Weekend Reminders, Friday, Feb. 26, 2010

Today, we covered definitions and review for the week. If you were in class you got a lot of good information!

Some reminders for the weekend and into next week:

Make-Up Assignments:

Go to the syllabus to check out the instructions, they are labeled under replacement assignments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Htw3/Intro_to_Sociology#Week_1_January_4th_-_January_7th

1. Wikipedia
2. Gapminder

Group Project

Instructions for begining this process are on the Project Blog at:

http://projectsinsocandsocialchange.blogspot.com/

First part of your project is due on Monday. You should be in contact with your TA about this if you have not already received instructions for what you are suppose to do. Please contact Brandon at brandonbrooks1@gmail.com if you are having issues.

Notes for February 25, 2010

Today in class we talked about interactionist and functionalist approached to deviance. In social learning theory people learn new behavior through overt reinforcement or punishment, or via observational learning of the social factors in their environment.


Conversely, functionalist theories argue crime an deviance result from the structural tensions and lack of moral regulation withing society. More simply, deviance is a by-product of economic inequalities and failure to achieve the 'American dream.'

Review Session

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

in Grover W115

from 7:10-9:00 pm

Grover W115 is located next to the Atrium Cafe and the Hearing Speech and Language Clinic. If you still have questions about where it is located post comments on this blog post.

Weekend Assignment

Human Rights and Higher Education

Reflect on your family and what sort of hardships or advantages previous generations of your family went through. Answer the following questions:

1. Describe two examples from your own family (current or earlier generations) where someone had or did not have access to higher education.
2. Type of inequalities?
3. What will you do with your chance?

The assignment should be 1 typed page. It is due on Monday, February 22 in class.

Wikipedia Edit Assignment (Replacement Assignment #1)

Use this thread to discuss how to accomplish this assignment. Remember, this is an optional assignment. The points count towards your "Small stuff" grade, which has a maximum potential value of 200 points. These points will act as extra credit applied to those 200 points, so if you have missed an assignment this will offset those points.

You should use the comment thread for this post to seek and provide advice about how to do the assignment. Remember, tens of millions of people all over the world have figured out how to make helpful edits to Wiki projects of all kinds. It will take a little effort, but it is not very hard. Put that effort in before seeking help, and if you do need to seek help, make sure you can provide the necessary information to help people be able to help you.

This info is on the wiki syllabus also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Htw3/Intro_to_Sociology#Replacement_Assignment_.231:_Constructive_Edits_to_Wikipedia_Sociology_Articles

Replacement Assignment #1: Constructive Edits to Wikipedia Sociology Articles

1. What: This assignment asks you to learn how to make small helpful edits to Wikipedia in the area of Sociology. There are many pages related to Sociology, and all of them can be improved. Small improvements can be made by anybody with a basic commitment to doing good work. You will just have to dig a little deeper than the textbook to be able to improve on the current articles. So, you task will basically have three parts: learn to edit effectively in the Wiki system, learn enough about a topic to make a small but valuable improvement to an article, and document and discuss your contributions for the assignment.

2. How:

1. Create a Wikipedia account for your self. You should do this in order to document your contributions and because unregistered editors are more likely to have their edits removed as suspected vandalism. Once you have created an account you need to learn how to make basic edits. Make sure you are actually logged in when you make your edits.

2. Practice editing in the sandbox. Notice the edit summary box below the main editing box. Use it when you start making helpful edits to actual articles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sandbox

3. After you practice making basic edits, stop by the talk page for the Sociological imagination. Read the conversation there and look for ways that you could start making helpful edits. Ask questions there, or in the blog thread on this assignment.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Sociological_imagination

4. Look for sociology related articles that need work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Sociology#Articles_needing_work

3. What to turn in:

1. A single page word document including three parts.

1. A description of the types of contributions you made, including URLS to the article(s) you work worked on and a URL to your user page.

2. A description of the resources you used to learn stuff for the content of your edits. Include relevant bibliographic information.

3. A discussion of what the experience of contributing to Wikipedia was like, what you learned, what you thought about, how these things connect to ideas from the course.

4. Grading: There will be three grade levels for this assignment.

1. Meh. 5pts. Bare minimum completion, little evidence of effort or involvement.

2. Nice. 10pts. Fully completed, honestly assessed, good job of completing all parts, thoughtful reflections.

3. Wow! 15pts. All parts completed, evidence of substantial effort and or learning; thoughtful reflections; overall a great job.

5. Due date: Friday of Week 9. March 5th.

1. How to turn it in, part one: Type up a word document, documenting all three parts of the assignment. Print it out and bring it to class on Friday March 5th. Put your name on your paper version, also put the gmail login you use when you post to the course blog comments.

2. How to turn it in, part two: copy and paste the contents of your assignment into a comment blog post about this assignment. The blog post will be made on the thursday before the assignment is due. Don't put your full name on your blog comment version, just first name and you gmail login will be enough for us to match up the electronic and paper versions.

3. You need to turn in both parts, the paper and the electronic version.

§ Helpful hints:

§ Take a look at this advice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_write_a_great_article#How_to_develop_an_article

§ The Wiki Project on Sociology lists several articles needing work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Sociology#Articles_needing_work

§ The entry on "Sociological imagination" needs a lot of work, and I have started making improvements to it. Others are welcome to make improvements too. Many other entries need attention too.

Notes for Thursday February 18th

Today in class we discussed gender, sex and the differences between each term.
Gender: social, cultural, psychological traits linked to males and females through particular social contexts.
Sex: differentiating males and females biologically using their genitalia as the main determinant.

In class we also discussed gender inequality which is the systematic disparity in rights, opportunities, access to goods based on gender.
Glass ceiling: an unacknowledged barrier prohibiting a rise in positions of power or responsibility for women.
Glass escalator: an unofficial fast track promotion typically related to males in female dominated professions.
Finally, we discussed the women’s movement. The Seneca Falls Convention occurred in 1848 and discussed the idea of women’s equality and suffrage. Women finally received the right to vote in the United States in 1920.

Clip of the Day Poll!

Please vote for your pick for the Clip of the Day in the poll off to the right!

Video 1:

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Video 4:

Twitter in Real Life (Can't Embed)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTN9We8unmU

Monday, February 15, 2010

Prejudice is described as the systematic viewing of one categorical group (race/ethnic/religious) as inferior to the categorical group in which you are a member.

Where does this prejudice come from?

It is often based in status inequalities (defined as being not as good as another group) and economic-based issues between groups that have contact.

While it is often a popular argument that prejudice leads to segregation and status differences, this is, in fact, incorrect. Instead, segregation and status differences lead to an increase in prejudices. This explains why integrated groups who have contact with one another in environments with status equality and cooperation have been found to have lower levels of racism than segregated groups.

Notes for Thursday, February 11, 2010

In class today, we talked about race and ethnicity and they lead to inter-group conflict. Race is defined as a human group with some observable shared biological characteristics. In a given society, features that are historically associated with an ethnic group might become meaningful if people identify with that group in some active way. Conversely,Ethnicity is defined as groups with distinctive heritage and perpetuated cultural markers. Ethnic groups exist due to sentiments which bind individuals into solidarity groups on some cultural basis.

We also talked about racial and ethnic inequality which is defined as a systematic disparity in rights, opportunities, access to goods based on race or ethnicity. That disparity results in inequality of outcomes on key dimensions of stratification that effect life chances. These include:
- Occupation
- Earnings
- Ownership and control
- Political power
- Educational training

Monday, February 8, 2010 Notes

We talked about stratification in class today. We looked at stratification in the context of income distribution. There are several consequences of economic disparities including but not limited to: life expectancy and access (to education, healthcare, etc).

Marx examined class from the perspective of ownership. There are two classifications within this systems--those who own the means of production (i.e. owning the land, factories, corporations) and those who are the workers. However, Marx's theory has often been considered to be too simplistic as it focuses solely on a two-class economic system.

Weber generated the three P's of stratification:

• Property (Class): Control and Ownership
• Prestige (Status): Position That Accords Merits and Rewards
• Power (Party): Influence, Relations, and Position

Clip of the Day Suggestions!

Please provide links in the comments section to videos you would like to be considered for the next Clip of the Day Poll!

Trying to make BlackBoard work

Hey folks-

Here is a sample of how I have been spending Sunday night. I know the grad students have been similarly busy helping people. Browser incompatibility problems are the main issue still, although a couple of folks were taking the test during the power outage.

I know many of you have been frustrated by how BlackBoard has failed to work correctly, and I am very sorry about the whole BlackBoard experience. I certainly am frustrated by it too. I am sure that OU pays a lot of money for BB, and it is pathetic that it works so poorly.

For now we are stuck with it, and will try to make do. Cheers.

Review Session Location Directions

Here is a video of the T.A.s going from Bentley Annex to CSC 121B (the location of the review session).

See you there!

Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy creates a society that functions as an organized machine with clear lines of hierarchical authority and decisions based on rules and tactics.

Bureaucracy is good for situations in which there is:

1. Predictability
2. Execution
3. Control
4. Long-Term Projects
5. Complex Coordination

However, bureaucracy is not good for situations that require:

1. Innovation
2. Creativity
3. Flexibility
4. Speed