Please answer any 2 of the following questions:

1. Please discuss whether your findings on the YouTube videos and ads support or detract from arguments made in the Chapter 7 text section ‘Imitation of Violence’.

2. *For the social comparison on social media article, compare rumination to self reflection, discuss which is better for identity formation and why?

3. We all have implicit biases. As you learned about implicit bias, what areas of life do you think you may need to be more aware of your thoughts? What are ways to mitigate these thought and ideas?

4. Think about all the readings about how our life, beliefs, behavior and values are socially constructed.  You may want to refer back to module 4 and my review of the ISL readings thus far.  How does social media construct our social life and social being? Use examples from the unit and from life.

NOTES:

Attachments

The Presentation of Self in Virtual Spaces summary
Erving Goffman proposed that we actively work to shape the perceptions others’ have of us. This impression management occurs each time we interact with others as we work to carefully present the image we want others to see. In the decades since Goffman wrote The Presentation of Self, the Internet has become a common part of our social life. Multiple virtual platforms have emerged that allow people to form communities where they interact and develop relationships with one another without ever meeting physically. Gottschalk examines the “virtual life” that many people create (and live) on the digital platform Second Life. They are able to do many of the things that online that are possible in the real world – such as shopping, visiting museums, starting a business, and learning – including developing relationships. Through Second Life, people can create an avatar to do all these things, which makes it a platform where people around the world can have close relationships with each other even without being physically close. As you can image, the allure of Second Life is part of what makes impression management so important – anyone can be anything they want to be. While people in the real life are constrained by what they can do or how they can look to manage their presentation to others, Second Life allows almost complete customization of avatars. The ease of changing an avatar’s look makes it easy to carefully control what is presented to the other people on Second Life. Yet, at the same time, it is generally expected that the avatar will be in line with the physical appearance of the controller (albeit highly idealized). Significant deviations in the race, gender, or age of the controller with their avatar can be perceived as deceptive by their friends. Gottschalk’s description of the self-avatar paradox speaks to the limits of Second Life avatars to be separate from their controller’s self. It is impossible to completely change the way we speak (not to mention changing the language) and communication style often indicates the education, gender, region, class, and other characteristics that distinguish us from others. Controllers can also feel like their avatar is a more accurate representation of their self than their physical self is. Therefore, the controller’s avatar can evolve as the controller does, without the cultural and structural constraints that are present in the physical world.

Links:
https://www.businessinsider.com/sex-violence-against-women-ads-2013-5?international=true&r=US&IR=T#

School Fights
[A forewarning that some of videos listed under the query school fights on youtube are disturbing depictions of acts of violence carried out by young people. Some of the ads that allude to sexual violence may be disturbing as well].  For purposes of illustrating the ASP text content on ‘the imitation of violence’, we are asking that you view at least 3 separate videos.  You may choose any from the many found on the page. After viewing these videos, please make a note of the number of views/likes and dislikes the videos have. These number may give you a clear picture regarding the popularity of viewing the video among young people as well as possibly illustrate reasons why one would record the acts. 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=school+fights (Links to an external site.)

https://youtu.be/dVp9Z5k0dEE

https://youtu.be/GP-cqFLS8Q4

You should answer one question from Group A and one question from Group B.

You are free to use any outside sources you wish for this exam; however, you must properly cite your sources according to American Sociological Association (ASA) style guidelines. You should also provide a reference section that includes all works cited in this portion of your exam. This reference section should adhere to ASA style guidelines.

Each question is worth up to 200 points. Of these 200 points, up to 170 points will be awarded for substance. To get the full 170 points, your answer must draw upon at least three outside scholarly sources (i.e., peer-reviewed journal articles or scholarly books, not counting your textbook, Wikipedia, etc.). Up to 30 points will be based upon adherence to ASA style for your in-text citations and reference list. (These points will be awarded as follows: no ASA style errors = 30 points; the minimal number of minor ASA errors = 24 points; multiple numbers of minor ASA errors or major stylistic errors = 18 points. For examples of ASA style guidelines see https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/formatting_in_sociology_asa_style/index.html (Links to an external site.))

The maximum word length for each question is 1,200 words (excluding references). You are certainly free to write fewer than 1,200 words — but make sure your answer is long enough to substantively address the question.

Question Group A: (answer one of the following)

1) Khaldun, Marx, Durkheim and Giddens each had ideas about the underlying mechanism or forces that drive change in societies. Choose three of these theorists and explain their ideas about what causes social change.

2) Explain Emile Durkheims concept of anomie and Karl Marxs concept of alienation. Be sure to include the root cause of each concept in your explanation, and be sure to explain how the two concepts differ. Then provide a modern-day example of either anomie or alienation. (Be sure to identify which concept your modern-day example illustrates.)

3) Methodology was inherently linked to theory in the work of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Explain and contrast their methodological approaches to the study of social phenomena.

Question Group B: (answer one of the following)

4) Discuss the work of W.E.B. DuBois and put it in historical context. Explain at least two of his key concepts. Are these ideas still relevant today? If so, why? And if not, why not?

5) What does David Gauntlett mean by making is connecting? How does Web 2.0 fit into that? And what theorists does he draw upon to formulate his ideas?

6)  Of the theorists we studied this semester, who was your favorite and why? Explain his or her main concepts. What historical, social or technological forces or events might have shaped these ideas and how? Do any of these ideas provide insight into your field or area of interest? If so, which ones and what do they help explain?

What are your thoughts about Naomi Klein’s analysis of capitalism and its impact on society and the environment?

How do you think her ideas about capitalism and about the ability of people to affect social change compare to some of the theorists we have studied this semester?

NOTES:
Social theory purists might ask why I included Naomi Klein in an applied sociological theory course? After all, she is not a sociologist and not really a social theorist in the traditional sense. She is, however, a very perceptive observer of the contemporary world who raises questions that touch upon some of the most important themes we have discused in this course — among them capitalism and its impact on society, social structures and the ability of people to initiate social change. Naomi Klein is stinging in her critique of the impact of capitalism, yet refuses to give up to nihilistic despair. She sees the world facing a crisis and believes that crisis could give rise to a new, more democratic and egalitarian order.

What is more, Naomi Klein is a master of using multiple communication channels to deliver her message. Books, interviews, television, films and the Internet, she uses them all in an integrated fashion. Regardless of whether you agree with her views, she provides a model for 21st century intellectuals who want to get their ideas out to people. After all, in a digital age, should we expect the next Emile Durkheim or Max Weber to advance the discipline using an intellectual approach designed for the 19 century?

Link1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlwzOPxN-QA

Link2:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/07/fight-climate-change-99

Respond to the following discussion prompts

What items in the sociological tool kit might prove especially useful in conducting a needs assessment for a school?

Discuss the difference between program evaluations that measure progress against goals and those that measure capacity development.

Which type do you think is most needed for the schools in your community — and why?

Helpful Links:
https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/themes/capacitydevelopment

https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology2ndedition/chapter/chapter-2-sociological-research/

https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter2-sociological-research/

How do sociologists use theory?
And what do you think about Lieberson’s ideas about the use of evidence in testing sociological theory?

Notes for answering the questions:
Einstein, Renoir, and Greeley: Some Thoughts about Evidence in Sociology: 1991 Presidential Address (UPLOAD)

BARKING UP THE WRONG BRANCH: ScientificAlternatives to the Current Model of sociological Science (UPLOAD)

Chapter 3, The Role of Theory in Sociological Practice in Doing Sociology.
(UPLOAD)

Reference(s):
Chapter 3, The Role of Theory in Sociological Practice in Doing Sociology.

Lieberson, Stanley. 1991. Einstein, Renoir, and Greeley: Some Thoughts About Evidence in Sociology. American Sociological Review 57 (1): 1 15.

Liberson, Stanley, and Freda B. Lynn. 2002. Barking up the Wrong Branch: Scientific Alternatives to the Current Model of Sociological Science.  Annual Review of Sociology 28: 1 19.

Questi9on(s):

Respond to one of the following discussion prompts.
What are your thoughts on the tools of sociology (perspective, theories, concepts, methods) and their impact on sociological practice?

Discuss the applied sociological enterprise in the information age and the role played by applied sociologists and basic researchers.

Answering Material:

https://plato.stanford.edu/index.html

Applied Sociology in an Information Age
Most of us toss around the term information age when describing the contemporary world, but as sociologists, our interest in this term should go much deeper than mere semantic shorthand for the times in which we live. For, this is an age where information has truly become a commodity. Our economic and social structures depend upon it, just as they relied upon iron, coal, and later petroleum in the industrial age.

The information has become the essential raw ingredient in a chain of production that goes from information to knowledge to innovation. At each stage, imagination and creativity are the catalysts from which emerges the next step of the process. And each stage of the process has the potential to generate new information, making information a renewable resource and the chain of production self-accelerating. If not a perpetual motion machine, this chain of production is at least a perpetual information creator.

How then is knowledge generated from this torrent of information? Clearly, one answer is through the arts and humanities. Another is through basic research. Science has become a huge force connecting bits of information to create patterns of meaning (i.e., knowledge). These patterns, in turn, become blueprints for innovations that change our lives in ways big and small. For example, advances in physics are translated into cell phones which not only make it easier for friends to communicate on the go but connect people on the periphery to commercial institutions at the core of the world system.

Granted, processing Barclays credit card hardly makes a street vendor in Tunis or Addis Ababa a major player in the global financial system. Cell phones alone seem an unlikely tool with which to overturn the world system envisioned by people like Immanuel Wallerstein. However, as the Arab Spring and other recent events have shown, in the hands of a radical it can be a rebellious instrument. In the information age, the revolution wont be televised, it will be Tweeted.

Where does sociology stand?

What is the role of sociology in this new chain of production? Judging from most presentations at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, the majority of articles published in the journals of the discipline, and the zeitgeist of most sociology departments, sociology has firmly planted its flag in the knowledge stage of the process. After all, thanks to microcomputers vast arrays of information are available to us in digital form; indeed, entire constellations of data points electronically beckon to us from cyberspace. As scientists, we sociologists connect these data points, drawing meaning from them. In this paradigm, our job is to make sense of the passing parade while the task of being a drum-major falls to others.*

In its own way, this is a powerful paradigm whose roots stretch deep into modernity. However, it seems ill-fitted to the information age. As a discipline, we must cover each phase of the production process information, knowledge, and innovation to be successful in this era. In effect, we must be vertically integrated. Basic research is clearly vital to our enterprise, but basic research alone is not enough.

Sociologists should be actively engaged in the process of acquiring information. If the person generating data has a solid theoretical understanding of the field, the information they present to a basic researcher is likely to be more useful in his or her attempt to generate knowledge.

Sociologists must also take the knowledge developed by their research colleagues and transform it into innovative approaches that change organizations and/or civil society. This is often work undertaken at the behest of clients, and it can have a significant impact on the people involved. A project to improve the workplace at a company may seem rather prosaic except to individual employees who see tangible improvements in their daily life as a result. In this paradigm, the applied sociologist who affects that change is as important as the basic researcher who defined the relationship upon which that change rests and both are dependent upon the quality of that initial data. 

model showing connections between applied sociology and basic research and back to applied sociology.

If it all seems rather circular, it is. Dynamic is another word for it. As shown in Figure 1, the process becomes non-linear and constantly feeds back on itself. One of the most exciting things, I think, is that this paradigm opens new frontiers upon which to do sociology. Our greatest strength remains our sociological tool kit of the method, theory, and sociological imagination. But these tools are put to use in the information and innovation phases of the chain of production as well as the knowledge generation phase. We have two new arenas in which to play. We can be drum majors in as well as detached observers of the passing parade.

_____________________________

* Not to paint with too broad a brush, there are exceptions. The discipline has heard reports from the frontiers of other visions. As president of ASA, Michael Burawoy championed the idea of public sociology, and some leaders in the organization have sought ways to more fully incorporate applied and clinical sociologists and their interests into its proceedings, publications, and advocacy work. 

Reference(s):
Durkheim, Emile. 1997. Suicide. New York: The Free Press.

Price, Jammie, Roger A. Straus, and Jeffrey R. Breese. 2009. Doing Sociology: Case Studies in Sociological Practice. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.

Steele, Stephen F. and Jammie Price. 2008. Applied Sociology: Terms, Topics, Tools, and Tasks. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide, 6th Edition.

Questi9on(s):
So, what are your reactions to Max Weber?
Any concepts that resonate with you?
Any that seem way off base?

Answering Material:
https://prezi.com/ubbdczh9sjzq/copy-of-max-weber/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Macfarlane on Max Weber:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNC3Ur2Uc6A&feature=youtu.be

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/weber/

Reference(s):
Edles, Laura Desfor, and Scott Appelrouth. 2010. Sociological Theory in the Classical Era. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Grenfell, Michael James (ed). 2012. Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts. New York: Routledge.

pages 153 – 162 (biographical sketch, intellectual influences, and core ideas); 167 – 181 (Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism); and 201 – 220 (the types of legitimate domination).