Post 10: American Culture

This post is due next Wednesday May 17, 2017.

For Post 10, please post about American culture.  Using your sociological imagination, you can explain how living in the United States might affect someone.  We especially focused on cultural values.  Then using your sociological mindfulness you can post about how you might be affected by American cultural values and how you might want to make changes or fight against certain values that our culture promotes.  The nothing experiment is also a way to apply the concept to your own experience.

Don't forget to explain the connection of some sources to sociology.  We have looked at Kohl's The Values Americans Live By, Stefan Schirmer's Bemused in America, the video I Am or  Thrive by Dan Buettner.


Remember to write properly.

Post 9: Culture

For the first half of Culture unit, we began by learning about how we react to different cultures with culture shock and ethnocentrism.  We also learned that sociologists seek cultural relativity when understanding other cultures.  We then learned about the different components of culture: Material culture, and non-material culture: gestures, language, norms (folkways, mores, taboos), and finally values. Finally, we learned that within cultures there are subcultures.

One idea about how to relate these sociology concepts to your own life is to post about if you have ever been to a foreign culture, or,  research a culture and post about how different it is.  Does it have unique components?  What are they?  What sources did you use to find them?

- Be sure to explain multiple sociology concepts and relate them to a unique example from your own life.

- Be sure to explain how two sources relate to these sociological concepts.  Sources can be readings, videoes, websites. (Some sources we have used include: God Grew Tired of Us, Social Time)  Also, remember that you can use your textbook as a source.

- Be sure to write properly, turn it in on time, spell check and proofread.

-Comment on two other posts.

Post 8: Race

For this post, please post about race.  You may wish to talk about the social construction of race (it is not biological), ingroups/outgroups, explicit and implicit bias,  prejudice v. discrimination, and privilege.

As you apply it to your own experiences, you might want to think about: assumptions you have had about race (esp. biological), experiences you have had with other races and/or racism, and how privilege affects you.
Some sources you might want to consider using are:
The Racial Formation reading (in your packet) by Omi and Winant, and Tim Wise's video "White Like Me," the panel, and the various other links and sources on my blogpage.

Post 7: Social Class

For this post, you are required to apply both the movie, The Line, and the reading called Nickel and Dimed.  Please explain the dynamics of social class in the United States.  Explain how The Line and Nickel and Dimed contribute to our understanding of Social Class.  For the sociological content, some of the concepts that were a part of this unit are:  income, wealth, prestige, power, social mobility, poverty and life chances.  For applying these concepts to a unique experience, you might want to use your own family's social class or the social class of your neighborhood/school as an example. This is due next tuesday by class time.

Post 6: Deviance

For this post, explain the concept of deviance and how it is relative.  You may also explain how deviance labels people and creates a stigma as well as how it is connected to social class. Some sources we looked at include Saints and Roughnecks, Courtroom 302, 21 Chump Street (podcast about undercover drug sting), and 30 days in Jail.  Remember to create a unique example from your own life.  One option is for you to experience being deviant by doing an act of positive deviance.