• Home
  • Videos
  • Pics
  • Blog
  • Modules
  • About Us
  @TheSocyCinema

@thesocycinema / blog

A Semester of Sociological Theory in Music

12/11/2011

4 Comments

 
Picture
_Earlier this year, Nathan Palmer at the Sociology Source described his idea for playing music before each class. As Nathan described in his post, he selected a music relevant for the day's topic and started the song so that it would end at exactly the point in time he wanted to start class. He noted that the music "can pull your students into a discussion, get them to consider controversial issues from new perspectives, and set a tone for a great class." I was totally convinced by this method and employed it throughout my semester of teaching Sociological Theory. I wanted to share some of the songs I used and my experience with it. Here are some of the songs I used:

First Day of Class - The Show Must Go On (Pink Floyd)
Marx (Alienation) - Working at the Factory  (The Kinks; lyrics)
Marx (Communist Manifesto) - Working Class Hero (John Lennon; lyrics with video)
Marx (Commodity Fetishism) - Comfort Eagle (Cake; lyrics)
Durkheim (Social Facts) - The Times They are A-Changin' (Bob Dylan; lyrics in video)
Durkheim (Suicide) - Jeremy (Pearl Jam); Lonely Day (System of a Down; lyrics in video)
Weber (Authority and Bureaucracy) - Handlebars (Flobots; lyrics in video)
Weber (Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism) - Workin' on Leavin' the Livin' (Modest Mouse)
Du Bois (The Veil, Double Consciousness) - All Black Everything (Lupe Fiasco; lyrics with video)
Omi & Winant (Racial Formation Theory) - Changes (Tupac)
Symbolic Interactionism (Looking Glass Self) - Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen)
Neo-Marxism (Culture Industry) - Mountains O' Things (Tracy Chapman)
Foucault (Disciplinary Power and Surveillance) - Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash); Big Brother (Stevie Wonder)
Globalization (Global Culture and Consciousness) - Citizen of the Planet (Alanis Morissette; see more songs here);
Globalization (Imperialism) - Bullet the Blue Sky (U2; lyrics in video)
Gender - If I Were a Boy (Beyonce; lyrics in video)
Social Movements - Masters of War (Bob Dylan/Pearl Jam Cover)
Social Change - Change is Constant (Son of Nun)
Wrapping Up the Semester: Knowledge as Power - Wake Up (Rage Against the Machine; lyrics in video); My Generation (Nas & Damien Marley)

And just a few reflections on my experience: Overall my experience doing this was EXCELLENT! It got my students in a good mood to start every class. By timing the song to end exactly at the start of class, I was able to "train" my 95-student class to quiet down on time. It is also important to note that it is important that we--as instructors--start class in a good mood and energetic. The music can help us to do that too! It also provided for an interesting start to the class when I explicitly addressed the song. For example, during one of my days on Marx, I opened with a Tupac song, then started with class "Yes, I just played Tupac to talk about Karl Marx and his ideas about capitalism." Finally, it gave them yet one more way to think about sociological theory as relevant to every day life, and to consider additional sites to practice their sociological imagination. Having done this once, there is no going back! For more ideas for this activity, refer to Nathan's post.

Paul Dean

4 Comments
Paul Dean
1/30/2012 09:25:20 pm

Update: Nathan just started a new site for identifying songs to use for sociology classes. Check it out: http://sociologysource.squarespace.com/sociologysounds/. This is another great resource!

Reply
priyasmita
1/29/2013 01:38:18 pm

good one,indeed.I tried to open marxscapitalblog.blogspot but it showed this "It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog. If you think this is a mistake, you might want to contact the blog author and request an invitation." any help?

Reply
Paul Dean
1/29/2013 08:44:08 pm

Unfortunately, the link is broken. We deleted it.

Reply
moupay martins
11/29/2024 06:16:24 pm

I was heartbroken because I had a very small manhood , not nice to satisfy a woman, I had so many relationships cut off because of my situation, I have used so many products which i found online but none could offer me the help I searched for. I saw some comments about this specialist called Dr Moses Buba and decided to email him at [email protected] so I decided to give his herbal product a try. i emailed him and he got back to me, he gave me some comforting words with his herbal pills for manhood Enlargement, Within 14days of it, i began to feel the enlargement of my manhood , " and now it just 2 weeks of using his products my manhood is about 9 inches longer and i am so happy, contact DR Moses Buba now via email [email protected] or his WhatsApp number +2349060529305 . contact him through his Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559577240930 may God reward you for your good work . For more info i can help to explain the medication +44 7375301397

HE ALSO RENDERED THE FOLLOWING ........1. BRING YOUR EX BACK........... 2. LOTTERY SPELL......... 3. PREGNANCY SPELL ..........4. WEAK ERECTION ............5. POOR EJACULATION..........

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    .

    .

    Tags

    All
    Advocacy & Social Justice
    Biology
    Bodies
    Capitalism
    Children/Youth
    Class
    Class Activities
    Community
    Consumption/Consumerism
    Corporations
    Crime/law/deviance
    Culture
    Emotion/Desire
    Environment
    Gender
    Goffman
    Health/Medicine
    Identity
    Inequality
    Knowledge
    Lgbtq
    Marketing/Brands
    Marx/marxism
    Media
    Media Literacy
    Methodology/Statistics
    Nationalism
    Pedagogy
    Podcast
    Prejudice/Discrimination
    Psychology/Social Psychology
    Public Sociology
    Race/Ethnicity
    Science/Technology
    Sex/Sexuality
    Social Construction
    Social Mvmts/Social Change/Resistance
    Sociology Careers
    Teaching Techniques
    Theory
    Travel
    Video Analysis
    Violence
    War/Military

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @TheSocyCinema

     

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Pics
  • Blog
  • Modules
  • About Us