things to discuss
sept 13: the lottery got us thinking about the social function and justification of “human sacrifice” — now let’s see it in a different (?) context: school shootings.
- kieran healy, “the rituals of childhood” [[healy is otherwise best known for his important sociological work “fuck nuance” — which is really very good, but not required/relevant for class, so don’t read it!]]
- zeynup tufecki, “the virginia shooter wanted fame. let’s not give it to him” [[if interested, an older version of the same argument by the author can be found here, along with explicit tips for journalists. or if you are a malcolm gladwell fan (pro tip: you shouldn’t be), here’s his version of the importance of the contagion effect]]
- henry grabar, “the mad rush to bulletproof american schools“
this looks like a lot, but it’s not. the 3 pieces are short. some things you might consider when reading — the importance and meaning of rituals, the role of norms and how they can shift, and the ways those norms and values are embodied in our built environment.
don’t forget to bring a question you want to discuss!
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sept 20: climate strike! no class. do something else. information on the middlebury events here.
middlebury’s most famous climate expert, bill mckibben says, strike!
still itching for some sociology?
- norgaard, “the sociological imagination in the time of the climate crisis“
- casquete, “the power of demonstrations” (or a more general journalistic overview: andrews, “how protest works“)
AND… related to last week’s discussion: “back to school essentials” from sand hook promise — along with an important critique of its framing from patrick blanchard, an authority on gun culture and policy.
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sept 27: other social “failures”…
- robert putnam, bowling alone
- a short follow-up piece: bowling together. [[hmmmmm… this link is currently down, so here’s an alternative version if you need it]]
consider how this places similar issues from durkheim’s suicide into a more modern context. also consider whether he thinks the changes post 9/11 will hold and what that means sociologically (and also socially…). lastly, think about what’s different in the world of 2019 and how this critic may (not) still hold today.
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oct. 4: revolt, labor, inequality, etc etc etc
- edsall, “why don’t the poor rise up?”
- ariely, “americans want to live in a much more equal country (they just don’t realize it)” (here’s a better version of the graphics used to show differences — and if you really want to save time, you could get away with just looking at this picture, to be perfectly honest.)
- kelly, “sara nelson’s art of war”
- >>[OPTIONAL but LOCAL] — if you’re interested in labor campaigns closer to home: migrant justice <<
- ><>>[[[even MOAR OPTIONAL and NOT really local!!!!]] lowry, “the hoarding of the american dream” about how the upper middle class reproduce social inequality though “self interest”(i.e., it ain’t just the 1%) ><><
- ><><><><[[[[[[[this OPTION-L list is getting ridiculous, but…]]]]]]] this ran in today’s NYT and it touches on a point we discussed tuesday, so i’m sharing it for posterity, knowing full well that no one will have the time and/or interest to actually read it: “stay-at-home parents work hard: should they be paid for it?” BONUS: it’s unites conservatives and liberals! win-win! (maybe…)><><><><
ALSO: i wanted some clarification on the numbers (sorry biden!) we got in class thursday about media income in the US. as you can see here, it depends — household (60K) and family (73K) income are not the same. also, you may notice that we are only now returning to the pre-2008 financial crisis numbers….
OCTOBER ELEVEN: work work work! (or don’t work…)
- crawford, “shop class as soulcraft“
- graeber, “bullshit jobs“
- [[it’s already a lot to read, so feel free to skip, even though this is only 5 pages, but included here because it’s an issue in ongoing democratic primary (marginal issue, but…)]] wright, “basic income as a socialist project”
- these are even more optional, but just in case you want more “real life” information on basic income
- here’s a description of yang’s proposal for UBI
- UBI experiment in stockton, california
- some results from the finnish experiment
- these are even more optional, but just in case you want more “real life” information on basic income
THIS IS SO OPTIONAL THAT WE DON”T EVEN HAVE THE PROPER WORD IN ENGLISH TO DESCRIBE JUST HOW OPTIONAL IT IS (but it might be of interest as you think about your next writing assignment)! since we mentioned amazon in passing in thursday’s class, here’s some stories on what work at amazon looks like…amazon is, it would seem, not a great place to work. it’s generated an entire genre.
- “colony of hell”: https://www.thedailybeast.com/amazon-the-shocking-911-calls-from-inside-its-warehouses
- “the life and death of an amazon warehouse temp” https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/life-and-death-amazon-temp/
- wristband for workers to monitor activity: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/technology/amazon-wristband-tracking-privacy.html
- “inside amazon office culture “(ny times expose of office work — it’s not just the “bad” jobs…)
oct 25: RATIOnalization!
- george ritzer macdonaldization (the references in this might seem a bit dated at this point, but it still does a nice job of outlining the broader themes i want to discuss. at least read the basic framing (the 4 types of rationality, and the 5 forms of instrumental rationality — if you do read the examples, consider how far we’ve come from those to the more current stuff we’ll read.
- to supplement this with a slightly more up-to-date reading, here’s something published (by a sociologist!) at the atlantic, “living in an extreme meritocracy is exhausting“
- interview with sociologist safiya umoja noble, “how search engines are making us more racist“. [[[THIS IS RELATED BUT OPTIONAL (OF COURSE!), BUT HERE IN CASE YOU”RE INTERESTED ({PRE-MED?!??}), AND TO SHOW THE EXTENT OF THIS PROBLEM: “racial bias medical algorithm favors white patients over sicker black patients“]]]]
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NOVEMBER ONE: fashion show!
- ashley mears, pricing beauty. chapter one. chapter five. [[together these are kind of longish (60ish pp), but they read quickly so you should be able to handle it. i believe in you!]]
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november VIII: networks
- malcolm gladwell, 6 degrees of lois weisberg
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the eleventh month, the twenty-second day: race and recognition
tressie mcmillian cottom, 2 selections from thick [2 chapters, yes, but not too long, and fairly quick (if not necessarily easy!) reads]
the last discussion day of the semester…
- nothing new to read BUT…
- come prepared
- to discuss:
- one (1) reading/concept/issue from the class important/interesting to you
- consider:
- how this links to one of the two meta-themes of the course:
- society & the individual
- the sociological imagination
- how this has helped/forced you to notice/see things in a new way
- how this links to one of the two meta-themes of the course: