Week 2
  • Soc 454 Reading Week 3
  • Soc 454 Reading Week 4
  • Soc 454 Reading Week 6
  • Soc 454 Readings Week 1
  • Soc 454 Readings Week 10
  • Soc 454 Readings Week 5
  • Soc 454 Readings Week 6
  • Soc 454 Readings Week 7
  • Soc 454 Readings Week 8
  • Soc 454 Readings Week 9
  • Soc 454 summary week 1
  • Soc 454 term project resources
  • Soc 454 Testing Theory
  • Soc 454 Week 3 Reading
  • Soc 454 Writing in discussion forums
  • Soc 460 Assignments (on campus)
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 1
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 10
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 2
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 3
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 4
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 5
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 7
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 8
  • Soc 460 Reading Week 9
  • Social Problems 205 Assignments
  • Social Problems 205 Calendar
  • Social Problems 205 Policies
  • Social Problems 205 Readings
  • Social Problems 205 Resources
  • Social Problems 206 Home
  • Social problems: How are they framed (and by whom) for public consumption?
  • Social problems: Thinking about consequences
  • Social problems: Thinking about who benefits
  • Social problems: What to do, and who to do it?
  • Social Theory 454 Term Project
  • Social Theory Rational Choices?
  • Sociology for children of all ages
  • Some basic questions: A framework
  • Some news sources
  • Structure and agency
  • Stuff
  • That’s TV Entertainment (part II)
  • Tragedy of the commons (outline)
  • War and terrorism: Concepts
  • War and terrorism: Context
  • Website assignment list
  • Week 9 Summary
  • What are social problems?
  • What is a social problem?
  • What’s driving global warming?
  • When rationalization turns irrational
  • Where Does theory come from Part 2?
  • Work hard, play by the rules, and … ?

Stuff

  • Poetry Korner
  • Quotes
  • Miscellaneous
  • Sociology for children (of any age)

Links (Academic Year 2024-25)

 

Research

Courses offered

Stuff

Senior Capstone (Soc 403)

Message to ’21 graduates

Anth/Soc home

Soc/Soc welfare checksheet

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All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as being self-evident.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Dr. Bill Grigsby
Dr. Bill GrigsbyProfessor of Sociology

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