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A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association

ABSTRACTS
Volume 37, Number 3, July 2009

SPECIAL ISSUE ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE CLASSROOM

TEACHING NOTES

SOCIOLOGY OF THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM: APPLYING SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL

Teaching Sociology's emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning has moved the field well beyond simple description of teaching methods. There is no doubt that the journal is more scholarly than in the past. Still, we do not take advantage of our rich theoretical disciplinary work. There is much to learn sociologically about the classroom and other sites of interaction between teachers and students. Our classrooms are social sites and our analysis of them can be of help to scholars both inside and outside the discipline. In this article, we propose a sensitizing concept, the sociology of the college classroom-the application of sociological theory and/or concepts to understand social phenomena that take place at the level of the classroom and other sites of faculty-student interaction. We situate the sociology of the college classroom as a subset of the scholarship of teaching and learning and the sociology of higher education. Sociology of the college classroom can be a place not only where research meets teaching, but it can also be a site where sociological theory meets pedagogical praxis.

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THE CLASSROOM AS STAGE: IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT IN COLLABORATIVE TEACHING

This article explores the social psychological process of identity negotiation in collaborative teaching, using Erving Goffman's (1959) theoretical tradition of dramaturgy to analyze the classroom itself as a performance venue. A dramaturgical analysis of collaborative teaching is especially significant given this growing pedagogical trend because identity negotiation in team teaching has the potential to impact one's teaching, one's career, and students' learning. We demonstrate that despite the positive outcomes of collaborative teaching for both teachers and learners, building a successful team is a process that takes time, effective communication, risk taking, and trust. Most significantly, sustaining a clear definition of the situation in the classroom is a challenge when a teaching team is engaged in the ongoing negotiation of roles, power, and course structure-in front of students. We argue that making identity claims in a collaborative team teaching situation is both more challenging and rewarding than acting alone on the classroom stage.

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THE PEDAGOGY OF (IN)VISIBILITY: TWO ACCOUNTS OF TEACHING ABOUT SEX, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY

As teachers who use both our theoretical (academic) and practical (empirical) knowledge to entice our students to peer outside of the seemingly clear-cut boxes of the two-and-only-two dichotomies of sex, gender, and sexuality, we attempt to problematize not only sexuality categories but also gender categories (specifically, the category "woman"). While "coming out" complicates heterosexuality, it does little to question how non-normative sexual identities continue to be rendered and re-negotiated once sexual identity claims are made or are perceived to have been made. Moreover, as teachers concerned with gendered identities, we find it imperative in both our classroom and other academic settings to make the connection between gendered identities and sexual(ized) identities. For example, if a feminine woman who is married to a man comes out as bisexual, she may disrupt students' assumptions about the lives of bisexual people. The pedagogical effects of such a performance of bisexuality are clear: students can rethink their assumptions about bisexuality. However, if a masculine woman comes out as a lesbian, she may reinforce students' assumptions about the lives of lesbians. The pedagogical effects, therefore, are less clear. These experiences have forced us to rethink how we might continue to eradicate gender and sexuality inequality in the classroom. This has meant that we must deal with the social fact that our bodies embody (in)visibility politics whether we decide to "come-out" to our students and colleagues or if we are intent on "keeping them guessing."

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TEACHING: FROM DISAPPOINTMENT TO ECSTASY

Unintended outcomes can derail the best of intentions in the classroom. Designing a new course for Honors students provided an opportunity to change my traditional teaching style. I envisioned a classroom where students enthusiastically became more self-directed learners. I was perplexed with mixed reactions from students; while some joined me and adopted the model of teaching and learning I proposed, far more than I expected resisted this change. Using a sociological framework helped me understand that I had overlooked the powerful influence of the larger institutional context for shaping and maintaining expectations for teacher/student role enactment. I argue that when students' comfort is disrupted and their normative role expectations are rendered unpredictable or misunderstood, some respond with resistance. Honors students, in particular, may be the most resistant to pedagogical innovation because they are the most skilled at, and invested in, enacting and maintaining the institutionally normative roles.

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DENYING SOCIAL HARM: STUDENTS' RESISTANCE TO LESSONS ABOUT INEQUALITY

Students share folk beliefs that make it difficult for them to understand inequality, especially the harmful consequences of social practices they routinely engage in, are attached to, and take for granted. Four of these beliefs include: (a) harm is direct, extreme, and the product of an individual's intentions; (2) harm is the product of the psyche; (3) for harm to occur, there must be an individual to blame; (4) beliefs and practices that students cherish or enjoy cannot be harmful. We offer sociological ideas that counter students' individualistic understanding of social harm.

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CONSUMPTION, ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS AND GLOBAL INEQUALITY: A LESSON IN INDIVIDUAL AND STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

Environmental problems are best considered social problems with ecological consequences. It is the social order that gives rise to environmental degradation, and, as the current ecological crisis grows, sociologists have an obligation to educate their students about the social roots of this problem. This article describes a lesson designed to make that connection clear while drawing on important sociological themes such as social inequality, globalization, structure and agency. In this exercise students are asked to document their consumption patterns and to reflect on their ability to reduce their consumption given structural constraints. The assignment also incorporates the use of an "ecological footprint quiz" available on-line which measures one's overall ecological impact based on personal consumption patterns. Class discussion and writing assignments draw on sociological themes as a basis for reflection on individual consumption habits and economic structures in order to analyze ecological degradation, global inequality and the prospects for environmental sustainability and social justice.

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LANGUAGE, INTERACTION, AND INEQUALITY: A TEACHING EXERCISE FOR THE SOCIOLOGICAL CLASSROOM

This paper discusses an active-learning exercise that centers on language and the reproduction of inequality. Students are asked to analyze the structured nature of the way that refusals are made in everyday speech acts. These patterns are then used to facilitate students' understanding of the complicated and nuanced linguistic strategies that women often employ when attempting to communicate sexual refusals to men in intimate or dating situations. The exercise encourages students to view language as both a vehicle for transmitting sociologically-relevant content (e.g., attitudes, perspectives, justifications) as well as a vehicle through which actors construct social relations and social locations in ways that reflect and maintain social inequalities. In evaluating the exercise, students said that it gave them new insights into gendered language use and increased their understanding of the micro-dynamics of inequality. Through this exercise, students learn actively about ways in which both linguistic content and linguistic usage can be gendered (and raced, classed, etc.) in ways that may contribute to the perpetuation of durable inequalities in everyday life.

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THE PUBLIC POSTER SESSION

This article describes a teaching innovation for a course on "race and racialization" taught at a Canadian university. Students were assigned a poster presentation in which they had to develop a visual presentation of research that integrates written and illustrative components. The posters were designed and laid out entirely electronically, then printed. The university community and members of community organizations were invited to attend a public presentation session held during one lecture period at which they could engage the students directly about their work and make verbal and written comments. This article includes teaching students how to produce a poster, budgeting, the practicalities of organizing and publicizing the event, the rationale for it, how the students' work was evaluated, its benefits and limitations, and a checklist for inspired instructors. Given the subject matter--and sociology's concern with engaging the public--the assignment contributed to dialogue about the meaning and value of ethno-racial diversity and the complexity of power relations.

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The Editor of Teaching Sociology is Liz Grauerholz.

Beginning July 1, 2009, new submissions to Teaching Sociology should be sent to the incoming editor of the journal, Kathleen S. Lowney. Her address is:

    Kathleen S. Lowney
    Editor, Teaching Sociology
    Department of Sociology, Anthropology, & Criminal Justice
    Valdosta State University
    Valdosta, GA 31698-0060

For questions about manuscript processing, contact Deborah Barr, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Howard Phillips Hall 403, Orlando, FL 32816-1360. Phone: 407-823-2227, Fax: 407-823-3026.

The Webmaster is Pauline H. Pavlakos. Observations on form and egregious spelling may be directed to Ms. Pavlakos.

The Teaching Sociology Web Page is located at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Le Moyne College, the Jesuit College of Central New York.

Page last updated: July 22, 2009