SOCS185 Full Course (May 2019) (NO Week 7 Assignment)

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 1 Discussion

Social Causes of Suicide

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Lesson

Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source

Initial Post Instructions

Sociologist C. Wright Mills preferred to call the sociological perspective the sociological imagination, and he saw it transforming personal troubles into public issues. Let us begin our discussion this week by considering suicide, which is thoroughly explored in Chapter 1 of the textbook.

For the initial post, address the following:

How does the sociological imagination help to examine private acts such as suicide within a larger societal context?

What are some examples of social forces influencing youth suicide trends in the United States, suicide trends in India, and suicide trends in the U.S. military?

Use the sociological imagination to explain your observations, and how the sociological imagination helps us consider the causes and possible solutions to suicide.

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification and/or include perspectives from outside scholarly sources shared in the discussion forum by classmates and/or the instructor.

Writing Requirements

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)

APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 2 Discussion

The Games Children Play

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapters 2, 3, 4

Lesson

Link (library article): Games Children Play: An Exercise Illustrating Agents of Socialization (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source

Initial Post Instructions

In the article noted in this activity, the authors point out that most introductory sociology textbooks identify the main socialization agents as family, peers, schools, media, work, and religion. “…[W]hat is far less often acknowledged is the contribution that children’s toys and games play in representing and reinforcing dominant conceptions of ‘appropriate’ social identities found in social discourse and in institutional arrangements.” Toys and games can allow us to experience the subtleties of race, class, gender, and political socialization that are embedded in play. Sometimes players may challenge and subvert these images and messages at the delight or disgust of other players.

For the initial post, address the following:

What toys did you have as a child that you think of as agents of socialization?

How did you use toys to understand relationships, or prepare for new ones?

What specific theoretical perspectives on socialization from this week’s reading (symbolic interactionist, functionalist and/or conflict theoretical perspectives) best help you understand your childhood toys as agents of socialization and why?

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification and/or include perspectives from outside scholarly sources shared in the discussion forum by classmates and/or the instructor.

Writing Requirements

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)

APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 3 Discussion

Conformity and Deviance

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 5, 6

Lesson

Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source

Initial Post Instructions

Social psychologist Irving Janis coined the term groupthink to describe how people often respond differently in a group context than they might if they were alone. Another interesting topic of sociological study is the area of deviance and social control. The textbook provides multiples examples from history where groupthink may have influenced people to participate in socially deviant behavior that they might have otherwise avoided.

For the initial post, address one of the following:

Option 1: Share an example from your personal experience (of your own or of someone you know), or an example from history, where groupthink may have influenced people to behave or arrive at a decision in a way that many individual members privately might have avoided or thought unwise.

Option 2: Choose a form of deviance with which you are familiar (not necessarily something you have done, but something someone you know did). Examine why society views that behavior as deviant and whether perceptions of that behavior have changed over time. Determine and explain which theory of deviance you think works best for understanding the deviant behavior you have chosen to discuss. Remember to be respectful in light of potentially sensitive topics, and consider what you might be disclosing as there is no guarantee of privacy.

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Respond to one peer who chose a prompt different from the one you chose. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification and/or include perspectives from outside scholarly sources shared in the discussion forum by classmates and/or the instructor.

Writing Requirements

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)

APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 4 Discussion

Social Mobility

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 7, 8

Lesson

Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source

Initial Post Instructions

Think of a person you know (either yourself, someone you know, or even a famous person with, perhaps a “rags to riches” story) who has experienced significant upward or downward mobility over the past three or four generations.

For the initial post, address the following:

Briefly describe the person (and be sure to respect confidentiality of others and, as always, remember to be respectful of potentially sensitive information, and remember there is no guarantee of privacy).

Describe the person’s significant upward or downward mobility over the past three or four generations.

How do you think the person’s values and behavior might differ had the person experienced the opposite pattern of mobility?

How might experiences have been different had the person’s family been of a different ethnic or racial origin?

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification and/or include perspectives from outside scholarly sources shared in the discussion forum by classmates and/or the instructor.

Writing Requirements

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)

APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 5 Discussion

Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Identity

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 9, 10

Lesson

Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source

Initial Post Instructions

The lesson and textbook readings for this week emphasize that race, ethnicity, and gender are all social constructs. For the initial post, address the following:

Compare and contrast what is meant by the social construction of race with what is meant by the social construction of ethnicity and what is meant by the social construction of gender.

How or why is it beneficial to view these as social constructs?

For you personally, are your racial, ethnic, and/or gender identities more matters of how you view yourself or of how others view you? Please explain.

In what ways is how you view yourself influenced by the larger society and culture?

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification and/or include perspectives from outside scholarly sources shared in the discussion forum by classmates and/or the instructor.

Writing Requirements

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)

APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 6 Discussion

Social Institutions and Health

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 11, 12, 14

Lesson

Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source

Initial Post Instructions

For this discussion we will consider if the social world can be bad for your health and/or if social institutions can improve your health.

For the initial post, examine ways that some of the social institutions studied this week (the family, the educational system, or religions) might affect the health of the people in the institution. Address the following:

What are some effects of family life on health?

How might the educational system in the United States affect the health of American children?

How might health outcomes be affected by religious practices of members of varying religions in the United States? Are there other behaviors, outside of formal religious practice or formal religious ceremonial observances, such as dietary requirements or other behavioral requirements of members of religious institutions in the United States that might affect their health, either directly or indirectly?

Are there behaviors, practices, or experiences of specific demographic groups in the United States that positively or negatively affect their health?

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification and/or include perspectives from outside scholarly sources shared in the discussion forum by classmates and/or the instructor.

Writing Requirements

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)

APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 7 Discussion

Think Globally, Act Locally

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 15, 16

Lesson

Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source

Initial Post Instructions

For the initial post, address the following:

What items that you frequently use do you think have the greatest negative impact on the environment?

Explain how the use of the item impacts the environment and the people in your community?

What steps do you or your family members take to lessen your impact on the environment?

What are some approaches communities could take to encourage members to reduce waste?

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification and/or include perspectives from outside scholarly sources shared in the discussion forum by classmates and/or the instructor.

Writing Requirements

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)

APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 8 Discussion

Coming Back to Research

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 1 (review)

Lesson: Week 1 (review)

Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source

Initial Post Instructions

End-of-course student surveys exist for you to share your anonymous feedback on your courses. The purpose of the survey is to gather data from a specific population (you, the students) to understand your experience in the course, and to determine areas of success and improvement in our courses, including this one (so hopefully you do share your feedback because we always want to improve our courses and teaching).

Chapter 1 of the textbook and Week 1 of this course explored the research process. As mentioned in Week 1, research is fundamental in the social sciences, and a survey is a common sociological data collection method. If we look at the course surveys from a sociological perspective, we see that they are used to understand a specific population’s perspective of a social experience/issue. For this discussion, then, you will observe and analyze and evaluate the survey itself, as the budding social scientists you all now are, based on your learning in this course!

Now, to come full circle, analyze the end-of-course surveys for their effectiveness as a sociological measurement tool.

How would you improve the survey itself to create the very best snapshot of student impressions of this or any Chamberlain University Online course?

Which questions would you add and why?

Which would you delete and why?

What questions would you change and why?

What questions would you keep the same and why?

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification and/or include perspectives from outside scholarly sources shared in the discussion forum by classmates and/or the instructor.

Writing Requirements

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up)

APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 1 Assignment Sociological Imagination Essay

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 1

Lesson

Minimum of 3 outside scholarly sources

Instructions

The textbook reading for the week explores social forces that can affect the seemingly private act of suicide. For this assignment, conduct scholarly research on a different private or individualistic act that could be regarded as a broader social problem or social issue, something other than suicide. You may choose one of the following or a topic of your own:

Homelessness

Veteran homelessness

Domestic violence

Addiction

Obesity

In an essay, address the following:

Determine how the sociological imagination can help understand that problem.

Compare and contrast that research with the textbook’s explanation of ways sociologists apply the sociological imagination to understand a problem.

Your paper must contain scholarly support in the form of quotes or paraphrases with respective citations from assigned reading (the textbook/lesson) and the outside scholarly sources that you identify on your own.

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 2-3 pages (not including references page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Running header in the upper left of all pages

Page number in the upper right of all pages

Parenthetical in-text citations included and formatted in APA style

References page (minimum of 3 outside scholarly sources plus the textbook/lesson)

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 2 Assignment Sociological Imagination & Socialization

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4

Lesson: Week 1, 2

Instructions

Choose one question from each of the question sets below (2 sets total). In other words, you will be answering two questions total (1 from each set).

Question Set 1

Arty Fischel is a veteran and just found himself homeless. Examine and explain some of the broad social forces that may have contributed to his homelessness. How will the sociological imagination help understand his situation?

Arty Fischel is a college student. He was a good student in high school and received a sizable scholarship to go to college. That scholarship, however, does not cover all of Arty’s expenses. Arty now must take out a sizeable loan each year of college for his school expenses. Is this only a personal problem for Arty? Apply the sociological imagination and explain some possible broad social forces that could be contributing to Arty’s struggles.

Little Arty Fischel is a child in an urban school in a major city in the United States. He is struggling to learn to read and is failing all his classes. Apply the sociological imagination and explain some possible broad social forces that could be contributing to Arty’s struggles.

Question Set 2

What are key differences between ways structural-functional theorists, social-conflict theorists, and symbolic-Interactionist theorists examine and explain society?

Explain the importance of the concepts of culture shock, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism, and give an example of each.

What are the two main stages of socialization and why is the process of socialization important in each stage of the entire life course?

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 1-2 pages (not including References page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Running header in the upper left of all pages

Page number in the upper right of all pages

Parenthetical in-text citations included and formatted in APA style

References page (at the very least the textbook and/or online lessons should be cited)

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 3 Assignment Socio autobiography / Socio biography – Personal Case Study

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapters 1-6

Lesson: Week 1, 2, 3

Minimum of 3 outside scholarly sources

One personal interview of another person

Introduction

There is a strong tradition of writing both sociologically-informed biographies and sociologically-informed autobiographies in the discipline of sociology. For this assignment, you will be doing a bit of both of those. You will both reflect on your own life story, making connections between your everyday life or your life story and broad sociocultural structures within which you live, and you will also compare and contrast those with someone you interview.

The socioautobiography is a “disciplined, systematic exploration of one’s life from a sociological point of view” (Hill, 2009, p. 3). Also, the sociobiography is the systematic exploration of another person’s life from a sociological point of view.

Instructions

To begin this assignment, consider your own life as you review all the textbook readings and online weekly lessons and decide which sociological concepts you wish to explain in connection to a part or parts of your own life story. Click on the following link for questions to consider as you reflect on your life:

Link: Questions to Consider

Interview

Locate someone willing to be interviewed regarding sociological perspectives on a part or parts of that person’s life story. The person can be anyone you choose, whether in your family or outside your family. Be sure to inform that person that you will be writing up your observations from the interview in an assignment for your Society and Culture course.

Write

In a paper, compare and contrast your sociological observations about yourself with your sociological observations of the person you interview. Address the following 3 important sections:

Explore the interconnections between your life story and the larger social structure or culture.

Explore the interconnections between the life story of a person you interview and the larger social structure or culture.

Compare and contrast the sociological themes and concepts related to your own personal story with the sociological themes and concepts related to the story of the person you interviewed. Apply the sociological imagination in the analysis.

Include the following in your analysis:

Quotes or paraphrases and citations from both outside scholarly sources and assigned readings (online Lessons or textbook readings), to support your observations in all 3 required sections.

6 different concepts, key words, or vocabulary words from Chapters 1-6 in your analysis and observations, formatted in boldface and underlined in the main text of your paper

You may repeat these 6 terms throughout the assignment.

Click on the following link for a socioautobiography/sociobiography writing tip:

Link: Writing Tip

Include headings for each of the three main sections of the paper:

Socioautobiography

Sociobiography

Comparison/Contrast

Each of the three main sections of your paper must contain scholarly support in the form of quotes or paraphrases with respective citations from assigned reading (the textbook and/or the lessons from Weeks 1-3) and the outside scholarly sources that you identify on your own.

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 3-4 pages (not including references page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Running header in the upper left of all pages

Page number in the upper right of all pages

Minimum of 3 headings (centered, bold, & title case)

Parenthetical in-text citations included and formatted in APA style

References page (minimum of 3 outside scholarly sources plus the textbook/lesson and interview)

Title page not required

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 4 Assignment Social Class & Inequality

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8

Lesson: Week 3, 4

Instructions

Choose one question from each of the question sets below (2 sets total). In other words, you will be answering two questions total (1 from each set).

Question Set 1

Explain the difference between income inequality and wealth inequality in the United States. Explain the racial wealth gap.

What is social stratification? Examine four common ways or systems in which groups have become stratified. How does race or ethnicity play a role in the stratification?

Briefly compare and contrast a Weberian approach and a Marxian approach to characterize the social classes in the United States. In a Weberian approach, what are social classes based on or how are they understood? In a Marxian approach, how is class understood? In a Weberian approach, how is the racial wealth gap understood? In a Marxian approach, how is the racial wealth gap understood?

Question Set 2

Explain some characteristics of the U.S. poor based on age, gender, and race or ethnicity. Predicts people’s relative chances of being poor based on age, gender, or race, for example.

Explain the Gini index and its relationship to global inequality. Compare the Gini coefficient for the United States with that of other nations.

What is global stratification? Examine global stratification’s relationship to economic inequality.

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 1-2 pages (not including References page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Running header in the upper left of all pages

Page number in the upper right of all pages

Parenthetical in-text citations included and formatted in APA style

References page (at the very least the textbook and/or online lessons should be cited)

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 5 Assignment Essay – You Decide

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 9

Lesson

Link (website): Pew Research Center (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Click on the Social Trends tab.

Click on the Interactives tab.

Locate the following link: How Census Race Categories Have Changed Over Time

Click on “1790” to see two columns comparing the 1790 Census categories with the 2010 Census categories.

Minimum of 4 outside scholarly sources

Instructions

In this week’s lesson, you learned about the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent racial and ethnic categories. For this assignment, consider the racial and ethnic categories used in the 2010 Census with the four racial, ethnic, and gender categories used in the 1790 Census: Free white males, free white females, all other free persons, slaves (Pew Research Center, 2015). Analyze the concepts of race, ethnicity, and gender as social constructs, just as sociologists do, by addressing the following:

Explain how you might have been categorized by the 1790 Census and how you would have been categorized by the 2010 Census.

Compare and contrast the two potential categorizations and explain how this exercise shows that the concepts of race, ethnicity, and even gender change over time. Most importantly, explain how this exercise shows that the concepts of race, ethnicity, and gender are social constructs.

Determine and describe what ethnic, racial, and/or gender categories, if any, would be best, in your view, for the 2020 Census or the 2030 Census, to most accurately show the diversity of the U.S. population. What categories would be best to reveal the segments of the U.S. population most vulnerable to racial, ethnic, and/or gender inequalities or discrimination? What categories could be listed in the 2020 Census or the 2030 Census that might best educate the U.S. population on differences between race and ethnicity? Explain your decisions.

Include headings for each of the three main sections of the paper:

What the Census Might Have Called Me

Social Constructs

Better Future Census Categories

Each of the three main sections of your paper must contain scholarly support in the form of quotes or paraphrases with respective citations from assigned reading (the textbook/lesson) and the outside scholarly source that you identify on your own.

*This assignment is adapted from Glaser (2018).

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 3-4 pages (not including references page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Running header in the upper left of all pages

Page number in the upper right of all pages

Minimum of 3 headings (centered, bold, & title case)

Parenthetical in-text citations included and formatted in APA style

References page (minimum of 4 outside scholarly sources plus the textbook/lesson)

Title page not required

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 6 Assignment Sociological Theory & Trends in Family Life

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapters 10, 14

Lesson: Week 5, 6

Instructions

Choose one question from each of the question sets below (2 sets total). In other words, you will be answering two questions total (1 from each set).

Question Set 1

Briefly compare and contrast structural-functionalist, social-conflict, and symbolic-interactionist approaches in their analyses of health and health care, generally, and, in particular in their analyses of disability. How do concepts such as the sick-role model, role ambiguity, and subordinate groups help sociologists understand health, health care, and disability?

Briefly compare and contrast structural-functionalist, social-conflict, and symbolic-interactionist approaches to racial and ethnic relations. How do concepts such as assimilation, stereotyping, and economic stratification help different types of sociological theorists understand race and ethnicity?

Briefly compare and contrast structural-functionalist, social-conflict, and symbolic-interactionist approaches in their analyses of gender stratification.

Question Set 2

Examine divorce trends in the United States over the past several decades and discuss ways they shape family life. Also, explain factors contributing to the divorce rate in the U.S. Compare and contrast at least two U.S. subgroups in your answer.

Define cohabitation and examine trends in cohabitation in the United States over the past several decades, and ways these trends shape family life. Also, explain factors contributing to the cohabitation rate in the U.S. Compare and contrast at least two U.S. subgroups in your answer.

Examine single parent trends in the United States over the past several decades and ways they shape family life. Analyze and describe most single-parent-households with children in the U.S. Compare and contrast at least two U.S. subgroups in your answer.

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 1-2 pages (not including References page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Running header in the upper left of all pages

Page number in the upper right of all pages

Parenthetical in-text citations included and formatted in APA style

References page (at the very least the textbook and/or online lessons should be cited)

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 7 Assignment Team Project

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 1-16

Lesson: Week 1-7

Minimum of 4 outside scholarly sources

Instructions

For the team project, you are required to create a narrated PowerPoint presentation with audio and/or video within the PowerPoint. The goal of this activity is for the team members to discover and to present what they have in common with each other in a sociological context.

The presentation must include the following:

Introductions: One member can introduce the others, or each member can introduce himself/herself.

Introduce each team member as a sociologist might, detailing family, culture, and background.

Consider what types of categories a sociologist might use to describe each member and to compare and contrast each member.

Audio Narration: At least one member must narrate. The team can decide if one member, more than one member, or all members contribute to the narration.

Engagement: Be sure to deliver the presentation in a professional and engaging manner.

Citations: Include parenthetical in-text citations in the slide presentation citing at least 4 outside scholarly sources and assigned textbook/lesson reading to support observations made in the presentation.

Only one team member needs to submit the PowerPoint file into the assignment dropbox for each team. Each member is responsible to double check and make sure the selected submitter did, in fact, submit the assignment by the deadline.

Presentation Requirements (APA format)

Narration Length: 5 to 10 minutes

Slide Length: Minimum of 1 slide per team member; minimum of 1 slide comparing and contrasting socio-cultural factors of team members (not including title slide and references slide)

Title Slide

References slide (minimum of 4 outside scholarly sources plus the textbook/lesson)

SOCS 185 Culture and Society

Week 8 Assignment Population & Social Change

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapters 15, 16

Lesson: Week 7

Instructions

Choose one question from each of the question sets below (2 sets total). In other words, you will be answering two questions total (1 from each set).

Question Set 1

Compare and contrast how structural-functionalists, symbolic-interactionists, and social-conflict theorists examine urban growth.

Propose and analyze some potential best-case scenarios and worst-case scenarios for population and urban growth in the United States and globally over the next hundred years.

Compare and contrast how immigration affects the United States with how immigration is affecting other nations. Also, compare and contrast how the United States is responding to immigration with ways other nations are responding to migration to their respective countries.

Question Set 2

How do deprivation theory and resource mobilization theory explain social movements?

Define collective behavior from a sociological perspective and explain the difference between collective behavior and mass behavior, specifically. Share examples of mass behavior.

Define collective behavior from a sociological perspective and explain the relationship between collective behavior and social change.

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 1-2 pages (not including References page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Running header in the upper left of all pages

Page number in the upper right of all pages

Parenthetical in-text citations included and formatted in APA style

References page (at the very least the textbook and/or online lessons should be cited)