SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION/CULTURE AND MEDIA
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION/CULTURE AND MEDIA
For this week, select one of the following prompts to begin the discussion. During the week, we will bring our ideas on sociology, culture, and media together.
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Sociologist C. Wright Mills preferred to call the sociological perspective the sociological imagination, and he saw it transforming personal troubles into public issues. Let’s begin our discussion this week by considering the topic of suicide. Suicide, as we have learned this week from reading about Durkheim, is a social act as well as a personal act.
Let’s use our sociological imaginations to consider suicide as a social phenomenon. What are some aspects of social integration and social regulation that would influence an individual’s decision about suicide?
CULTURE AND MEDIA
From an ethnocentric perspective, other cultures look “weird,” but to an outsider, so does ours. From a cultural relativist perspective, different ways of doing things are simply different.
Think of what you have learned about a particular culture. How much have you relied on media to gain your knowledge? Which forms of media have you relied upon?
SOCS185 Culture and Society
Week 2 Discussion
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITIES AND INEQUALITIES
Sociologists believe that our very personalities, that which we think are most personal to us and makes us unique, are actually the result of an ongoing socialization process as we engage with others in our social worlds. This explains why people only date others within their own race or of other races. It explains why we crave certain foods and listen to particular types of music.
Who have been your primary and secondary agents of socialization, and how do they continue to influence you?
As we can see with processes of socialization, we all belong to many groups and organizations, whether or not we have chosen to do so. Do you feel that groups and organizations primarily operate through exchange, cooperation, competition, conflict, or coercion?
In what way(s) has one of these groups shaped your own personal identity?
SOCS185 Culture and Society
Week 3 Discussion
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: CONSIDERING RACE AND ETHNICITY
What is the American Dream? What are we reading this week that will help us frame this discussion? When it comes to social mobility, the American Dream is something that we hear a lot, and we may take for granted that everyone knows and agrees on what it means. Has your family experienced significant upward or downward mobility over the past three or four generations? How do you think your values and behavior might differ had you experienced the opposite pattern of mobility? How might it have been different had your family been of a different ethnic or racial origin?
Earlier in the semester, we talked about a situation, circumstance, or identity being both a personal and a public issue. As we discuss race, we first have to understand that there is no biological basis for what we call race. Indeed, the classifications of race that we see in the Western world today were developed by a botanist. As offensive as we may find Linnaeus, do you see where his categories provide the basis for racial stereotypes that still exist today? Read more at http://www.understandingrace.org (Links to an external site.).
Is our race more a matter of how we view yourselves or of how others view us? In what ways is how you view yourself as a racial person influenced by our society and culture?
SOCS185 Culture and Society
Week 4 Discussion
SEX, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
How many ways can you think of in which you “perform” your gender? We’ve read about how our gender identities are socially constructed through toys and by rituals such as team sports and beauty pageants. This socialization influences our day-to-day experiences, including which bathrooms we are permitted to use.
https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/_video.true/sociology_2017_blue_chalk_videos-The_Debate_in_Washington_State (Links to an external site.)
How comfortable would you be using a bathroom that was not specified as either for males or females?
When sociologists study sexuality, they distinguish among desire (physical attraction), behavior (sex), and identity. How do factors such as body size, skin color, and physical ability influence how you perceive sexual attractiveness? How do you suppose your choices and decisions have been socialized? How might you behave differently if your body were a different size?
SOCS185 Culture and Society
Week 5 Discussion
FAMILIES AND AGING
Sociologists stress that aging is not just a reflection of life expectancy and biology but also the social structure of the broader society. One aspect of society is the family. Consider the photo below.
What does this photo make you think about in relation to
aging;
family; and
relationships?
Use this image and your thoughts about it as a starting point to consider the sociology of aging. What do we think of aging in society? How do family, culture, and other social attributes influence our perceptions of aging, life span, and expectations?
SOCS185 Culture and Society
Week 6 Discussion
EDUCATION, ECONOMY, AND WORK
From the structural-functional perspective, each of us here has pursued a degree in higher education to enter the job market, expand our professional network, or advance our careers. By contrast, the conflict perspective suggests that pursuing a degree will put us farther in debt, thus maintaining economic inequality and creating a sense of rootlessness.
Think about your own life. How much time do you spend at work and with others related to school work? How much time do you spend interacting with people online rather than in person with loved ones?
SOCS185 Culture and Society
Week 7 Discussion
POLITICS, RELIGION AND OUR ENVIRONMENTS
What are some of the ways that religion intersects with politics, age, and race in the United States of America? What about in another country?
What is a global footprint? What steps do you and members of your family take to lessen your impact on the environment? What items do you reduce your usage of, recycle back into other products, or reuse for another purpose?
SOCS185 Culture and Society
Week 8 Discussion
COMING BACK TO RESEARCH
Research is fundamental in the social sciences. A common data collection method is the survey. Let’s look at the survey as a social scientist.
Navigate to the DeVry portal (http://my.devry.edu) (Links to an external site.). At the student portal, enter your DSI# and the password used to log into the student portal and navigate to the End of Course Evaluations and Student Satisfaction Survey directly from the home page. Locate the Quick Links section on the left side of the home page, scroll to the bottom of the page, and select the link for Surveys.
Now, let’s discuss the merits and flaws of this survey instrument. Which questions would you add? Which would you delete? What questions would you change? What questions would you keep the same?
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