3 pages paper with Turnitin report required

ASSIGNMENT #2

WHO AM I AND WHY?

50 points

(SUBMISSION ONLY ACCEPTED THROUGH TURNITIN)

PURPOSE OF ASSIGNMENT:

The concept of the “ sociological imagination ” or “ sociological perspective ” is central to the study of Sociology. This term was coined by C. Wright Mills, a famous sociologist, who stressed that viewing the world through a broader lens than we typically do can help us understand ourselves and those we interact with throughout our lives. Sociologists also look at social location , the corners in life that people occupy, when analyzing why people do what they do.

This assignment will allow you to develop a framework for understanding the meaning of this concept by introducing you to the importance of the relationship between personal biography (your social location) and social history (Mills 1969).

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

READ PAGES 2 AND 3 IN THE TEXTBOOK.

Write a double-spaced, minimum three page, (NO LIMIT ON PAGES IF YOU WANT TO EXPAND) spell-checked, typed paper (12 pt. one inch margins) that includes the following information:

• Name, where you were born (city, state, country) and when you were born (date and year), your gender, your race/ethnicity, number of siblings, your birth order, your social class (underclass, lower, middle, upper—just guess, we will discuss social class in depth), and your religion. This is your social location .

The following sections will comprise your social history :

• Briefly identify and describe the neighborhood in which you grew up (suburban, urban, rural, quiet, loud, safe, unsafe, people know one another, people do not know one another, rich, poor, snobby, friendly, clean, dirty, etc.) How do you think your neighborhood impacted your behavior and who you are now?

• How did your parents raise you? Were they strict? Were they permissive? Did they let you make your own mistakes and hopefully learn from them, or did they keep close control of your actions/behaviors? How do you think your parents’ parenting style impact who you are now? Did you rebel against their authority? Were you submissive and did you obey them? Now that you are in college looking back on your childhood, will you raise your (potential) children in the same way or different? Explain.

• Who were you friends while growing up and who are your friends now? Have your friends changed over the years? Are they similar to you? Are they different? Just write a few sentences about this. Do you seek out friends who are different or similar to you?

• This next section specifically calls for you to use your “ sociological imagination : change one or two of the elements (your race, your gender, your social class, your ethnicity, your neighborhood, your religion, your sexual orientation, etc.) and describe (in one or two paragraphs) how you think that might change your self-concept (how you think of yourself, and your behavior and basically who you are. For example, if you are White, use your sociological imagination to describe yourself if you were African American, or Hispanic, or Arab. You can change your sexual orientation or religion – for example from Christian to Muslim or Jewish to Muslim – you get the point. These are just suggestions – you can use social class, gender, etc. This is using your sociological imagination to try to imagine how someone who is different than you in one or more of these aspects might behave and think about themselves and the world.

• Finally, tell me your goal in attending college. Are you here for a specific career? Are you undecided? Do you believe that education will change who you are, how you think, and how you behave? Do you want to change who you are? Or, are you happy with who you are?

Enjoy this assignment…there are no right or wrong answers because this is about you! However, please do follow the directions closely to achieve full points and respond to every question.

This paper should be easy for you to write – just write it like you speak – pretend that you are answering these questions in an interview. This paper is not an English paper so please do not worry about rules for papers – i want you to be free to think and write what you think. Pretend that you are talking to me as you write – don’t worry too much about sentence structure, proper grammar, etc.

Research shows that writing down answers to such questions as I am asking you here (called expressive writing) can be therapeutic and can reduce depression, increase productivity and even make one healthier. A leading researcher says….”The act of writing is more powerful than people think.” He says we all have some “free floating anxiety that saps our energy and increases our stress. This researcher says that through expressive writing you may realize that a certain sentence makes you recall an unpleasant experience with one of you parents (for example). This type of insight, research has shown, can help locate, ground, and ultimately resolve the emotion and the associated stress. This assignment is for you!