In this assignment, students create a public sociology presentation in which they explore how to make sociological research and knowledge accessible to and integral in public (i.e., non-academic) discourse. Working in small groups, students locate a media news story that, in some way, overlooks some key aspect(s) of sociological knowledge. They then develop a PowerPoint presentation that critiques and reframes the story using sociological research and theory, making a case for why it's so important to consider the sociological perspective in the first place. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp, University of Maryland
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In this assignment we ask students to write about what C.W. Mills calls the intersection of biography and history. Specifically, we ask them to write about the ways a social structure has had an impact in their own lives and to consider the broader impact the structure has had in society. Students can choose either Option A, which encourages them to draw more explicitly on the ideas of Karl Marx, or Option B, which encourages them to draw more explicitly on the ideas of Max Weber. _ Submitted By: Lester Andrist & Anya Galli, University of Maryland
_In this assignment, we ask students to write a paper which articulates a new MPAA guideline that helps people identify racism, sexism, classism, and heteronormativity. For example, we ask students what type of content would merit an R rating for racism? What kind of sexism would merit a PG rating? After devising a new rating system, we ask students to write about the impact of positive and negative representations of people in film. Submitted By: Lester Andrist & Anya Galli, University of Maryland
Use this exercise to encourage your students to think about the norms they enact on a daily basis, the consequences of failing to enact them, and their function. Submitted By: James Noon, University of Maryland
In this assignment, I ask students to work in groups and try their hands at subverting dominant meanings through practicing culture jamming. The assignment specifies two ways in which students can jam culture. In option A, I ask students to identify dominant cultural meanings they find problematic. An example would be the meanings associated with "masculinity" or "the nation." The students then find video clips online that seem to reinforce these problematic meanings, and they remix those clips or add content of their own in order to subvert the original message. Option B is very similar but allows students to use still images and subtitles instead of video editing software. In part II of the assignment, I ask students to deconstruct what they did by specifying the dominant meanings they sought to subvert, explaining why those meanings were problematic, and why their culture jam is political. Submitted By: Lester Andrist, University of Maryland
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