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A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association

ABSTRACTS
Volume 37, Number 4, October 2009

ARTICLES

NOTES

"LAUGHING MATTERS": THE COMEDIAN AS SOCIAL OBSERVER, TEACHER, AND CONDUIT OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Much of the sociological curriculum often represents society as tragedy. This article explores the incorporation of a society as comedy component in introductory courses at two institutions using the sociological insight and social critique of comedians. A general discussion of parallels between the comedic eye and the sociological imagination is followed by specific steps for locating, selecting and incorporating comedic clips into various courses. Through comparisons between experimental and control groups, as well as student questionnaires, we found that the use of comedians to model sociological perspectives increased student ability to apply course concepts, decreased student anxiety when tackling new concepts, and engaged a broader number of students during class discussion. We conclude with discussion of challenges specific to these methods—language use and controversial comedians—as well as the broader need to learn from figures who have been historically successful at engaging the public on issues of social importance.

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PRACTICING SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION THROUGH WRITING SOCIOLOGICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Sociological imagination is a quality of mind that cannot be adopted by simply teaching students its discursive assumptions. Rather, it is a disposition, in competition with other forms of sensibility, which can be acquired only when it is practiced. Adhering to this important pedagogical assumption, students were assigned to write their sociological autobiography. While in the process of establishing a connection between their biography and social history, students were encouraged to narrate their life stories using sociological language. After completing the project, they were asked to comment on their work. Student responses show the positive dimensions involved (including unintended therapeutic consequences) and the major hurdles that they experienced in executing the assignment. In the latter case, the major problem was writing a sociological autobiography qualitatively distinct from what might be referred to as “plain autobiography.” Results reinforce the idea that sociological instruction is better handled when sociological imagination is viewed as a linguistic habitus which serves both as a medium of communication and an intellectual instrument of looking at the social world.

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TEACHING RACE AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION: TWO INTERACTIVE CLASS EXERCISES

This paper offers two interactive exercises to teach students about race as a social construction. In the first exercise, What’s My Race?, we ask students to sort various celebrities and historical figures into racial categories, giving them the opportunity to see the difficulty of the task first-hand. More importantly, through the process of sorting individuals into various categories, they are introduced to flaws within the current racial classification scheme in the U.S. In the second exercise, Black or White?, students are asked to classify photographs of legendary celebrities and historical figures as either black or white. This exercise is used to introduce the concept of the one drop rule; the majority of individuals in the exercise appear racially ambiguous or white, yet all were historically classified as “black” based on the one drop rule. Both exercises, when used together, are designed to visually illustrate to students the ambiguity and arbitrariness of American racial classifications.

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THE BEHAVIORS THAT COLLEGE STUDENTS CLASSIFY AS POLITICAL BIAS: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

In order to determine if college students would label faculty members as politically biased if they engaged in specific behaviors, I conducted an on-line survey at a medium-sized midwestern public university. In addition to listing the behaviors that were and were not defined as bias by a majority of the participants (n=236), I discuss the implications of the findings for researchers and faculty members.

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USING JOURNALS TO SHOW STUDENTS WHAT SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY IS ALL ABOUT

Examining a discipline’s major journals is an excellent way to get an understanding of what that research field is all about, and yet many undergraduate students have never inspected or compared the major journals in a subject area. Students may not even be able to name journals in their field of study. This paper reports a teaching activity I use in my social psychology classes that asks students to inspect and compare four major social psychology journals across a number of dimensions. Using a pretest/posttest design, results show that participating in the activity significantly improved knowledge of the subject area, including knowledge of social psychology’s most popular topics and methods, accurate recall of journal names, and correct assessment of differences between sociological and psychological perspectives. Furthermore, students evaluated the activity positively on a number dimensions, including “interesting,” “enjoyable,” “taught me a lot,” and “helped me understand.”

MICHAEL APTED'S 7UP! FILM SERIES AS A TEACHING PROMPT FOR UNDERSTANDING, COLLABORATION, AND NEW LEARNING IN A SOCIOLOGY COURSE SETTING

Previous studies have highlighted teachers’ perception of films as educational material and as an efficient tool for improving student cognitive learning outcomes. This film review essay presents the perceptions of a diverse group of students in a discussion of director Michael Apted's UP series, a documentary that was incorporated into their graduate level “Education and Social Mobility in Comparative Perspective” seminar experience. We propose that Michael Apted's series of documentary films about growing up and aging in Great Britain offers learners and teachers a unique opportunity for studying the sociology of stratification, mobility, and the role of education. This article provides insights into a conversation that extended beyond the class time and space and considers using the UP series as a pedagogical tool for developing "sociological imagination” and for giving students a voice in the classroom. Both high school and university instructors can utilize the UP series to engage students in conversations about stratification and social mobility. 

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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

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Page last updated: October 16, 2009