Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - SA 442 E100

Applying the Sociological Imagination (S) (4)

Sociology of Feelings

Class Number: 4955

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Wed, 5:30–9:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Instructor:

    Lindsey Freeman
    lindseyf@sfu.ca
    Office Hours: Thursdays 1:00 – 2:00pm

  • Prerequisites:

    Minimum of 72 units including either SA 101 or SA 150.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Selected Topics in Sociology. Seminar exploring the topic through discussion, and developing original ideas that engage with sociological theory and methods. Course topic varies with the instructor and section. See detailed course outline for more information. Students may repeat this course for further credit under a different topic.

COURSE DETAILS:

Special Topic: Sociology of Feelings

This course takes feelings seriously. Through close readings of theoretical and empirical texts centering feelings, emotions, and affects, we will look at how these phenomena are suffused with the social and political. As we tick off the weeks, we will engage with core texts of affect theory and public feelings scholarship, reading works by scholars and writers like Sara Ahmed, Lauren Berlant, Ann Cvetkovich, Cathy Park Hong, Jose Muñoz, Sianne Ngai, Claudia Rankine, Kathleen Stewart, and others. We will study the ways that feelings such as effervescence and depression are as social and political as they are private and individual. We will explore the gendered and racialized textures of what Ngai calls “bad feelings,” the dangers and potential of nostalgia, and what it feels like to be stuck at an impasse. As we study how political and social structures shape our feelings, we will look to how we might re-think our relationships to politics and to each other. 

Approach:

As we meet each Wednesday, this will be my approach, poached from Roland Barthes:

“What I hope to be able to renew, each of the years it is given me to teach here, is the manner of presentation of the course or seminar, in short, of 'presenting' a discourse without imposing it: that would be the methodological stake, the quaestio, the point to be debated. For what can be oppressive in our teaching is not finally the knowledge or the culture it conveys, but the discursive forms through which we propose them. Since, as I have tried to suggest, this teaching has as its objective discourse taken in the inevitability of power, method can really bear only on the means of loosening, baffling, or at the very least, of lightening this power. And I am increasingly convinced, both in writing and in teaching, that the fundamental operation of this loosening method is, if one writes, fragmentation, and if one teaches, digression, or, to put it in a preciously ambiguous word, excursion.” (p.15)

From “Lecture in Inauguration of the Chair of Literary Semiology,” College of France, January 7, 1977, October 8, 1979 (p. 3 - 16)

Grading

  • participation (includes: showing up, being a good citizen of the classroom and Canvas discussion space, active listening, reading your own work and responding to others) 20%
  • responses in Canvas discussion page (in advance of class meeting whenever possible) 40%
  • longer paper of exactly 3,000 words 40%

NOTES:

Course Policies:

  • Plagiarism or cheating of any kind in the course of academic work is taken very seriously. Academic honesty includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or of reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others—including that of instructors and other students. No AI is allowed in this class. These standards of academic honesty and citation of sources apply to all forms of academic work: examinations, essays, theses, art and design work, oral presentations, and other projects. It is the responsibility of students to follow the rules of proper citation.
  • No recording, photographing or videotaping of the course is permitted without written permission from the professor.

Centre for Accessible Learning (CAL)

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need classroom or exam accommodations are encouraged to register with the Centre for Accessible Learning (CAL) as soon as possible to ensure that they are eligible and that approved accommodations and services are implemented in a timely fashion.

Academic Dishonesty and Misconduct Policy

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology follows SFU policy in relation to grading practices, grade appeals (Policy T 20.01) and academic dishonesty and misconduct procedures (S10.01‐ S10.04).  Unless otherwise informed by your instructor in writing, in graded written assignments you must cite the sources you rely on and include a bibliography/list of references, following an instructor-approved citation style.  It is the responsibility of students to inform themselves of the content of SFU policies available on the SFU website: http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student.html.    

Grading: Where a final exam is scheduled and the student does not write the exam or withdraws from the course before the deadline date, an N grade will be assigned. Unless otherwise specified on the course syllabus, all graded assignments for this course must be completed for a final grade other than N to be assigned. An N is considered as an F for the purposes of scholastic standing.

Grading System: The undergraduate course grading system is A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, F, N (N standing indicates student did not complete course requirements). Intervals for the assignment of final letter grades based on course percentage grades are as follows:

A+ (95-100) | A (90-94) | A- (85-89) | B+ (80-84) | B (75-79) | B- (70-74) | C+ (65-69) | C (60-64) | C- (55-59) | D (50-54) | F (0-49) | N*
*N standing to indicate the student did not complete course requirements

REQUIREMENTS:

  • All texts and films/videos/podcasts assigned for the week should be read, watched, and listened to before our class meetings.
  • Students should attend all class sessions whenever possible.
  • Canvas responses: Exactly 500 words responding to assigned texts or films (adding an image or a song is okay, too)

-- Responses should be well-crafted and polished pieces of writing that demonstrate your understanding of texts, concepts and theories, and your ability to apply them to the world around you. Responses should not simply be summaries of the text.

 

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

All texts will be available online through SFU library or will be uploaded as pdfs on Canvas.

 


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.