1. Read through a recent copy of your area’s or your school’s newspaper. Make a list of topics covered by the newspaper to which sociologists might want to apply the sociological imagination. Can you find topics that you can characterize as existing at the intersection of personal troubles and public issues? Which of these topics would you, as a new sociologist, like to study and why?

2. In this chapter, the authors discussed unemployment of young college graduates as a private trouble and a public issue. Together with a small group, or on your own make a list of social forces that may be contributing to an economic crisis. Put this list in a notebook or save it to your personal computer so you can refer back to it periodically. Check back on the list throughout the term to see if and how your explanatory variables might expand or change.

3. Are you a good critical thinker? Most of us are not. We need training to learn how to think critically. The text gives you six key components of what it means to develop good critical thinking skills. The first skill, “Be willing to ask any question, no matter how difficult” is probably one of the most challenging. What is the one question you would like to ask at the start of your sociology class? Write the question to yourself or submit it to the class or professor in a private manner. By the end of the semester, how might you answer your question with your newfound sociological tools?

4. This chapter covers many of the early sociological thinkers and theorists. One that the text considers is Harriet Martineau. One of the things Martineau does in her work is use the Declaration of Independence to point out anomalies, contradictions between a society’s declared morals and their actual practices. Martineau pointed to the treatment of slaves and women that seemed to contradict the Declaration of Independence’s notion of freedom. If Martineau was traveling around the United States today what anomalies might she find?

6. The global issues box asked you to look around your place of residence to see where the goods you use in daily life were manufactured. Globalization has affected our lives as consumers, but that is just one of its important effects. Can you come up with other specific ways that globalization has an effect on our individual lives and society? Which of these effects might be of interest to sociologists and why?

7. An important theme in this textbook is technology and the rise of digital societies. Technology is key to social interaction in ways that could not have been imagined even a single decade ago. Discuss this issue with your classmates and identify 2–3 ways that face-to-face interaction is similar to and different from electronic interaction through media, such as Snapchat, Instagram, or Twitter. How would you respond to a member of an older generation who argued that social media are “ruining” human social interaction?

8. The authors discuss how ethnocentric thinking creates barriers to sociological understanding. Consider what you think you know about the specific beliefs, activities, and lifestyles of people in other countries. Ask yourself how you feel about these other people’s beliefs, activities, and lifestyles. Do you feel your society’s beliefs, activities, and lifestyles are more normal, right, or good? Why or why not? How do these feelings affect your ability to sociologically understand these societies?

9. Sociology researches social issues through the use of theoretical frameworks. Examine the news and pick a controversial news story about a big social issue. Consider what different questions a sociologist researching this topic might ask if they were investigating this issue from a conflict versus functionalist versus symbolic interactionist perspective. How might these differing approaches work together to build a deeper sociological understanding of the issue?

10. What is the most important or pressing issue in your life today and why? Answer this question using 140 characters (enough for a “tweet”) and post it on a classroom on-line discussion board or on your own Twitter account. Try to use your sociological imagination when composing your tweet. Make sure to go back and check the responses and reply in the most sociological way as possible. Make sure to avoid relying on anecdotal evidence in your responses.