Agenda for 9/10 and 9/11

1. The "special" American problem of mass shootings.

2. What other social factors influence gun violence?

3. What do you think?

4. The effect of categories (and expectations). 

• Listen to Batman Pt. 1: 0:00-6:40 (and you should definitely listen to the rest because it's AWESOME!). You can also listen on Youtube here (0:00-7:17).
• Read "Defined by Your Category"
• Answer in you note: What does the rat example and article teach us about the influence of categories over human behavior?  

5. Practicing the Sociological Imagination:

• Seeing the strange in the familiar?
• Seeing the general in the particular?

 6. Connecting the Sociological Imagination to your life!

• "This is Water" by David Foster Wallace
• How do the ideas in this excerpt connect to the concept of the "Sociological Imagination." Think about the iceberg and the waterline of visibility.

HW

Be prepared for "Sociological Imagination Quiz" next class

• Explain the three concepts in your own words
• seeing beneath the waterline of visibility
• Seeing the strange in the familiar
• Seeing the general in the particular
  

Assignment #1 - Due: 9/14 (Maroon), 9/15 (Gold)

• Answer the two questions below in a paragraph each.
• Submit to eBackpack "Assignment #1"

1. What is the main point of Wallace's "This is Water" speech? 

2. What is the connection between his words and the "Sociological Imagination?" 

Respond in a paragraph each.

• Below are excerpts from "This is Water" speech by David Foster Wallace.
  

"The only thing that's capital 'T' True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. This, I submit, is the freedom of real education, of how to be well-adjusted. You get to decide what has meaning and what doesn't. That is real freedom. That is being educated and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness."
“Learning how to think" really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot or will not exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed.”