The Individual and Society: Lesson 1 Nature and Nurture

The Individual and Society:  Nature and Nurture

As we have learned, sociologists study the influence of society on individuals.  This unit will explore the ways that sociologists have researched this influence and some of the conclusions that they have come to.  

In order to know how individuals are influenced by society, let's examine what an individual is before society is able to influence that person.  In other words, when humans are born into the world, what are we before society can influence us?  The influence of society on an individual is what sociologists call socialization.  One way to examine this is to study babies.  In our class, we are going to do a qualitative, cross-cultural examination of babies using the 2010 documentary called, Babies.

Socialization before birth

Before babies are even born, I would argue that they are being influenced.  Desmond Tutu once said that "A solitary individual is not possible.  We come into this world because a community of people came together."  Even before birth, a baby is dependent on its parents for its genes.  And then, it depends on its mother to make the baby's life viable; A prenatal infant can be impacted by the stress that the mother feels as well as the nutrition she gets, and the medical care she receives.  All of these are related to culture. 

Another example of prenatal socialization is in identical twins who have the same exact DNA and biology.  Because they are exactly the same, nurses will often paint the nails of twins differently so that they can quickly tell them apart.  But, often the parents of these twins can tell them apart from their earliest days because they have already started developing different personalities even before being born.

The effects of alcohol and drugs on unborn babies are one example of prenatal effects on unborn babies that are well documented.  Additionally, other examples are the effects of prenatal vitamins and stress on the mother.  But another example of socialization happening in utero is that babies are influenced by what mothers eat during their pregnancy.  One study shows that the amniotic fluid around the baby can take on the flavor and smell of certain foods or spices.  Babies show a correlation to those foods after being born.  See more about this study here.

There is even more recent research that has found that the experiences a grandmother has can affect the genes that she passes down to her grandchild!  In other words, the nurturing or socialization process that affects you, might start decades before you are even born!  This multigenerational effect on genes is known as epigenetics.   Here is a link to a PBS program called The Ghost in your Genes about epigenetics.  The researchers theorize that social experiences can affect the genes of a person and, more amazingly, these genes can be passed down to a generation or two. So the grandchildren may experience the effects of their grandparents' lives on their genes. How amazing is that? They call it the "ghost in your genes," explained on the BBC here.

Human Nature

Despite being socialized before birth, babies are born with human nature.  They have genes that include both programming to tell babies how to instinctively react as well as programming about how babies can grow and develop.  This nature is what nearly all babies are born with.  It is biological and innate.  This biology includes the aptitude to talk, walk, read, process information and move physically.  However, it is interesting to note that with this biology and genes, babies have only an aptitude to develop all of those abilities.  It will take time and nurture to reach their potential.  In the meantime, babies are still not able to survive on their own in the world that they are born into.  They are intimately dependent on others to survive.  They must rely on another aptitude that they are born with:  the aptitude to connect with other humans.  It is our human nature is to be nurtured.  We need others to survive and thrive. We are innately social beings.  For more on socialization, aptitude and nature-nurture, see this post. 

There are many ways in which human biology was made to be social:

• • mirror neurons
• • vagus nerve
• • facial recognition - For more on how we have an ability to interpret and remember human faces checkout this link to see a story on 60 minutes.
• • oxytocin

  

All of these are a part of the human biology.  So, babies are born helpless in their ability to survive but they are born with a biological aptitude to be social.  And these are a part of adult biology as well.  Adults that see tiny helpless infants are drawn to connect with them reciprocally.  Babies will grasp adult fingers and clothes, and make eye contact.  They desire to be held.  They will imitate adults and smile back at them.  Adults have mirror neurons that make them sympathetic to the crying and distress of babies. These biological connections draw babies and adults together, providing for the survival and growth of the infant.  As the infant develops, it starts to learn from the adults who have helped it survive.  The understanding that the infant gets from the adults is a shared meaning between the two.  In this way, culture is taught to the baby even before the baby is conscious of it.  Babies will learn the significance of material things as well as the significance of gestures, words, behaviors, expectations and values.  Some examples of babies learning shared meaning include this post from the Society Pages, called the baby preacher.  It shows a young baby who is influenced to behave like a preacher even though he can't even talk yet!  This illustrates the socialization influence on kids that happens at a young age.  Here is a baby rapper video and  here are two babies learning to converse.

 

Besides having an aptitude to connect with other humans, babies also have an aptitude to develop consciousness.  Consciousness is an awareness of yourself as a sentient being.  We develop an identity of ourselves, sometimes called a "self," such as in the ideas of self-image, self-reliance, self-pity or Charles Horton Cooley's looking-glass self and Erving Goffman's Presentation of Self.  Our idea about who we are as individuals comes from the most prominent people/groups who interact with us as we grow.  In the U.S., sociologists generally agree that these groups are: Our culture, family/caregiver, school, peers and media.  These are known as agents of socialization.  These agents of socialization intimately shape us.  This unit will examine the ways that sociologists have studied these agents, but first, let's explore the evidence that supports the idea that we need to be nurtured to reach our potential as human beings.

What happens when human do not get the nurture that they inherently desire?  There is quite a bit of evidence about cases like that, some of it particularly sad.  See the evidence below from feral kids, isolated kids, to a study about institutionalized kids to medical research.  

Feral Kids
Some people have been found to be living with wild (feral) animals.  These feral people provide more evidence that humans are influenced by their surroundings.  Check out this website for examples of feral children.

Here is video of one of the kids found in the wild living with dogs.

Isolated kids:

Danielle, found in 2004.

She had very little socialization from her mother who was later arrested.  

Watch this video from the Oprah show which summarizes her initial finding and then updates how she is ten years later.     

Here is an update from the Tampa Bay Times.  

Genie, found in 1970, isolated in an upstairs bedroom until she was 12 years old!  

The video below is about a girl named Genie that was locked in a bedroom alone for 12 years of her life. Here is what Susan Curtiss wrote about her in her book, Genie; A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day Wild Child.

Here is a brief clip from a documentary about her story.

Genie was pitiful. Hardly ever having worn clothing, she did not react to temperature, either heat or cold. Never having eaten solid food, Genie did not know how to chew and had great difficulty in swallowing.  Having been strapped down and left sitting on a potty chair she could not stand erect, could not straighten her arms or legs, could not run hop, jump or climb.  In fact, she could only walk with difficulty shuffling her feet and swaying from side to side. Hardly ever having seen more than a space of ten feet in front of her she had become nearsighted to exactly that distance... Surprisingly, however, Genie was alert and curious. She maintained good eye contact and... She was intensely eager for human contact. 

Skeels and Dye Study

From Henslin's Sociology; A Down To Earth Approach, Skeels and Dye's study of institutionalized children (1939) and Skeels follow-up study in 1966 found that children given love, affection, stimulation and intimacy are able to be more independent, socially-attached, more successful adults later in life.  Look at the difference between the children that stayed behind at the orphange receiving proper care, but little stimulation, love and affection versus the children who went to a home where adults with special needs could show them love, attention, nurture and stimulation:

Institutionalized Children 

Orphanage 12 kids                                  Home for Special Needs 13 kids           

More functional at first                           More severely dysfunctional

Proper care, but no stimulation               Stimulation, play, challenge and affection
-30 IQ pts                                             +28 IQ pts

- avg. less than 3rd grade ed                 - avg. of 12th grade 5 complete 1+ years of college    

- 4 live in institutions                           -  all 13 were self-supporting or homemakers

- low level jobs                                     - 1 grad school

 - 2 marry                                              - 11 marry

Medicine, Research and Nurture

From Our World in Data,

Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Surgeon General of the United States, recently wrote: “Loneliness and weak social connections are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day”.

From the National Institutes of Health,

Social relationships—both quantity and quality—affect mental health, health behavior, physical health, and mortality risk. Sociologists have played a central role in establishing the link between social relationships and health outcomes, identifying explanations for this link, and discovering social variation (e.g., by gender and race) at the population level. Studies show that social relationships have short- and long-term effects on health, for better and for worse, and that these effects emerge in childhood and cascade throughout life to foster cumulative advantage or disadvantage in health. This article describes key research themes in the study of social relationships and health, and it highlights policy implications suggested by this research.

From Harvard Medical School,

Social connections like these not only give us pleasure, they also influence our long-term health in ways every bit as powerful as adequate sleep, a good diet, and not smoking. Dozens of studies have shown that people who have social support from family, friends, and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer.

Dr. Dean Ornish, a cardiologist who found through research that patients with medical issues, including surgeries like bypass surgery or masectomies, healed quicker and more thoroughly if they had meaningful relationships in their lives.    

From Dr. Ornish's website;

https://www.ornish.com/proven-program/love-support/,  

At the Heart of Healing: Connection

Loneliness and Isolation

Medicine today tends to focus primarily on the physical and mechanistic: drugs and surgery, genes and germs, microbes and molecules. However, there isn’t any other factor in medicine – not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery – that has a greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness and premature death from all causes than loneliness and isolation.

Love and intimacy — our ability to connect with ourselves and others, is at the root of what makes us sick and what makes us well, what causes sadness and what brings happiness, what makes us suffer and what leads to healing. If a new drug had the same impact, virtually every doctor in the country would be recommending it for his or her patients. It would be malpractice not to prescribe it — yet, with few exceptions, we doctors do not learn much about the healing power of love, intimacy, and transformation in our medical training.

There is a deep spiritual hunger in this country. The real epidemic in our culture is not only physical heart disease, but also what I call emotional and spiritual heart disease. The profound sense of loneliness, isolation, alienation, and depression that are so prevalent in our culture with the breakdown of the social structures that used to provide us with a sense of connection and community. It is, to me, a root of the illness, cynicism, and violence in our society.

We are creatures of community. Those individuals, societies, and cultures who learned to take care of each other, to love each other, and to nurture relationships with each other during the past several hundred thousand years were more likely to survive than those who did not. Those people who did not learn to take care of each other often did not make it. In our culture, the idea of spending time taking care of each other and creating communities has become increasingly rare. Ignoring these ideas imperils our survival.

Awareness is the first step in healing, both individually and socially. Part of the value of science is to increase the level of awareness of how much these choices matter that we make each day. Not just a little, but a lot, and not just to the quality of life but also the quantity of life – to our survival. When we understand how important these issues are, then we can do something about it. These include:

• • spending more time with our friends and family
• • communication skills
• • group support
• • confession, forgiveness, and redemption
• • compassion, altruism, and service
• • psychotherapy
• • touching
• • commitment
• • meditation

When we increase the love and intimacy in our lives, we also increase the health, joy, and meaning in our lives.

(Finish this post by Leading up to  culture  - winnow culture down to one day)

Follow with Social Network?

Follow with self?

Then Agents 

Guest Speaker Brandon Frankel

Today we had the privilege of having Brandon Frankel in our class.  Brandon is a 2003 grad who went into the music promotion business.

Brandon had so much to share that was sociological.

First, follow your passion and don't be afraid to veer off the beaten path or even fail.  Brandon explained that he did not grow up in an extremely wealthy and well-connected house, but he really wanted to be involved in the music business.  He sought out any way to do that.  He got a small magazine to sponsor him to take picture at concerts.  He was able to turn that into an internship at Atlantic records and then a job there.  It took work.  It took years.  But it was his passion and he followed it.  After Atlantic he tried being an agent but it wasn't for him.  He was not afraid to try and it was okay that it didn't work out.



Eventually, Brandon travelled around the world and using a sociological imagination he was able to connect with friends in Colombia and close business deals in Japan.  He talked about the importance of not being ethnocentric and how paying attention to the symbolic meaning in Colombia or the norms of business cards in Japan helped him close deals.  He talked about the culture of India and the importance of Cricket to the culture.  And he even talked about microsociology and how he always asked people their name first and treated them nicely even though that's not the norm in L.A.

Brandon also talked about how he has tried to stay sociologically mindful to make the world a better place.  

He helped a Swedish rapper get a modeling job that helped to promote a more realistic looking model.  

He also helped Rose McGowan find her voice and speak out against the assault that she experienced.

He also explained the importance of the media and how it finds ways to influence the culture - indeed he himself was even deemed an influencer.  Digital social media attempts to influence brands and culture through likes and retweets and proliferation of an idea.  And sometimes this can even be false/fake - like when the tabloid media reported that he was dating Rose McGowan but they called him John Latin!

Thanks Brandon!  Follow him at @brandontour on instagram and twitter.

Click here for Forbes article.

Unit 2 Evaluation

 Please take a few minutes to complete this evaluation about our class so far.

Post Unit 2 Test

Today, we did the following: 

1.  Create a Loyola account and enroll in sociology for dual credit.  Click enroll and carefully follow the directions.

2.  Please click on Self Assessment and answer the questions about unit 2.

If you are testing tomorrow, we are starting unit 3 with a documentary called Babies.

Lesson 11: Debriefing the Review Soc Research

Yesterday's review is re-posted below.  I added bold-faced answers to help you.  Please open up the article from yesterday and look it over using the tips that I gave you in class.
Tips:

• Read the abstract and conclusion first.
• Note the different sections.
• Don't be intimidated by the length of the article or the difficulty of the wording.

Here is the Google Form for yesterday's review.

Please work in small breakout groups to answer the review questions.  Please take turns trying to answer the questions.  If you are unsure of the answer, it is okay to say "I am not sure about this one."  Help each other.

For reference, here are the questions:

1. Is this a secondary source or primary source for sociological research? Why?
This is a primary source for sociology.  That means this article was written by the researcher(s) who actually did the research.  Similar to historical sources who actually see the history, primary sources in sociology are the sources written by those who actually do the sociology - they examine the data and crunch the numbers.  Additionally, because this is published in a research journal, that is a good clue that it is primary.  

Students had trouble with this because they noted that the researchers were using data that was gathered from the U of Texas.  However, they were using the existing data and examining it in their own unique way.  So, even though they were not gathering the data themselves, they were examining it and tabulating it themselves.  This makes it primary source.  Remember that one type of research method is called "existing sources."  This is when sociologists use sources of data that have already been collected (such as the census data or general social survey) and they examine that data to create their own analysis. See this post for more on types of research methods)

2. On page 287, find the beginning of the article which starts with "This article uses administrative data..."? What part of the article is that first section? What can you usually expect to find in that section?

Note: Recall or review how to read journal articles and the different sections that are usually included within sociological research journal articles.  (See this post as a reminder of how to read research journals.)

For this question, notice how the text for this section is set off from the rest of the article.  It is at the beginning and above the research.  That is a clue that this is the abstract.  The abstract is a short summary of the research.  It is a really important summary for you to know what the article is about and whether the article is going to be useful for you.

3. On page 288 find the section that begins with "In The Adolescent in Society (1961)..." What is this section called? What can you usually expect to find in that section?

Usually, the first section of the article is the introduction which tells the reader why the researchers wanted to do this research.  So, on page 287 that is what the authors are doing.  They explain what research has been done already and what gaps in the research that they want to fill.  This introduction continues through the first column on page 288.  And notice that in the last paragraph of the column the authors even explain what the next sections of the article will be about.

Next comes the section that this question is asking about (pg 288).  Note that the section is called "background".  This is a slightly confusing title because it could refer to the background of why they wanted to do the research (which would be considered the introduction) or it could be the background of previous research that has already been done by other people (also called background literature review).  It is in fact the latter.  Notice how the section explains lots of other research - all of the names and dates in parentheses indicate that they are talking about other authors and the years that they have published their research.  Even if you do not read any of the text in between, this should be a clue that this section is reviewing all the literature that the authors found prior to doing their own research.

Let me point out - students sometimes confuse this with the actual research because in high school you are often taught to write a research paper that is basically a background literature review of other people's research.  Usually, the junior research paper is not original research that you conducted.

4. Is this research qualitative or quantitative? Why?

This research is quantitative.  The authors explain that they use empirical data and a formula to estimate the extent to which there is a correlation that high school peers increase college GPA. (page 288)  Even if you do not understand the stats, you can see quickly that the authors use mathematical formulas (data section page 292) and they tabulate data (pages 295-297).  

4b. What method of research do the authors use for this study?

This was another tricky question.   Students had trouble with this because they noted that the researchers were using data that was gathered from the U of Texas.  However, they were using the existing data and examining it in their own unique way.  So, even though they were not gathering the data themselves, they were examining it and tabulating it themselves.  This makes it primary source.  Remember that one type of research method is called "existing sources."  This is when sociologists use sources of data that have already been collected (such as the census data or general social survey) and they examine that data to create their own analysis. See this post for more on types of research methods)

5. Is this research longitudinal, cross-sectional or cross-cultural or neither? Why?

This is cross-sectional because it is examining a group of Texas students at a particular moment in time.  It does NOT examine how they change over the years (longitudinal) and it does NOT compare them to students from other cultures (cross-cultural)

6. What are some conclusions that the authors make from their research? 

(page 307, but also see the abstract)

7. Is this an example of macrosociological research or microsociological research and why?

This is studying large groups of students and where they attend college, so it is macrosociology.  If there was a follow-up study that analyzed how these students interacted with their high school peers at college, then, that would be microsociology.

8. What are important considerations for some of the statistics in the article?

The authors discuss numerous significant stats in their "results" sections on pages 302 and 307.

9. Apply the following concepts to this article: groups (statuses and roles), ingroups and outgroups, categories and stereotypes.

10. Why did we read the Gang Leader for a Day article? What are important examples within the article?

We read Gang Leader for a Day to show the different research methods that sociologists use and some of the advantages and disadvantages of each.  Additionally, we concluded that it is best to use multiple research methods to truly understand a research question.  The authors of this study explain that on page 310.  

11. If you happen to know a bunch of students from our high school who went to U of I, why can't you just rely on your own knowledge/common sense to make a conclusion about how they will be affected by attending U of I together?

This question is trying to get you to recall the first lesson of this unit - there are numerous psychological reasons why we can't just rely on our perception or common sense for understanding sociology.  We need data to help us see the truth.  For example, common sense might tell you that if you go to a college where lots of your high school peers go, you might be more likely to party and so your GPA will be lower.  That makes sense, but this research shows otherwise.

Abandon Ship Lesson 5 Soc Research Day 2 - Debrief

Continuing from yesterday, open the Google Form from yesterday here.

NOTE: the Google Form questions below have changed - if you worked ahead yesterday, be sure to adjust your answers on the form as we go through the lesson today.

MAIN ROOM:

4.  What does macro-sociology focus on?

5. What does micro-sociology focus on?

SMALL GROUP BREAKOUT ROOMS:

6. How would a sociologist examine this activity using macro-sociology? 

7. How would a sociologist examine this activity using micro-sociology?

8.  Can you apply these two levels to a group from your own lives? Choose a group that students are a part of (their family, a class at SHS, a group of friends, work, a team) How is this group shaped by macrosociological forces?  How is it shaped by microsociological forces?

Sociological Literacy Review:

9.  How can you examine this activity using the idea of social construction of reality? 

10.  How can you examine this activity using a sociological imagination?

(Return to main room when finished with number 10.)

INDIVIDUAL BREAKOUT ROOM:

Applying Sociology:

11.  Apply this to the primary research article that you found.  Is the research that you found,  macro or micro? Why?

Special Statement and Resources from the ASA Regarding Police, Race and Violence

In this hyper-partisan climate where it has even become political to say that Americans who are out jogging should not be chased and gunned down by armed citizens/murderers (Ahmed Aubury), it is both more relevant and important than ever to discuss these issues.  The ASA has released a public statement and provided resources for teachers to use to discuss these issues.  This should provide both comfort and legal support to teachers who feel threatened to teach about these issues.

First, ASA is the professional organization supporting the teaching of sociology in the US.  The organization endorses and supports the teaching of issues like race and policing.  And the National Standards for Sociology include teaching about inequality and race.  Here is a link to the statement from ASA, and here are the National Standards for High School Sociology.  Specifically, domain 4 addresses racial inequality:

Second, the ASA has provided resources for teachers to discuss these issues.  It is important to note the issues are not opinions but conclusions based on sociological research.  The ASA's statement is based on empirical research, facts and data.   Here are the resources:

https://www.asanet.org/news-events/asa-news/resources-race-police-violence-and-justice

and,

here is access to several resources about structural racism and police violence; causes, impact and reform

https://journals.sagepub.com/structural-racism

Lastly, here is the June statement from the ASA regarding George Floyd:

Reading Research Articles Lesson 4b

Here is the Google Form for this lesson.

1.  Please cite your research here.  (author, title of article, title of journal, date)

2.  Where did you find your research article - did you use JSTOR? A journal page?  One of the research institutions I mentioned?  Or someplace else? 

ADVICE FOR READING JOURNAL ARTICLES

A.  Don't feel pressured to sit down and read the entire article from beginning to end.  Very few readers do this.  Instead, researchers bounce around the article to find what they are looking for.

B.  Don't be intimidated

Don't let the length of the journal article intimidate you, nor should you be intimidated by the loquaciousness of the author's writing.  Academic professors often use fancy jargon (like loquaciousness).  It makes the reading longer and sometimes confusing, but you can still understand what the researcher is getting at.  Especially if you understand the structure that I explain below.  Here is a funny example of how writing gets more complicated even though it says the same idea:

Simply put - read through the jargon and decipher what you can.  If necessary, look up the words you need to know to understand the main point, but don't be intimidated by the length or the wording of the article.

C. Understand the structure
Most of the research articles have a similar structure.  Once you understand the structure, it is easier to find what you need and make sense of the article.  Sometimes these sections will even be labeled for you.

Primary Source Structure for Sociological Research

Once you choose a specific article to read, note that most research articles have a format that looks like this:

  

Abstract - A summary before the actual article, usually in italics or set off from the actual article.  Not all articles have this, but most do. 

                                                         

Introduction - The beginning of the research explaining what the author set out to study and why it is important.  

                                               

Literature Review - This is often confused by students for being the actual research, but it is just a review of previous research that has been done.  This section might point out previous research that informs the author's research or shortcomings of the previous research that the author hopes to address.  Karen Sternheimer explains the literature review here on the Everyday Sociology blog.

Methods - This explains how the author gathered data.  It might include multiple methods such as surveys, ethnography, existing data, etc...

Data/Stats - The author will make sense of the data that they gathered.  For quantitative data, the analysis might be complex such as regression analysis,  or a discussion of p-value.  Don't let the complicated discussion of the statistics intimidate you.  You can make sense of the data without understanding all of the statistical jargon.

Conclusion - After the explanation of the methods and data, the author will summarize the data and make sense of it.  Finding this section will help you understand what the most important parts of the research was.  

Discussion/moving forward - This section is sometimes at the end of the article suggesting either future research or policy implications.

For more on how to read journal articles see this post.

Now, try to label each section (if they are not labeled already).  Understanding this structure should help you understand the research efficiently.     

3.  Did your article have all 7 sections that I explained above?  Were you able to find them?

Using the structure above, try to give a quick summary of the research.  You can jump around to the sections that are relevant to quickly discern what the research is about.  I recommend reading the abstract first (if there is one), otherwise try the introduction and conclusion.

4. Give a quick summary of the research.

Using your notes and/or my post from yesterday, examine both the general type of research and the specific method of research that the article uses.

5.  What general type of research is this and why?  (qualitative or quantitative or both?  Longitudinal?  Cross-sectional? Cross-cultural?

6.  Use the notes from yesterday and find the specific research method(s) that the researcher uses.  Which method(s) does the researcher use?  Explain a little about how they gathered their data.

Reading Primary Research: Sociology Research Lesson 4B

HW:  For HW all you have to do is have an article ready to read (you don't actually have to read it yet)

In Lesson 3 we examined the general ways that Venkatesh attempted to do research.  

Click here to open the Google Form for this lesson.

1.  Do you remember the 2 general ways that Venkatesh mentioned sociologists gather data?  

2.  Can you differentiate between those two general ways?  What is the difference between each?

Open the document from last unit called A Framework for Understanding the Sociological Perspective (available here if you need a new one).  Find this graphic organizer (on the reverse side from the pyramid):

Now, let's add other types of general research.

General Types of Sociological Research

• Longitudinal - a study that examines subjects over an extended period time.  For example, a researcher might interview kids at age 5, then at age 15 and then again at 25.  Some research is conducted over the course of decades by different researchers.
• Cross-sectional - a study that examines a group of people at a single point in time.  For example, like taking a section of cake that has different layers, a researcher might take a sample of people from a group like SHS.  The research might examine 10 students from each grade to get an understanding of the school as a whole. 
• Cross-cultural - a study that compares subjects from two or more cultures.
• Qualitative or Quantitative - qualitative is subjective and descriptive; it examines the qualities about a subject.  Quantitative is objective and involves examining numbers or statistics.

3.  How can Venkatesh's research be considered longitudinal?

4.  How can it be considered cross-sectional? 

5.  Any questions about the general types of research?

Now let's examine the specific ways that sociologists gather their research.  For more info,  Open Stax sociology textbook explains the methods in this chapter.

Methods of sociological research

These are some of the more common methods of research that you will come across in sociology:

Qualitative:

Survey - interviews that are open-ended 

Field work/ethnography - observing subjects by living with them, watching them and taking notes 

Historical analysis - examing changes over time in comparison to present day. 
Content Analysis - examining the content of media or other cultural productions

 Quantitative: 

Survey - questionnaires that are close-ended such as multiple choice or likert scale.

Experiment/Audit study - comparing the responses of two or more different reactions.
Statistical analysis - existing sources (data sets, such as GSS or Census data)

Apply the methods to the Venkatesh article

6.  Which of the methods above does Venkatesh use in the excerpt from Gang Leader? Explain when/how.  (Arguably he does 5 of them!)

7.  What article did you find?  Please list the citation info (author, article title, journal title, date).

 

SocResearch Lesson 1b: Sociology in Secondary Sources

HW (due in 3 days):  Read Gang Leader for a Day Introduction by Sudhir Venkatesh
For homework, read the excerpt in the link above.  This reading is the introduction of a widely popular book called Gang Leader For A Day by Sudhir Venkatesh.  Venkatesh grew up in California and attended undergrad there.  He then went to the University of Chicago for his PhD in sociology.  Venkatesh really wants to study race and poverty and he tries various types of research to learn about race and poverty's effects on Chicagoans.  As you read, think about all the ways that he tries to learn about race and poverty.  Additionally, think about the benefits and challenges of each way.

Today's lesson continues with the Google Form from yesterday - answer the questions as you go along. 

Here are examples of secondary sources that have sociology in them:

• Textbooks; for our class; Real World Sociology by Ferris and Stein. The text might seem to just be musings/opinions about society but there are 30 pages of references at the end of the book.  Here is one page showing the references for the text.
• News articles;  One example is the article, The Myth of the Two-Parent Household, from Harvard professor Christina Cross in the NY Times (2019) also available here.   7.  What research is this article based on?  You can do your own search in the NY Times for sociology by clicking here for a Google search of "sociology" in the NYT.  
• Contexts magazine; A publication by the American Sociological Association that explains the latest research in an accessible way for students and general public to understand.  Here is the Contexts website, especially in the In Brief section   You can access Contexts by issue through the ILC page using the search by title page here.

• The Society Pages:  Website of sociology resources, especially Discoveries page.

• Journal of Contemporary Sociology, a journal of reviews.  You can access Contemporary Sociology through the ILC page using the search by title page here.

Applying your secondary source understanding

Choose one of the secondary sources bulleted above (NY Times, Contexts, Society Pages, Journal of Contemporary Sociology).  Find an article about a topic you are interested in. Then explain what research the article was based on.  Feel free to try a few sources or articles before you decide to answer the questions below.

8.  What secondary source did you choose?

9.  What was the article you read?

10.  What research was the article about?