Our Social World: Condensed: Introduction to Sociology
Video and Multimedia
Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.
Video Links
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
This video explains the discipline of Sociology and how it can be used to analyze any topic and/or issue.
1.2 The Sociological Imagination
This video examines the concepts related to the Sociological Imagination which is a term coined by Sociologist C. Wright Mills. Utilizing the Sociological Imaginations allows us to connect our personal lives to the bigger societal picture and connect our own biography with historical events.
Professor Sharma, an assistant professor of political science at Yale, explains his social theory of war. He explains, in this video, this theory of war which is based on the idea that there are two different types of war: one based on rulership and one is based on wars and how this leads to an understanding of how wars can differ in their amount of violence that takes place.
Learning Objective: 1.2: What do sociologists do?
1.4 A Sociologist Is Interviewed by Trevor Noah about for-profit Colleges
Sociologist Tressie Cottom is interviewed by Trevor Noah on The Daily Show. Dr. Cottom explores how for-profit colleges tend to exploit marginalized groups. This clip is a good illustration of sociological research and how sociologists examine social change, race, and conflict.
Audio Links
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Host Ira Glass plays tape of two women who ended up as frenemies. They kept trying to be friends, but could not help themselves from fighting. Ira then speaks with psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad who has run scientific studies to answer the question: Why do not we simply end these troubling kinds of friendships? Holt-Lunstad’s research also shows that these relationships are much more common than you might think.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
1.2 Financial Crisis
This special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s?
This podcast is a discussion with Shehzad Nadeem, author of Dead Ringers: How Outsourcing is Changing the Way Indians Understand Themselves. He discusses what it is like to work at a call center in India, what Indians think about outsourcing, and the social and cultural challenges faced by both labor and management in outsourcing firms.
Web Resources
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective
This article from Contexts examines six recent sociological findings as it pertains to domestic violence. This article highlights how Sociologists study a social problem, specifically domestic violence, and which factors they consider when investigating a social problem.
1.5 How Tinder is Changing the Way We Date
This article shows the ways in which Tinder is changing the way we date. This newspaper article could be used to talk about the sociological imagination and how thinking sociologically about dating, marriage, and divorce would consider the proliferation of online dating websites and meeting new people.
Learning Objective: 1.2: What do sociologists do?
1.1 Occupational Outlook Handbook-Sociologists
This website examines the median income for Sociologists and explains what Sociologists do. This website also explains the job outlook for Sociologists.
1.2 Sociology in a Changing World
This article discusses the fallout that has taken place in response to turn China into an urban nation. Local governments have demolished tens of millions of homes over the past decade. Homeowners have often fought back, blocking heavy machinery and battling officials. In recent years, resistance has taken a disturbing turn: Since 2009, at least 53 people across China have lit themselves on fire to protest the destruction of their homes, according to human rights and news reports.
1.4 The Sociology of Gifts for Mother’s and Father’s Day
This article from Pacific Standard Magazine discusses the gifts that are traditionally given on Mother’s and Father’s Day and how these gifts reflect the traditional societal roles that we associate with both mothers and fathers in our society. Sociologists are interested in studying how the roles mothers and fathers play in our society can change over time.
1.6 If Sociologists' Findings were Given as Much Attention as Economists' Are
This article is a great thought experiment about the worth of sociological findings. It compares the value of sociological insights with economic insights and considers what would happen if sociologists were valued as highly as economists.