| About the Editors |
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| Note from the Editors to the Students |
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xv | |
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Puzzling Over Theoretical Perspectives |
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3 | (4) |
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Are you nervous about theory? This exercise is a fun way to begin to think about the role of theory in the discipline of sociology. You will be asked to get into a group and then collectively work a puzzle under timed conditions. This task can help reduce any anxiety that you might have about working with theories |
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Observation of the Social World: Marketing |
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7 | (2) |
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Groups of you and your classmates will analyze the social world around you---specifically, the world of shopping, In the spirit of grounded theory, the groups will generate some propositions or broad theories that explain the patterns that they observe |
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Faculty Doors as Symbolic Statements |
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9 | (2) |
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This active exercise uses naturally occuring symbolic statements---postings on faculty office doors---to help you develop skills of observation, understand the sociological imagination, develop group cohesion, and understand one aspect of campus culture. What do your faculty post on their doors? |
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11 | (2) |
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You will experience and explore the challenge of creating knowledge about social life through an important research method used by sociologists: experiments. You will also work with the scientific process, the steps through which sociologists and other scientists conduct their investigations. This experiment explores whether attachment between people affects whether help is offered |
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13 | (8) |
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Here is your chance to choose a research topic with your classmates, to operationalize that concept, to write survey questions that get at the issue, to collect the data, and to interpret that information. Welcome to sociology |
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Understanding Social Location |
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21 | (2) |
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By reading and discussing some shocking fictional accounts, we hope you will come to see that as humans, we have a habit of looking at other people's worlds as we look into our own, and we make assumptions based on what we know is the norm or the truth. Yet, others in a different social location might see things differently |
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23 | (8) |
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Every social situation functions through the recognition and maintenance of norms. These prescriptions for apperance and behavior are both formal (written) and informal (expected), yet we typically pay little conscious attention to them. This assignment (group and individual) offers systematic practice in the recognition and analysis of norms in everyday life situations |
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The Symbolic Basis of Culture: The Cultural Cocktail Party |
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31 | (4) |
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Welcome to the cultural cocktrail party---a fun group exercise involving role playing that will enable you to understand the importance of non-material or symbolic culture (and specifically, the use of gestures and personal space to convey meanings in different cultures) |
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Investigating Student's Rooms |
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35 | (6) |
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This group assignment has you studying the familiar. Through an investigation of the contents of student's rooms, you will learn about material culture and research methodology, develop oral presentation skills, learn teamwork (in other worlds, Planning and executing a project), and create a more student-centered classroom |
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Application Exercise on Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism |
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41 | (6) |
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In this group writing assignment, you will learn to view the world with different lenses by analyzing specific cases or situations. The focusd in on the concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. How do people from different cultures view an event, and why? |
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Socialization And Interaction |
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47 | (6) |
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The purpose of this individual and group exercise is to give you a chance to analyze how children learn about gender. You will begin with a visit to a children's clothing or toy store so that you can observe the items that are offered for sale. By analyzing the gender makeup of children's toys and/or clothes, you will have a chance to see how gender and socialization work in the real world |
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Leadership, Gender, and the Invisible Ceiling |
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53 | (6) |
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This activity is a survey exercise in which you gather some data from about 25 Students---male and female---that enable as to reflect on social conceptions of masculinity and feminity and our society's definitions of leadership. Understanding that our definitions of leadership charactersitics tend to correspond very highly to our society's definitions of masculinity can help us understand forces that contribute to the invisible ceiling |
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A Play Based on Goffman's Theory of Dramaturgy |
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59 | (6) |
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This assignment is designed to help convery the nature of social interactions at the micro level in everyday life. Goffman's Theory of Dramaturgy was chosen because it gets at the details of behavior in a way that is compatible with our mass media-oriented society, where we encounter acting and actors perhaps even more often than intimate relationships. You and your peers will create a glossary of definitions for concepts from Goffman's theory and then write a three-act play |
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Groups And Social Influence |
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65 | (2) |
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You are all members of the president's council on the planet Thorion. Thorion has been nominated for the title of Best Model Society. You will be involved in this application/selection process. Diversity and multiculturalism are complex concepts, and this exercise will help you sort through some of the possible minority/majority group relationships |
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Stereotyping and Labeling |
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67 | (2) |
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Stereotypes are specific assumptions about what people are like based on previous associations with them or with people who have similar characteristics, whether true or false. People's stereotypes in fluence their expectations and actions. This individual and group exercise focuses on the origin of stereotypes in the United States and the power of racial and ethnic labels |
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69 | (4) |
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Building on previous group assignments, this exercise enables you to analyze what factors about your group influenced how the process worked. What might explain the particular dynamics of your group? Did leaders or other roles emerge? Can you track how decisions were made? Learning to analyze group dynamics can be a valuable skill to take into your future workplace |
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The Seed Jar: Social Construction of Reality |
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73 | (4) |
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This exercise asks you or your classmates to solve a problem with unclear guidelines for how to do it. Analyzing just how individuals came up with answers can help increase your awarenes of various influences on the ways in which people make sense of other ambiguous situations |
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Guided Fantasy: The Titanic Game |
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77 | (4) |
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This time, your ship is going down: survivors will be few; and your group will have to make life-and-death decisions. This exercise will bring issues of social status and social inequality into focus, as was the case with the real Titanic and the list of who actually survived its sinking. Do you think that social class position still affects life-and-death decisions? |
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Social Inequality: Budgeting for a Law Income |
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81 | (12) |
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Doing this exercise will enable you to determine, first of all, what it actually costs to live in the community where you are, and second, what it would be like to budget out a low income so that you could live reasonably in the community within your means. No sooner do you have the budget all worked out when along comes some new expense that you have to consider |
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Occupation and Income Exercise |
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93 | (2) |
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In this exercise, you are asked to consider why we pay more for some jobs than others. Your group will have to divide a specific sum among workers who are doing different kinds of work. On what basis do you decide who gets what amount of income? Sociologists try to explain patterns in society. Do their theories help you analyze and explain the different levels of income associated with different jobs? |
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95 | (4) |
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By using tables that report real earnings for men and women of specific educational levels in this country, you will have the chance to talk about what you feel the statistics tell us about people's lives. Do they help you consider the impact of these income differentials for divorced men and women? You will have the chance to consider how you feel about this information and the group discussion about it |
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Organizations And Bureaucracy |
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Structural Change at Your College of University |
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99 | (2) |
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By comparing a much older organizational chart of your school with one from today, you will be able to see how your college or university has changed structurally as an organization. What kinds of changes have occured, and what might explain these changes? See whether you can relate these organizational changes to other changes that have occurred both inside and outside your college or university during this time period |
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Critique of Student Government |
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101 | (8) |
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Here is an opportunity to consider what you would like your student government to do for you and then to investigate systematically what it is currently doing. This Government operates right on your doorstep, which makes it accessible to you. Or is it accessible? You will have the chance to work with a group over a number of weeks to find out how closely this government in operation meets your vision |
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Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation |
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A Group Exercise in Affirmative Action |
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109 | (4) |
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To do this exercise, you will need to apply the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its executive order to specific situations, such as admitting certain students (and not others) to medical school (or, in the case of a private firm, promoting some workers to supervisory positions) You will need to devise a plan to guide and justify your decisions while upholding the law, but you will have your group to help you |
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Critically Thinking About Race Through Visual Media |
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113 | (6) |
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In a major group project over a number of weeks, you will tape from the television examples of subtle messages about non-white groups. Presenting your edited selections to your whole class will enable you to show and tell how the media can make certain images of different racial groups seem to be a natural part of the way things are in society (when in fact, they are manipulating that picture) |
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Drawing Pictures: Race and Gender Stereotypes |
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119 | (4) |
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We all have stereotypes in our minds, and this exercise helps get some of them out on the table---literally. Doing this activity early in a course will help you see the ways in which we organize an image of people in our minds and even adapt the names that we give to people to our image |
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123 | (8) |
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During class time, you will be asked first to consider the societal attitudes towards gays and lesbians. Then, some class members will act out a coming-out scene (that they create) between a young person and his or her parents. The goal here is not to judge homosexuality as positive or negative; rather, the objective is to consider the various ways that attitudes in society might influence the different family members. Role playing enables you to imagine what a gay or lesbian young person and his or her parents might be thinking and feeling |
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131 | (4) |
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You and your classmates will conduct a small interview survey in order to identify the common images that people have about crime and criminals. Pooling the findings from all class members, you can consider what patterns emerge from at least these respondents. Often, the images that we carry with us over-simplify reality and leave out important categories and characteristics |
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135 | (4) |
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This exercise will enable you to explore in depth the key concept of deviance. Answering the worksheet questions requires consulting your book chapter on deviance or deviant behavior and then working with your classmates to develop a group answer. Groups will then debate each other as to whether or not date rape can be considered deviant, according to the definitions that you developed. This practice in how to build a coherent, logical argument will help develop an essential skill for your academic work and beyond |
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Drug Testing in the Workplace: What Would You Do? |
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139 | (4) |
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In a hypothetical case study, the owner of an accounting firm begins conducting mandatory drug testing of employees, and one male employee (single, age 28) tests positive. He denies illegal drug use. You and your group need to decide what should happen next. The exercise enables you to debate the real-life issue of mandatory drug testing in the workplace as well as analyze what sociological theories say about how people get identified as deviant and with what consequences |
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143 | (4) |
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This activity is an in-class exercise that asks you to work in pairs---each tapping on the back of your partner's hand according to a rhythm and intensity led by the instructor. After the tapping part is over, you will reflect on what occurred and consider a sociological explanation for what happened. You will also be asked to reflect on implications for other similar social situations in which young people are guided by others (such as peers and people in authority) |
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Collective Behavior, Social Movements, Social Change |
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Studying a Collective Behavior Episode |
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147 | (4) |
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Over several weeks, your team will conduct field research about your choice of a fad, a crowd, or a disaster. You will gain research skills as you gather your data, and you will learn how to analyze those data by using conceptual tools relating to collective behavior. Finally, you will likely gain empathy for other people whose experiences are different from yours, because field research can take you close to their world |
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151 | (4) |
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With this exercise, you have the opportunity to explore in depth your own family history. You will conduct interviews with six family members, going back as many generations as possible. As you and your classmates share stories, you will see the impact of common social and historical factors as well as individual differences. Your final essay will consider both the extent of societal influences on your family and the extent of the family history on who you are |
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Studying a Social Movement Organization |
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155 | (6) |
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You will gather information about the goals, of an organization, the kinds of activities that it engages in to reach those goals, who its opponents are, and how it competes for resources. What are the purpose and tactics of this social movement? Teams of students are called upon for an in-depth analysis of a social movement organization |
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Families Across Cultures in the Media |
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161 | (4) |
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Using the sociological approach to study the family, you will ignore the individual people involved and look instead at the institution of the family and how it operates. The family as an institution operates according to a set of norms, roles, statuses, and values. In this assignment, you will observe and analyze two fictional families (on video). You will have the opportunity to develop your sociological imagination, apply core course concepts, and collaborate with peers for a quality analysis of the family |
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Parenthood: Defining Family |
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165 | (2) |
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In order to confront changing definitions of what constitutes a family, you will be asked to decide who the child of a surrogate mother (Baby M) should be raised by. What are the sociological issues relevant to this decision? |
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Housework: Division of Labor |
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167 | (2) |
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This assignment gets you thinking personally about what a household should do (if anything) to change how household labor is divided between two working parents. You will also place your thoughts in the context of a theoretical approach within sociology |
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169 | (2) |
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You will be asked to rewrite the grading system for the sociology course in which you are enrolled. What should count, and for how much? In doing so, you will be asked to think about stratification and the allocation of rewards |
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171 | (2) |
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Define health. This exercise will have you look at this issue and other tough issues related to why some people die and others do not. Good luck---this activity is a little stressful |
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Mapping Census Data for Your Town |
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173 | (10) |
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You are asked to look at the poverty rates, racial diversity, and housing characteristics for your hometown or neighborhood. Given what you know of the place, you are asked to describe why these structural characteristics are distributed the way they are. Where do the wealthy live, and why? How segregated are different neighborhoods, and why? Answer these questions and more with Internet mapping technologies |
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Multi-Topic Assignements/Major Class Projects/General |
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Critical Reports on Contemporary Social Problems |
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183 | (2) |
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You will shoose a social problem in your local community, in the nation, or a more global issue that affects everyone. Writing critically about the problem that you select and attempting to come up with solutions will help you clarify your own perspective and values. You will be able to look at how the problem originated, what has been written about it, and what can be done about it |
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185 | (2) |
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Who are the homeless? Why are there homeless people? gain answers to these questions through a service-learning exercise constructed with the goal of you doing something that you have never done before and confronting your own beliefs head on |
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Social Class Stratification Project |
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187 | (8) |
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Here is a chance for you to intelligently confront the issues of resource distribution and stratification in our society. You and a group of other students will work up a highly detailed budget for a family. Other groups will do the same for families who have different socioeconomics characteristics. The discussion that follows should be quite interesting |
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195 | (4) |
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Music is sociology? It can be, and this assignment enables you to use different songs as examples of sociological concepts. You might even get a chance to bring compact discs of your own into class and demonstrate their sociological relevance |
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199 | (16) |
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Here is your chance to start over. This exercise asks group of students to create their own society. All aspects from family, education, and religion to politics, economics, and culture are on the table for discussion. Have fun, and be creative |
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Course Structure and Process |
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Student Empowerment: Student-Designed Syllabus |
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215 | (6) |
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In this group exercise, you will have the opportunity to help design the syllabus for your introduction to sociology course. According to research, such input can increase your motivation and empowerment in the course |
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221 | (6) |
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Working in groups, you will engage in an analysis of how a class work group (for a class project or assignment) is functioning. You will look at group norms and periodically assess the effectiveness of your group |
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227 | (2) |
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Have you ever had the chance to answer a quiz question with a group of other students? Now is your chance. Your instructor will pose a question that is relevant to a section of the course, and each group will write a response |
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229 | (4) |
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You and a group of other students will take responsibility for leading a discussion on the readings for a section of the course. Your instructor will help you, but this opportunity is your chance to be the teacher |
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233 | (4) |
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Given that there are some sociological topics that your class will not have time to address fully, this exercise enables groups to work together on a presentation of one such topic. You will work with the instructor closely as you educate the rest of your class about the new knowledge |
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237 | |
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Given that there are some controversial yet sociological issues that your class will not have time to address fully, this exercise enables groups to work together to form an argument on one such topic. Different groups in class will argue the pro and con sides of an issue. In doing so, you will become more skilled at constructing quality arguments for what you believe |
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