Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action
Instructor Resources
Video and Multimedia and Questions
Carefully selected, video, audio, and web links feature relevant interviews, lectures, personal stories, inquiries, and other content for use in independent or classroom-based explorations of key topics.
› Respondus File for "Questions to Consider"
Tip: Click on each link to expand and view the content. Click again to collapse.
Chapter 1: Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
Video
Learning Objective: Define the sociological imagination and identify the characteristics of a social problem
Description: A psychologist, financial advisor and a career expert discuss the difficult choices for college-bound students faced with rising costs.
Questions to Consider:
- How do the options presented resemble the issues and discussions held by your family on your college education?
- Which U.S. students will be most affected by the cost increases? Will this have a larger social effect?
- How do you think this could affect the composition of our student body?
Learning Objective: Identify the role of social policy, advocacy and innovation in addressing social problems.Description: President Barack Obama describes the history of AIDS treatment and the bill he signed in 2009.
Questions to Consider:
- Were you aware of the early manifestations of AIDS, and the difficulty of getting treated?
- Why do you think it took so many years to get medical research funding for AIDS?
Learning Objective: Identify the characteristics of a social problem and the role of social policy, advocacy and innovation in addressing social problems.
Description: Al-Jazeera news commentary program examines misogynist statements posted on women’s websites with comments by experts and viewers
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think anti-woman comments are a reflection of real sentiments, or a display of male competition. Have you felt silenced by negative comments you or other women received ? Have you wanted to defend the target of these remarks?
- What role could anonymity play in these misogynist comments?
Learning Objective: Identify the characteristics of a social problem, and the role of social policy, advocacy and innovation in addressing social problems.Description: The challenges for young adults in a difficult economy can lead to homelessness due to low wages, economic uncertainty and job insecurity.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think most people in the U.S. feel homelessness is a problem for the individual to solve or that it’s a broader social problem?
- Does this problem affect people across all social classes? All ages?
- How should the social supports that help individuals facing homelessness be funded?
Learning Objective: Identify the role of social policy, advocacy and innovation in addressing social problemsDescription: Cal Poly members of Engineers without Borders use a technological fix coupled with an educational program to reduce water-borne disease in a remote, ethnically diverse area of Thailand
Questions to Consider:
- How would you feel drinking water from a sand filter, rather than a municipal tap?
- What kind of affect do you believe efforts such as this will have over the long term?
- Where do you think the responsibility for international clean water efforts should fall, on voluntary efforts, on government, or industry?
Audio
Learning Objective: Define the sociological imagination
Description: Researchers discuss the development of AIDS. Colonial practices in mid-20th century Africa, including labor conscription and unsanitary medical practices fostered the spread and rise of the virus.
Questions to Consider:
- How does using your sociological imagination contribute to understanding the AIDS epidemic as a legitimate social problem?
- Does hearing about the unsanitary and unfair practices of the past have any influence on present day labor practices?
Learning Objective: Identify the role of social policy, advocacy and innovation in addressing social problems.
Description: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan argues we should eliminate private lenders, and make education more accessible with grants, and invest in education
Questions to Consider:
- Does this policy seem like it will address some, most or all of the barriers created by rising college costs?
- Should the U.S. government help insure access to college for all qualified students?
Learning Objective: Identify the role of social policy, advocacy and innovation in addressing social problemsDescription: Research and advances (2010) in AIDS prevention, and treatment
Questions to Consider:
- What role do prevention strategies play in the spread of the AIDS virus.
- Should publics rely on technology to keep them safe from disease?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Identify the characteristics of a social problem and identify the role of social policy, advocacy and innovation in addressing social problems
Description: Tuition is not the only factor in college cost hikes. The cost of room and board is also rising, and faster than the cost of living.
Questions to Consider:
- Is increasing the cost of food a just response for loss of funding in a different area of the college?
- Does this cost increase affect all students equally?
- Do you think this a social problem yet? What could students and parents do to transform this into a social problem?
Learning Objective: Identify the characteristics of a social problem and explain how sociology is a science
Description: Robert Putnam’s research has shown that diverse communities may have unexpectedly high anomie, but this may be a stage as communities change and diversity increases.
Questions to Consider:
- What do you think are the most important factors that lead to increased isolation in diverse communities?
- Do you think that the distrust will fade in time, as people experience more opportunities to connect?
- What other factors might be influencing results in this research finding?
Misogyny in the Music Industry
Learning Objective: Compare the four sociological perspectives and Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
Description: Fame presents difficulties to women in the music industry with anonymous misogynist posts. More women are speaking out.
Questions to Consider:
- Do the problems faced by female musicians help illuminate the role of the patriarchy?
- What do you think the writer means by “Gender is a lived ideology.”
- Can you identify some “everyday practices” that feminist sociologists see as examples of a dominating patriarchy?
Chapter 2: Social Class and Poverty
Video
Learning Objective: Identify two consequences of poverty
Description: Home page to NOW (PBS) 2008 report on the ways the tax codes unfairly assess low income wage earners. Links to video and state by state infographics.
- Why do food and high sales taxes affect the poor more than others?
- Should people be able to reduce their state tax by the amount of taxes they pay in federal taxes?
- Can you be poor and happy with unequal benefits and policies?
Learning Objective: Compare the four sociological perspectives on social class and poverty
Description: NOW (PBS) on the growing wage disparity. The economic benefits are now flowing to high wage earners, but the lower and middle class are getting less and less of the economic pie.
- Is the wage gap a problem of individual efforts, unfair valuation of work, or economic policies that favor the rich?
- Do you think the current level of income inequality is a social problem that requires intervention?
- Should high income earners pay the same percentage of their income in taxes as middle class wage earners?
Learning Objective: Explain the different definitions of poverty; Identify two consequences of poverty .
Description: Guardian video animation with voice-over describing the income gap, the difference between Great Recession losses between the wealthiest and the poorest households. Summarizes food insecurity, health coverage disparities, wage changes over the last two decades.
- Does the wealth gap divide U.S. residents only by access to material goods, like luxury cars, or does it create other differences?
- Does wealth concentration affect people’s sense of material well being and create a sense of relative poverty?
Learning Objective: Identify two consequences of poverty; Assess whether life after welfare has improved after the passage of PRWORA
Description: Interview and discussion on ABC News presentation illustrating the Kentucky children whose poverty leads to poor nutrition, dental problems, and depression.
- Are the economic problems described individual or social problems?
- Do you think the suggestions by participants would address this problem?
- What alternatives would you offer as a solution?
Learning Objective: Explain the evolution of U.S. welfare policy
Description: LBJohnson’s State of the Union introducing his War on Poverty
- Do you believe all people have the same level of opportunity to escape poverty?
- How did LBJ try to persuade the nation to declare war on poverty?
- Would this speech be successful today?
Learning Objective: Explain the evolution of U.S. welfare policy
Description: Video footage of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s introduction of Social Security.
- Do you think SS will be there when you retire?
- FDR says we can’t ever protect 100% against the hazards of life. Do you think people believe that today?
Audio
Learning Objective: Compare the four sociological perspectives on social class and povertyDescription: NPR discussion on the difficulties people of color have in accumulating and transferring wealth. Current tax law interferes with wealth accumulation and business programs are not reaching enough people.
- If current tax law favors the middle class, should we establish additional programs to increase low income success?
- Do you agree that entrepreneurship will address this problem?
Learning Objective: Compare the four sociological perspectives on social class and poverty
Description: General drug tests to get welfare benefits or a state job remain unconstitutional after the Supreme Court decided not to hear the Florida case decided in a lower court. The Fourth Amendment prevents invasion of privacy, and only specific jobs can require testing.
- Do you agree the drug testing of welfare recipients is an invasion of privacy?
- Why do you think drug testing was so popular with citizens?
- Why do you think the social science revealing the actual percentage of drug use by welfare recipients is ignored in these cases?
Learning Objective: Identify two consequences of poverty; Assess whether life after welfare has improved after the passage of PRWORA
Description: Food insecurity is worse since the recession, especially for families headed by women and elderly.
- Over 40 % of families who are food insecure do not receive assistance. Is this an indication that benefit levels should be lowered?
- What role do you think the wage gap plays in hunger?
Learning Objective: Explain the different definitions of poverty
Description: The federal government is going to add a new metric to measure poverty. The measurement will help the federal government see regional variation in poverty line, and the benefits government programs like the Affordable Care Act bring to people.
- This can’t be used for individual need or eligibility, but should it?
- Can this help pass future legislation that would help those in poverty?
- Should the U.S. adopt a different measure for poverty, such as Europe’s social deprivation scale?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain the different definitions of poverty
Description: Economic Policy Institute’s executive summary of 2015 report on increasing income inequality measured across states. Links to other reports and infographics.
- How does your state compare with national averages?
- Does this description of increasing wealth inequality sound like the American Dream?
Learning Objective: Explain the different definitions of poverty
Description: Summary of “A Hidden America” news report on the absolute poverty faced by children in some parts of rural Kentucky.
- Can you compare the poverty described here with the images of poverty in other nations?
- Does the description of poverty in this story match the concepts of poverty held by people you know? Does it reinforce stories about Appalachia?
Learning Objective: Assess whether life after welfare has improved after the passage of PRWORA
Description: Ten states where the poverty rate is unexpectedly high using the supplementary poverty measure. Representative photos of each state.
- Housing, job costs and medical bills increase the number of people in poverty. Should this be part of the individual formula?
- Given the news that many people don’t get supplemental support, do you think the poverty measures in the U.S. are adequate?
Food Stamps Nutritionally Inadequate
Learning Objective: Assess whether life after welfare has improved after the passage of PRWORA
SNAP program recipient’s diet is not improved over the nutritional content of a non-recipient’s diet, according to a Harvard study.
- Do you think a food education program for recipients can make the difference? What barriers would prevent this?
- Should benefits be given more frequently, or increased? Or should some types of food purchases be off limits?
Chapter 3: Race and Ethnicity
Video
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination; Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and ethnicity
Description: Barack Obama speech addressing race during his first presidential campaign, calling for U.S. residents to move beyond racial division.
- What perspective does Obama seem to embrace by calling on Americans to find common ground?
- Do the stories from Obama’s family echo any themes of diversity in your own lives?
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination
Description: Story of the legal battle to end “separate but equal” from PBS special The Supreme Court. The court found that “…separate education facilities are inherently unequal.”
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For black students “It was the second emancipation,” said Vernon Jordan. What rights did the first emancipation confer?
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Have the courts done enough or too much to create equality?
Learning Objective: Describe the impact of immigrant or illegal workers in the labor force
Description: With federal immigration reform deadlocked, two New Jersey towns chose radically different ways to address immigrants. One, “a sanctuary,” emphasizes civil rights; the other seeks greater power to address illegal immigrants.
- The mayors of these towns both use law to handle immigrant issues. What aspect of law does each lean on?
- Would a federal law that clarifies a national approach on undocumented immigrants help or hurt these situations?
Learning Objective: Describe the impact of immigrant or illegal workers in the labor force Description: Bill Moyers interviews award winning Spanish-language journalists on the nature of the Hispanic/Latino community and its growing influence.
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One speaker said that acculturation doesn’t mean forgetting your birth heritage, but adapting to a new one. Did this maxim apply to past waves of immigrants?
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Do you see the influence of immigrants on election campaigns?
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How do politician “court” the Hispanic vote.
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination
Description: Storyteller Phyllis Unterschuuetz tells the meaning of white privilege in the differences between raising a white boy and a black boy.
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Compare your experience with the youth in these stories. How would your mother add to this story?
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Do you think we can reduce the differences among youth of different races and their experiences on the way to adulthood?
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What kind of actions would make a difference? What would you be willing to do to make a difference?
Learning Objective: Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and ethnicity
Description: Tim Wise describes the racial divide beginning with the division of African and European indentured servants into free laborer and slave in the U.S. South.
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Does this explanation of whiteness emerging as a different race make sense to you?
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Does Wise’s explanation have a correlation in the sociological perspectives? If yes, which one(s) and how do they correlate?
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination
Description: Rosa Parks gives little known details of her act of non-violent resistance on the bus in Montgomery in 1956. The extent of segregation by law is illuminated in her simple description.
- Rosa Parks wanted to know what her rights were as a citizen and human being. Does she sound heroic?
- Compare the everyday experiences of Blacks during this era with White Privilege.
- Do you know of any modern practices here or abroad that compare with segration?
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination
Description: PBS special, “A Class Divided,” on the Iowa teacher who divided her all white class by eye-color, where only one eye color was “good.” Includes the original lesson, interviews of those students 17 years later and the same lesson taught to adults. Divided into chapters for viewing.
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Do you think this lesson could be taught today? Would it have the same impact?
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Is empathy a key to eliminating discrimination?
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What do you think about the influence of family and society when ideas conflict? (14 years later)
Audio
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination
Description: At the end of 2014, demonstrators across the nation protested the deaths of black men and boys after altercations with police. Interviews with marchers reveal why they came out to demand fair treatment.
- Protests and deaths continued after this event, and some became violent. In what ways is this affecting race relations? The conversation about race?
- If you were walking in this demonstration, what would your poster say?
- Does white silence equal white consent? Defend your position.
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination
Description: The black children who broke the color line in Southern schools recall their traumatic experiences. Even after being driven from all-white schools, they found some victory in their disturbing experiences.
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Can you relate to the extreme prejudice these people faced as children?
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What name would you give to the system that perpetuated this practice? Is “segregation” accurate?
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How do the different sociological perspectives support integration as a solution to racism?
Learning Objective: Describe the impact of immigrant or illegal workers in the labor force
Description: NPR report on the options of undocumented immigrants who fear deportation after laws tighten.
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Have local officials taken too much power in dealing with undocumented residents.
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In your opinion, should this power reside with the state or federal government?
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How would you handle deportation of longtime residents?
Web Resouces
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination
Description: Salon opinion piece by Robin DiAngelo, PhD. White Americans take their privileges for granted, but social justice perspective asks them for more. Moving from defending white privilege to challenging institutional racism is about identity changing.
- What messages about whiteness being “better” can you identify?
- DiAngelo describes whites as having a “sense of belonging.” Give an example.
- What is one powerful act that would improve your racial literacy?
Learning Objective: Identify the different types of institutional discrimination; Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and ethnicity
Description: Mother Jones Magazine article on the study of implicit racism, and how it contributes to police shootings of unarmed black men.
- Do you think implicit racism is an adequate explanation of the use of deadly force on Black men?
- What other social factors should be considered?
- Which perspective’s analysis is most similar to this article’s?
Learning Objective: Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and ethnicity
Description: Using positive/negative word association with Black and White faces, the speed of one’s learning is an indicator of implicit beliefs. Select the Race test to measure hidden racial preferences (other implicit attitude tests are available).
- How did you feel after getting your score?
- Do you think the test score is valid?
- Can we eliminate our racial preferences if we don’t recognize them?
Disciplining Black Male Students
Learning Objective: Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and ethnicity
Description: Young Black students are disciplined at much higher rates and receive more severe punishments than other students.
- What do the differences in disciplinary actions between black and white students tell you?
- What sociological perspective(s) explains the roots of this issue?
Chapter 4: Gender
Video
Learning Objective: Explain human capital theory, Compare the four feminist waves
Description: Women are earning college degrees, holding jobs, leading independent lives at higher rates than men, reflected in cultural images of confused guys and superhero women. Cultural changes signify no glass ceiling, but a high bridge that takes courage to traverse.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is the world you see more like the one Rosin describes, or containing the historic limitations that woman have faced for generations.
2.What are the new roles and identities for me in the world described here?
3.What, if any, are the negative outcomes in this new economic world?
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives explain problems related to sex and gender
Description: Jason Katz describes the confining definitions of masculinity boys and young men receive. Violence and domination in the media messages may result in painful outcomes for men and women.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you agree that men, especially men of color, are portrayed as violent in the media? Can you give an example?
2.What sociological perspective provides the best explanation for the way men learn masculinity? Give a reason for your choice.
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between sex and gender. Distinguish the two types of occupational segregation
Description: ABC’s What Would You Do uses a hidden camera to explore the reactions of other shoppers when a young boy insists he wants a doll.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think that childhood is limited by gender biased toys?
2.How would you encourage gender neutral play?
Learning Objective: Explain human capital theory. Compare the four feminist waves.
Description: Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee asks if the world can be transformed by tapping the potential of girls around the world. Despite lofty goals for children, African girls are still suffering, uneducated and forced into prostitution and they are not unique.
Questions to Consider:
1.Use the sociological perspectives to analyze the problem of violence against women.
2.What role do developed nations play in solving this problem?
3.Can you compare the conditions Gbowee describes in Africa with conditions faced by U.S. girls living in poverty?
Learning Objective: Explain human capital theory; Distinguish the two types of occupational segregation, Compare the four feminist waves
Description: Women are closing education gap, but not the salary gap. The earnings gap, but the benefits of flex time, child care that women need and other elements that allow women to live more balanced lives.
Questions to Consider:
1.What factors might allow companies with more women in management to perform better?
2.Is the answer to the wage gap for women to be more aggressive in wage negotiations?
3.What factors could explain the higher salaries for women of color?
Learning Objective: Distinguish the two types of occupational segregation, Compare the four feminist waves, Explain human capital theory
Description: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor surveys the many reasons for lower wages for women, from less experience, bad negotiation skills and uncertainty about women’s commitment to work.
Questions to Consider:
1.What workplace features are important for families? Would these features make a difference for women’s salaries?
2.Do you think women in your generation will still take most responsibility for family duties?
3.What reasons for lower salaries make the most sense to you?
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives explain problems related to sex and gender
Description: Oprah Winfrey shows video a 13 year-old boy was forced to take while his father abused his mother. With Oprah’s commentary.
Questions to Consider:
1.What role do cultural images of gender play in family violence?
2.What explains the cycle of violence, where children repeat the abuse in their adult families?
3.What role does society play in prevention? Should there be more investment in alternatives to violence that could intercept this cycle?
Audio
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives explain problems related to sex and gender. Compare the four feminist waves.
Description: Are colleges becoming overwhelming female? With fewer males gaining college degrees, a gender imbalance is “inevitable” according to one analyst, but are women’s civil rights being violated in order to regain some balance?
Questions to Consider:
1.Should colleges practice bias in admissions in order to keep the co-ed balance?
2.Who benefits from this practice? Who loses?
Learning Objective: Compare the four feminist waves. Explain human capital theory.
Description: A new report from the National Partnership for Women and Families says most women who become pregnant are working, and some face job discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission addresses complaints, which have increased by 35%.
Questions to Consider:
1.What social factors might cause pregnancy to lead to harassment?
2.Why do you think more complaints have been filed?
3.Should pregnant workers be protected by a federal agency?
Learning Objective: Distinguish the two types of occupational segregation
Description: Putting cheerleading into the same category as softball and football might mean another women’s sport is eliminated from funding.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is cheerleading a benefit for its participants, or for the teams they perform for?
2.Would cheerleading squads need competitions to qualify as a sport?
3.Do you think other female sports will not get school funding if cheering is included?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between sex and gender. Distinguish the two types of occupational segregation.
Description: In a study that gender-typed toys and then rated them for educational value the National Association for the Education of Young Children found strongly gender-typed toys are less supportive of optimal development than neutral or moderately gender-typed toys. These
more gendered toys encourage concern about appearance for girls and aggressive play in boys.
Questions to Consider:
1.What gender expectations do you employ when shopping for toys?
2.Would sociologists agree that toys influence gendered behavior?
3.Which perspective in sociology would be most concerned about gender bias in toys? Which might be the least concerned?
Learning Objective: Distinguish the two types of occupational segregation. Explain human capital theory. Compare the four feminist waves.
Description:
A 2015 American Association of University Women report on the wage gap with state by state details, strategies for individuals and social action suggestions.
Questions to Consider:
1.What is the wage gap in your own home state, the state we are in now.
2.Is this a social problem, or an individual problem?
3.What action would you be willing to take to advocate for yourself or the women in your life?
Learning Objective: Distinguish the two types of occupational segregation
Description:
According to the American Medical Association’s diagnosis cheerleading should be a sport, but NCAA doesn’t include it and women athletics directors aren’t complaining. The reasons are complicated.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think other female sports will not get school funding if cheering is included?
2.Do you agree that risks of injury to participants should make cheering a sport? What about the amount of training that is required for proficiency?
Favoritism in College Admissions
Learning Objective: Compare the four feminist waves
Description: Examination of 128 colleges’ admission statistics show unequal admissions by gender. Women are more likely to stay in college and gain a degree, and administrators say they want to maintain a co-ed campus.
Questions to Consider:
1.The campus population can be balanced by favoritism in admissions, but is that fair to the current applicants?
2.Can admissions be manipulated unfairly?
3.Men drop out more frequently than women do, but does that mean more men should be admitted so graduating classes are equal?
Chapter 5: Sexual Orientation
Video
Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Learning Objective: Explain the expansion of the rights and recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S.
Description: The repeal allowed gays in the military to be open about their sexual preference and continue to serve.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think sexual orientation has anything to do with bravery and fighting ability?
- Do you think this change was/will be without resistance?
Learning Objective : Explain the expansion of the rights and recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S.
Description: With a large dose of humor LZ Granderson describes the “dangerous” gay lifestyle using the U.S. Constitution and generally accepted norms.
Questions to Consider:
1.Does using humor help support understanding of the gay “agenda?”
2.Does the argument of equality of rights under the law support the elimination of anti-gay legislation?
3.What affects might this type of legislation have on anti-gay sentiment?
Learning Objective: Describe how each sociological perspective addresses sexual orientation and inequality.
Description: U.S. Legislation on Homosexuality. Judy Shepard describes her gay son, who was beaten and left for dead in 1998, and her subsequent activism for civil rights. 2008 Rocky Mountain News production
Questions to Consider:
1. What does it mean to be gay., if it is hard to open up to one’s parents honestly?
2. How much does fear of violence play a role today for homosexuals? More or less than in 1998?
Learning Objective: Explain the expansion of the rights and recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S.
Description: ABC news report on President Obama’s announcement that he now supports same sex marriage. Made prior to the 2012 election, they discuss the political ramifications.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you feel that this was a momentous occasion, as these news reporters say, or no big deal?
2.Do you think legalization of marriage for same sex couples will decrease harassment of these couples?
3.States determine specific regulations governing marriage, such as premarital disease testing, legal officiants and waiting periods. Do you think the laws governing who can marry a state or federal matter?
Learning Objective: Examine whether children raised by gay or lesbian parents have different life outcomes compared to children raised by heterosexual parents. Describe how each sociological perspective addresses sexual orientation and inequality. Explain the expansion of the rights and recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S.
Description: Zach Wahls had two moms, and spoke to the Iowa State legislature on his upbringing before they were to vote on a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. His speech made national news, but mysteriously they are often muted on YouTube.
Questions to Consider:
1.Wahls said his upbringing was normal and the sexual orientation of his parents did not have a bearing on his character. How would an interactionist respond to that statement?
2.What factors do have a bearing on the outcomes for children? Would these ever be made illegal?
Learning Objective: Describe how each sociological perspective addresses sexual orientation and inequality.
Description: Part of the “It Gets Better” project that encourages young homosexuals to stay alive and look to a better future as they grow into adulthood. A male couple talks about the difficulties of their high school years and the joys of their current life.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think that a video project can help prevent suicides in young homosexuals?
- What elements contribute to harassment of high school aged gays?
- What should schools do to prevent this behavior?
Audio
Learning Objective: Explain the expansion of the rights and recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S.
Description: For the first time, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission is investigating claims of discrimination by LGBT persons. Discussion of the rights of religious organizations versus businesses to discriminate.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think that employment discrimination against LGBT persons is more important than civil rights like marriage? Are more specific laws needed to protect sexual orientation discrimination?
- What civil right justifies differences between the rights of these two types of organizations?
- Do you think a business owner should be able to claim religious freedom over civil law when dealing with employees?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain the expansion of the rights and recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S.
Description: A bill that imposed strict penalties on gay Ugandans was struck down by the courts because it had been passed in a legislative session lacking quorum. Homosexuality is still illegal, as it is in many other African nations.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think that legislators stayed away from the vote in a passive support for expanding civil rights?
2.President Obama opposed the bill. What impact should external nations have on the practices of other nations?
3.Can you relate this to the civil rights struggle for gay marriage in the U.S.?
Learning Objective: Describe how each sociological perspective addresses sexual orientation and inequality
Description: Addressing bullying of gay students has been inadequate in many schools and is getting more attention as the number of suicides grows. A number of student deaths and school programs are profiled by NBC. Video links are available.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think establishing separate schools for targeted students is an appropriate response?
2.Do you think the atmosphere for gay students was better in your own high school? How so?
3.What is the best way to handle student perpetrators?
Chapter 6: Age and Aging
Video
Learning Objective: Explain how age is both a biological and social classification
Description: Frontline production on the best and worst of living longer. Stories of individuals, tough decisions, and common challenges.
Questions to Consider:
1. Do you think we put too much emphasis on “extension of life” medical care?
2. Do you expect medical advances will change this by the time you reach this stage of life? Is that realistic?
Learning Objective: Explain how age is both a biological and social classification. Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging and inequality. Identify the causes of population aging.
Description: TED Talk on the theoretical possibility of living to 1000 through advances found in scientific research on metabolism.
Questions to Consider:
- Is aging a social problem? Is living for 1,000 years a desirable goal?
2.Who would receive this care? Are there ethical issues involved with delivering it?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging and inequality
Description: Frontline: Can You Afford to Retire?
Segment Four: The sex appeal of 401k plans made them highly appealing, giving the worker more autonomy over their retirement funds. However it pushed the payment from the company to the worker, and has created a middle class without enough savings for retirement.
Questions to Consider:
1.How is globalization affecting American’s retirement plans?
2.Who benefits in this retirement scheme, the employer or the employee?
3.If you have to work during retirement, is that retirement? What do you expect for yourselves and how can you achieve it?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging and inequality
Description: Promotion spot for the Center for Aging Services Technologies. Why we should use medical technology that could decrease the reliance of older people on crisis based medical care, using the internet to connect to health care providers.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think internet technology will substitute for a visit to the doctor’s office?
- Do you think elders will be willing to adopt this change?
3.What social factors associated with aging might interfere with this program?
Audio
Learning Objective: Explain how age serves as a basis for prejudice or discrimination
Description: NPR program on fertility help for older women challenges expectations about the age of mothers. Doctors respond to cases where older women sought medical assistance to establish a pregnancy, asking whether an age cut-off is appropriate or discrimination
Questions to Consider:
- Is having older parents, and especially an older mother, a handicap for a person?
- How do you think the medical community should make these decisions? Did this hospital follow the best course of action?
- Many women are delaying childbirth, and even freezing their eggs for future fertilization. Do you think this practice will increase and what social effect would that have?
Learning Objective: Identify the causes of population aging.
Description: What living healthily can do to your life expectancy, even for the elderly? The fastest growing segment of the U.S. population is 85 plus.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think knowing about healthy lifestyles will influence individuals to change bad habits.
2.Do long term goals influence present day behavior?
3.What are the problems of loss that accompany a longer life?
Learning Objective: Explain how age serves as a basis for prejudice or discrimination. Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging and inequality
Description: Shifts in employment market and economic turndowns lead to job loss, but older employees can have a more difficult time getting rehired due to ageism. This report focuses on women’s challenges.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think age is a legitimate reason not to hire an individual? If yes, when is it legitimate?
- What aspects of ageism do you think contribute to this phenomenon?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Identify the causes of population aging. Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging and inequalityDescription: U.S. population pyramid
Questions to Consider:
1.What does the shape of the population pyramid say about your chances of reaching age 65?
2.What does the shape of the pyramid of reveal about necessary social expenditures?
3.Can you find another country and compare pyramids and changing social pressures?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging and inequality. Identify the causes of population aging.
Description: Nova (PBS) website with interview transcripts sounding the alarm over the economic and political implications of an aging population.
Questions to Consider:
1.What are the three factors that cause aging populations to lose economic power?
2.Hewlitt predicts U.S. trading partners face economic decline because of aging populations. What countries don’t face aging problems, as least in the short term? What does that mean for foreign policy?
3.What are the concerns about political instability in “young” countries?
The problem of social isolation
Learning Objective: Explain how age serves as a basis for prejudice or discrimination. Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging and inequality.
Description: Seven of the health problems that have been associated with social isolation.
Isolation can be as bad for your health as smoking obesity and it affects the elderly disproportionally.
Questions to Consider:
- What factors contribute to social isolation?
- Do you think the use of social media in younger populations will lead to a less socially isolated as elders, or will it contribute to isolation?
Attitudes about Aging Populations
Learning Objective:
Description: The aging of populations in some nations is faster than in the U.S. and the Pew report describes some of the concerns an aging population brings.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think U.S. citizens should be more worried about the aging of the population?
2.Most people across the world believe that care for the aged does not rest with the individual. Do you agree?
3.Do you expect that we can overcome obstacles to overhaul social security to benefit millennials? If your answer is yes, do you think benefits should remain the same, increase or decrease?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging and inequality.
Description: A former domestic worker who spent 17 years caring for others, Young, 66, is now a national advocate for Domestic Workers Alliance, trying to get this work protected under U.S. labor laws. Young has organized over 15,000 workers, but approximately 2 million people are estimated to be employed as domestic workers, many who care for the elderly at home.
Questions to Consider:
1.Young is working past her retirement age. Is working for social good a good reason to stay on the job?
2.What job providing social benefits to others would keep you working past retirement?
Chapter 7: Families
Video
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family. Summarize the effects of divorce on children
Description: Social changes have combined to cause a feminization of poverty and a high percentage of children living in poverty. Economic change: two incomes are needed to support a family. The rising divorce rate and decrease in marriages means that affected children fall into poverty, something that is especially true for minority children.
Questions to Consider:
1.How do these divorces become everyone’s business?
2.What myths of the family do these statistics expose?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between physical abuse and neglect
Description: PSA where a boy and girl playing house also play “domestic violence” with captions at the end.
Questions to Consider:
-
Is this an effective tool to highlight domestic violence?
-
How would a functionalist analyze this video?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between physical abuse and neglect
Description: TEDx Talk One woman’s story about the slow growth of violence in her relationship, describing the typical pattern of abuse during her relationship with an abuser, why she married him and the story she used to make it all right, until she realized she had to leave.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is it hard to believe you are vulnerable to this pattern? What social factors make it possible?
2.Do you think the judicial systems are also unaware of the pattern?
3.What would you do if someone “broke the silence” to you?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family. Explain the difference between physical abuse and neglect
Description: Short promotion education on the problem with causes, victim profiles, and arguments to pass legislation to educate the public about the extent of the problem.
Questions to Consider:
1.What factors have been linked to abusers of elders?
2.What makes this a social problem, rather than an individual trouble?
3.With a large number of people aging into the stage of life where the need for care increases, what social supports might decrease the rate of abuse?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family.
Description: Changing roles at home due to women working outside the home. Women are doing a lot less, and men are doing a little more. Disproportionate change makes for tension at home. Hochschild’s “stalled revolution.”
Questions to Consider:
- Over the last twenty years women are doing less housework, and men are doing a little more. This change happened over your lifetime, do you recognize the change?
- What do you consider “women’s work?” If you are female, how do you feel about sharing those tasks? If you are male, would you avoid doing these tasks?
Learning Objective: Identify why the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is the highest in the developed w
Description: A homecoming queen, a boy who didn’t know his father and 14 year old—all parents—are interviewed. ABC Primetime excerpt about the lives of these teens, plus the two options schools use to teach reproduction: abstinence and birth control preparedness.
Questions to Consider:
1.What kind of education did your own high school present? Can you defend it today?
2.What are some benefits of each of the educational programs? Some detriments?
3.Can you predict any outcomes for the teens in each of these educational settings?
Audio
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family.
Description: NPR story on the emotional/behavioral trouble in children of deployed military. Anxiety, worry and sadness are increased in these children.
Questions to Consider:
1.The interviewer says that both military and their wives are serving the country. Are children of the military also “serving?” How would an interactionist interpret these claims?
2.Do you think the families in the study were representative, since they were a subset of total military families?
3.Excessive deployments seem to cause increased problems. Should there be more support for these families? Should it be funded by the taxpayer?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family Summarize the effects of divorce on children
Description: Examines the challenges of traditional marriage and the confusion caused by non-traditional couples. Choose among segments on the Family: family education in high school, the Defense of Marriage Act, choosing divorce and social research on marriage with John Gottman.
Questions to Consider:
- Was family education included in your high school curriculum? What did you learn?
- The millennial generation is less bound by traditional definitions of marriage. Do you have anything to learn from previous generations? Can you put the findings of researchers into practice?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between cohabitation and marriage
Description: NY Times website that allows you to build a household and see what percentage of US households are similar. Can be used to build family units.
Questions to Consider:
1.Discover what the most prevalent family type in the classroom is. What social factors contribute to the class’s demographics?
2.What other kinds of families are present (female headed, step-parent/siblings, etc.)
3.Consider the college population. Does it mimic student demographics, or regional demographics?
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between cohabitation and marriage
Description: The age at which a person makes a commitment to a partner, whether to live together or to wed, makes a difference on the success of the relationship. Waiting until age 23 decreased the divorce rate to 30 percent from 60 percent for 18 year-olds. With links to research.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you believe cohabitation prior to marriage is the best way to test future success? Why or why not?
2.Is cohabiting with your boy/girlfriend unconventional in any way?
3.What about partnerships that conceive a child—should they rush to the altar?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between physical abuse and neglect
Description: CNN article on Ward’s story with more details than in textbook.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is screaming from neighbor’s homes still ignored?
2.Are you surprised Ward was in her 40s before she addressed domestic violence?
3.Why would Ward’s decision to focus her energy on victims rather than perpetrators be more effective?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family.
Description: Salon commentary by a mom sentenced to community service after briefly leaving her young daughters alone in a car. This reflects changing norms, high pressure and equally high stakes.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you have a childhood memory or can you imagine yourself in a similar circumstance?
2.Does this high stakes policing of infractions reflect actual risk to children, or something else?
Learning Objective: Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family. Explain the difference between physical abuse and neglect
Description: The Elder Justice Act has been passed, but has not been fully funded. More information from the National Council on Aging.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think elders are more vulnerable to abuse by family members and need unique protections?
2.Do you know anyone whose grandparents had been scammed by someone pretending to be their grandchild in trouble?
Chapter 8: Education
Video
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives examine the social problems related to education. Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity.
Description: Frontline (30 min.) on the move by middle-class, majority white communities to establish independent school districts, leaving low-income, majority black city schools with fewer resources and segregating both districts in the process.
Questions to Consider:
1.What are the problems that motivate communities to make these changes?
2.Are there other solutions to the learning and behavior problems in these schools?
3.The school district and city are appealing to shared values to prevent the separation. Do you think they will be successful?
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives examine the social problems related to education. Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity.
Description: PBS Newshour presentation looks at the achievement gap between low and middle income families and the affect preschool has on reducing it.
Questions to Consider:
1. Do think a program like Edu-care can be scaled up to accommodate all children?
2.Do you think preschool participants will become Kanter’s “organizational children,” made to fit in the bureaucracy.
3.The language deprivation of children in deep poverty has long term social effects. Should other institutions, like media, take a role in reducing this gap?
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives examine the social problems related to education. Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
Description: Tuition loan debt and the increase in student jobs segment of Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address. Higher education is not a “luxury,” but an “imperative.” Also addresses non-documented youth “American through and through.”
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think that linking rising university costs to decreased federal funding will keep costs down for those enrolled?
2.What percentage of your state college system’s budget is funded by state funds?
3.Should undocumented youth be given government funding for higher education?
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives examine the social problems related to education. Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity
Description: Division between people on who is “American” focuses on the children who have grown up as Americans but are undocumented. The act allows these students access to funds that would get pay for higher education.
Questions to Consider:
1.Now that California undocumented students can get public funds, what other help do you think they need to be successful.
2.Is the fact that they are socialized as Americans enough to give them citizenship and its full rights?
3.College admission is competitive and based on ability to pay. What role should fairness play?
Learning Objective: Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform. Assess whether school choice has improved educational outcomes.
Description: The way we try to educate students beginning in elementary school is a one-size-fits-all approach. Educator Geoffrey Canada says this means all students won’t be successful and we need to investigate and innovate.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think single sex schools are the solution to some of the problems boys are having in schools?
2.Should school begin with physical activities, or even mediation to set the tone for the day?
3.At what point do you think students can begin to take responsibility for coming to school ready to learn?
Preventing Violence in Schools
Learning Objective: Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity.
Description: PBS presentation on the ways troubled youth are drawn to violence and ways we might prevent this. Columbine and other school shootings have
Questions to Consider:
1.Is community policing inside schools the answer to this issue? If no, what else is needed?
2.What is important about studying success?
3.Why do students who know about an impending attacks stay silent?
Learning Objective: Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity. Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
Description: Interview with the founder of Teach for America, on the program to recruit bright graduates to teach in low-income schools for two years. The program is as much about informing these teachers as it is providing education for their students.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think that this program is creating future leaders on education in the U.S?
2.Do you think two years of service to efforts that create equality should be required by all Americans? Should encouragement for commit to a period of service be increased?
3.Do you think two years of commitment is enough for the children who are taught?
Learning Objective: Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity.
Description: Only 37 percent say they are happy. They are harassed, and bullied by others. A panel challenges the ways to tolerance.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think that a change toward tolerance is happening in today’s youth?
2. How has the sexualization of U.S. culture contributed to the problems for LGBT youth?
Audio
Learning Objective: Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
Description: All Things Considered looks at the college completion rate in the global economy. Too many US students are dropping out, often because of the need to earn an income, but too many because of their poor education in K-12. It’s a problem for the future of the U.S. economy, as jobs leave for citizens in better educated countries.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think you are in a global competition for jobs?
2.Do you think U.S. youth are serious students?
3.What actions can the nation take to change this situation?
Learning Objective: Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity.
Description: In NC school district students are no longer bused to achieve diversity. Growth in the region inspired the change, but defacto segregation based on residence and economic status has resulted.
Questions to Consider:
- Is Wake County focused on students equally, or is this favoring students that were prequalified for success by being born into advantaged homes.
2. What is this new superintendent ignoring in his commentary?
Learning Objective: Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
Description: Some adults use elaborate schemes to mask their inability to read or complete basic forms necessary in daily life. Interview with a man who taught social studies for 17 years who couldn’t read past a second grade level.
Questions to Consider:
1. Do you think that reading problems Corcoran talked about are being covered by good and bad behavior today?
2. How should schools address low performance in individual students?
Learning Objective: Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
Description: Education gets a proposed 6% increase in education, but is that enough to make our education system better? Race to the Top is Obama’s effort to improve our opportunity to create college and career ready high school graduates.
Questions to Consider:
1. Should innovation efforts be part of the measurement of successful schools even when they are unsuccessful? Why or why not.
2. What other obstacles to achievement exist in the U.S.?
3. Traditionally, school curriculum has been set by states. Change is being promoted: should the national government be in change of goal-setting?
Web Resources
International Student Achievement
Learning Objective: Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
Description: Tests of 15 year-old students in 50 nations are ranked. US achievement is mid-level despite its expenditures, inspiring concern over economic competitiveness and U.S. world leadership.
Questions to Consider:
1.Does this reflect the teaching available in U.S. schools, or the culture of U.S. students?
2.Do you think the inequality of U.S. education is a factor in these results?
3.Do you have a serious personal commitment to learning? What about during high school?
Legislating school improvement
Learning Objective: Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity. Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
Description: Article lists the elements that were funded in order to improve lowest performing schools in the state of California. The legislation reduced class sizes, funded teacher time spent planning and created individualized plans for individual students who needed it. The resulting increase in scores met education goals.
Questions to Consider:
1.What are the elements that helped these schools succeed? Were these elements found in your own school districts?
2.Currently we rely on test scores to assess education. What might happen if we considered the elements of successful schools as rights of students, similar to civil rights?
Learning Objective: Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender and race and ethnicity.
Description: Study examines how universities may be abandoning the needs of victims in favor of protecting their reputations and enrollment.
Questions to Consider:
1.The Justice Department is examining 70 college’s protocols for dealing with accusations of sexual assault. Is your college, or a nearby school under investigation?
2.What aspects of college culture can lead to sexual assault?
3.What do you think of the advice given by the women who have experienced campus rape?
Chapter 9: Work and the Economy
Video
Learning Objective: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.
Link Title: The Changing nature of Work -- Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production
Description: History.com describing the revolution in America, the benefits and the rebellion of the working class due to conditions and the wealth gap. The beginning of Progressive Era reform introduced.
Questions to Consider:
1.Are the problems of the 18th century poor covered in high school history classes?
2.How do you think this affects public perception of workers collective action?
3.What sociological perspective explains these changes most completely?
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work
Description: 1943 government recruitment film to get women into nontraditional workplaces.
Questions to Consider:
1.Would this film be called sexist today? Give some examples to support your answer.
2.How realistic was the portrayal of women working?
3.Were you surprised that benefits offered to women then are not standard today? What social factors influence the transformation?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment. Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Reuters report on what some highly skilled executives are doing after losing their jobs.
Substituting part-time jobs is one of the strategies for people who are unemployed due to the recession.
Questions to Consider:
1.What does keeping your knowledge up to date mean for you and your career goals?
2.Apply your sociological imagination to this situation. Will people be able to solve this problem independently?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment. Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work
Description: U.S. jobs are flowing overseas to subsidiaries and contracted labor. The viewers are asked to suggest what should be done about the problem.
Questions to Consider:
1.What do you think of the solutions presented?
2.Is this a problem of our institutions, like education, or of the economic system which always seeks efficiencies even at the expense of workers?
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work
Description: CBS Sunday Morning report on Google perks. Business considerations drive their design of perks. It’s “social engineering.”
Questions to Consider:
1.Would you be willing to exchange your personal time for the perks of the jobs at Google?
2.Do you think a similar exchange of information and ideas happens, or could happen, on a college campus?
Learning Objective: Identify which forms of discrimination workers are protected against . Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Satirical commentator John Oliver takes aim at sweatshop labor practices that produce what sociologist Juliet Shor has called “fast fashion” for our consumer society.
Questions to Consider:
1.Have you become accustomed to trendy and inexpensive clothing?
2.Are sweatshop labor practices a civil rights issue for you?
3.Do you believe that over time the invisible hand of the market will sort out the problems? Why or why not?
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Social entrepreneur’s coffee shop business uses food to entice people into activism. Her business started with a typical plan and ended up showing the path into activism, increasing happiness and raising consciousness.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is this a common goal of entrepreneurs today? How many similar businesses can you name?
2.Do all businesses have an equal chance of being socially responsible? What prevents this from happening?
Learning Objective: Identify how labor unions have changed their membership strategy. Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Profile of union workers who are looking for young recruits. Explains why unions work and why new workers should join.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do unions have a future if young people don’t join?
2.How have we socially constructed unions over the last few decades? Does this impact the enrollment by young workers?
3.Who gains if labor unions collapse?
Audio
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment. Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Investigates whether automation make our jobs easier or turns people into robot drones. Shows how automation has moved beyond the factory to help us make decisions, find our way around town, and connect with our friends.
Questions to Consider:
- Does the danger of automation turning us into a nation of inattentive people a real threat, or overly pessimistic?
- Do you think that you will have less useful personal knowledge than previous generations because you can “Google” the information you need?
- How far do you think automation/mechanization should go? Consider how people would make a living in a fully automated world.
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment. Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Robert Putnam thinks the American Dream is in crisis because only some are able to attain upward mobility. More than money, education of the parents is a determinant for the children.
Questions to Consider:
1.What is the “savvy gap?”
2.Consider the role of mentors in your life. Who has helped you get into, and perhaps succeed in, college.
3.Do you have a sense of solidarity with other youth of your generation, rich and poor? Do you believe all members of this age cohort are equally deserving?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment. Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Economic Policy Institute analysis of the recession, with links to graphs with focus on wage workers and effects on low and middle income earners.
Questions to Consider:
1.What percent of the nation’s jobs were lost in the Great Recession?
2.What are the combined effects of recession and population growth?
3.According to this report are any sectors of the job market experiencing a labor shortage?
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Map and table listing the most common job in every state in 1978, 1996 and 2014. Gives an indicator of how the economy has changed over time.
Questions to Consider:
1.Were you surprised about the most popular job in your home state?
2.Why do you think truck and delivery drivers are most common in so many places?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment. Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: The Nov. 2014 jobs report showed an increase of over 300,000 jobs, better than expected. Blue collar jobs were among those added to the economy, but “the Great Recession still casts a long shadow.”
Questions to Consider:
1.What is good news and bad news in this report?
2.What statistics illustrate ongoing social inequalities?
3.Should confidence among workers improve, or are they right to be skeptical?
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: Explore employment, housing and other local community statistics through this interactive website.
Questions to Consider:
1.Compare employment statistics of the nation with the local area of the college, and then compare student’s home stats with these.
2.Explore cost of living with employment earnings.
3.Explore unemployment by race and gender.
Learning Objective: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
Description: List of five important effects of the outsourcing of jobs domestically and internationally.
Questions to Consider:
1.Explain the difference between outsourcing and offshoring.
2.Which sector of the U.S. economy has experienced the worst effects of this trend?
3.What happens to workers when executive’s compensation packages include a high proportion of stock and stock options?
Chapter 10: Health and Medicine
Video
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine. Identify the relationship between education and health.
Description: Frontline examination of the 2014 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, and the sluggish international response.
Questions to Consider:
1. This report identifies some failures in the world’s health systems. Which of these is most important to resolve for the future?
2. What perspective helps explain the timeline of the world’s response?
Population Growth and Health Care
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Explain the three measures of epidemiology. Identify the relationship between education and health.
Description: Statistician Hans Rosling’s TED talk on the role health care plays in reducing the rate of population growth (The Western Transition Model). Ikea storage boxes and transportation modes indicate a nation’s progress and a visual bubble graph shows how population could stabilize at 9 billion in 2050.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is Rosling’s description of the developed nation’s future role an inspirational one? Why or why not?
2.Can you compare this vision of the world to the some of the unrest in underdeveloped nations?
3.Is there enough sentiment in the U.S. to fuel a concerted effort to improve world health?
Learning Objective: Explain the three measures of epidemiology.
Description: Video and text with explanation of the epidemiology and its role from the Center for Disease Control.
Questions to Consider:
1.Which of the three measures is emphasized in the video’s definition of epidemiology?
2.Does the CDC look only at disease when measuring mortality and morbidity?
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine.
Description: Dr. Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization explains why universal coverage is important and what WHO can do to help nations implement it.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is it surprising to learn that other nations are trying to implement universal care?
2.Dr. Chan says coverage must be “home-grown.” What does that mean?
3.What benefits could occur if universal care were to be implemented in underdeveloped nations?
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine. Summarize the different models of health care in the U.S.
Description: Health care varies between providers, but some are much more costly than others. These physicians and administrators say care can be affordable and high quality.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is health care a business or a service to the community? How much and for how long should pharmaceutical companies profit from medicine?
2.If 30% of medical procedures are is unnecessary, who or what should be addressing this burden on patients?
3.The cost of prescription drugs is a burden for people with chronic conditions. Should the government be able to negotiate better drug prices, as European governments do?
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine. Summarize the different models of health care in the U.S.
Description: Resistance to universal health care was not a complete surprise to the Obama administration. The administration’s strategy and deal making passed it after other efforts had failed. Frontline describes the process and the concessions that were made.
Questions to Consider:
- Were you surprised at the “deal-making” aspect of passing legislation?
- Did Obama have to surrender too much to get his health care program through?
- Do you think Obama paid a political price even though his health care was passed?
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine. Identify the relationship between education and health.
Description: Is sitting the new smoking? The sedentary lifestyle is a part of the job for many people, and others live in areas that are unfriendly to activity. Urban design and work conditions may create, or at least intensify, this social problem.
Questions to Consider:
1.With so many problems being tied to sitting, should we invest in improvements that would get more people moving?
2.Should doctors prescribe gym memberships that are deductible as a health expense? Are you obligated to comply?
3.If community design inhibits a healthy lifestyle, because walking is dangerous or impractical, should a redesign be included in city planning? Parks, sidewalks, bike lanes.
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Explain the three measures of epidemiology.
Description: Why do some places have drugs for most diseases, while in underdeveloped nations children die of dehydrating diarrhea? That question woke pharmaceutical scientist Hale up, and inspired her to found a non-profit company that researches orphan diseases, or disease where drugs will not make a profit.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is it ethical for the pharmaceutical companies to allow millions to die when a drug is already available to treat it?
2.Is the profit model the right way to organize health care if only people in wealthy nations benefit?
3.Is the non-profit approach to treating unprofitable disease sufficient? Should access to health care be a basic human right?
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine. Summarize the different models of health care in the U.S.
Description: Awards go to pilot project where researchers look for the causes of the higher rates of a wide range of diseases that disproportionately affect minorities. The awards give a jump start to researchers who can then move successful research to higher funding levels.
Questions to Consider:
1.Why do questions about health disparities remain unanswered? Use one of the four perspectives to explain your response.
2.What do these diseases and the problems in underdeveloped nations have in common?
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Identify the relationship between education and health. Summarize the different models of health care in the U.S.
Description: Child narrates this video encouraging parents to investigate low-cost or free health coverage for their children.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think focusing this campaign through a child’s perspective will get attention?
2.Consider the message content in this video. Do you think parents will want to investigate this health insurance option? Why or Why not?
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Identify the relationship between education and health. Summarize the different models of health care in the U.S.
Description: Explains the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. Brookings Institute “blackboard” type illustration. Who is eligible for each program, and who is benefitted. What level of government pays for the programs.
Questions to Consider:
1.Are all Medicaid programs across the nation the same?
2.What guides eligibility for Medicaid?
3.How did Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) affect Medicaid?
Audio
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine.
Description: AMA is not the most powerful voice in health care, but Obama sought their support for passage of the health care initiative. Doctors are concerned about how payments will be divided between primary and specialty care physicians.
Questions to Consider:
- Is health care like any business with a product or a service to the community?
- How would the sociological perspectives explain the way Obama reached out to doctors?
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Explain the three measures of epidemiology. Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine.
Description: The U.S. is not as healthy as 16 other wealthy countries, according to a study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences. Research points to fewer doctors, less comprehensive health care and fragmented management of chronic disease as a large part of the reason.
Questions to Consider:
1.Beyond the role of disease, what are the factors that contribute to the higher mortality rate in the U.S.?
2.How important to our health are the food choices we make?
3.What are the main obstacles to improving our chances at living longer?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain the three measures of epidemiology.
Description: The U.S. Census clock with World population data links.
Questions to Consider:
1.Explore the website and choose a country to compare with the U.S. clock. What can surmise about fertility and mortality?
2.Explore the website and look at the population of your home town. Is it expected to grow or decline? What do you know about your town that will help you explain its population trajectory?
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine.
Description: Universal health coverage is a goal in many nations. Describes the characteristics and elements of universal health care: “a strong, efficient, well-run health system; a system for financing health services; access to essential medicines and technologies; a sufficient capacity of well-trained, motivated health workers.” Links lead to specific information.
Questions to Consider:
1.Does it surprise you the universal health coverage movement is world-wide?
2.What does public health have to do with individual health?
Learning Objective: Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine. Summarize the different models of health care in the U.S.
Description: Forbes magazine analysis of the cause of rising health care costs: medical technology, hospital overhead and administration costs, and the high cost of treating chronic disease. The health disparities experienced by racial and ethnic groups is another factor driving costs.
Questions to Consider:
1.According to Forbes analysis, is there any benefit derived from medical cost increases?
2.What direction does Forbes suggest we go to reduce cost increases?
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine. Summarize the different models of health care in the U.S.
Description: Legal status, income level, residency time, and enrollment periods impact non-citizens who want to get coverage through the government’s marketplace. Community clinics are the option for families who don’t meet these qualifications.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think that migrants without documentation trust that immigration status will not be shared with immigration officials?
2.Explore the web links and see if a low cost clinic serves your community.
3.Basic care is provided in community clinics. Is this the care most migrants need when they seek treatment?
Learning Objective: Describe the social determinants of health. Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and medicine. Identify the relationship between education and health. Summarize the different models of health care in the U.S.
Description: Undocumented migrants use less health care than others, which can allow medical problems to get more serious. Fears of being reported keep them away from the care they are eligible for.
Questions to Consider:
1.Are the vehement arguments against health benefits for undocumented immigrants justified by the cost of that care? Will publicizing the affordability of health care for immigrants help reduce its opponents?
2.Other than cost, what influences the faction opposed to extending health care to undocumented people.
3.If California health benefits for migrants is successful, is it possible other states will follow?
Chapter 11: The Media
Video
Learning Objective: Define media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: How media influences us: priming, agenda setting, framing, change, persuasion are among the inherent factors in media messages, some more obvious than others. Good introduction to subject.
Questions to Consider:
- The framing of the news is what people think of as bias?
- Can you think of change that happens through media?
- Do you think you can gain control of your perception by understanding media’s influence and the tools it uses?
Learning Objective: Define media. Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Review the importance of the digital divide
Description: Frontline explores how social media has been transforming the way adolescence is experienced: less time reading, more time taking photos, texting and posting. Friendships and relationships online are essential, and the way social life is conducted has changed. Teachers guide available.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think you have become more conservative about what you post on social media as you have gotten older? Is this evidence of Goffman’s impression management?
2.Are you as demanding of entertaining instruction as these teachers suspect? Do you have these expectations of your college instructors?
3.What about cyberbullying? If you have been bullied, what was your reaction? Do you think the internet is dangerous?
Learning Objective: Define media. Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Frontline examination of advertising and marketing, which has gone scientific. People use brands to establish identity. How the private sector collects information about individuals and uses it in persuasion.
Questions to Consider:
- Does this information collecting and profiling seem dangerous to you in any way?
- How would you establish your identity without products or the internet?
3.Given that the U.S. economy is based on consumer spending, is it patriotic to shop?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Body evolution. The body of a model is transformed in time lapse. Partial nudity.
Questions to Consider:
1.Would you say this woman’s body was reshaped or distorted? Defend your word choice.
2.Do you think most ads have this much manipulation?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: What if sexy female roles in advertising were portrayed by men? The use of sex to sell common products like chips and burgers is parodied.
Questions to Consider:
1.What did think about the story being told when you saw the ads side-by-side?
2.Do you think this type of ad is unique or common?
3.How much influence do they have over behavior?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Promotional video for SeeJane.org, The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media highlights the gender imbalance of children’s television characters.
Questions to Consider:
1.Have you ever noticed the gender imbalance in children’s television? In cartoons?
2.Do you think that an implicit bias is created by this imbalance?
Learning Objective: Define media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Wall Street Journal short history of journalism from the handbills of the 18th century, through biased news in the 19th, to efforts to balance news in the 20th and 21st centuries. Depicts readership decline beginning with internet.
Questions to Consider:
- When was the last time you read a newspaper for national news? Did you buy the paper? Subscribe?
- What is the difference between online and print news? Television and radio news?
- Do you try to get unbiased news? How do you understand both sides of an issue?
Learning Objective: Define media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Illustration and voice over give the seven secrets of persuasion one can use honestly.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do these tools remain honest when they are used strategically to sell a product?
2.Do you think you will try to use these tools yourself to persuade someone, or to make friends? Were you persuaded to use them?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Review the importance of the digital divide.
Description: The challenges of getting things done in the U.S. when you don’t have internet are demonstrated by a single mom and her three children who need internet for school.
Questions to Consider:
1.How many ways can you access the internet?
2.Do you take internet access for granted?
3.Can students get an equal education without internet access?
Audio
Learning Objective: Define media. Explain the relationship between media technology and a boundary-less workplace. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Beyond the interpersonal, social media is being used by local government. What does it mean to have a million Twitter followers?
Questions to Consider:
- Can social media help reestablish trust in government, especially local government, when it is used to provide services?
- What is different about being a broadcast outlet through social media and having a lot of friends who follow you?
- President Obama got his own Twitter account in May of 2015. Why is this news?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: People don’t trust government, partly because they don’t trust news media. Many believe that the information they get is biased. News organizations try to present unbiased information to regain trust, or to make their bias public.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think presenting two perspectives of a story--news balance—brings it closer to reality? If yes, can you think of exceptions?
2.Would you prefer to get news from a source with an overt bias, so you can balance the information by seeking out different sources? Do you want to hear both sides?
3.Do you think that objectivity is possible in a news story? Do sociologists?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media.
Description: Women journalists covering stories of upheaval and war face sexual violence as well as the physical dangers male colleagues face. Women view their work and its importance very similarly to these men.
Questions to Consider:
1.Did any of the women interviewed respond as a feminist? Defend your selection.
2.Should war reporting be delegated to men? Or should women journalists be armed?
3.Is it enough of an advancement for women that events like this are now being reported and prosecuted in countries where they have only recently become “news.”
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Review the importance of the digital divide.
Description: One of many local non-profits across the nation working to get computers into the hands of those who can’t afford it.
Questions to Consider:
1.This organization believes that “connectivity is opportunity.” Is that a fair assumption?
2.Do you agree with them that “in-home Internet access is as essential as any modern utility; like phone service, electricity and running water?”
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Interactive lists showing ownership of media in Internet, cable, television/radio, and print categories.
Questions to Consider:
1.Explore the list and see which companies cross boundaries of ownership in multiple categories.
2.What does the pursuit of efficiency and profits tend to create in conglomerates?
3.What kind of danger freedom of information does this represent to you?
Learning Objective: Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Going to a news media outlet from a mobile device has become more common than desktop access, among other news trends from Pew Research Center.
Questions to Consider:
1.How do you learn about national, local or world news? Have you ever learned about events by using your mobile phone? Do you get news on Facebook?
2.Can you imagine the difference between seeking news stories and getting news from a delivered resource? How well would you be informed in each case?
Political Ideology and Media Preference
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the media. Identify the importance of media literacy.
Description: Interactive site reveals viewers political perspectives for different media outlets. News resources include the Daily Show, Al Jazeera America, and Glen Beck, PBS and internet sources like Google along with legacy network news sources like ABC.
Questions to Consider:
1.Explore the graphs. Which sources have the most liberal viewers and the most conservative?
2.What resources serve an audience from a broad political spectrum, echoing the national profile?
3.What is the political profile of the audience of your preferred news source? How do you compare with their average consumer?
Chapter 12: Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Video
Learning Objective:
Description: The streets are flush with Afghan heroin, and what people do with it is hard to watch. Suburban kids experiment and then get hooked on heroin; their parents end up paying for their habit. From Oslo to a shooting gallery in the U.S. Midwest, people admit they have given up a normal life for heroin. National Geographic excerpt.
Questions to Consider:
1.Addicted to heroin now, Joaquim says he wishes he had a “square life.” What does that say about his previous attitude toward using the drug?
2.Looking at these faces, do they appear different than others? How?
3.Addiction is only one aspect of this drug. Can you piece together other parts of the puzzle?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Examine the pros and cons of the drug legalization movement.
Description: CNBC report on the marijuana industry in Colorado, one of three states where it can be used legally.
Questions to Consider:
1.Pot is an industry, and bringing money into the states that have legalized it. Is that demand a reason for legalization?
2.Should we be concerned that pot is another intoxicant that will get out of control?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Identify the correlates of Ecstasy use among college students.
Description: A role-play by college students on the desire for, and reasons not to use MDMA as a concert drug.
Questions to Consider:
1.Did the students convince you to stay away from the drug, or want to try it?
2.Use the theory of differential association to explain the decision whether to use MDMA by the concert goers, the pharmacist and the drug dealer.
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems.
Description: The emotional toll of addiction that began pain killers told by two Latter Day Saints men who eventually returned to a drug-free life with family support.
Questions to Consider:
1.Pharmaceutical drugs can be highly addictive, but do they have the same reputation as other addictive drugs?
2.Does the problem of illegal pharmaceutical drug use have popular understanding?
3.If you could decide how to spend federal money, would you chose to fund more programs to deal with addiction or more research on methods of pain reduction?
Description: Goes way beyond the egg in the frying pan to describe heroin addiction.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think this is the way the drug feels, or what witnesses see and feel?
2.Do you think it is an effective anti-drug message?
Audio
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Describe how the social structure regulates drinking.
Description: From trying alcohol to blacking out, there’s a high tolerance for drinking even for youth. Personal freedom and self-acceptance was the key to getting sober. Recovery can be a full time job.
Questions to Consider:
1.Is college a time of high peer pressure to use alcohol and drugs. How do you manage it?
2.What kind of alcohol and drug program is in place on your own campus?
3.Is the commitment to stay clean enough? What do you think about other people or the higher power helping?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Examine the pros and cons of the drug legalization movement.
Description: Whites are starting to be arrested at higher rates for drug use, but Black men are in prison in a higher percentage than the percent of use in the Black community. Meth use is more common among Whites and Latinos.
Questions to Consider:
1.Jail time is not a deterrent, according to the statistics. Is the current policy too expensive and to harmful to individuals to maintain?
2.What obstacles do politicians have to reducing the war on drugs?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Examine the pros and cons of the drug legalization movement.
Description: It’s not what it ought to be. Unfair sentences are routine. Questions on history: “How We Got Here.”
Questions to Consider:
1.Is it surprising to learn that Democrats led the campaign for harsh, mandatory drug sentencing?
2.Is the political legislation process the right place to establish strategies and practices? How does the bipartisan process added to inappropriate sentences?
3.Is quantity the right way to handle the length of drug sentences?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Describe how the social structure regulates drinking. Identify the correlates of Ecstasy use among college students. Assess the theory that college students mature out of heavy or binge drinking.
Description: The home page for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. find descriptions, statistics on drug use, including marijuana, heroin and rave drugs.
Questions to Consider:
1.Explore the site, compare the rate of use of two different drugs at different ages. Do you notice any trends?
2.Read the health effects section on three drugs, and compare with what you know of street knowledge. Does differential association explain the different perspectives?
3.Compare the way NIDA treats legal and illegal drugs.
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Identify the correlates of Ecstasy use among college students. Assess the theory that college students mature out of heavy or binge drinking.
Description: Office of National Drug Control Policy website.
Questions to Consider:
1.Why is drug use a problem, according to the website? Compare to the definition of a social problem.
2.The process of recovery and those who have recovered are new additions to this website. What does the ONDCP say recovering abusers can do about drug use?
3.Find the Alternatives to Incarceration pdf under the Enforcement tab. How does this differ from conventional handling of arrested drug users?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Describe how the social structure regulates drinking.
Description: Fact sheet on the prevalence of alcohol use, diseases, and efforts to diminish harm.
Questions to Consider:
1.What is the relationship between alcohol and prospertity?
2.What is the relationship between alcohol use and gender?
3.Is the global trend becoming more or less permissive about alcohol use and abuse?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Examine the pros and cons of the drug legalization movement.
Description: Why are we still fighting the war on drugs, when we can’t even keep them out of prisons? Could it be that those who fight the war are fighting to keep their jobs? Or that banning some drugs, like marijuana or steep sentencing crack cocaine, reflect racial bigotry.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you recognize the sociological imagination in the arguments made by the author of the book? What perspective(s) do his theories use?
2.Social Isolation is proposed as a push factor in the use of drugs. What do sociologists call this when isolation is widespread?
3.After D.A.R.E., can you imagine a world where cocaine is a vice like fatty food?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives explain alcohol and drug problems. Examine the pros and cons of the drug legalization movement.
Description: Should drug possession be punished with a prison sentence?
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you see the criminal record of Black men for a drug possession as an individual problem or a social problem? What about for Whites or Latinos? Defend your position.
2.Blacks are more likely to create a criminal record for their drug use. How does this create a social problem?
3.Should we have forgiveness for users and erase a criminal record after a period of sobriety? If yes, what length of time sober is appropriate? If no, defend you position.
Chapter 13: Crime and Criminal Justice
Video
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: Philip Zimbardo TED talk about the fluidity of “good” and “evil” and the influence of context and institution in people’s behavior. Defines evil, social processes that open a person to evil behavior, and the importance of ordinary people waiting for their heroic moment.
Questions to Consider:
1.Does Zimbardo convince you that that line between good and evil is moveable?
2.How do we focus on bad behavior instead of on good behavior?
3.What social patterns prevent people from becoming ordinary heroes? Which ones might encourage this?
Learning Objective: Explain how race/ethnicity is an important predictor of offender or victim status. Explain the difference between biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: The prison system that has made the U.S. the “most incarcerative” nation in history. Bill Moyers talks to Michelle Alexander about the movement to end this.
Questions to Consider:
1. How does our society perpetuate prison for felons?
- What argument helps understand that the “tough on crime” movement had racial undertones?
- Our political discourse doesn’t encourage solidarity. Is this one of the consequences?
- Is it moral to guarantee that prisons will be kept at 90 percent capacity?
Learning Objective: Describe the transformation of American policing. Explain how race/ethnicity is an important predictor of offender or victim status. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: Beginning with the riots in Ferguson, MO, Michelle Alexander discusses how “broken windows” policing is enforced disproportionately against minorities, especially black men, having “the talk” with her own black son, and her hopes for an ongoing movement.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think that the protests that have emerged are what Alexander was hoping for?
- Do you think we are going to see positive changes in enforcement through this movement?
Learning Objective: Summarize the different types of crime. Explain the difference between biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: Public service rap video about the factors that push young people into delinquency.
Questions to Consider:
- Have you ever committed an act that might be called “delinquent” by a law enforcement officer? (most people have)
- Did you try to avoid any of your peers that seemed to be misbehaving, or “trouble”?
- If it was known that peer rejection was a factor in increasing unwanted behaviors do you think we would encourage compassion?
Learning Objective: Summarize the different types of crime. Explain whether private prisons are more effective than public prisons.
Description: As the camera moves through a prison a young inmate tells us it “ain’t really all that nice.” Several young men share the rooms they are given, from shared bunks with their friends to barren solitary cubicles. What “groups” they participate in so when they are released they might have a chance at a “regular life like everybody else.”
Questions to Consider:
1.What do you think about the future for these young men?
2.Many incarcerated are uneducated. Why do you think they did not talk much about school?
3.What else should we be doing with incarcerated juveniles, if anything?
Learning Objective: Explain whether private prisons are more effective than public prisons.
Description: A tour of death row in a North Carolina prison. Description of the last day for the individual, how the death is induced, protections for the executioners. Could be disturbing for some students.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think the actions to provide last wishes to death row inmates make the practice more humane?
2.Only 36 nations use the death penalty, including the U.S. Can you relate our use of the death penalty to U.S. individualism/notions of individual responsibility/choice?
3.We have given the state has the power to use force, including execution, to control social behavior. It has not proved effective to eliminate murder, should we try another approach?
Learning Objective: Describe the transformation of American policing. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: An eyewitness may have sent them to prison, but DNA exonerated them through the work of the Innocence Project. Sixty Minutes report on the errors made and the conviction of the witness that sent the wrong person to jail.
Questions to Consider:
- Given the fallibility of memory does the justice system place too much emphasis on eyewitness testimony?
- Can restitution make up for time spent in prison?
- What do you think of the friendship of these two former antagonists?
Learning Objective: Explain whether private prisons are more effective than public prisons.
Describe the transformation of American policing. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: Can we prevent murders before they happen? As defense lawyers begin defending clients earlier in the trial, death sentences decrease. This attorney argues that we need to intervene in the lives of convicted juveniles when we can prevent their criminal careers.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you agree with the premise that murder can be prevented?
- What do you think the most important intervention he shared?
- Does rehabilitation deserve to be a controversial concept?
Audio
Learning Objective: Summarize the different types of crime. Explain the difference between biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: Crime and criminals tend to be lumped into a single category. Three unusual cases of crime are profiled: Embezzlement, shoplifting and bank robbery. Which one was committed by the grandma? Which by the comedian?
Questions to Consider:
- Do people we look more gently on people who we see as “good people?”
- According to these criminals, what does right and wrong have to do with crime? What about God?
- How does the sociological perspective see these experiences?
Learning Objective: Explain whether private prisons are more effective than public prisons.
Describe the transformation of American policing. Summarize the different types of crime. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: The number of women in prison is rising.
Questions to Consider:
- Are the challenges they will face on release similar to incarcerated men’s issues?
- How much support should we devote to women remaking their lives?
- Do you think public opinion would be in favor of supporting the needs of women after release?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime.
Description: Trailer for the third season of the Netflix hit.
1.Do you think the popularity of this series will change things for imprisoned women?
2.How do you think the media portrayal of incarcerated women compares to reality?
Learning Objective: Summarize the different types of crime. Explain how race/ethnicity is an important predictor of offender or victim status. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: NPR interview with a mother of five who spent her teen years in an L.A. gang member.
Questions to Consider:
1.What do you think of the names these hardcore gang girls chose, Boo-Boo, Nana, and Chunky?
2.Can people age out of crime? Many former gang members have mainstream jobs.
3.What sociological perspective most closely explains Boo-Boo/Christina’s behavior?
Learning Objective: Describe the transformation of American policing. Explain how race/ethnicity is an important predictor of offender or victim status. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: Camden NJ is one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. and it can’t afford its own police department. The unemployment rate is 40 percent, and many residents shutter themselves in homes protected by bars.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think outsourcing police will solve Camden’s dilemma?
2.How does a city with no money and bad reputation rehabilitate itself? Should Camden be helped with more state or federal programs?
3.Where is the balance between “broken windows” policing and controlling open air drug markets?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Summarize the different types of crime. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: Media services infographic depicting the number and type of cybercrimes committed with projections. Easy to explore.
Questions to Consider:
1.What are the most surprising facts you discovered about cybercrime?
2.Do you think you are protected from some of the crimes, or are you internet practices making you vulnerable to cybercrime?
Learning Objective: Explain whether private prisons are more effective than public prisons. Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Description: Prisoners protest treatment in a privately run prison in Ohio. The state did not renew its contract. Prisoner treatment is reviewed.
Questions to Consider:
1.The state chose to end the contract on the poor record of the prison. Is it ethical for corporations to make money on prisons?
2.Should we entrust private corporations with the use of force for social control, a power that has traditionally been reserved for the state?
Chapter 14: Urbanization
Video
Learning Objective: Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization.
Description: The housing bubble contributed to a high foreclosure rate in Pinellas County, FL. Mortgages are very difficult to get, and competition for rental housing has made even substandard housing unaffordable. People describe the struggle to get and stay in housing, even with more than one income.
Questions to Consider:
1.How does the video explain the external forces that increased poverty during the great recession?
2.How important is wealth other than housing to resilience during economic recessions?
3.Why are government subsidy programs important to the housing issue?
Learning Objective: Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and its related social problems.
Description: Answering the challenge for homeless who need support, agencies all gather in one place for a day, so referrals are easy for those who attend. The concept began in San Francisco and is spreading.
Questions to Consider:
- How does this improve the lives of the homeless?
- What problems does the city solve by promoting this event?
Learning Objective: Describe the sustainable community movement.
Description: It’s not just time that is lost when people have long commutes; there is a higher likelihood of problems with weight, blood pressure and even marriages. The healthy answer is to make your commute active: walk or bike instead of using motorized transportation.
Questions to Consider:
1.If you wanted to follow this advice, where would have to live?
2.What obstacles are there to this change? Are they individual or social?
Audio
Learning Objective: Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and its related social problems.
Description: A journalist tells her own story of homelessness. As a child, she once lived in an unheated shack, but eventually attended Barnard College and became a successful journalist. Shame and the complexity of homelessness kept her from admitting her poverty for fear people would “throw rocks.”
Questions to Consider:
- Do you prefer anesthetization to hearing the story of others? If so, how did that happen? Are you alone?
- What are the simple acts people perform to support the homeless?
- Are the fears of being stereotyped by more successful people realistic?
Learning Objective: Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and its related social problems. Describe the sustainable community movement.
Description: After a severe tornado destroyed Greensboro, KS, one resident ran for mayor and led the “green” rebuilding effort associated with progressive Democrats, but he’s Republican.
Questions to Consider:
1.The mayor had to get past his own idea that green technology was “liberal.” How did he reframe the concept for himself and his constituents?
2.Is sustainability “about us as a society surviving and the ability to endure.” Is anything missing from that definition?
3.Mayor Dixson says these decisions should be about the constituents and what they think should happen. Would this necessarily lead to a more sustainable society?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain how a population is affected by its age distribution or ethnic composition.
Description: Interactive map that shows national population movement by state in a responsive visual graphic. Percentage of native born, residents from other states and countries for each state, plus the places those who left their native moved to. Includes historical migration patterns (1900, 1950 and 2012).
Questions to Consider:
1.Review your native state’s history and compare to your personal history.
2.Does your state have more immigration or emigration? Do you know the reason?
3.Compare this graphic with trends mentioned in the text.
Learning Objective: Explain how a population is affected by its age distribution or ethnic composition.
Description: The change over time in some of the key measures of success in the U.S. including home ownership.
Questions to Consider:
1.Which of the factors measured shows optimistic trends in reducing racial disparity?
2.Which of the factors measured demonstrates stagnation in achieving racial parity?
Learning Objective: Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization. Describe the sustainable community movement.
Description: Urban density is associated with increased respiratory disease. Especially in poor cities, disease spreads rapidly. The problems are expected to increase as an increasing proportion of people continue moving to cities.
Questions to Consider:
1.Why is there a higher danger of respiratory disease in overcrowded cities?
2.Locate the place where this danger is the highest? What do you know about disease in this locale?
3.Are the solutions suggested reasonable in all crowded cities?
Learning Objective: Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization. Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and its related social problems. Analyze the pros and cons of gentrification. Describe the sustainable community movement.
Description: Johnson builds his businesses in Black communities. Explore this site and the link to the Magic Johnson Foundation to investigate the current projects and business partners.
Questions to Consider:
1.Use one of the sociological perspectives to analyze Johnson’s approach to community wellbeing.
2.Does the development offer living wage jobs? Does it bring in other businesses that offer living wage jobs.
3.Is the behavior code required in Johnson’s establishments an asset for the community? Speculate on the reasons for the code.
Learning Objective: Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization. Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and its related social problems. Analyze the pros and cons of gentrification.
Description: The Harlem section of NYC is undergoing gentrification, and there is a battle over how it should be developed.
Questions to Consider:
1.What role does historic preservation play in this dispute? Is this about preserving history, or maintaining community structure?
2.How can private property rights and community cohesiveness be balanced?
Learning Objective: Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization. Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and its related social problems. Describe the sustainable community movement.
Description: Handbook from the Minnesota Extension Service with definitions, tools and activities to build community.
Questions to Consider:
1.What’s the difference between bonding and bridging networks?
2.Which one is the best for solving community problems? Explain your choice.
Chapter 15: The Environment
Video
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Discuss climate change and global warming.
Description: Frontline examines the Earth changes predicted by climate change scientists. Two hour program with links to many specific issues we face. Questions from first 12 minutes “Watching the World Change.”
Questions to Consider:
1.The opening of this 2008 show promotes the imperative that we take action. Does this sense of urgency remain?
2.What are the downstream problems of the melting glacier?
3.What are some ways the consequences of these earth changes affect people in the U.S.?
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems. Discuss climate change and global warming.
Description: Human activity is exceeding the planetary “boundaries” in important and dangerous ways. Changing to this pattern and adhering to the innate capacity of the planet to “clean up after us” will lead to sustainable development.
Questions to Consider:
1.What approach to environmental problems is proposed here? How would it fit with the sociological perspectives?
2.Is this an optimistic or pessimistic approach to environmental problem-solving?
3.How many of these problems with environmental “boundaries” had you heard of before watching the video? Are some problems being ignored?
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems. Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems.
Description: News from New Jersey but the problems are the same nationwide. Pollution needs to be addressed regionally, and beyond. Diseases associated with ozone and other costs are discussed.
Questions to Consider:
1.Does hearing about the increase in cognitive and neurological disease associated with breathing ozone make you scared to inhale?
2.Where do you want to live? Raise a family?
3.Does frightening news like this inspire you to act, or to join a political action group? Why or why not?
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Compare the first-wave and second-wave of environmental interest groups.
Many schools are not healthy or efficient; they made be the exact opposite. Global Green is hoping to change that with your help.
Questions to Consider:
1.If we spend more money on energy costs than textbooks, are we really focused on education, let alone sustainable?
2.Reconstruction creates jobs, better health conditions for teachers and students, saves energy costs. Is there any downside?
3.What type of environmental effort/organization does this effort represent?
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems. Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems. Compare the first-wave and second-wave of environmental interest groups.
Description: News footage from this seminal event in the environmental movement recounts the discovery and the ultimately successful effort by residents for justice. The Super Fund program, the tenuous link between pollution and disease, and the continuing problems at Love Canal are included.
Questions to Consider:
1.Unpleasant and frightening odors alerted homeowners to the problems, but experts have not linked chemicals to disease. Should people trust their noses or the experts?
2.Could the protest events held by Love Canal residents, including the five-hour EPA hostage situation, happen today? If it did, how do you think the news media would treat the event?
3.What type of environmental effort/organization does this effort represent?
Learning Objective: Compare the first-wave and second-wave of environmental interest groups. Assess the impact of the environmental movement.
Description: Video includes interviews and shows river clean-up efforts and some of the surprising “trash” hauled away.
Questions to Consider:
1.Pregracke has focused on a local instance of a bigger problem. Why would sociologists be interested in his efforts?
2.How do you think Pregracke has been able to sustain his efforts despite what seems like a never ending supply of trash?
3.What type of environmental effort/organization does this effort represent?
Learning Objective: Assess the impact of the environmental movement. Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems.
Description: An industrialist dedicated to sustainable production is asking for business to do more.
Do you think that Paul Hawken is correct that business is the only institution large enough to reduce human’s environmental impact?
Questions to Consider:
1. Anderson proposes that we change I=P*A*T to I=P*A/T. Is changing technology from a multiplier of harm to a reducer of harm the only task necessary?
2. What obstacles can you name to the transformation of A to a, From an imperative drive to Affluence to an affluence with human happiness as the goal?
Audio
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems.
Description: Water from the tap may be legal to deliver, but not safe to drink. Safe Drinking Water limits are too lax and missing too many contaminants.
Questions to Consider:
1.What kind of response does broad spread water pollution require for positive change?
2.What are the obstacles to increasing water purity? What has the EPA done about perchlorate or arsenic currently?
3.Would you like a glass of water?
Learning Objective: Assess the impact of the environmental movement. Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems.
Description: Students in this Vermont school spend one day in the woods “playing,” but instructors watching them describe how this is closer to real life problem solving.
Questions to Consider:
1.What are the benefits of students “playing” outside?
2.Can this be implemented across public education nationally? Why or why not?
Agriculture’s Environmental Impact
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems. Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems.
Description: Lawmakers don’t want commentary about agricultural practices and environmental damage in the dietary guidelines published in 2015. They added non-binding directives to the President Obama expressing “concern” about this addition and telling the administration to ignore those recommendations if put forward by the experts serving on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
Questions to Consider:
1.According to this story what foods are most vulnerable to environmental criticism?
2.According to the story what type of ecosystems are most vulnerable to food production?
3.Congress said the committee doesn’t have expertise in the area. What other reasons might motivate their action?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Discuss climate change and global warming. Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems.
Description: Interview with the economist who in 2007 headed the International Commission on Climate Change, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted on Oct. 10, 2007.
Questions to Consider:
1.Do you think any of the projections offered in this interview have materialized? Which ones?
2.What do you think of Pachauri’s geographical/population argument about carbon emissions?
3.Do you think Obama’s administration was any more open to the IPCC than G.W.Bush’s? What does that say about politics, and especially the powerful lobbies mentioned in the interview.
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems. Discuss climate change and global warming. Compare the first-wave and second-wave of environmental interest groups.
Description: Calculate your individual ecological footprint and see how many planets we would require if all the world’s people lived the same lifestyle as you. Individuals have limited power in reducing consumption unless the systems and institutions of their nation change too.
Questions to Consider:
1.How many planets are required by your lifestyle?
2.What could you do to reduce this number? Are you willing to make the changes?
3.How much of your footprint is due to the nation you reside in?
Learning Objective: Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems. Assess the impact of the environmental movement.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences article warning about the prevalence of greenwashing.
Questions to Consider:
1.What is the reason for the increase in this fraudulent practice?
2.Why isn’t the Federal Trade Commission able to curb the practice?
3.Give some examples of greenwashing in products you buy.
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems.
Description: About 80 percent of water use is for agriculture and current practices are depleting groundwater. Food companies should help change these practices, and some, like Unilever, are already doing so.
Questions to Consider:
1.How do you feel about paying more for food products made using less water use and producing less pollution?
2.Do you think that market-based strategies can solve this problem, or do we need stricter regulation?
Chapter 16: War and Terrorism
Video
Learning Objective: Define the politics of fear.
Description: The speech given by George W. Bush the evening of 9/11/2001, aligning the U.S. against terrorism, and reassuring the public that the government and the economy remain open for business and requesting prayers.
Questions to Consider:
- What were the major points President Bush made in this speech?
- Do you think Bush’s speech was effective reassurance? Did he promise too much, too little?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between war and terrorism. Define the politics of fear. . Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
Description: Spying on the Homefront, Frontline video. The digital age allows the collection of big data. The fear and real possibility of terrorism allows the government to encroach on formerly private material, such as phone call records and library checkouts. Where do we draw the line in a democracy?
Questions to Consider:
- What is the core issue in this debate?
- Is trading freedom for safety a new bargain for citizens?
President Eisenhower’s Warning
Learning Objective: Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
Description: The final address of President Eisenhower in full. Non-partisanship within the U.S., and the long period of war preceding his departure. Warning about the use of power, the headlong eradication of problems, and the growth of the military-industrial complex.
Questions to Consider:
- Does the conflict he warns about with communism have a parallel today?
- He alludes to the balance of individual livelihoods and the demand to solve problems using research. Are we managing that balance well?
- How well have we managed the rise of the military-industrial complex he warning?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to war and terrorism.
Description: A Marine Corp officer tells how her command avoided prosecuting her rapist, although he was later investigated by police and convicted.
Questions to Consider:
- Is prosecution of perpetrators of rape or assault optional?
- Do you think education of military members will decrease the number of assaults?
- Women are becoming more integrated into military units. Will a greater number of women in units change the way the military handles rape cases?
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to war and terrorism. . Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
Description: Frontline examination of the emotional toll on soldiers. some soldiers don’t admit to the problems they take home from the battlefield.
Questions to Consider:
- Is a 10 week course a significant treatment for a mental illness?
- Do you think the military is sacrificing individuals to maintain a fighting force?
Learning Objective: . Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
Description: Trailer for a longer video produced by the Earthos Institute. The victims of war include the environment as well as people who live in it.
Questions to Consider:
- Are the environmental costs of war given enough consideration?
- Do we effectively address the environmental damages done by war after it ends?
- Do you believe we will consider earth issues more carefully in the future?
Audio
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to war and terrorism. Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
Description: Writing about the war by soldiers who fought in Iraq, Operation Homecoming preserves the way the fighting felt to those who did it. Workshops help them put words to the experiences.
Questions to Consider:
- Does art expression help the public understand the experience of those who fought?
- What is the short-term value of this effort? The long-term value?
- How do the stories that would come out of this writing compare with the war stories being told by Hollywood, or in video games?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between war and terrorism.
Description: These recruits “fly under the radar” of law enforcement. Many of the Americans attracted into terrorism don’t fit the stereotypes.
Questions to Consider:
- Does Jihad Jane fit any stereotype of “terrorist” that you carry inside you?
- Why do you think so many terrorists are Americans? Do the sociological perspectives help explain this phenomenon?
- What kind of investigative powers are needed to find these terrorists?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between war and terrorism. . Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
Description: The U.S. is vulnerable to a biological attack, but realistically this kind of attack is very difficult to defend. In additions, there is no protocol to address an attack if it occurs .
Questions to Consider:
- Recent events have shown that biological agents have gotten out of containment by mistake. According to the report, is there something we should be doing about this?
- Should we invest more to prevent biological attacks?
- Should cities be required to create plans or face a penalty?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to war and terrorism. . Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
Description: A 1995 essay by Samantha Power, U.S. representative at the United Nations, calls the end of genocide “the worlds most unfilled promise.” Legal rights of the individual over the state are increasing, but the scale of genocides has not diminished.
Questions to Consider:
- What conclusions can be drawn from the willingness of the U.S. to go to war for economic reasons, but not for humanitarian reasons? What would enemies conclude? Its allies?
- How does Power explain the reason for the wide gap between our moral and political response to genocide?
Learning Objective: . Identify the effects of war and terrorism. Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to war and terrorism.
Description: Compares the anti-war movement of the 60’s with today’s non-protest era and details persistent illusions about rational war. Protest in the 60’s was viewed as a patriotic act, but today’s citizens are too cynical?
Questions to Consider:
- Do you agree that citizens today feel powerless and detached from their government?
- As a young person, do you automatically see anti-war protest as unpatriotic, or even treasonous?
- Is citizen detachment from civic affairs dangerous? What would a functionalist say?
Learning Objective: Explain the difference between war and terrorism.
Description: Terrorists want news coverage for its fear factor. CNN report by Dan Rather on balance in reporting news of terror attacks.
Questions to Consider:
- What benefit does reporting carnage give to terrorists?
- Dan Rather says the best reporters consider the news they deliver in the context of history and relevance, but not all reporters hold this standard. What happens instead?
- Rather suggests that news should serve the public not the terrorists. Is that possible?
Learning Objective: Assess the effectiveness of economic sanctions.
Description: Economic sanctions are seen as an alternative to war, but they may be a precursor to it in some cases.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you think that embargos and sanctions are the same as war, because they have similar effects?
- Does sanctioning a major power bring us closer to war? Should we be willing to escalate?
- Do you think the U.S. could be blindsided in an attack, like the one at Pearl Harbor?
Chapter 17: Social Problems and Social Action
Video
Learning Objective: Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements. Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness
Description: Accepted polarities are being blurred by women, who preserve traditions for them to achieve success. Kavita Ramda describes the third way women are taking to achieve gender equality.
Questions to Consider:
- Describe the tactics these women are using to achieve the progress they want?
2.What traditions are being used to achieve movement today? What traditions might be subverted to achieve movement in U.S. issues?
3.Do Western traditions, like dress and make-up, complicate the deeper issues of gender equality?
Learning Objective: Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements.
Description: Contemporary news report on the destruction of the Watts section of Los Angeles in riots. The heroic efforts of police and national guard versus hoodlums. “The riots in Los Angeles have written a sorrowful page in U.S. history.” (followed immediately by Watts Riots 2)
Questions to Consider:
- What do you suppose the nation’s reaction to this version of the news?
- How does this relate to current coverage of unrest in Black communities?
Learning Objective: Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements. Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness. Identify the three areas of change for successful reform. movements
Description: A photo documentary on the racial oppression, including police brutality faced by Blacks in the L.A. area, including the incident that sparked the riot.
Questions to Consider:
1.Compare the historical review of the Watts riot with the description by the 1968 newscast. What was missing in the earlier broadcast?
2.What is implied by the video’s use of “eventually?”
3.What parallels can you draw to current practices? What differences? Can you say we’ve made progress in creating social change?
Learning Objective: Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness
Description: Franklin McCain describes his participation in the sit-in at the Woolworth’s counter and asked for service. The non-violent strategy of the men who reignited the civil rights movement. Accompanied by photos.
Questions to Consider:
- The simplicity of this action by so few people hides the radical nature of what these men did. Can you think of a current event that is similar?
- What elements of society have to be in place before a social movement could begin?
- What role does violence play in igniting social movements?
Learning Objective: Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness.
Description: Vice-president of the University of Chile Student Federation, 23-year-old Camila Vallejo has led a campaign for better access to education that began in April 2011. The student movement in Chile opposes neoliberalism and shook the country's elitist democracy. She was voted person of the year in a poll of guardian.co.uk readers. Spanish with subtitles.
Questions to Consider:
1.How would you explain that few U.S. residents know about this movement, but one of its leaders has so much fame overseas?
2.What are the similarities and differences between the college debt problem in Chile and the U.S.? What role does inequality play?
Learning Objective: Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements.
Description: Use of creative arts for social change is not new, but has used throughout history to create campaigns. Interview by www.nonviolent-conflict.org with Nadine Bloch.
Questions to Consider:
1.How does the use of art help create cognitive liberation?
2.Can you point to the use of arts to create social change in contemporary issues?
3.What arts are most suited to today’s issues? To today’s social issues?
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between sociology, social movements and social change
Description: PSA for the organization with motivational descriptions of service as uplifting for volunteer and beneficiary.
Questions to Consider:
- Does the video portray the benefits of service to those who engage or benefit from it accurately?
- Do you think sociologists would agree that “we don’t have to” give service to one another? What definition of service are you using to answer this question?
- Compare the benefits of a “one-day” service opportunity to a long term commitment to a cause where set-backs to the mission are a constant. What creates and sustains each volunteer?
Learning Objective: Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements. Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements.
Description: Ensler started talking to women about vaginas which led to the Vagina Monologues, and efforts to address violence against women, from repression to rape and mutilation. For her, “Happiness exists in action and… in truth.”
Questions to Consider:
1.What did Ensler believe about happiness before she wrote the vagina Monologues? How did this definition change after her years of activism?
2.What kind of social change do you think Ensler and the “vagina warriors” have created?
3.Fit Ensler’s activism into the chapter’s categories.
Learning Objective: Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness.
Description: Democracy Now reports on the spread of “occupy” protestors across the nation. Wall Street versus the 99 percent.
Questions to Consider:
1.The movement wants equity for the 99 percent. Does the financial sector need more regulation to insure the 99 percent will get a fair share?
2.The movement lost momentum over time. What social factors led to the decline?
Learning Objective: Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements.
Description: Reich analyzes the persistence of economic inequality as a “war against the poor” with a chalkboard illustration. A promo for the documentary “Inequality for All.”
Questions to Consider:
1.What tools does economic activist Reich use to get his message across? Are they effective for you?
2.Are you interested in documentary movies, or documentary news program, such as PBS’s Frontline?
3.After being informed about an injustice, are you motivated to act? Why, or why not?
Audio
Learning Objective: Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness. Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements
Description: How civil rights and social justice for Black Americans was inspired from the pulpit. Sermons through history parallel the movement for justice.
Questions to Consider:
1.The beginning of equality comes with the notion that blacks are among the people that Jesus died to save. How would this advance racial equality? What does it imply about prior beliefs in heaven?
2.Can you name black ministers who have advanced racial equality?
3.How does prosperity preaching, the belief in deserved wealth, fit into the advancement of civil rights?
Web Resources
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between sociology, social movements and social change. Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements.
Description: A handbook compiled by Charles Dobson, using sociological research, describing the factors that enable social movements to make social change.
Questions to Consider:
1.What are the three factors critical for social movements that McAdam, McCarthy and Zald identify?
2.How important is an active civil society, or what Putnam called human/social capital, to social movements?
3.Compare civic connectedness and social media connectedness and speculate about how movements might take shape and be sustained.
Learning Objective: Explain the relationship between sociology, social movements and social change. Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements.
Description: Analysis and book review by Evgeny Morozov that dethrones the use of the internet as the panacea for social issues. The critical arguments include the benefits of limits to democracy and centralization, arguing that isn’t not always knowledge gaps, but competing interests that stymies solutions.
Questions to Consider:
- What type of problems does Morozov agree government by social media can help solve? What problems remain? Which are most important?
- What social group does he say has the most to gain by “crowdsourcing” government action? Do you agree?
- What movements in the U.S. agree with the decentralization principles? Will these ideas work on an unequal and crowded planet with competing interests? What could go wrong?
Learning Objective: Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements. Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements.
Description: The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict lists hundreds of ways people can engage in peaceful political action.
Questions to Consider:
1.Review the list and make your own list of actions that you have already taken that fall into the category of social action. Were you surprised by your result?
2.Which additional actions on the list would you be willing to engage in for issues you cared about?
3.Do you think these actions would successfully bring about social change, or would more radical actions be necessary?