Gender – Slideshows from Class

Twp presentations from class – Constructing Femininity (Wednesday) and Constructing Masculinity (Friday).

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Learning Objectives – Chapter 4

1.      What is the difference between sex and gender?

2.      What is meant by “social construction” in general? With regard to gender?

3.      Where and how do we learn gender? What are the agents of socialization?

4.      What are the pitfalls of traditional masculinity?

5.      What is meant by institutional sex discrimination?

6.      What is meant by the double standard?

Studying for the Exam

MemoryImage via Wikipedia

Here are some tips as you study for Exam 1:

• Use your old quizzes to improve your comprehension. Check the textbook or slides for each question you got wrong – then figure out whether you had a problem understanding the material to begin with, or whether you had a problem remembering.
• Study with another person. Ask each other the Study Guide questions to see if you can produce an answer without looking at the book. Then look up the answer to add in anything you missed.
• Vocabulary is more than memory
  • memory: knowing the definition
  • comprehension: being able to give an example or know related terms
  • application: being able to recognize which term applies to a situation, or to explain a particular situation using the ideas in the concept
  • analysis: being able to describe the specific differences and similarities highlighted by the terms
  • analysis: finding the pattern in a situation by examining its parts and their relationships.
• Remember the big pictures: Sociological imagination, four themes, major theories
• Get a good night’s sleep before the exam

[The image is Memory, from the bronze door at the main entrance to the Library of Congress - Thomas Jefferson Building. It was done in 1896 by Olin Warner.]

Industrialization and Family Life

Slides from class on Friday 25 September 2009.

Exam 1 Study Guide

Following is a Study Guide for Exam 1.

Click StudyGuideExam1 to print a copy for yourself (1 page)

About Exam 1

There will be about 30 quick questions

• Multiple choice, Fill-in-the-blanks, True-False, Matching

There will be 3 narrative or essay questions.

• For each narrative, you will have at least 3 choices of questions
• At least one of the choices will be very similar to one of the study questions
• Your narrative answers need to be written in complete sentences and paragraphs
• If your answer is just a few words or a sentence, you probably have not grasped the question
  or answered it well.
  

Exam 1 Study Questions

1. Describe three specific ways that have families have changed over time, including the time frame in which the change occurred and the general location (e.g., Medieval Europe, Japan in the 20th century)
2. Compare and contrast the ways that families from different parts of the world have carried out three of the universal functions of the family.
3. Compare and contrast the private life in families today with that of a specific time in the past.
4. Describe the ways in which families fulfilled the role of public social institution in the past.
5. Describe three specific political, social, economic, or cultural forces which have contributed to changes in family life.
6. Describe three ways that inequality affected family life in the past, making sure to state which culture you are describing (e.g., colonial America)
7. Describe two common myths about families in the “good old days?”What are the realities about those myths?
8. Describe two methods and two sources of data that sociologists use to research families from a historical perspective.
9. Describe in depth the changes in family life at two of the historical transition points of Society Type (use Table 3.1 and the table handed out in class)
10. Describe four of the universal functions of the family?
11. What are the various marriage structures around the world?
12. What are the different patterns of power and authority found in marriage?
13. What are the different patterns of kinship and residence found around the world?
14. Explain Modernization Theory, and how the process of modernization affected family life.
15. What is the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of “family?” How does this definition differ from the author’s definition?  Why does it  matter?
16. Explain what is meant by the “sociological imagination” and how it differs from our common sense approach to looking at the world.
17. What is meant by the empirical approach?
18. What is a theory and how do social theories help us understand families?
19. Name two  major theoretical perspectives, and be able to define them.
20. What are the three competing ideological perspectives identified by the author?
21. What are the four themes of this textbook?  Be able to explain each one, and give an example.
22. Describe the three social shifts that have affected the way people go about choosing a life partner, and the impact that John Van Epp says those changes have had on the process.
23. Name the five bonding dynamics presented by John Van Epp, put them in the same order that he does, and explain the principle that defines the “Safe Zone” for building loving relationships.
24. Name and describe the three unhealthy patterns that get people into unhappy relationships and bad break-ups over and over again, according to John Van Epp.
25. Name and describe the traits or characteristics that describe a bad choice for a life-long partner, what John Van Epp calls a “jerk” or “jerkette.”

Exam Review Session

Our Sociology TA, Becky Galazen, will be providing a review session for the Exam on Monday.

The Review Session will be on Friday, September 25 at 4:00 pm  in Tower 3649.

“The Gods Must Be Crazy” – clip

For class on the history of families.

GapCast – the Miracle in Bangladesh

We will watch and analyze Rosling’s report of his research.

Chapter 3 – Learning Objectives

Image by Nationaal Archief via Flickr

After reading this chapter, you should understand the following:

1. How have families changed over time?
   What are the various ways that families have carried out their functions in the past?
2. What was the private life of the family like in the past?
3. What were the functions of the family as a public social institution in the past?
4. What are the political, social, economic, and cultural forces that have contributed to changes in family life?
5. How did inequality affect family life in the past?
6. What are the most common myths about families in the “good old days?”
   What are the realities about those myths?
7. How can families be researched from a historical perspective?
   How can we uncover the impact of historical, political, cultural, and social forces from times past?
8. How has the progression of society and of economic systems affected family life?

Chapter 3 – Map

Image by 10ch via Flickr

Here is the Concept Map for Chapter 3, passed out in class on Friday 18 September.

You will need to decide how many elements to include for some of the sub-topics in this Chapter.

Concept Map – Chapter 3

Extra Credit Opportunities #2

Some more opportunities for Extra Credit.  You can use one opportunity in this first segment of the course, and a maximum of four.  If you see another event that seems like a good option, ask before you attend.

• Saturday 19 September, all night on the Science Bldg Lawn ““Night Without A Home” Sleep Out. This is an event intended to raise awareness of homelessness and poverty within our county by sleeping outside. Guest speakers shared their personal experiences with homelessness and advocates discussed solutions currently underway to end homelessness in St. Louis County.
• Monday, September 21 at 7:00 PM in Somers Lounge:  What Does the Vineyard Church Think About … a New Model for Christian Worship?”  Pastors Brenda and Michael Gatlin, with a response by Fr. Jim Tobolski of St. Francis Church, Superior, WI.
• Monday, September 21 / 7:30pm / “Science of Sex” with Vicki Thorne, founder of Project Rachel.  At the Kirby Student Center Rafters at UMD.  Sponsored by GLBT Services at UMD
• Monday, September 28 at 7:00 PM in Somers Lounge:  What Do Presbyterians Think About…Predestination and Grace?  Rev. Dr. James Goodenberger of Westminster Presbyterian in Duluth, with a response by Fr. Jack Darragh, St. Francis Church in Montana.
• Tuesday, September 29 at 7:30 PM in the Mitchell:  “Democracy and the Corporation” in the Peace and Justice Lecture Series on
  the Future of Capitalism. Come early to get a good seat.  Speaker is Marjorie Kelly author of The Divine Right of Capital
• Tuesday, October 6 4:00-6:00 PM / Undergraduate Student Research Poster Session, in Somers Lounge.   Not a 2-hour event: the posters are available for 2 hours.  You would view all the posters carefully, and ask two of the students to explain their research to you: how did they become interested in the question? How did they figure out a method for carrying out the research? What would they do differently now that they’ve had the experience?

Analysis vs Telling a Story – student question

Image by jakevol2 via Flickr

A student came in to see me during Office Hours and asked me to look over her Paper P1.1.  She had done a great job of noticing gender roles, but had a hard time knowing how to write them up.

In fact, she fell into the most common trap:  re-telling the data instead of stating the theme you find in it.  I can hear you asking, “What’s the difference?”

She had a very long paragraph describing 4 families where Dads were the ones caring for the kids. She described each family in turn: age of parents and kids, and what they were doing.  A second long paragraph described 3 families where moms were the primary caregivers, again with the data about each family.  The point she wanted to make was that both moms and dads were caregivers, but it wasn’t stated directly.

My advice to her went as follows:

“What is evaluative language?”

A student wrote to ask what I meant by “evaluative language” in Short Writing Assignment P1.1 and P1.2 – and why we want to avoid it.  This is a GREAT question!

Science of any type is based on the idea of making observations that have as little bias as possible.  Bias means that our ideas or emotions have influenced what we see.  Here are some examples:

• Chemists don’t usually have strong emotions of liking one chemical and despising another – although you will hear them express appreciation when molecules behave in intricate and interesting way.
• Biologists may find some animals or plants attractive, others boring, and some repulsive – but they find ways to study how they grow, change, and die in spite of this.
• Economists certainly prefer times of prosperity to times of recession and depression – but they can be equally or even more interested in understanding the hard times than the good ones.

So: when we observe families, we are faced with finding some families likable, others less so.  We won’t be able to squash those feelings – especially on a first observation experience – but we can translate them into more objective language.  The language of feelings and emotions is “evaluative” – it evaluates the worth or goodness of a person – and we avoid that.

Here are some examples of evaluative language and ways to avoid it:

Levels of Thinking Skills

Bloom's Taxonomy of Thinking Skills

In class on Wednesday, I mentioned Bloom’s Taxonomy of  Thinking Skills.  Teachers use this pyramid to think about the information in a course – but it can be equally useful to students.

As we said in class, remembering (plain old memory) and comprehension (what those words, concepts, and facts mean) is the necessary foundation. Without it, you have nothing much to think about.

On the other hand, if you only learn to memorize or explain basic concepts, without learning how to apply them in new situations or the other, higher level tasks, you are still unable to use the information you acquired.

Bloom structured this hierarchy as a pyramid.  Students need to get a grasp of a tremendous amount of factual information: memorized, so they have instant access at any time, but organized so they can comprehend its meaning.

From all the knowledge at hand, people select the relevant pieces to apply to new situations, even less to make the finely-detailed analysis, and even fewer parts to create new ideas.

The following graphic shows those six levels as wedges in a pie – with verbs that teachers commonly use when they want students to work at a particular level, and some of the projects and products that they ask students to complete for thinking at that level.  This will help you in SOC 2433 – and in many of your other classes as well.

Verbs and Projects for Blooms Taxonomy

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New Office Hours

My schedule changed, requiring that I change my Walk-In Office Hours.

New Walk-In Office Hours:

Monday	2:00-3:30 PM
Tuesday	4:00-5:00 PM in Storm’s Den
Wednesday	9:15-10:15 AM
Thursday	9:30-10:30 AM
Friday	1:30-2:30 PM
	or by appointment

Extra Credit Opportunities #1

Here are the Extra Credit Opportunities I know about at this time. If you find out about an event that you think might qualify, send me email or ask after class – and I will post it for other people as well. Watch the blog for more listings.

Look on the tab above (“Extra Credit”) for a reminder on what you need to do to GET the extra credit

Image via Wikipedia

• Monday 14 September, 3:30-5:00 in Sci 1109. “The Great 2009 Meltdown: What Did We Do and Where Are We Going Now?
  ” by Dr. Tony Barrett. Last fall, Tony gave a presentation on the origins and likely consequences of the financial crisis. It was a wonderful presentation that clearly explained difficult concepts and brought much insight into the issue. We are glad that Tony is willing to do a follow up and explain how policymakers dealt with the crisis and what the future holds.
• Monday 14 September, 7:00 pm in Somers Lounge. “What Do Lutherans Think About … The Presence of
  Christ in the Eucharist?” with Pastor April Larson of First Lutheran Church, Duluth, MN and a Response by Father Timothy Sas, Twelve Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church, Duluth, MN. First of several Monday evening Catholic Studies talks.
• Saturday 19 September, all night on the Science Bldg Lawn ““Night Without A Home” Sleep Out. This is an event intended to raise awareness of homelessness and poverty within our county by sleeping outside. Guest speakers shared their personal experiences with homelessness and advocates discussed solutions currently underway to end homelessness in St. Louis County.

Chapter 2 Map – Blank

This is the blank map for Chapter Two – we will be working on it in class.

You can click here to download a new blank copy: chapter-2-map (Paper copies distributed in class.)

Chapter Two Map

Chapter 2 – Learning Objectives

Image by Anubhav Gaurav via Flickr

After reading Chapter 2 in the Seccombe text, you should be able to provide specific and accurate answers to the following questions:

1.      What are the most common functions of the family?

2.      What are the various marriage structures around the world?

3.      What are the different patterns of power and authority found in marriage?

4.      What are the different patterns of kinship and residence found around the world?

5.      What are the primary assumptions of Modernization Theory and World Systems Theory?

Chapter 1 Slides

Short Assignments P1.1 and P1.2

Image by robyn00 via Flickr

If you look in the header, you will see that there’s now a label “Short Assignments.”

You  have two choices for the first assignment:

• P1.1, an analysis of observing families for an hour in a public place,
  due on Friday September 18
• P1.2, an analysis of observing photos and interviews with families from two nations,
  due on Friday Sept. 25.

The assignments have many similarities:

1. You create a Data Log of observations – either your notes from watching families as they interact or your notes from carefully viewing and reading about families in Peter Menzel’s book The Material World.
2. You write a 1-page report (separate from the Log) in which you identify patterns or commonalities in the families, as well as differences. Your report describes the pattern, referring to data from the Log.
3. You hand in both the Log and the Report.

Grading: The papers will be graded with the same rubric, which follows below.

Questions? If you have questions, please use the Comments below, so that other students can see the answers and get help too.

Chapter 1 – Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives for Chapter 1

After reading this chapter, you should understand the following:

1.      What is the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of “family?” How does this definition differ from the author’s definition?

2.      Why is defining “family” a political issue?

3.      What is meant by the “sociological imagination” and how does this concept help us to  understand families?

4.      What is meant by the empirical approach?

5.      What is a theory and how do social theories help us understand families?

6.      Name the major theoretical perspectives, and be able to define them.

7.      What are the three competing perspectives identified by the author?

8.      What are the four themes of this textbook?  Be able to explain each one

Map – Sociological Imagination

Image by sirwiseowl via Flickr

I used the program MindManager to create a map of the concepts that make up the Sociological Imagination as presented in Seccombe’s textbook.   Distributed and discussed in class, the map helps you organize the definitions and examples, and see the relationships among the parts.

Here is a link to a Sociological Imagination Map.

(If you find this kind of map helpful in your study, try the free online MindMeister software, or download FreeMind, or use Inspiration in the CSS computer labs)

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Study Tips for Sociology

Slides with some good methods for organizing and mastering all the information in this class.

Welcome, Fall 2009 Students

Welcome to the class blog!

This is where all sorts of useful information will be posted:

• PowerPoint slides from class
• Videos shown in class, whenever possible (but not if they are on tape or copyrighted)
• Learning objectives for each chapter
• Extra Credit opportunities
• Answers to questions that one student asks, if others might be interested
• The occasional joke or comic

You can subscribe and get an e-mail (no more than one per day) with a listing of all the posts from that day.  The e-mail is sent in the early evening.  Use the “Subscribe by e-mail” link.