1.1 A Socially Constructed Introduction; Introducing...

 WELCOME SOCIOLOGY SCHOLARS!

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Syllabus

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Introducing...

The Class

Syllabus 

 Importance of college syllabus in general

 Our syllabus

 

What questions do you need answered to be confident that you can do well in the class?

Fired Up? [Ready to Go!]

Be present; Mindfulness

Mindfulness is an awareness of yourself.  To start each class, I use a mindfulness meditation.  I will ring a bell to signal that we are starting class. This is a reminder to center your thoughts and limit distractions.  This present moment is a gift (that's why it's called the present!) I want you to be in this moment.  I will also give you a thought to meditate on and help you develop your own personal mindfulness.

Mindfulness and Learning

Being mindful means having an appreciation and a focus for the present moment. In this case, we are in class, together. Be present. I value your presence and I feel that each of you can be a teacher for all of us - we are all students and teachers of each other!

There is a lot of evidence that electronic devices and social media are a distraction for not only you but for those around you. One study calls social media the second-hand smoke of learning. So, please mindful of your presence in class. Please try to be in the moment for our class - this is yet another group that we are connected to and an example of how intricately we are connected to other people. Here is more research about the effects of devices and social media on learning:

From, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World,

https://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/539092670/you-2-0-the-value-of-deep-work-in-an-age-of-distraction

Many of us react to the buzzes and beeps that come from our phones with the urgency of a parent responding to a baby's cry. We can't help but pick up our phone and look at the latest notification. We know this probably isn't the healthiest nor the sanest response to a vibrating hunk of a metal, so we tell ourselves we should be less distracted. We shouldn't be so gripped by social media or the churn of work email.  But Cal Newport, a computer scientist at Georgetown University and author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, says we're downplaying the problems created by constant interruption.  "We treat it, I think, in this more general sense of, 'eh, I probably should be less distracted.' But I think it's more urgent than people realize," he says. By letting email and other messages guide our workday, Cal says we're weakening our ability to do the most challenging kinds of work—what he calls "deep work." Deep work requires sustained attention, whether the task is writing marketing copy or solving a tricky engineering problem.

From Science Direct (2013):

Laptops are distracting in class and detrimental to other's learning - they are the secondhand smoke of learning.

We examined the detrimental effects of laptop multitasking on classroom learning.  Learners who multitasked during class had reduced comprehension of lecture material. Learners in-view of multitaskers also had reduced comprehension of lecture material.  Multitasking or being seated around multitaskers impedes classroom learning.

Research from WUSTLE (2015),

The students’ responses to the open-ended questions identified laptop-use by other students as the aspect of the class that was most distracting, followed closely by their own laptop-use.

To better understand the effects of laptop use on learning, Fried used a regression analysis to account for differences in preparation and academic aptitude as measured by high-school class rank and ACT score, respectively. With these controls in place, Fried found a significant, negative relationship between in-class laptop use and course grade. Follow-up correlational analysis also revealed that higher levels of laptop use were associated with lower student-reported levels of attention, lecture clarity, and understanding of the course material.

From Time Magazine (2015):

Exam scores climbed by as much as 6% in schools that imposed strict bans on cell phones, according to a new study that cautions policymakers to keep strict cell phone policies in the classroom.

Researchers at the University of Texas and Louisiana State University surveyed cell phone policies across schools in four English cities since 2001, studying how exam scores changed before and after the bans were enacted.

“We found the impact of banning phones for these students equivalent to an additional hour a week in school, or to increasing the school year by five days,” the study’s authors wrote on the academic blog, The Conversation.

Research from Communication Education in Science News (2015):

“Texting on things that are unrelated to class can hurt student learning,” Kuznekoff found. Overall, the control and class-related-message groups did 70 percent better on the test than did students that could text and tweet about anything. That control and relevant-message groups also scored 50 percent higher on note-taking.

“You’re putting yourself at a disadvantage when you are actively engaged with your mobile device in class and not engaged in what’s going on,” warns Kuznekoff. His team shared its findings in the July 2015 issue of Communication Education.

Research from London School of Economics and Kent State (2016):

The findings of a recent study on student phone access and the achievement gap by Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy for the London School of Economics and Political Science echoed my concerns. “We find that mobile phone bans have very different effects on different types of students,” the authors wrote. “Banning mobile phones improves outcomes for the low-achieving students … the most, and has no significant impact on high achievers.”

… analyses of other academic metrics seem to support limiting students’ smartphone access, too. Researchers at Kent State University, for example, found that among college students, more daily cellphone use (including smartphones) correlated with lower overall GPAs. The research team surveyed more than 500 students, controlling for demographics and high-school GPA, among other factors. If college students are affected by excessive phone use, then surely younger students with too much access to their phones and too little self-control and guidance would be just as affected academically if not more.

Manage Your Attention, Not Your Time (2016)

If there is any one ‘secret’ to effectiveness, it is concentration.

—Peter F. Drucker, management philosopher

“At the end of the day, my brain feels like scrambled eggs!” admitted Phil, an attorney at whose firm I teach. He, like many, was living out the effects of what it means to not prioritize attention in the workday. When distractions abound, how do you find focus to get something done?

Make Attention a Priority

Attention is the basic resource or energy you have to invest in your experience. You are what you attend to. It’s that simple.  Management philosopher Peter F. Drucker understood that going forward truly educated (and effective) people “will need trained perception fully as much as analysis.” In a quickly-changing world, effective people will need to clearly see as much as clearly think. The starting point of this is managing attention and focus. So many stimuli compete for attention, any hope for effectiveness rests on being more conscious of how you use it alone and together with others. 

1. Manage Attention Not Time

People tend to think managing time forms the foundation for able action. Even Drucker thought, “Time is an executive’s scarcest and most precious resource.” However, I believe this is a misperception. Who actually can manage time? Can you make the future come faster or return to the past? Unless you’re a sci-fi hero, no. What people actually do in the flow of time is manage attention.

For example, Phil may block off several hours to work on a case, but if he spends those hours obsessing over baseball stats, we say he mismanaged his time. In reality, his attention wasn’t where it needed to be. No one manages time. We manage our attention.

This point may seem like nitpicking, but I believe it is vital because it gives you a lever you can actually pull. Click on the link above for real-life strategies developed by my students and clients that have worked for them.

Today's lesson:

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? 

Introducing You...

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

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

Google Form for this lesson here.

Big Group Discussion:  1 and 2.

At first glance, it might seem like you are unique.  In my case, I am a Loyola University graduate, a professor and a Chicagoan;  I like basketball, the Cubs, skiing, mountain biking, golfing, gardening, and cooking.  I am a husband and I have three daughters.  All of this might make me sound unique, but all of it also is a result of my connection to others and at the same time, it connects me to others.  We are intimately shaped by other people and society at large, but our culture's fascination with individuality often hides this connection.  Sociology will help us explore this reality.

3.  Now think about how you arrived at this moment in this class.  How did you get here?  Who are all the people that helped you get here today?

Small groups:  Share the people that you came up with. What was one answer that someone said that you had not thought of?

Mindfulness and Sociology

How many different people did you come up with? Did you think of your parents? Probably.  How about your grandparents or great-grandparents?  How about the people who built the roads or the engineers who designed them; The architects who built the building you are sitting in;  The doctors who helped you stay healthy until you reached this age or the dozens of teachers who have taught you over the years.  There are so many people who have affected your ability to be here and now.  Sociology will make us aware of our connections to other people.  Michael Schwalbe called this awareness of our connection to others "Sociological Mindfulness."  Throughout our class, you will see that sociological mindfulness is woven into the lessons and assessments.  

Please wait until we conduct this lesson in class before reading further. 

 

Spit vial or vile spit?  

Note:  (This is a lesson first published in Teaching Sociology (2003) by Brouillette and Turner and updated in ASA's Trails.)  

Imagine that the school was still surveillance testing for Covid.   

Then read about all the ways all of the ways that saliva is beneficial:

Saliva continuously moistens the linings of the mouth, throat, and general bronchial area. Saliva aids in the prevention of infection in these areas. Some cold remedies, for example, so dry out the linings that the microscopic cracks in the linings often bleed and are very susceptible to infection. Also, the admonitions of parents to their children to eat slowly and chew well is not just to prevent choking on large pieces of food. The leisurely eating of food mixes saliva with the food, which shortly thereafter is blended with the gastric acids in the stomach. This compound now sets the stage for a catalytic combination of saliva, food, and gastric juices, which produces optimal digestion. The addition of an adequate amount of saliva allows the body to extract needed nutrients throughout the digestive tract. Finally, saliva offsets the possibility of too much acid in the stomach, and therefore lessens the possibility of heartburn or ulcers. For more on the health benefits of saliva, see WedMD, the NIH Library of Medicine and the ADA

Now, after reading about all the ways that saliva is useful, if you arrived at school and student health services told you that your vial is not needed, would you open the vial and take your saliva back?  Is that gross? Why?

Simply put, the average American will be repulsed by the idea of spitting into a spoon and then swallowing it back again.  However, we are constantly swallowing our own saliva all day long and there is no biological difference between the saliva in your mouth and the saliva on the spoon.  However, we have learned from our society (parents, friends, media) that there is a difference between "saliva" and "spit";  Saliva is in our mouth and is not gross, whereas spit has left our mouths and is gross even if it has not changed at all biologically.  This makes us feel gross and repulsed by "spit".


In his 1966 book with Thomas Luckman, Peter Berger called this idea the "Social Construction of Reality".  To break the idea down:

Social - society/other people

Construction - create

Reality - feelings/experiences

 

In other words, our experiences or how we feel (our reality) is created (constructed) by others (society).  This is called the social construction of reality. 

Social Construction of Spitting Across Cultures

In the US most of us would consider spitting gross.  However, we have learned that in some cases spitting is acceptable.  For example:

• Many of us have been to baseball games and watched players spit all throughout the game. We didn't get repulsed by that.

In fact, during one World Series, Reggie Jackson averaged 19 spits per at-bat!  (see this 1985 article from LA Times about baseball spitters)

 

Another example is when parents or siblings use their saliva to wipe off a baby's face. We don't find that repulsive, but if a teacher even accidentally drops saliva onto a desk it becomes gross. Can you imagine a teacher who spits like a baseball player?  We have been conditioned to accept spitting on the baseball field but not in a classroom.  Watching a teacher spit in a classroom would feel gross and disgusting because we have learned to think that this is unacceptable/gross behavior.  This can be true for many of our experiences; feelings of happiness, sorrow, stress, worry can often be created for us by our of the society.

Because our reaction to spitting is a creation of our society, the reaction to spitting in other countries is different - because it is a different society.  

In other countries, different types of spitting are so common that a British sociology professor, Ross Coomber and his team spent time studying the various types of spitting and he published this paper (2013).  From the BBC,

Ross Coomber, who is a professor of sociology at Plymouth University, will spend about a month visiting six Asian countries.
He said people should take historical and cultural influences into account before forming opinions about those who spit.
He added, in many nations it was an accepted part of their lifestyle.

In Africa, a study in the British Journal of Cancer identified many different spitting practices especially the ways that spit/saliva is used for healing!  From the journal, there are examples of:

(1) the use of saliva in healing and medical practices, 

(2) the use of saliva in initiation or ritual practices and 

(3) the use of saliva in feeding practices. 

Among some ethnic groups...it has been observed that part of the healing and treatment process involves using saliva to treat different ailments: 

Among the Somali, saliva is used in the treatment of all forms of disease (Helander, 1988, p 111)... 

In Tanzania, among the Bena, for the treatment of a boil, the traditional healer chews traditional herbs (mhefefa and munepa) and subsequently uses the chewed and softened herbs to treat wounds (Culwick, 1935, p. 395)... 

Among the Masai of East Africa, the juice of the plant ol giloriti (Acacia abyssinica) is chewed and spit onto the wound by a healer as an astringent (Merker, 1910, p. 247)... 

Among the Azande of Sudan the patient's body is sucked vigorously by the traditional healer (Rattray, 1923, pp 248–250)... 

Also among the Igbo of Nigeria, it is observed that a traditional healer (dibia) will suck the arms, head or abdomen of a new-born baby...

Among the Wolof of West Africa, when a baby is born, it is reported that an elderly woman will visit the mother and infant and subsequently give the infant a blessing by spitting on its face and kissing it....

Among the Nuer of Southern Sudan, it is noted that men spit on the heads of their children on returning from trips and young girls who have not seen each other for some time spit on each other as a form of greeting (Huffman, 1931, p 87)....

In Peru, shamen may use spitting to purify a person with a spiritual bath like the way this shaman did to Anthony Bordain:

The point is that people have learned what to expect from their social groups and those expectations shape how individuals react to situations.  Related to this is the Thomas Theorum which was published by the University of Chicago Professors William Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomas.  The Thomas Theorum says, 

"If people define situations as real, then they are real in their consequences."

4. Explain the theory of the social construction of reality.  

Other Examples of the SCR:

"Bath Rooms" as a Social Construction

Please do not let the example of spit/saliva make you think that the rest of the world is gross while our culture is normal.  Instead, there is no objective normal, there is only the way that each society has affected it's people to feel.   For example, here is an example that you might not realize about how another culture would be grossed out by American culture.  

The Japanese would be grossed out by the typical American bathroom. In Japan, toilets are located in a different room than the shower and bath. Instead, the Japanese "bathroom" is literally a room for bathing.  And not only is the toilet separate from the bathroom, but within the bathroom the shower is always separate from the bath. They see the shower for cleaning and the bath for soaking after you have cleaned.  Instead, Americans freely bath their children in bathtubs and it is seen as a pleasant and cute experience. But many Japanese would feel repulsed by the idea of bathing in one's own filth.

"Food" as a social construction

Other examples of the social construction of food are:

these recipes from Time Magazine or these from AtThirstForFirst.  

How would you feel about eating mountain chicken or closer to home is this recipe for Rocky Mountain oysters.

5. Can you explain, in your own words, how one of the examples above is a social construction?  Just choose one:  spitting, bathing, bathrooms, food.  

Sociological Mindfulness

6. Think about something from your own life; your religion, sports, fashion, college (or being a college student), or something else.  What are some feelings you have about this that you might share with other people/especially strangers? How are your feelings/experiences shaped by what you have learned from people/society?  

Recommended Reading:

Open Stax: Social Constructions of Reality