Agenda for 9/9 - Gold

1. Finish Intro to Sociology keynote

2. In notability: create a new folder, title it "Sociology," and then create a new note.

3. Developing the Sociological Imagination:

"SEEING THE GENERAL IN THE PARTICULAR"

Disney Ad Analysis

In your notability note answer the following questions as best as you can (write down whatever comes to mind :

A. What aspects of American culture/values are evident in this Disney ad? What ideas does it support? How does it reflect they way Americans think about life? Think about sex and gender, masculinity and femininity, body image, race, socioeconomic class, childhood.

B. Think about which group in society this ad is meant to target? Do you have any concerns about companies designing ads to target this group?

"SEEING THE STRANGE IN THE FAMILIAR"

• Why do Americans value gun ownership?  
• How does this value effect the lives of Americans?
• Need more evidence?  
• America's unique problem of mass shootings
• Answer in your note: So does this value "make sense"?

4. The "Rat" Experiment" - the effect of categories (and expectations). 

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

5. 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:

Assignment #1 - Due: 9/10

• 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.”