discussion
devry socs185n week 1 discussion dq 1& dq 2 latest 2016 july
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Developing a Sociological Imagination (graded) |
Sociologist C. Wright Mills preferred to call the sociological perspective “the sociological imagination” and he saw it transforming personal troubles into public issues. Let’s begin our discussion this week by considering homelessness. Why are a high percentage of the homeless veterans? What situations might be a cause in someone being homeless? Use the sociological imagination to explain your observations, and how the sociological imagination helps us consider the causes and possible solutions to homelessness..
dq2
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Stanford Prison Experiment (graded) |
In 1971, Philip Zimbardo’s experiment demonstrated the power of the situation and the interaction between social interaction and social structure. There are many videos of the experiment, search two or three videos on internet to see different perspectives about this experiment. After viewing the videos, if you had been a guard, do you think you would have been more likely to go along with the other guards or would you have resisted or spoken up about treating the prisoners the way you would have wanted to be treated if the roles had been reversed??
devry socs185n week 2 discussion dq 1& dq 2 latest 2016 july
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The Changing Meaning of Symbols (graded) |
Symbols can have more than one meaning.
1. The battle flag of the Confederate States of America is viewed by some as the rebel flag and is a symbol for individualism against authority. To others, it is a powerful symbol of repression, hate, and slavery.
2. Someone wearing the hat or jersey of their favorite team might be perceived as a gang member (friend or foe) because of the symbolic meaning of the colors to another group.
3. What examples can you think of where symbols can have more than one meaning?
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The Games Children Play… (graded) |
In the article, “Games Children Play: An Exercise Illustrating Agents of Socialization” (Teaching Sociology, 26, April, 1998: 130-139). Davita Silfen Glasberg, Florence Maatita, Barbara Nangle, and Tracy Schauer pointed out that most introductory sociology textbooks identify the main socialization agents as family, peers, schools, media, work, and religion. “…what 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.
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?
devry socs185n week 3 discussion dq 1& dq 2 latest 2016 july
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The Milgram Experiments (graded)
The Milgram experiments on obedience to authority, discussed in chapter five were conducted with groups of subjects who had not met before the experimental session. Here is a brief video from the original experiment: Milgram Experiment. Do you think that groups of people who already knew each other would demonstrate more or less conformity if placed in these experimental situations? What if the teachers were men and the learners were women? Would teenagers conform the same as adults?
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Sexuality and Social Inequality (graded)
How could sexuality play a part in social inequality? Watch the following video: Girl’s Self-Esteem. Does society hold women to a different set of expectations than they do for men?
devry socs185n week 4 discussion dq 1& dq 2 latest 2016 july
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Social Mobility (graded) |
Has your family experienced significant upward or downward mobility over the past three or four generations? How do you think your values and behavior might differ had you experienced the opposite pattern of mobility? How might it have been different had your family been of a different ethnic or racial origin?
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Perceptions of Deviance (graded) |
One of the more interesting topics of study is the area of deviance and social control. Choose a form of deviance with which you are familiar (not necessarily something you’ve done, but something someone you know did) and discuss why society views that behavior as deviant and whether perceptions of that behavior have changed over time. Explain which theory of deviance you think works best for understanding the deviant behavior you’ve chosen to discuss.
week 5
Definitions of Race and Ethnicity (graded) |
What is meant by the social construction of race? Take a look at the this video link: Kiri Davis: A Girl Like Me. Is your race more a matter of how you view yourself or of how others view you? In what ways is how you view yourself influenced by our society and culture?
Man’s Work Versus Woman’s Work (graded) |
How are household chores (cooking, cleaning, laundry, child care, auto maintenance, yard work, home repair, etc.) divided up along gender lines in your current residence? How were chores divided up in the home where you grew up? Is the time spent each week on the total about evenly divided or skewed one way or the other?
week 6
We Are Family. Get Online And Post With Me… (graded) |
Sociologists stress that family life is not just a reflection of individual decisions but also the social structure of the broader society. Using concepts from this week’s reading to support your points, discuss how society shapes family life.
What is Religion? (graded) |
How would you define a religion? What characteristics must a belief system have in order for it to be considered a religion? If a belief system did not include faith, a God, heaven, or hell, would it still be a religion? How much of a belief system do you have to believe in order to be considered a member of a religion, 100%, 90%, less?
week 7
Think Globally, Act Locally (graded) |
What steps do you or your families take to lessen your impact on the environment? What items do you reduce your usage of, recycle back into other products, or reuse for another purpose?
Coming Back To Research (graded) |
Research is fundamental in the social sciences. A common data collection method is the survey. Let’s look at the survey as a social scientist.
Navigate to the DeVry portal (http://my.devry.edu). At the student portal, enter your DSI# and the password used to log in to the student portal and navigate to the End of Course Evaluations and Student Satisfaction Survey directly from the home page. Locate the Quick Links section on the left side of the home page, scroll to the bottom of the page and select the link for Surveys.
Now, let’s discuss the merits and flaws of this survey instrument. Which questions would you add? Which would you delete? What questions would you change? What questions would you keep the same?
assignmennts
Sociological Imagination Assignment
Our decisions do not simply result from what philosophers call “free will.” Sociology teaches us that the social world guides our life choices in much the same way that the physical world guides influence our choice of clothing or the type of food we feel like eating. C. Wright Mills pointed to the power of what he called the sociological imagination to help us understand everyday events. As he saw it, society—not people’s personal failings—is the main cause of poverty and other social problems.
For this assignment explain how a personal problem can be caused by a larger social issue. It can be a problem that you, a friend or family member, or someone you have read about has experienced. Describe the situation, putting both the personal problem and the larger social issue in boldface, then explain the relationship in terms of cause and effect. Limit your response to a single double spaced page.
| Category | Points | % | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Understanding | 10 | 25% | Correctly identifying a personal problem and larger social issue |
| Analysis | 20 | 50% | Explaining the cause and effect relationship using proper terminology |
| Execution | 10 | 25% | Proper spelling, grammar, format and use of boldface |
| Total | 40 | 100% |
Submit your assignment to the Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these step-by-step instructions.
See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for due date information.
Discussions
- Introduce yourself to your instructor and to the rest of the class (not graded, but required)
- Developing a Sociological Imagination (graded)
- Stanford Prison Experiment (graded)
- Q & A Forum for your questions and comments (not graded)
week 3
Your Assignment
You are a student employee who overhears conversations among your coworkers. While on break, two of your male coworkers usually go off by themselves and smoke a cigarette. These recently hired coworkers are in their first semester and have just graduated from high school. Sometimes you overhear bits and pieces of their conversations. You are concerned that they regularly have conversations that are inappropriate for the workplace. You have overheard these coworkers making crude sexual references about other employees, telling sexist jokes, and sharing images and graphics of a sexist nature on their cell phones. You seek advice on how to handle the situation from others at your workplace.
KEY PLAYERS
You need to decide if you want to file a formal complaint. If you do, the matter will be investigated. If what you say can be substantiated then the young men will be reprimanded. That usually results in their employment being terminated and their student loans/financial aid may be in put in jeopardy.
Shirley Wright
Manager of Student Employees
I don’t care what your boss says; this is inappropriate behavior for the workplace, even if they are on break. They should learn to stop this kind of behavior before they graduate. It’s the sort of thing that could get you fired in the real world. If I were you, I would, informally, have a word with them and tell them that I was offended. Once they have been informed that they offended someone, they may decide to change their behavior on their own.
Ron DesVue
30-year-old veteran, student and classmate
Hey, you got a smart phone, don’t you? First thing I’d do is record their conversation on my phone. Don’t let them know you’re recording it. The next time they have one of those conversations tell them that you find it offensive and ask them to stop it. If they refuse or give you a hard time, tell them that you have a recording of their sexist comments and you’ll take it to the boss. They don’t need to know how the boss feels; the threat should be good enough to get them to stop, at least when you are around.
Hugh Jim Bissell
Close friend since high school and current classmate
Let’s not turn this into a federal case. I’d say as long as they’re having these conversations in private, among themselves then it’s not any of your business. After all,boys will be boys. These are young, single men, and this is a way that they bond, work out frustrations, and blow off steam. Look, it’s not like they’re making racist remarks. In that case, I definitely go straight to the boss, even higher up the chain of command, if I needed to. After all, who hasn’t told a dirty joke now and then? As long as they keep it on the down low, it’s no big deal.
Frieda Choose
Close friend and classmate
Activity or Assignment
This assignment covers TCO 6 in terms of interaction among groups and TCO 4 in terms of the meaning of culture within society.
In a 500-word (minimum) essay, using the concepts that you learned from this week’s readings analyze the different ways that sexist behavior is handled in the formal and informal bureaucracy. The following questions should answered in the essay.
The following questions should be answered in the essay.
- Does Shirley Wright’s comment make you more or less likely to file a formal complaint? Do you agree with the likely punishment? If not, what alternative punishment would you suggest?
- Do you agree with Ron DesVue’s perspective where he says you should speak to the individuals? Why or why not?
- Do you agree or disagree with Hugh Jim Bissell on using your smart phone to make a recording? Why or why not?
- Should you take Frieda Choose’s advice that “boys will be boys,” and that there is a general expectation that men will occasionally behave badly, and so long as the behavior is kept between privately, it should be ignored? Why do you think she distinguishes between sexist remarks and racist remarks? Explain your answer.
- Is there a problem with the organization in the scenario above? If so, what should be done to provide a long-term solution to the problem
week 5
Socioautobiography Assignment
Your socioautobiography assignment is due this week. The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to apply the sociological imagination to your everyday life: to make connections between your everyday life and the broad sociocultural structures within which you live. In this assignment, you will reference appropriate Terminal Course Objectives (TCOs) that relate to your socioautobiography. You can find the TCOs in this course listed in the Syllabus and in the weekly objectives. This assignment can be related to any and all of the TCOs.
The Socioautobiography is a reflective paper that allows you the opportunity to explore the interconnections between biography (a slice of your life), the social structure, and culture. In preparation for this paper, please read Socioautobiography Guidelines posted in Doc Sharing for detailed assignment instructions and grading rubric.
Submit your assignment to the Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these step-by-step instructions.
See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for due date information.
Question 1. Question :
(TCO 1) The systematic study of human society is known as _____.
Question 2. Question :
(TCO 1) The study of the larger world and our society’s place in it is known as _____.
Question 3. Question :
(TCO 1) When Peter Berger characterized the sociological perspective as “seeing the general in the particular,” he meant that sociology allows us to _____.
Question 4. Question :
(TCO 3) Of the major theoretical theories in sociology, which one views society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change?
Question 5. Question :
(TCO 3) Functions of institutions that are open, stated, and conscious functions; that involve the intended, recognized consequences of any social pattern are known as _____.
Question 6. Question :
(TCO 2) Which is the term for a concept that has a value that changes from case to case?
Question 7. Question :
(TCO 2) Independent variable is to dependent variable as _____.
Question 8. Question :
(TCO 2) A relationship in which two (or more) variables change together is called _____.
a correlation
Question 9. Question :
(TCO 2) What research method was used in Philip Zimbardo’s study, the “Stanford County Prison”?
Question 10. Question :
(TCO 2) A criticism of the symbolic-interaction approach is that it
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(TCO 4) On the first day of basic training in the army, Pvt. N. Terprize has his civilian clothes replaced with army “greens,” has his hair shaved off, loses his privacy, and finds that he must use a communal bathroom and other people decide when he eats, sleeps, and what job he does. Erving Goffman would say that all these humiliating activities are part of _____.
Question 2. Question :
(TCO 4) Other than perceiving the competing realities in a joke, what is sometimes involved in “getting” and enjoying a joke?
The joke must be universally funny.
Question 3. Question :
(TCO 4) Which is the order of the stages of human development in Jean Piaget’s model?
Question 4. Question :
(TCO 4) Erving Goffman makes so many explicit parallels to the theater that his view has been termed _____.
Question 5. Question :
(TCO 4) Shrimp merchant Sheldon Devane is the son of immigrants, and lives with his aunt and uncle while enrolled at a four-year university where he is studying to be a graphic artist. Which of the following is his achieved status?
Question 6. Question :
(TCO 3) Taxi cab driver Peacup Andropov maintains that human behavior results from learning and has no gentic component. His position is the fundamental opposite of _____.
sociobiologists
Question 7. Question :
(TCO 3) Mashie Nibblet is a pro at a country club and loves to play golf, but hates to teach it to the country club members. Mashie is experiencing _____.
Question 8. Question :
(TCO 3) Norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance are _____.
Question 9. Question :
(TCO 3) Standards by which members of a culture assess desirability, goodness, and beauty and that serve as broad guidelines for social living are referred to as _________, and ___________ are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members.
values; norms
Question 10. Question :
(TCO 3) All of the following are theories of cultural, EXCEPT _____.
week 4
Student Answer: Task group leadership
Comments:
Question 2. Question : (TCO 4) Which statement reflects Georg Simmel’s understanding of the dyad?
Student Answer: She was one of the greatest marathon swimmers of all time and is a fine sports commentator.
Comments:
Question 3. Question : (TCO 4) Ross T. Farrian’s itinerary for the day is to first, go to school; second, visit a maximum-security prison with his criminology class; and third, to serve dinner at the community soup kitchen. Ross is visiting, in order, a _____, _____, and _____ organization.
Student Answer: normative, coercive, utilitarian
Comments:
Question 4. Question : (TCO 4) _____ feel they are trapped in the wrong body.
Student Answer: Hermaphrodites
Comments:
Question 5. Question : (TCO 4) Which statement is true concerning intersexual people?
Student Answer: They are sexually attracted to both sexes.
Comments:
Question 6. Question : (TCO 6) Pat Rearc argues that without norms controlling sexual behavior and thus giving the forces of sexual passion free reign, family life and the raising of children would be threatened. To which paradigm would Pat be aligned?
Student Answer: Structural Functional Theory
Comments:
Question 7. Question : (TCO 6) Emile Durkheim proposed several functions of deviance. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
Student Answer: Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.
Comments:
Question 8. Question : (TCO 6) Travis Hirschi’s approach to deviance and control proposes that
Student Answer: Hirschi is a deviant spelling of Hershey.
Comments:
Question 9. Question : (TCO 6) There are four basic reasons to punish: moral vengeance, reforming the offender, discourage criminality, and render the offender incapable of further offenses. The terms for these are in order:
Student Answer: retribution, social protection, rehabilitation and deterrence.
Comments:
Question 10. Question : (TCO 3) In France during the Middle Ages, the third estate, second estate, and first estate refer respectively to
Student Answer: nobility, high clergy, and commoner.
(TCO 3) Kuznet’s curve suggests that
Student Answer: it could be an effective pitch for the veteran who is starting to lose a little something on his fast ball.
Comments:
Question 2. Question : (TCO 3) _____ is the term for earnings from work or investments and _____ is the term for the total value of money and other assets, minus outstanding debts.
Student Answer: Income; personal property
Comments:
Question 3. Question : (TCO 3) Which theory of poverty blames poverty on the shortcomings of the poor themselves?
Student Answer: Individual responsibility theory
Comments:
Question 4. Question : (TCO 5) Which of the following did Max Weber suggest were analytically distinct components of stratification?
Student Answer: Conformity, deviance, and social control
Comments:
Question 5. Question : (TCO 4) Accounts Payable Administrator Imelda Czechs works for a small international corporation. This category of work can be described as _____
Studen
