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Video Links

• Confederate Flag Causes Controversy 
  The Confederate Flag was raised over a Texas courthouse and residents were divided as to whether or not this was appropriate as they did not share the same definition of the symbol. In this clip, a black Vietnam veteran and a white Civil War re-enactor offer different meanings of the flag.
   
• Millions Irrationally Feared Dead In Minor Train Accident
  Satirical look at how television news programs treat tragedies. In this fake news segment, the topic is a train derailment. The hosts speak with a disaster “expert,” use pie charts, and take calls from people who fear for the safety of their loved ones.
   
• News War 
  This program examines how larger social forces shape the media we consume. It considers how political, legal, economic, and technological forces have influenced the last forty years of journalism.
   
• The Persuaders  
  Influencing opinions is big business and a great deal of money is spent on attempts to shape consumers’ attitudes. Elaborate and sophisticated marketing campaigns are not limited to brands and products; they are increasingly part of American politics. This program examines how the techniques of the advertising and marketing industries are used in the political arena.
   
• Revisiting the ‘Crack Babies’ Epidemic That Was Not 
  This video is part of a New York Times series that revisits old news stories. In the 1980s there were numerous reports about the ways in which a woman’s use of crack cocaine during pregnancy would damage the developing fetus. The research on which these claims were based was seriously flawed. This video updates the news story and highlights not only the importance of conducting good research but the ways in which scientists and journalists shape our understanding of reality.

Audio Links

• 'Funemployment' And More Slang For A Recession 
  A review of slang that has emerged during and as result of the recession.
   
• Regional Food Names: When Is a Milkshake Not a Milkshake? Minicast 
  Fun discussion of how names for foods vary by region and also the different types of foods available in different areas.
   
• This American Life 328: What I Learned from Television 
  This program addresses the role of television in the lives of everyday people.  It includes stories of how we watch television and what the images do to our understandings of the world around us.  From a general sense of who we are and how we relate to others to such divergent topics as Thanksgiving and sexuality, the program explores the function of television in defining the world around us.
   
• This American Life 88: Numbers 
  Numbers lie. Numbers cover over complicated feelings and ambiguous situations.  This program is about quantifying data that is hard to quantify.  Several people presented in this episode, including Andrea, Alex, Jerry and Will, attempt to quantify things such as love and productivity in private and family relationships.

Professional Resources

• ASA’s Code of Ethics 
  The American Sociological Association’s (ASA’s) Code of Ethics sets forth the principles and ethical standards that underlie sociologists’ professional responsibilities and conduct. These principles and standards should be used as guidelines when examining everyday professional activities. They constitute normative statements for sociologists and provide guidance on issues that sociologists may encounter in their professional work [self-characterization].
   
• Comparative and Historical Sociology 
  Mathematical Sociology 
  Methodology Section 
  One of the distinguishing characteristics of sociology as a discipline is the rigorous and self-conscious application and development of empirical methods of data collection and analysis. Several ASA Sections are dedicated to advancing the discipline’s methods.
   
• ASA Science, Knowledge, and Technology 
  Sociologists also apply sociological theories and methods to the study of science and knowledge themselves as a social process. These sociologists are organized in the ASA Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology. 
   
• American Evaluation Association 
  One way to use a degree in sociology and do research is to become a program evaluator. Program evaluation is a form of applied social science research. The American Evaluation Association is the professional home for evaluators in the United States.. The web site has career information, professional guiding principles and other resources.

Data Resources

• ICPSR 
  The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is a repository for many of the most important data sets used by sociologists in their research. The ICPSR Web site has a search utility that can help you locate a data set that meets your needs.
   
• NORC 
  Perhaps the single most used source of data for sociological analysis is the General Social Survey (GSS), an annual survey of a representative sample of Americans conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago.
   
• American Religion Data Archive 
  An example of a data archive on a particular topic is the American Religion Data Archive, a repository for data collections on American religion. The site allows users to search for topics of interest, download data files for analysis, and conduct basic statistical analyses on the site itself.
   
• Social Explorer 
  Social Explorer provides easy access to demographic information about the United States, from 1790 to present [self-characterization].

Other Resources

• SocioSite 
  SocioSite, previously introduced in Chapter 2, provides a brief yet compelling claim of the validity and social importance of the theory of Social Construction of Reality written by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman. 
   
• AIM 
  Accuracy In Media is a nonprofit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage [self-characterization]. It is typically characterized as politically “conservative.”
   
• FAIR 
  Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), the national media watch group, has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986. The group works to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints [self-characterization].
   
• Project Censored 
  The Primary Objective of Project Censored is to explore and publicize the extent of censorship in our society by locating stories about significant issues of which the public should be aware but is not, for one reason or another [self-characterization].
   
• The Knowledge Base 
  The Knowledge Base was designed to be different from the many typical commercially-available research methods texts.  It uses an informal, conversational style to engage both the newcomer and the more experienced student of research.  It is a fully hyperlinked text that can be integrated easily into an existing course structure or used as a sourcebook for the experienced researcher who simply wants to browse [self-characterization].  This site is particularly useful for helping students learn the language of social research.