INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY |
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| SOCIOLOGY 101.940 | LENVILLE J. STELLE |
| SPRING - 2007 | PARKLAND COLLEGE |
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**Owing to the quantity of email that
I must process and the nature of computer disease, I DO NOT ACCEPT ATTACHMENTS. The WEB EXPLORATIONS must either be composed within an email message or be composed within a word processor and then copied and pasted to the body of an e-mail message. I would personally recommend the latter technique.
Chapter 1:
1. There are a number of websites which can be used as sources of good sociological data. You are now going to visit the Bureau of Justice Statistical web site. Look at the different types of data that is available at this site, then click on link for the Crimes and Victims page. Read this summary.
The Crimes and Victims summary notes
that the crime rates for several major categories of crime have recently
declined. This drop in the crime rate comes at a time when the unemployment
rate is the lowest it has been in 25 years, and the new job creation rate
is at an all time high. In what ways do you think crime rates and the vitality
of the economy are related? What do these rates mean in terms of the impact
they have on the quality of people's lives?
2. One of the more recent takes on sociological theory is referred to as Chaos Theory or the explanation of nonlinear dynamics. Visit the following site and summarize the perspective of Chaos Theory. What does Young claim it can do that more traditional theories can't? What is different about it? What is the tie to symbolic interactionism? Comment on how the movie, Jurassic Park, may have contributed to its apparent popularity in sociology.
RFI - Symbolic Interactional Theory and Nonlinear Dynamics
Sociological research is a serious enterprise with important ethical obligations. Go to the American Sociological Association website and browse around. While you are there, read the ASA Code of Ethics:
American Sociological Association
Briefly describe the ethical responsiblities
of those who conduct sociological research. Do you think that upholding
these guidelines is always easy? Why, or why not?
1. One of the more historically interesting ethnic subcultres, one that has survived time and place, is that of the Romani or Gypies. Visit the following site and summarize their history and culture. Identify sterotypic attitudes common to your home community regarding this group.
The Patrin Web Journal - Romani (Gypsy) Culture and History
2. Most industrial societies contain several diverse countercultures. Below are two websites that provide a window into ways of life that stand apart from our cultural mainstream: from white supremacists to nudists. Select ONE of these sites:
What, precisely, defines the counterculture
you visited? Do this group's cultural patterns simply differ from conventional
notions, or are they fundamentally opposed to them? How do you explain
these differences?
One aspect of the power of the WEB is our ability to come into contact with ideas and attitudes formerly known to only a minority of people. Visit the following WEB site for a peek into a self declared "ultra-left," anti-capitalist web zine. In the subfield of the sociology of knowledge, all ideas are thought to be located in time and space. What is the time and place of the ideas of this e-zine? Describe the people that were or are attracted to this type of world view.
Against
Sleep And Nightmare magazine
Visit the three identified sites. They address childhood issues in the US and throughout the world. The "Child Labor in America" site provides some visual images from America's past. The "Child Labor and Its Worst Forms" site examines global practices involving child labor. The Unicef site features an outstanding statement on children's rights. Read the Unicef "Convention on the Rights of the Child."
Child Labor and Its Worst Forms
Unicef Convention on the Rights of the Child
Most children in poor countries are
expected to work long and hard. How serious is the global problem of child
exploitation? Why do people in poor nations think about childhood differently
than people in rich nations? Should all societies be expected to adopt,
and enforce, the Unicef Convention on the Rights of the Child? Why have the US and Somalia been the only two countries in the world to refuse to ratify the Unicef Convention? What part do we,
living in rich countries, contribute to the exploitation of children living
in the world's poor countries?
Here is an example of everyday, real-life reality construction. You are trying to buy an automobile for as little money as possible and the dealer is trying to stick it to you big time. Read the Edmunds Manual's analysis of automobile dealer strategies to get the price up and what you can do to counter their efforts.
Through interaction, people constantly
negotiate their everyday reality. The new car deal can serve as a classic
metaphor of the process of creating a reality. In what specific ways do
dealers' 'spin' reality to benefit themselves? In what ways can buyers
use these same strategies (and others) for their own purposes?
Hate is a powerful and tragic force in human affairs. In a complex society like our own, many groups are based upon its energy. Visit the following site and comment on its suggestions regarding how to fight hate.
1. One of the important attributes of deviant behavior is that the social definitions that serve as its foundation change with the passage of time. Go to the following two sites to learn about a set of American values and attitudes that have only changed in the recent past. Comment on how and why our attitudes regarding racism and death as theater have changed. Be forewarned that you will find the images to be quite horrific.
Lynching in America: Carnival of Death
African American Holocaust
2. In a potential reemergence and redirection of the values and attitudes displayed in the previous Exploration, visit a page from the "Army of God" web. Describe how American definitions of Muslims and Islam have changed since 9/11. How likely are the definitions suggested here to become dominant ideas in our culture?
Islam is a Satan inspired religion
1. Go to the following site:
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Read and comment on two of the subarticles. What homophobic issues were being addressed in the articles you selected? 2. At the 7th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, Babette Francis contributed a most provocavative paper "Is gender a social construct or a biological imperative?". Discuss the social contruction of gender roles. Your answer should include examples from your own life.
1. The Hindu caste system has long
been an object of discussion among Western anthropologists. Visit the following
site and describe your thoughts about this type of stratification system.
Ethnohistory reveals how common and durable caste systems were in many
cultural traditions (for instance feudalism in Europe and Japan). Why do
you think that they were so durable?
2. Slavery is an ancient form of social
stratification - slaves built the Great Pyramids of Egypt and the Roman
Forum. It has seemingly survived into the modern world. Visit the following
two sites and describe your thoughts regarding this cultural practice.
Do you think that an outside force (like the U.N.) should intervene in
the internal cultural affairs of the Sudanese people? Why or why not?
1. Middle and upper-middle class web
surfers have taken to the Internet Shopping Malls with almost the passion
and intense zeal of real shoppers. For people with too much money and too
little sense, or time, these virtual shopping centers have become a cornucopia
of products and fun (much to the glee of their proprietors). Choose ONE
of the following Internet Malls and pretend that you are shopping for a
birthday present for your best friend:
Which Mall did you select? How many
stores were available for you to shop at in this mall? Based on the kinds
of products available at these stores, what can you say about how members
of our society engage in 'conspicuous consumption' – that is, how do we
use material products to 'make a statement' about who we are? Be specific
in describing the items and prices you observed.
2. There are serious problems of poverty
and homelessness in the U.S. Go to the National Coalition for the Homeless
website and read all of the current reports:
National
Coalition for the Homeless
What estimates are offered of the number
of homeless people in the U.S? How do they manage to survive through nights
of severe winter cold? What proposals have homeless advocates made that
might end this national tragedy? When millions of people are displaced
because of industry plant closings, as happened in the mid-1980s, who is
responsible for displacing the lives of the workers and their families?
What factors do you believe account for most of the homelessness in the
U.S?
3. Here are three Web sites that are worth a visit to learn more about poverty in the United States. In the United States, children and women are at a higher risk of poverty. The first two sites are concerned with child poverty. The third site investigates the interplay of gender and poverty. Briefly describe and summarize the three sites. Why are women and children more likely to be poor? How does the situation in Illinois compare to other states?
1. The strongest defense of Capitalism
on the Internet is 'The Intellectual Voice of Capitalism on the Internet.'
Visit this website and examine this celebration of capitalism.
Voice
of Capitalism On The Internet
What are the strongest points in defense
of capitalism made by this website? What are the major weaknesses in this
presentation? Is this site a compassionless glitzy paen to crass commerialism
and greed? What is right, and wrong, with Capitalism? Explain.
2. There are several good Internet
sites that consistently criticize Capitalism. Two such sites are listed
below. They are 'The Monthy Review,' and 'McSpotlight.' Each offers a unique
perspective for criticizing capitalism. Select one of the sites and review
its hostile perspective of Capitalism.
Which of these sites did you select?
Summarize the major points of criticism you found at this website. How
did you personally respond to these criticism? How valid do you believe
them to be? Why?
1. Two of the best websites for information
about important woman's issues are at the WWWomen site. Visit the WWWomen
Links website or the WWWomen News website and examine its array of issues,
topics, and links:
Which site did you choose? Of the issues
you found addressed here, which impressed you most? How many links to other
women's groups and sites did you find? Do you think services like these
help women? How? Are they useful to men? In what ways?
2. One of the fundamental woman's issues
of our times concerns the woman's right to control her own body. One dimension
of this issue is understanding birth control. The best website for information
about Birth Control is Ann Rose's Ultimate Birth Control Pages.' Visit
this site:
Ann
Rose's Birth Control Pages
What does 'safe sex' mean? Who is responsible
for safe sex? What risks are associated with unprotected sex? What are
the relative advantages and disadvantages of using the pill, condoms, a
diaphram, an IUD, or other forms of birth control? What about abstinence
as a means of avoiding the dangers associated with sex?
1. Hate groups abound in the United
States, spreading their ethnocentric, racist, and homophobic views with equal parts
of self-righteousness and angry venom. Visit the 'Hate Watch' website and
select a hate group to investigate. Click on the link for the group you
selected and read everything you can about this group.
Which hate group did you select (If you think that hate groups only happen somewhere else, then take a look at the World Church of the Creator, headquartered in East Peoria.)? Summarize
this group's ideology. Which religion or ethnic groups are the object of
specific contempt for this group? Why? What sociological factors account
for people becoming part of such groups? What do you think these people
feel towards themselves? Why?
2. Below are three very different,
but outstanding, views of a unique ethnic heritage. Each of these cultures
has made an impact on U.S. society. The first site is for the Native American,
Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation. The second is a cultural portrait of the African
nation of Sierra Leone. The third is a WebMagazine on Hispanic culture.
Visit ONE of these sites:
Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation (their "Trail of Death/Tears" passed through Champaign County)
Which website did you select? What
did you learn about the way of life of these people? Is this a culture
that you could adapt to? What impressed you the most – in both a good and
bad sense – about this culture? Why?
As elderly people become older they
may unintentionally place a great deal of strain on the resources of their
family. Tragically, our nation is experiencing a severe problem of abuse
of the elderly. Visit the 'National Center for Elder Abuse' and look at
the system they have for reporting abuse and the programs they offer to
reduce these problems:
National
Center for Elder Abuse
How easy is it to report an incident
of elder abuse? Of the programs you saw offered for reducing these problems,
which seem to provide the greatest potential for success? Why?
Most investment websites take a very
pro-business point of view. There is at least one good worker-oriented
website, so you need to visit the Labor Net:
Blue- and pink-collar workers can surf
the net, and they need to know that others understand the dangers and drudgery
they frequently face on the job. Look at the issues and concerns addressed
by men and women who provide the laboring backbone of the U.S. economy.
What are the major concerns you found at this site? What can college students
do to better understand the needs of these workers?
1. While fundamental human rights are
taken for granted in the U.S, this is not always so in other countries.
Visit the Amnesty International website and read the campaigns that Amnesty
International is waging:
Which campaign did you find the most
compelling? Typically, why are the men and women held as prisoners in these
countries? Would you be willing to write a brief letter urging the release
of one of these prisoners? Why or why not?
2. Winning a political campaign is expensive: advertizing, travel, workers, literature, bumper stickers, etc.. Where does the money come from? Visit the following site and explore the financing of at least one political candidate or the pattern of contributions from a particular donor. Summarize your findings. Do you feel that donors expect a "return on their investment?" Do you feel that politicians have a obligation to those that donated to them and, if so, what is its nature?
1. There are several excellent family
resource Web sites. One of the best is Parenthood Web. Visit this site:
Describe the link categories you found
at this site and summarize the type of resources available in each category.
How can resources like this help young people become better parents?
2. The National Center for Fathering
is responsible for creating a number of excellent programs designed to
help train young men to be better fathers. Visit the NCF Web site and examine
the programs they offer:
Describe the array of programs offered
by the NCF. How can programs like these benefit male headed single-parent
families? How can these programs help dual-parent families?
1. There are only a few really good
Religious Resource Guides on the Internet. One of the best is the Religion
Resource Links page at Weber University in Washington. Survey the resources
and links that are available:
Madin's
Religion Resource Links
Which site did you select? Describe
the type of links and resources you found at this site. What key sociological
issue is addressed there? What did you learn about it?
2. Institutionalized Religion is often
the brunt of jokes. An excellent parody of both religion and Consumers
Reports appears on the 'Which Religion Is Best?' Internet site. Read this
parody:
By supposedly conducting consumer preference
testing, how does this satire ridicule Consumer Reports' testing procedures?
Which characteristics about each religion were supposedly tested? Why are
these features inappropriate for comparative shopping? How do most religious
people acquire their religion in the first place?
You are now going to visit the website
for the National Educational Goals Panel and its report on U.S. schooling.
Read all portions of this report by clicking on each portion's title. Study
the summary table that highlights the data (Progress Toward Goals) used
to form the conclusion that U.S. schools are not sufficiently closing the
gap between the performance of U.S. student and students in other industrialized
countries:
National
Education Goals Panel
Summarize the major findings of this
report. What key deficiencies did you note? Where are U.S. schools doing
better? What problems related to schools are getting worse? What do you
recommend be done to improve these situations?
Here are two very good Medical Links
Resources. The 'People With Disabilities' site has numerous resources and
links to other information sites. The 'AIDS Resource List' is one of the
best pages of AIDS/HIV related links. Select ONE of these sites and survey
the resources and links that are available:
Which site did you select? Describe
the types of resources and links you found available. What new information
about disabilities/AIDS did you learn from visiting this site? In what
ways do such sites contribute to an understanding of the social processes
that underlie human health?
1. Islam maintains a religious doctrine
of protecting the environment. Go to the 'Guardians of the Natural Order'
website and read about the Islamic doctrine of protecting nature:
Guardians
of the Natural Order
Summarize the major principles of Islamic
environmental protection. Is there a similar doctrine in your religion?
Should there be? Why, or why not?
2. Go to the "Links to Foreign Government Statistical Agencies" section of the following site: International Government Sites
Identify a fast growing country and a slow growing country. What statistics did you use in making your determinations (be sure to include the values)? Describe one social consequence of slow growth and one social consequence of fast growth.
3. Explore and describe the following
sites:
Population Connection, a.k.a. ZPG
On October 12,1999 the world's population
reached 6 billion people. How many more have been born since then? Was
Malthus right? Why has the US not been able to achieve ZPG?
Liberal and conservative visions of
our 'future world' can be found on the Internet. The 'Robot Wisdom' site
is a politically conservative plan for social change, and the 'Bad Subjects'
site is a very liberal critique of modern events with periodic proposals
for change casually tossed about. Select ONE of these sites. If you select
'Bad Subjects,' you must click on the lastest issue once you arrive at
the homepage:
Which site did you select? Summarize
the major criticisms you found. What proposals were offered for these problems?
Do these proposals make sociological sense to you? Why, or why not?
1. The United Nations has identified several goals for Humankind's future. Visit the homepage of the UN Development Programme.
Explore the several identified goals. Comment on which you feel to be most worthy and least worthy and why. Rank the goals in terms of feasibility.
2. One effect of the World Wide Web is that we can have exposure to thoughts, ideas, and groups that were previously inaccessible. One of the seemingly odd things about late 20th century American history is that while you can stand in Key West and see the smog over Havana, Cuba, as an American, it is very difficult to go there. A forbidden place if you will. Visit the following site. What is your interpretation of its purpose? What do you see as differences between American and Cuban sociology? Do you think that American and Cuban social scientists should continue to be prohibited from interacting? Do you think that the situation will change over the next twenty years and, if so, in what way? Home Page of Cuban Social Sciences
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
National Center on Children in Poverty
The Children's Defense Fund - Illinois Profile
The Institute for Women's Policy Research - Illinois
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13:
Chapter 14:
Chapter 15:
Chapter 16:
Chapter 17:
Chapter 18:
Chapter 19:
Chapter 20:
Chapter 21:
Chapter 22:
Chapter 23:
Chapter 24:
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