These assignments are designed to provide students with the opportunity to investigate the social world around them using a sociological lens and to apply the course concepts and readings to better understand social issues. For this assignment, students will choose 1 of the following topics from those listed below. Students should choose which papers they will do soon to allow enough time to complete the work. The papers are due as listed on the syllabus. Papers should be written in essay format; they should make an argument (or thesis) and use evidence gathered through your observations to support the argument. The following assignments provide a broad overview of the kinds of questions you should investigate, but feel free to discuss other interesting questions or observations that you make. In your analysis, you should utilize course concepts and readings. Each reaction paper should be approximately 5 pages in 12 pt font with standard margins. On the front page, please include your name and course number. You should also include your observation notes with your papers. Please speak with Professor Makene if you have any questions about these assignments. To get A on your paper you must have at least 3 references one of which can be a course text.
McDonaldization
In an "Introduction to McDonaldization," George Ritzer suggests that four factors have made McDonald's Corporation successful: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control; Furthermore, he argues that this cluster of characteristics, which he terms "McDonaldization," affects not only the restaurant business but also education, work, health care, travel, leisure, dieting, politics, family, and more.
Visit an organization other than a fast food restaurant-a business, convenience store, department store, salon, bar, hospital, gym, school, church, or any other organization of interest to you. This can be an organization that you already know well (for example the place that you work) or it can be a place that you are entering for the first time. Try to view the organization as Ritzer would. Look for evidence of each of the elements of McDonaldization. Are they present? If so, what form do they take? Does rationality sometimes lead to irrationality in this organization? Based on your observation of this organization and your experience in general, to what extent do you think Ritzer has accurately characterized contemporary society? Are there aspects of his argument with which you disagree? Aspects that you think should be more developed or altered?
Deviance
Select a norm that is part of your everyday life and clearly state what the norm is. Now violate that norm in two different settings when there are other people present (for example stand facing others in the elevator, or sing in the elevator). Observe and record the reactions that you get to your norm violation. Please be sure to do this activity in a way that is safe, legal and ethical.
In your paper, first describe the norm you violated and how the settings in which you violated the norm are different from each other. Discuss the responses you observed to your norm violation and how you felt while breaking this social rule. Next, analyze the responses to your deviance using ideas and concepts from course materials (e.g. readings, lectures, discussions). In what ways did others engage in social control that was directed at your norm violation? What similarities and differences did you observe in social control responses across different settings and why are they important? What do you think these social control responses indicate about the roles and significance of norms, deviance, and conformity in everyday life? If there were not attempts at disapproving or controlling your behavior, why do you think this is the case and what might that indicate about the social setting or people's interpretation of the situation?
Gender Socialization
In a general sense the term socialization refers to the process whereby an individual learns and acquires the value systems, beliefs, behavioral norms and personality attitudes of a specific culture. How we interact with our environment and other individuals, and how we view ourselves within our immediate context, often reflects the socialization processes that we have experienced. Gender socialization is one aspect of the socialization process in which boys and girls learn about being masculine or feminine in their society. In the U.S. one way in which we experience and express gender is through consumer items. From early ages, girls and boys learn about gender is through the consumer items such as toys, clothes, and even furniture that is marketed to them and their parents, and which they come to desire.
For this paper, visit three children's department and/or toy stores (at least 3 different stores, 1 of which may be online such as toysrus.com). Identify the locations and when you visited them in your paper. Pay attention and take notes as to how the clothing, toys and other consumer items are organized. How do you know which items are intended for girls and which for boys? Are there gender-neutral items or non-gendered items? What are the differences and similarities across locations? (Pay attention to how social class or neighborhood might impact the selections.) In your paper, describe any patterns you observed as well as anything you saw that was unusual or unexpected. What kinds of things do you think clothes and toys teach children about gender? How do they teach children to be boys or girls? For example, think about how the clothes might affect a child's movements or how the toys might affect a child's interests. Are there any ways in which toys, clothing or other children's consumer items encourage boys and girls to be similar to one another? Explain. To be sociological we must move beyond patterns to consider what those patterns mean and how they connect to other aspects of the social world. Gender is one important way in which we organize the social world. How do children's clothing and toys perpetuate or challenge inequality, stereotypes, or other gender-related social phenomenon? Connect your observations to course readings and materials.
Urbanization
This exercise requires you to look at parts of the Metro area from an urban ecology perspective. Using a digital camera, take pictures of three different places in the Metro area. They should be of three distinct neighborhoods that reflect some class and/or racial diversity, although they can be geographically close. They can be urban, suburban or rural, but can also be just one of these. Paste the pictures into your assignment and write about ½-1 page about each picture answering the following questions: What do the buildings, signs, people, landscapes, vehicles and other visual cues in the photo tell you about the "ecology" of this area? What is the basic socio-economic and racial make-up of the neighborhood? Provide some evidence of this using the Census Factfinder website). What are the main activities that take place in this space? Is this place well established or in transition? What elements of the photo help you make these determinations and why? After you have described each of the three settings, compare and contrast the ecologies in the photos. How are they similar and different from one another? In what ways are these areas separate from one another and/or interdependent?