Reading: Gang Leader for a Day

 HW:  Read Gang Leader for a Day Introduction by Sudhir Venkatesh

For this excerpt in a Word format you can click here.

Gang Leader For A Day is a book written for popular consumption by Sudhir Venkatesh.  Venkatesh went to the U of Chicago to study sociology. In his quest to conduct research that would help him make a name for himself, he naively put himself into harm’s way.  The excerpt below is from the book's introduction.  As you read, look for the different ways that Venkatesh tries to gather data for his research.  Also, think about what data he gathers is reliable or useful and in what ways.

NOTE: Venkatesh's original publication contained words, including racial epithets, that may be considered offensive by some today. These words were not included in a way meant to be offensive or inflammatory, but instead, the author, Venkatesh was trying to relay his conversations as accurately as possible to the reader.  Nevertheless, I have tried to redact the most offensive words in this excerpt.

For perspective, above is a picture of how the Lake Park Housing Projects looked before they were torn down.

For more info on the Chicago Housing Projects, see this multimedia presentation from UCLA about the Robert Taylor Homes.

Here is a history of high rise public housing from a UC Berkley professor.

Read this critique of Venkatesh's work and answer the question below.

For more info on Venkatesh's work:

• Gang Leader for a Day on Amazon. 
• Read an excerpt from the book and download Venkatesh reading and talking about his book from NPR. 
• Venkatesh speaking on the Colbert Report and he explains that there are important ways of doing research correctly.
• Venkatesh speaking about his book and the research he did.  
• An interview at slate.com between Venkatesh and Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here).

1Soc Perspective 2: Coontz's Teen-Parent Conflicts

As students arrive, please look over the reading for today, Stephanie Coontz's "Putting Teen-Parent Conflicts in Perspective". 

Syllabus questions?

Fired Up?

Listen for the Silence

Answer questions 1-5 on the Google Form for this lesson.

1. Be honest - did you read the whole article?

2. What reading strategies did you use? (mark all that apply)

PRO TIP: The best reading strategies are:

Look for claim/thesis and evidence

Annotate - forces active reading, marks info for finding quickly

Have a "conversation" with the author/reading 

3. What do you think Coontz’s claim/thesis is? Find a passage from the text that summarizes her claim or write your own thesis that summarizes her claim. 

4. What is some evidence she provides that supports her claim? 

5. How confident are you that you understood Coontz's claim and evidence?

Discussion of Coontz's Claim and Evidence

Below is a graph of the median age of first marriage in American history from the US Census Bureau:

6. After we discuss the reading, was your evaluation in number 5 accurate?

7. What do you think worked/didn't work for number 6? What should you continue to do or improve on?

The idea of a teenager has only been around since the 1940s.  Before that, individuals went more from childhood to adulthood very quickly and distinctly.  Now, the process of childhood has a long, drawn-out middle period.  This encompasses the "teenage years" but it also includes what sociologists call "young adulthood."  Sociologists estimate the average age of independence in the United States to be 27.  That is when (on average) individuals can be self-sustaining financially and emotionally and socially enough to have a family and residence of their own.  So this leaves a long middle period between the age of puberty (10) and independence (27).  And throughout that time, there are many mixed messages being given to young adults.  This results in "rolelessness," or a feeling of not knowing what is expected of you during those years.  One example was the lack of meaningful work.  Teens generally have jobs that society deems as unworthy or meaningless.  This can leave teens feeling like they don't matter.  Can you see how Coontz makes that point?  Do you see how that can be true?  

Large Group: Make a timeline of the milestones throughout an average American's life - What are the milestones?  

BIRTH ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 80

Small Group Discussion:

Which milestones are natural?  Which are social? How do these differ?

When is an American independent?  

What are the most important events that consider someone an adult?

For more on the difficulties of determining adulthood:

This 2004 article from Contexts magazine about research showing different routes to adulthood depending on one's race, social class and other factors. 

 

This 2016 brief, called Grownups, from Contexts magazine highlights,   

A new paper by Scott Eliason, Jeylan Mortimer, and Mike Vuolo in Social Psychology Quarterly that seeks to better understand individuals’ perceptions of having finally become grownups. 

Growing Up is Harder to Do.2 - After the Great Recession (Contexts November 2016 is a nice follow-up, highlighting both how sociology explores the ways that inequality shows up n society and how society is dynamic so follow-up research is necessary.

Discontinuous Society?

Small group discussion:  Think about the timeline of events as Americans grow up.  What are the ways that Americans are viewed opposite from childhood to adulthood?

Another way to look at the conflicts sociologically is what Ruth Benedict called continuous and discontinuous societies in her seminal work, Patterns of Culture.  Benedict said that some societies are continuous citing her own studies of indigenous cultures and Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa.  (The relationship and research of Mead and Benedict are detailed in this 2019 article in the Atlantic.)

However, Benedict argued, culture in the U.S. is discontinuous because culturally, children have such different/opposing expectations from adults, especially: 

• irresponsible   -   responsible
• asexual            -   sexual
• submissive      -   dominant
• dependent       -    independent

Kids Up Parents Down is a funny take from Jerry Seinfeld on the discontinuous nature of childhood and adulthood in the U.S.:

Hine's 13

Not the ketchup - that's Heinz 57.  This is Thomas Hine's examination of age 13 and the difficulties that come with being a teenager.

Thomas Hine's book, The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager examines how society has created teens and how it affects them. You can hear the author discussing his ideas here. According to Hine,

Our beliefs, about teenagers are deeply contradictory: They should be free to become themselves. They need many years of training and study. They know more about the future than adults do. They know hardly anything at all. They ought to know the value of a dollar. They should be protected from the world of work. They are frail, vulnerable creatures. They are children. They are sex fiends. They are the death of culture. They are the hope of us all.

Do you see these contradictions in your own life or in the teens around you?

1 A Sociological Introduction

Introducing...
YOU! (and Sociology!)

As students enter, please follow the instructions below:

1.  iPad and Blog

Take out your iPad, open  http://sociologysal.blogspot.com/ and bookmark it.  I will post lessons on the blog each day.  If you miss a class or, if you are simply not sure what the lesson was about, go to my blog page to review the lesson from that day.  

HW:  There are three items for homework posted at the bottom of this page.  The Teen-Parent conflict article is an important touchstone that we will use throughout this unit.  Please read it carefully!

2.  Student Demographics Survey 

I want to get to know each of you better as an individual, so please answer this demographic survey.  It is only for me.  Please share as much info as you are comfortable sharing.  

3. Syllabus

If you finished 1 and 2 above, please begin reading the syllabus which is one of your homework assignments.

----------PAUSE----------

Fired Up?

Bell

I had you fill out the survey above because I wanted to get to know you as an individual.  My question now is, are you, in fact, an individual?  What makes you an individual?  Please answer individually for all of the numbered boldface questions below.  I will do this for each lesson of ours.  Click on the link below and open the Google Form in a new window.  Then read along with the blog and answer questions in the order that they come up.  

Here is the Google Form for today's lesson.  Please open it in a new window.  Answer numbers 1 and 2 and then return to this blog page.

1.  Do you think you are an individual?  Why or why not?

2.  What do you think it means to be an individual?

Sociology

Background:  The Creation of Sociology as an Academic Discipline

 

Sociology was created as a reaction to the profound changes during the late 16th and 17th centuries, especially: The Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution.  

The Scientific Revolution established the scientific method as a standard for understanding the world.

The Enlightenment put forth the concept of individuality and the nature of human beings.

And, The Industrial Revolution brought about changes from:

      Pre-industrial                                                             to  Post-industrial

• an agricultural                                                          to an industrial economy
• rural                                                                          to urban living
• a cottage system                                                       to a factory system method of production
• group identity (tribe, religion, nation, family)         to a belief in individualism

The conglomeration of these changes took hold during the 1800s in Europe.  Three important scholars used the scientific method to study the changes of the industrial revolution and challenge the assumptions about individuality and the Enlightenment.  This inspired the beginning of sociology as a social science discipline.  Each of the three scholars' theories led to the foundational structure that sociology still uses today.

The Western world in general, particularly Americans, like to believe that they are individual and unique.  This idea stemmed from the Enlightenment.   Many scholars at the time doted on the idea that each person is unique and each person is free to choose whoever they want to be.  

However, shortly after the Enlightenment, the industrial revolution changed the way people lived and it showed that individuals are shaped a great deal by their social circumstances and not just by their own free choice.  We will learn more about this in the lessons to come, but for today, see this idea exemplified in the student demographic sheet you filled out. 

People are shaped by structures of society and their place within the structure.   The place you were born and the culture you were born into will shape how you think, talk, and what opportunities you have.  Families, schools, jobs, politics and media all influence how you see the world and what you value and how you think.  Additionally, your race, gender, social class all shape how you see yourself and how others see you.  Sometimes that can result in others treating you differently based on those identities.  All of this is sociological.  Sociology is scientifically studying how these groups in society affect the individuals within them and the obstacles and opportunities they will face because of their group identities.

3.  Any questions about what sociology is?

Syllabus

Here is a link to the syllabus.  

4.  Any questions about the syllabus?

Teen-Parent Conflicts 

5.  Identify some conflicts you have with your parents.  What are they about?

Discuss as a group:

• Do you think these conflicts are personal?
• What is difficult about being a teen?

HW1:  IMPORTANT  Read Parent-teen Conflicts by Stephanie Coontz.  

This is an important reading for this first unit.  Please be sure to read and understand it thoroughly.  It will help make the rest of the lessons this unit easier.

Before you read, think about your answer to number 5 above.  As you read, think about what Coontz attributes the conflicts to.  What is her overall thesis? Can you apply Coontz's theory to your own parent conflicts?

HW2:  Read the full syllabus.

PRO TIP:  ALWAYS read your syllabus for college.  When asking your professors a question about the class, be sure to mention (and demonstrate) that you read the syllabus before asking them.

HW3:   Name Survey

For homework, please survey your family about why you were named the legal name that you have.  If you have a nickname, please ask about that as well.  How and why did you get these names?  Is there a symbolic meaning to your name or why you were named that?

Welcome to Sociology Honors Fall 2021

 Dear Parents and Students,

I am thrilled and humbled to teach Sociology Honors this semester!  I wanted to take this opportunity to not only welcome students to the class but also to provide you with an overview of the class.

Dual Credit

This course is in partnership with Loyola University Chicago which allows students to take a college class while still in high school.  The student can transfer earned credit in this class from Loyola University Chicago to the college they attend.  I will walk students through this during class, but in case you are interested, there is more info available from Loyola here.  In brief, the details are as follows:

• Students register through the Loyola University website.
• Students pay a small fee ($195 or approximately 1/10th of a normal college fee).
• Students get college credit from Loyola for taking this class that can be transferred to whichever college they attend.

This is a terrific opportunity because this college credit can be earned in just one semester and without the pressure of an AP test; students simply earn a grade in this class and that translates to a a grade and credit in their college program.  Additionally, when applying to college, the common app will ask if the student has ever taken a college course.  Not only is this helpful for students competing for college acceptance, but research shows that students who participate in a college level class before entering undergraduate studies do much better when they eventually attend college. 

Sociology as an Academic Discipline

Sociology, perhaps the most modern social science, began as a reaction to the profound changes in society that resulted because of the industrial revolution.  These changes lead to scholars using data and the scientific method to analyze the way that society is structured and how those structures shape the individuals who are in them.  Some of the most studied structures are family, education, and media - all of which influence individuals by creating and maintaining culture and social stability.  But these institutions also create inequalities in how people are treated or see themselves.  Sociology has a deep literature of study around the inequalities of social class, race and gender.  Sociology is a social science and as such it uses scientific study to examine all of those above topics.  It is not a debate class or a class centered around rhetorical arguments.  The social institutions, along with the meanings and inequalities they create, are enumerated competencies in both the American Sociological Association's National Standards for High School Sociology , which I co-authored, and the competencies of Loyola University Chicago.  

About Me and My Philosophy

This is my twenty-third year teaching sociology and over the years I have worked hard to make the class a really valuable experience for students.  I am Co-Chair of the Chicago Area Sociology Teachers (CAST) and Assistant Director of the High School Program for the American Sociological Association (ASA).   Besides meeting the standards explained above, my goal is to use these experiences to make sociology a meaningful and relevant class for your student.  Even if the student does not intend to study sociology in the long run, this class will help to give students new insights about everyday life and increase student mindfulness about themselves as individuals, their interactions with others and their society in general.

As an introductory survey course in sociology, this class aims to provide students with an understanding of how sociologists do research and what the seminal pieces of research in their field reveal.  This scientific analysis of society is useful in many academic disciplines and so sociology is often a prerequisite for other areas of study such as medicine (sociology is on the MCAT), law and criminal justice, nursing, education, and psychology, to name a few. Sociology is excellent preparation for working with diverse people and data. 

If you would like more detailed information about either sociology as a discipline or my class in particular, feel free to request permission and read my course syllabus here which details the lessons and assessment.  Please know that I look forward to teaching your student this semester and I am committed to making the class a rewarding experience for them!

Sincerely,

Chris Salituro

Sociology Team Leader, Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, IL

Adjunct Professor, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL

Co-Chair Chicago Area Sociology Teachers, Wheaton, IL