Social Science - Sociology HOMEWORK

Chapter 11 Discussion: Health and Society

Must post first.

As you read in chapter 11, you will note the disparities in health outcomes based on one's social class, race, gender, neighborhood, occupation, and age, just to name a few factors. This assignment asks you to choose one health related issue that is specific to race/class/gender, and research it from a sociological perspective. For example, why are working class Americans more likely to experience morbid obesity than upper middle class Americans? Why are African Americans more likely to have cardiovascular diseases? Why are Black women three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts? Why is the mental illness rate disproportionately higher in the Asian American community in the United States?

While some of the factors that may explain the health issues may be due to biological / genetic factors, the point of this assignment is to examine the sociological factors that may contribute to these differences. You should do some research to examine this issue, and develop a discussion post.

Post an initial 250 word response by Day 4 (Thursday) and three total responses to other students' postings by Day 7 (Sunday), with at least one of these responses completed by Day 5 (Friday).

Your responses should engage your colleague's thoughts. Stay focused on understanding the reading and discussing course concepts. You may integrate personal experience, as relevant, but only as part of other verifiable evidence as it supports your discussion of the readings, first and foremost.

Remember, grammar, spelling, etc. count.  To begin click on "Start a New Thread" below.”

You must start a thread before you can read and reply to other threads

Chapter 4 Discussion: Socialization and the Construction of Reality

Annette Lareau discusses her book  Unequal Childhoods. She explains that parenting strategies vary by social class and points out that it is unclear whether these differences affect the long-term outcomes of children.

· Long Interview

After watching the interview with Annette Lareau, answer the following discussion question, in detail.

Parents of different socioeconomic statuses socialize their children differently. For example, middle-class parents are more likely to stress independence and self-direction, whereas working-class parents prioritize obedience to external authority. Describe these differences and explain what Lareau concludes about how family socialization reproduces social inequality.

Post an initial 250 word response by Day 4 (Thursday) and three total responses to other students' postings by Day 7 (Sunday), with at least one of these responses completed by Day 5 (Friday).

Your responses should engage your colleague's thoughts. Stay focused on understanding the reading and discussing course concepts. You may integrate personal experience, as relevant, but only as part of other verifiable evidence that supports your discussion of the readings, first and foremost. Remember, grammar, spelling, etc. count. To begin click on "Create Discussion Post" above.

To answer this particular question, click the link above. Once you are in the forum, click the "Create Thread" button to view the question again, as well as, create and submit your answer.

You must start a thread before you can read and reply to other threads

Chapter 9 Discussion: Social Construction of Race

Must post first.

This week, we are examining race as socially constructed. This assignment asks you to do a few things:

1. First, complete the implicit bias activity, clicking 'launch' and then 'Continue as Guest' at  pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ilpov18-soc-il-ilbias/who-me-biased-understanding-implicit-bias/  (You are  not  asked to submit an essay to PBS at the end of the module. Just take notes on what precedes).

2. Next, watch this documentary, "A Class Divided" about Jane Elliot's experiment, which can be found here:  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/class-divided/   (copy and paste the link if it is not working). Take notes.

3. Drawing from the textbook and the two items above, consider the following in your discussion: What is the definition of race, according to our textbook? What does it mean when sociologists say that race is socially constructed? Using examples from either/both from the activity and video above, consider how ideas about race may be reinforced in our society.

Post an initial 250 word response by Day 4 (Thursday) and three total responses to other students' postings by Day 7 (Sunday), with at least one of these responses completed by Day 5 (Friday).

Your responses should engage your colleague's thoughts. Stay focused on understanding the reading and discussing course concepts. You may integrate personal experience, as relevant, but only as part of other verifiable evidence as it supports your discussion of the readings, first and foremost.

Remember, grammar, spelling, etc. count.  To begin click on "Start a New Thread" below.

You must start a thread before you can read and reply to other threads

Chapter 17 Journal - Environment and the Risk Society

Introduction: In Chapter 17, we learn about Ulrich Beck’s theory (1992) that we live in a “risk society” with human-produced manufactured risks, such as air pollution. People in society attempt to mitigate the risks produced by our industrialized lifestyle. Some are more successful at avoiding the risks than others. In this assignment, you will first read an article about the risk of air pollution in the US, which groups of people are most affected by this risk, and some ideas for mitigating the problem of air pollution. Then, you will apply the sociological concepts of Class Stratification from Ch. 7 and Race from Ch. 8 to analyze which groups of people are most likely to suffer from the risk of air pollution and which of the suggested solutions are most likely to succeed.

Task: Read this article on the unequal impacts of air pollution in the United States:  “Air Pollution and Inequality.”  Next, write a journal entry answering the following questions:

1. What are the negative effects of air pollution on American communities?

2. How do the sociological categories of race and socioeconomic class affect the impact of air pollution on a specific individual or community?

3. Who is most likely to be able to successfully mitigate the harms of air pollution? Who is least likely to escape harm?

4. Which of the proposed solutions in the article do you think would be most effective for solving the problem of air pollution. Explain your answers. Which of the proposed solutions would be the most viable to implement?

5. Does air pollution or another environmental problem impact your community and surrounding areas? How so?

This journal entry should be at least 1,000 words in length. It should be written in essay form, and will be evaluated based on their completeness in addressing the prompt, in the quality of the writing, and engagement of relevant reading from our textbook (audio and video are  not  accepted formats for journal entries).

Chapter 2 Journal Exercise

For many of us, one of the most interesting and fun aspects of studying sociology is how relevant the discipline is to our everyday lives. This is even true of the methods we use to study sociology. Hardly a day goes by without reading or hearing about research that can help explain our lives. For example, we are learning that life expectancy in the U.S. is on the decline, which may seem counter-intuitive. After all, we are the richest nation on earth with excellent medical care improved by constantly improving technological discoveries. Misunderstanding life expectancy is generally on the decline may lead to misconceptions on general limits of medicine and science. But when we look a little deeper at studies of life expectancy, we learn that for the wealthiest Americans, life expectancy is on the rise, while for those with the lowest socio-economic status (SES), it is on the decline. Since there are more people of lower SES than the highest, the overall rate is pushed downward. 

This is one example of how we can make better sense of commonly-held information, if we just look a little deeper.

During or after completing the reading for Chapter 2, describe a piece of information that commonly “passes for knowledge,” but is actually partially or completely wrong. This can, perhaps, be based on personal views that had been long-debunked but live-on, or a partially valid claim that seems perplexing. You may have observed it be repeated at home, work, or the community or in the media. Include 1) a description of the information, 2) how you think that information was created, 3) your own reaction to that information/partial or total misconception, and 4) what kind of sociological research method may be used to improve and deepen our understanding of this information.

Journal entries should be written in essay form, and will be evaluated based on their completeness in addressing the prompt, in the quality of the writing, and engagement of relevant reading from our textbook (audio and video are  not  accepted formats for journal entries).

Chapter 2 reading: https://nerd.wwnorton.com/nerd/136834/r/goto/cfi/40!/4?lti=true

Dangers of a Single Story

Chimamanda Adichie

· Danger of a Single Story

" The single story creates stereotypes…and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story." Watch the video Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Adichie, and then write a discussion post addressing the topic of the "single stories" that exist today.

Start by briefly defining what is meant by the term"a single story."

Next, describe an example of a single story believed in the United States—other the one in the video.

Finally, considering what you have read in Chapter 1, what is one possible way to address the problem of people believing such single stories?  Look to address the ways we can work to dispel dangerous myths and show the rich complexities in our world.

Post an initial 250 word response by Day 4 (Thursday) and three total responses to other students' postings by Day 7 (Sunday), with at least one of these responses completed by Day 5 (Friday).

Your responses should engage your colleague's thoughts. Stay focused on understanding the reading and discussing course concepts. You may integrate personal experience, as relevant, but only as part of other verifiable evidence. Remember, grammar, spelling, etc. count.  To begin click on "Start a New Thread" below."

Your posts must be in accordance with the  University's Threaded Discussion Guidelines .

You must start a thread before you can read and reply to other threads

Chapter 7 Discussion - Stratification

Social Stratification

In several cities across the U.S., villages of "tiny houses" are being erected to serve the homeless. These villages vary in the number of homeless they serve, housing between approximately ten to fifty homeless people each. Read the article and watch the video below about one of these tiny house villages, which is located in Austin, Texas. Once you are done, follow the instructions for your discussion, below.

· "Can Tiny Homes Solve Homelessness?"  (read)

· "Home and Community for Homeless Neighbors" ( view)

In this news article and video, Alan Graham, a former real estate developer and CEO of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, discusses Community First, a tiny home village which he developed in Austin, Texas, intended to serve the homeless population in that city. Graham states that Community First is based on what he calls a "relationship model." He claims, "Housing will never solve homelessness, but community will." In your discussion entry, discuss what Graham means by that statement. What do you think he means by "community"? Based on the information presented, who do you think benefits from the tiny home model – just the people that are no longer homeless who live there? Who does Alan Graham feel is responsible for ending homelessness, and what specific roles would they take in ending homelessness? Do you think this model if fair, or not? Explain. Support your conclusions by explaining why/why not.

Post an initial 250 word response by Day 4 (Thursday) and three total responses to other students' postings by Day 7 (Sunday), with at least one of these responses completed by Day 5 (Friday).

Your responses should engage your colleague's thoughts. Stay focused on understanding the reading and discussing course concepts. You may integrate personal experience, as relevant, but only as part of other verifiable evidence as it supports your discussion of the readings, first and foremost.

Remember, grammar, spelling, etc. count.  To begin click on "Start a New Thread" below.

You must start a thread before you can read and reply to other threads

Chapter 6: Social Control and Deviance

 It is the deviants among us who hold society together.

 

Introduction

Most of us are fascinated by deviance. We are drawn to stories about the strange and  scary - whether it is  The Silence of the Lambs, crime shows and prison dramas on TV, and the many unusual activities of humans - from head-to-toe tattoos, various sexual practices (e.g. bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism - BDSM), and beliefs that space aliens live among us. But what exactly is deviance? This is not an easy question to answer (a reason that we have an entire course on deviance - SOC 443). The simplest explanation is that it is something that violates a social norm - the rules by which we all live. Some norms are informal, such as respecting your elders and covering your mouth when you sneeze; others are formal, including the many rules and laws that govern our society. It is important to note that not all deviance is criminal. For example, someone who believes in Satan may be considered deviant, but it is not illegal. And while most people consider illegal behavior to be deviant, this is not always the case: as of January 1, 2018, adult residents in California can use cannabis recreationally, but it is a violation of federal law to do so. For sociologists, the processes by which certain attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors are labeled deviant are as interesting as understanding what causes more "high consensus" deviance such as murder, rape, robbery, and theft. In this chapter, you will learn how sociologists study and explain different forms of deviance, including the interesting paradox of how those who are considered deviant actually help reinforce society's values.

Course Learning Outcomes

· Understand the kinds of questions sociologists have typically addressed and the role sociology plays in contributing to our understanding of social reality.

· Understand the connection between the individual and society.

· Use the methods sociologists use to answer important questions about society.

· Use the sociological imagination to understand their role in making, maintaining, or changing society.

Chapter Theme

· Understand the impact and role of deviance in our society.

Weekly Learning Outcomes

· Understand the social forces that produce social deviance

· Understand the ways in which society attempts to control deviance

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Instructions
Chapter 8 Journal - Gender and the Holidays For this journal assignment, our class will examine gender roles during the holidays. Please take a look at the following articles from JSTOR Daily,  here , and from Sociological Images,  here . Think of a Thanksgiving or   other holiday celebration you had with your family, paying special attention to the gender roles associated with this holiday. 1) What do the men do during different parts of the day and evening? How do the women spend their time? What about the children: Do the boys and girls help their family members? 2) Take a look at the various rituals throughout the day, and think about whether they differ by gender. For instance, is the turkey carved at the dinner table, and who carves it? 3) According to your observations, did you find any kind of gender imbalance and/or difference in the preparation for this holiday?   Assignment: Write a summary of your observations and analysis of gender roles during one particular Thanksgiving---or pick another holiday you have celebrated with your family that involves cooking and eating a lot of food. Include in your summary what the gender roles revealed during the event. Journal entries should be written in essay form, and will be evaluated based on their completeness in addressing the prompt, in the quality of the writing, and engagement of relevant reading from our textbook (audio and video are  not  accepted formats for journal entries).