So our summer session comes to a close this week. Six weeks, 19 lectures, some of them in a very hot environment - we made it through our fast and very surface level survey of what sociologists study and how they go about it. We've used the sociological imagination to briefly examine how we construct our social realities, the construction of categories that are then the basis on which power, privilege, and prestige are systematically distributed, the ways that the intersections of race, class, and gender at which we each exist structure how we experience health and illness, education, and fami ..read more

This week we continued our survey of topics that sociologists study by examining the sociology of health and the sociology of family. Option 1: In this article, the author tells a story about the life and death of a poor white woman. Read and analyze this article using the sociological concepts we discussed in class. Specifically, identify and use the elements of social determinants theory, psycho- social, materialist, and the fundamental causes theories, to explain Crystal Wilson's life and death? Finally, be sure to consider the author's analysis - what might you add or argue with (if this ..read more

This week we discussed gender and race as socially constructed categories that serve as the basis for differential distribution of power, prestige, and privilege. Our systems of gender and racial stratification shape individuals' life chances and lived experiences in a variety of ways. This week: Option 1: We discussed gender as "achieved," that is, we "do" gender and we are held "accountable" for how well we achieve (or don't) gender. Use these concepts to discuss a time when you failed to achieve your gender, and how you were held accountable. Did you purposefully fail to "achieve?" Why? Y ..read more

This week we have covered the Introduction to Deviance and Social Control and the Sociology of Stratification and Poverty. You may choose one of the THREE following prompts for your blog this week. Option 1 This week we discussed the social construction of deviance, which we conceptualized as formal deviance (violation of laws) and informal deviance (minor transgressions of social norms). We also learned about the construction of social control, or the mechanisms that create normative compliance. Parallel to how we think about deviance, we can categorize social control mechanisms as formal an ..read more

Option 1 This week we are discussing the sociology of culture and media. For your blog post, choose a cultural "object" and analyze it sociologically. Use our discussion of weddings as a model. Your "object" could be anything really, a song, an item, a social practice, etc. In your post, be sure to define material and non-material culture. Then, discuss the components of material and non-material culture that are relevant to the object you've chosen; that is, you should link the material and the symbolic. Be specific and thorough; you might find that pictures and/or other media might help ..read more

Thank you so much for your hospitality in class.  I enjoyed speaking with you all about research methods and I hope you found the discussion useful and interesting.  I especially appreciate your patience with my technical difficulties! As you go forward in your studies, especially in sociology, you now have a fundamental understanding that methods are always (well, most often) attached to theory - either testing it from the deductive approach or building it from the inductive approach.   You also now have a keen skeptical eye for operationalization - how a particular conce ..read more

This week in class we've begun our study of sociology by defining the "sociological imagination," a term coined by sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1967 to describe the sociological perspective that connects micro-level individual experiences and macro-level social institutions. In your first blog do the following: Introduce yourself. Tell us something about you (that you don't mind being on the very public forum of the Internet) that will help us get to know you. Explain the sociological imagination in your own words. Try to write as if you are explaining to someone who has never read or ..read more

Welcome to the Sociology Considerations Blog. This blog is meant to add to our in-class discussions and readings. Our face-to-face time is limited and often focused on information "delivery." So this space will provide another outlet for us to interact with the material and each other. As sociologists, we examine what we take-for-granted in everyday life in order to develop a “sociological imagination” that helps us see the connections between micro-level individual experiences and macro-level social institutions. This blog provides a space to take sociological concepts fro ..read more

Well, we've come to our final blog post (besides your long-form post, which I am looking forward to!). I'm curious to know about your thoughts on the importance of public/applied sociology. Is it important for social scientists to find ways to connect with public audiences and make social science research accessible and relevant to the public discourse? Is it important for social scientists to practice public sociology in terms of their research questions and designs? Why or why not? And finally, was this class, and this line of questioning, useful to you? How or how not? And, if you're in ..read more

Prompt #3 Choose a piece of sociological research that is relevant to your chosen topic and that you think the public should know about. Write a post that explains the research topic and question, the research methods, and the key findings. Tell them why this matters! Prompt #5 & #7 (responses to #4 and #6) Read your peers' popular media or cultural object links. Write a post that describes your observations about how social issues are presented to the public. What do you notice? Whose perspectives are represented? Whose are not? Are they informed by social science? What concerns do you h ..read more