Assignment:
The purpose of this assignment is to recognize sociological concepts at play in your lived experience. Keeping a field log of your social and institutional experiences for one day, you will critically discuss how your daily life is shaped and constrained by society. This will allow you engage with many of the sociological concepts learned in class.
Instructions
1) Observation
Create a field log (example). For one day, observe and record the key interactions and institutions in your lived experience. Starting with waking up, who is the first person you talk to? What do you do next- take family members to school, go to the gym, go to work and interact with coworkers? Throughout the day you will take on different roles by interacting with different people and in different situations, and be in contact with different social institutions (education, government, health, etc). Type or photograph your field log and submit it with your written Assignment.
2) Application
Try to wait one or more days before starting this step. Revisit your field log and apply sociological analysis to your observations.
· Describe how our day is shaped and constrained by social norms.
· Identify how several of your experiences fit with at least four sociological concepts learned in class (eg. roles, institutions, interactions, impression management, stage theory, emotional labor).
· For at least two of the concepts, find and incorporate an appropriate source that highlights how sociologists study this concept in everyday society (for example, emotional labor in the restaurant industry). Not sure what constitutes an appropriate source? See our Announcement on this in the classroom- tips and a learning module are provided there.
3) Reflection
· Reflect on your role as a larger part of society (i.e. your motives, instincts, feelings, and/or structural constraints). Discuss ways other people affected you and the ways you affected others in the social experiences of your day.
Writing expectations
The paper should be 4 to 6 typed pages, double-spaced, 12-point font, with 1" margins. Remember to use APA format to cite and reference your sources.