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Writing for Sociology Soc 301 -  Prepared Assignments

 

Prepared Homework Assignments [8 points each]

 Assignments

1 page = Under 300 words 1.5 line spacing. Verdanta 12. Normal Margins

TEMPLATE:   PA Outline template.doc

  • PA 1 page = 1 page, typed.  Double spaced.  Bond paper. 

  • emphasis

    • itals for concepts, for attention, double-emphasis

    • itals your observations about present time vs. CWM time - then now ~ same different; i.e., itals your spice, individuality

  • [44] insert p.# where you want to draw attention to detail

  • 1 drawing, brainstorm, list, outline, diagram, poster may be stapled to paper.

  • IA cannot be made up if a class is missed,  May omit one IA to accommodate one absence.  Anticipated absence:  see me.

  • If PA late, no more than 1 week.  Drop 2 points (A to B+, B+ to B-, etc.) Worth 0 if over 1 week late.

  • All papers are hard copy; none to be emailed.

 PA1

Read  "The Promise"

PA#1 on "The Promise"  3 Sentences + Outline +3 Sentences

Read one of the two "Craftsmanship" or "Afterword"

Start 18 days of Morning pages

 

PA2  Improve "What is Sociology" - Prose

PA3  The Chapter on Grand Theory distinguishes between functional perspectives and conflict or power perspectives. 

Consider a group in which you are a member
take one one piece of paper
draw a line down half
on one half, put functional.  on the other half, put conflict.
brainstorm every aspect of the group you can think of that is consensus building and every aspect that is based on power.
Consider which one element is most interesting to you.
Draw up an outline - beginning, middle, and end of your group as a site of both consensus and power.
 
ONE PAGE PROSE.
 
You hand in - 3 pages:
1.  brainstorm
2.  outline
3.  prose

PA4 Assignment given on 4/18 for 4/15

Prose.  One page.   An interlude.  A moment.   Here is a sample.
This is just over one page.  

 

 

 

 

PA5
In class on Week 4  you wrote up 3 possible research topics
choose one to research
Get 10 citations in Sociological journals of the past 10 years. 

American Sociological Review
American Journal of Sociology
Social Problems
Contemporary Sociology
Critical sociology

Make a proper list of the 10 citations.
Read the one you find most interesting.  Write your own "Abstract" Write it in light of the topic you are investigating--how does it suit (or not suit) your purpose?
If the article probably already has an abstract, copy paste or type it out.   (It will only be one paragraph.) 

Then write a better one paragraph Abstract in terms of your overall question.  Good, plain English and easy to understand.

search the major sociological journals first; if you find nothing, state that & search elsewhere

list 10 citations on your topic. CLICK HERE for MLA style to list citations

one page for your citations

one page for your plain English abstract

#5 and #6 are to be in one MSWord file, named IA5 Your Name.doc

email to tabor@sorenkerk.com  - if you don't finish tonight, email by tomorrow at 6PM

IA THEMES- common threads in your papers

  • Forefathers, schools:  functionalists (Durkheim and Weber) conflict theorists (Marx - power) and S.I. (Symbolic Interactionism - led by Goffman); or micro/macro  what goes wrong  major theorists  traditions  methods; classify, find patterns, help people; schools, life changes, details

  • inequality; inequality; inequality. 

  • re-work some terminology, e.g., crimes, discrimination, abuse

  • gain mutual respect; helps people be more compassionate

  • don't mix is and ought; understand vs. fix (but what would C.W. Mills say)

  • we bought some social myths

  • all applied sociology assumption

  • bi-directional:  society creates us; we create society.  We invent ourselves

  • deviance is related to family integration and social bonds

  • crossing off of words done wrong in several cases

  • population: utterly important topic

  • sociology is "everywhere"

  • family brings (carries) tradition

  • emotions.  emotion patterns.

    •
  • IA2 THEMES- common threads in your papers
  • CAREER CHOICE
  • most comfortable giving support in face to face:  in big picture who needs it more right now than boomers getting old
  • occupation security if serve the basics:  I'll help those who can't even do basics
  • personal troubles - and overcoming them - can now give me a career, needed, kids in same situation as I.  Imperative I know my "turning point"
    •
  • VALUES CONFLICT
  • Men and women are changing in status, but the myths remain "behind"
  • caught in cross fire between tradition and open (modern) society - woman
  • probation officers and probation-ees and families: the good, the bad
  • technology was meant to serve us, but it is separating us - WAS it meant to serve us or "Meant" to "earn money"
  • Goal conflict:  I have to fend for sibs - that sends me out into the world - where I meet with other ways to spend money
  • Family is the Power of Parents.  Question is maybe what is lost and what is found in the heart?
    •
  • UNFAIRNESS - VALUES LADEN
  • single parent families are left alone - are not paid.  what is missing? gov't pay is one.  equality between the sexes.  child care support mandatory.  education.  abortion.  extended family.
  • poor neighborhoods lack resources and have violence; rich neighborhoods have camaraderie and strong will
  • I wish I had known or had what is taught or given in other families - inequality - there is; but how is even that "buying into" the dominance myth?  Make a victim and keep a victim.
    •
  • overcome issues so don't have personal tbl:  teen parenting:  overcome issues
  • couple's pvt troubles are social issues:  woman earns more: gender/macho plus undocumented status
  • people are playing out being private in changing rules - we will change and allow marriage
  • Learning family support is learning the same tools that you need outside the family
  • boys have two moms - so I am a mom for my nephews
  • I'm in the middle
  • I have to keep my private zone private because I work where kids violate the private
  • terrorism - what forces come to bear on an individual to give up a life
    •

     

     

     

     

    Sociology is about the Soul of Society 

    Sociology is a young science, founded by Auguste Compte to bring rational order to a post-revolutionary France.  Sociology was first taught at The University of Chicago.  Sociology is a way of thinking about individuals as they live in groups; it seeks to understand individual biographies on dynamic social structures in history. We are the very individuals sociology examines, and in today's society we are accustomed to seeing social patterns, so what sociologists discuss is familiar.  As scientists, Sociologists are not to "take sides;"  rather, they are to let data speak for themselves. 

    The question remains as to what data sets are appropriate for Sociologists to study and how to study them.  There are many methods and many sites for sociology study.  The methods range from thinking, to researching history, to census data, to observation, to participant observation, to interviews, to surveys and experiments; the sites range from the globe to the smallest and most fleeting encounter between two people.  Group patterns between  dyadic exchanges and the global system are:  nation states, polities, states, cities, neighborhoods, work groups, civic, cultural and religious groups, peer groups, and families.  Threaded through these clusters are distinctions of age, sex, race, and personal power.  Power is how the ranks, the patterns, and the beliefs take hold and repeat themselves, clash and change.

    The product of sociology will have meaning and utility to humans if the sociologist helps people see the machine of which they are a part.  If the sociologist remains with the understanding of human heart and its wants and needs, then sociology will remain on course. 

    It is the paradox of freedom and belonging that makes society and holds the mystery of the soul and society.  That paradox is the soul of society.

     

     

     
    PA 7    May 9   Who is Today's Human Being in Los Angeles
     
    you have a sample from Norman Lear below and some page references to C.Wright Mills and a Chart constructed by the class (red) and me (black) on the 4 aspects of society:  the self, our networks, the social structure, and change.   With those tools, you create your portrait (2 page max) of The Human Being in Los Angeles Today.  Or you could narrow it to a sub-group, e.g., the Hispanic Woman in Los Angeles Today.

    Two samples:

    What is the awareness - the being - the soul - the predicament - the opportunity of the human being in Los Angeles today?

    C. Wright Mills would ask us:  what is the "intersection" of biography and social history?

    TWO (2) page Max.  Double-spaced.  Clean.

    Self Network Soc Structure Change

    Uniqueness      

    Determination              

    Fetishism         

    Pressure          

    Sub-group identification           

    Individual expression                

    Privacy in public          

    Denial of social structure          

     (W) Love

    LGBTQ awareness

    Religious values

    Divorce rate

    Emotional awareness

     

    Computer Connections

    Homophily

    Religious sub-cultures

     

    Discrimination

    Devalue ourselves

    Fetishism

    Neglect

    Abandoned people

    Professional ratio

    Education

    Food-pharmaceuticals

     

    Computer Networks    

    Numb to war   

    Openness to sex          

    Sub-group identification           

    Therapeutic Society     

    Denial of social responsibility

    LGBTQ awareness      

    Religion ↔ ↕   

    Gender distinction

    Blurring

    Impression management more ambiguous

    Abortion as a maintainer of a two party system

    Advancement of science

    Increased divorce rate

     

    Globalization

    Immigration

    Population

    Incompetence

    Illiteracy

    Language

    Global Warming

    AIDS

     
    there are many more distinctions ... here are some more

    globalization

    cybernetic people-lives with computers

    gender-free

    child-free

    highly pharmaceutical dependent population

    connected to TV like a plug

    too busy to cook

    aware of man produced food products

    digital time rather than circular time

    no privacy

    inner is outer

    blended families

    same sex parents

    New Age

    pharmaceuticals

    homeless

    State protection of "property"

    Guns, Drugs, Oil, Transportation

    Corporate soullessness

    the century of Cars

    Violence

    Vigilance and Valor

    Masses as Hero

    post 9/11 (how could we have missed that?)

    Gender-free-ness - acceptance of the breakdown of barriers

    Diversity awareness

    Belief

    Touched by violence

    Touched by grace

     

    PA 8

    we are making "maps" of our "self" in our "network"  Mapping The Intersection of Biography and Social Structure
     
    This is a map of the "functions" of the individual "self" - They superimpose upon the "quads". the "natural" ones at the top to the "cultural" ones at the bottom.

    Look at these anchor functions.  List with whom do you "do" anchor functions. 

    • Sometimes one person fulfills several functions with you/for you.
    • Some functions may be ignored.  others may be performed by just you
    • Some people may appear two times or more
      •
    you can "see" your network against your functions and "see" where there is a gap.

    Then, move outside your self and your network to the social structure.  When you place the social structure around it, you can visualize the forces outside your control (e.g., tools, nature, the ties between the polity, religious institutions, the market, your exposure to the truth (education), skills training available, moral guidance, healing opportunities, food, and shelter).

    Another way to put this is:  Address the C. Wright Mills question:   What is the intersection between history and biography?  You get up to 2 pages.

     

     

    From Working Together, Ed By Angeles Arrien, Article by Norman Lear.