Pub Date : 2022-09-09DOI: 10.1177/0092055x221120866
Graham Cassano, Barbara Gurr, Melissa F. Lavin, Christine Zozula
The past few years have been particularly turbulent ones socially, economically, and politically in the United States and around the world. Helping our students critically analyze the causes and effects of racial injustice, misogyny (including transphobia, homophobia, and restrictions on reproductive health care), and wealth gaps has long been part of the purview of a sociological education, and recently our classrooms have increasingly become spaces in which to consider militarism and war, a global pandemic, the deepening integration of technology into our lives, and the steep rise of authoritarianism both in the United States and elsewhere. Of course, added to this are the profound urgency of climate change and its undeniable impacts on our world. We are, many might argue, living in a dystopia. Or a horror film. Certainly, an apocalypse. All these terms—“dystopia,” “horror,” and “apocalypse”—are relative to history, race, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and income, among other social factors. Certainly, the middle passage of the trans-Atlantic slave trade was horror; certainly, the genocide of Native Americans was apocalyptic and their continued survival a lesson in the postapocalypse. Just as certainly, the rash of antitransgender laws and the steep rise in forced-birth laws in recent years can be understood as dystopic, as can the COVID-19 global pandemic, the unremitting presence of (and reliance on) technology in our world, and the January 6, 2021, uprising against the U.S. presidential election. All of these and more can also be understood as signs or warnings of the future, particularly for sociologists who also study history. However, history and sociology are not the only fields that can help us—and help our students—understand the world around us. The stories we tell about these phenomena, particularly in literature and televisually (through TV and film), whether fiction or nonfiction, also offer important insights for the sociological imagination, perhaps even a checklist of conditions or a training manual for the future. We noted in our initial call for papers published in volume 49, issue 1 of Teaching Sociology in 2021 that “the salience of such narratives is (domestically and globally) acute”; the months since have only increased this urgency. In this special issue of Teaching Sociology, we consider what is to be gained by the use of horror, dystopia, and postapocalyptic stories in the sociology classroom. We take a transdisciplinary approach to sociology in considering the use of genre-specific tools, including popular media with which many students already have a familiarity, to encourage critical analysis of the social conditions that lead to and derive from conditions of unrest, disparity, injustice, and social change. Contributors offer insights into how certain stories can be used sociologically and also how students might negotiate social meanings through familiar media. However, contributors to this issue go beyond a mere
在过去的几年里，美国和世界各地的社会、经济和政治都特别动荡。长期以来，帮助我们的学生批判性地分析种族不公正、厌女症(包括对变性人的恐惧、对同性恋的恐惧和对生殖保健的限制)和贫富差距的原因和影响，一直是社会学教育的一部分。最近，我们的教室越来越成为考虑军国主义和战争、全球流行病、技术日益融入我们生活的空间，以及威权主义在美国和其他地方的急剧崛起。当然，除此之外还有气候变化的深刻紧迫性及其对我们世界的不可否认的影响。许多人可能会说，我们生活在一个反乌托邦中。或者是一部恐怖电影。当然是天启。所有这些术语——“反乌托邦”、“恐怖”和“天启”——都与历史、种族、性别、性、残疾/能力、收入以及其他社会因素有关。当然，跨大西洋奴隶贸易的中间通道是可怕的;当然，对印第安人的种族灭绝是世界末日，他们的持续生存是后世界末日的一个教训。同样可以肯定的是，近年来，反跨性别法律的涌现和强制生育法律的急剧增加可以被理解为反乌托邦，COVID-19全球大流行、我们世界对技术的不懈存在(和依赖)以及2021年1月6日针对美国总统大选的起义也可以被理解为反乌托邦。所有这些以及更多的事情也可以被理解为未来的迹象或警告，特别是对也研究历史的社会学家来说。然而，历史和社会学并不是唯一能帮助我们——以及帮助我们的学生——理解我们周围世界的领域。我们所讲述的关于这些现象的故事，特别是在文学和电视(通过电视和电影)中，无论是小说还是非小说，也为社会学想象力提供了重要的见解，甚至可能是一份条件清单或未来的培训手册。我们在2021年《教学社会学》第49卷第1期的最初征稿中指出，“这种叙事的突出性(在国内和全球)是尖锐的”;此后的几个月只会增加这种紧迫性。在本期《教学社会学》的特刊中，我们将探讨在社会学课堂上使用恐怖、反乌托邦和后启示录故事的好处。我们采用跨学科的社会学方法，考虑使用特定类型的工具，包括许多学生已经熟悉的流行媒体，以鼓励对导致和衍生动荡，不平等，不公正和社会变化的社会条件进行批判性分析。作者提供了关于某些故事如何在社会学上被使用的见解，以及学生如何通过熟悉的媒体来协商社会意义。然而，本刊的作者不仅仅是在社会学课堂上为恐怖、反乌托邦和后启示录辩护，而是详细介绍了他们通过跨学科方法与学生合作的成功和失败，为读者提供了详细而周到的路线图，以供未来应用。例如，兰德尔·怀亚特在广受好评的电视节目《洛夫克拉夫特之乡》中对白人至上主义和反黑人的审视，为简明分析先进的社会学概念提供了路线图。正如怀亚特所解释的那样，《洛夫克拉夫特之国》对黑人、性和白人至上作为中心故事机制(而不是偶然事件或情节装置)的深入和交叉依赖为学生提供了一个熟悉的入口来考虑这些社会结构，但重要的是，也为学生提供了一个将这些概念应用于W. E. B.杜波依斯和弗朗茨·法农的作品的机会，反过来，申请1120866 tsoxxx10 .1177/ 0092055x221120866《教学社会学》杂志社论号2022
{"title":"Introduction to the Special Issue: Teaching Apocalypse, Now","authors":"Graham Cassano, Barbara Gurr, Melissa F. Lavin, Christine Zozula","doi":"10.1177/0092055x221120866","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055x221120866","url":null,"abstract":"The past few years have been particularly turbulent ones socially, economically, and politically in the United States and around the world. Helping our students critically analyze the causes and effects of racial injustice, misogyny (including transphobia, homophobia, and restrictions on reproductive health care), and wealth gaps has long been part of the purview of a sociological education, and recently our classrooms have increasingly become spaces in which to consider militarism and war, a global pandemic, the deepening integration of technology into our lives, and the steep rise of authoritarianism both in the United States and elsewhere. Of course, added to this are the profound urgency of climate change and its undeniable impacts on our world. We are, many might argue, living in a dystopia. Or a horror film. Certainly, an apocalypse. All these terms—“dystopia,” “horror,” and “apocalypse”—are relative to history, race, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and income, among other social factors. Certainly, the middle passage of the trans-Atlantic slave trade was horror; certainly, the genocide of Native Americans was apocalyptic and their continued survival a lesson in the postapocalypse. Just as certainly, the rash of antitransgender laws and the steep rise in forced-birth laws in recent years can be understood as dystopic, as can the COVID-19 global pandemic, the unremitting presence of (and reliance on) technology in our world, and the January 6, 2021, uprising against the U.S. presidential election. All of these and more can also be understood as signs or warnings of the future, particularly for sociologists who also study history. However, history and sociology are not the only fields that can help us—and help our students—understand the world around us. The stories we tell about these phenomena, particularly in literature and televisually (through TV and film), whether fiction or nonfiction, also offer important insights for the sociological imagination, perhaps even a checklist of conditions or a training manual for the future. We noted in our initial call for papers published in volume 49, issue 1 of Teaching Sociology in 2021 that “the salience of such narratives is (domestically and globally) acute”; the months since have only increased this urgency. In this special issue of Teaching Sociology, we consider what is to be gained by the use of horror, dystopia, and postapocalyptic stories in the sociology classroom. We take a transdisciplinary approach to sociology in considering the use of genre-specific tools, including popular media with which many students already have a familiarity, to encourage critical analysis of the social conditions that lead to and derive from conditions of unrest, disparity, injustice, and social change. Contributors offer insights into how certain stories can be used sociologically and also how students might negotiate social meanings through familiar media. However, contributors to this issue go beyond a mere ","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"50 1","pages":"305 - 308"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47271937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-09DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221123338
Colleen E. Wynn, Elizabeth Ziff, Allison H. Snyder, Kamryn T. Schmidt, Lauryn L. Hill
Teaching during a global pandemic has prompted many discussions about how faculty can best support students and create classrooms where deep learning and engagement occur. In this conversation, we argue there is a role for empathy in college classrooms. We present data from interviews with faculty at a small, Midwestern, teaching-focused university during the fall of 2020. We map these perspectives onto the empathy paths framework and suggest that the therapeutic and instrumental paths are most useful for understanding empathy in the classroom. We also discuss why it is important for faculty to think about empathy and the role sociology can play in these conversations. Finally, we present a series of empathetic practices individual faculty can incorporate into their pedagogy and structural supports that departments and universities can provide to help faculty engage in empathetic practices in the classroom.
{"title":"The Sociological Role of Empathy in the Classroom","authors":"Colleen E. Wynn, Elizabeth Ziff, Allison H. Snyder, Kamryn T. Schmidt, Lauryn L. Hill","doi":"10.1177/0092055X221123338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221123338","url":null,"abstract":"Teaching during a global pandemic has prompted many discussions about how faculty can best support students and create classrooms where deep learning and engagement occur. In this conversation, we argue there is a role for empathy in college classrooms. We present data from interviews with faculty at a small, Midwestern, teaching-focused university during the fall of 2020. We map these perspectives onto the empathy paths framework and suggest that the therapeutic and instrumental paths are most useful for understanding empathy in the classroom. We also discuss why it is important for faculty to think about empathy and the role sociology can play in these conversations. Finally, we present a series of empathetic practices individual faculty can incorporate into their pedagogy and structural supports that departments and universities can provide to help faculty engage in empathetic practices in the classroom.","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"51 1","pages":"181 - 192"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45164968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-08DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221120860
Justin Huft
Framing as a metacommunicative device establishes the narrative of a given story and mobilizes emotional support. Within the framework of monster theory, horror movies are seen as a way of framing common fears about moral decay, concerns about the future, anxiety about outgroup members, and spiritual unknowns. In the classroom, we explore the monstrous body as a stand-in for the demonized (often literally) outgroup. Through tracing some of the historic roots of monsters, students are better able to see monsters as a recurring framing device for social fears. Utilizing the concepts of frame alignment (aligning individuals’ frames with larger social movement frames) and frame analysis (investigating the processes and mechanisms people utilize to make sense of situations), exploration of various subgenres of horror (including psychological horror, body horror, killers, monsters, zombies, and the paranormal) flesh out how frames are amplified, bridged, transformed, and extended.
{"title":"Monsters, Michael Myers, and the Macabre as Tools to Explain Ideological Framing","authors":"Justin Huft","doi":"10.1177/0092055X221120860","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221120860","url":null,"abstract":"Framing as a metacommunicative device establishes the narrative of a given story and mobilizes emotional support. Within the framework of monster theory, horror movies are seen as a way of framing common fears about moral decay, concerns about the future, anxiety about outgroup members, and spiritual unknowns. In the classroom, we explore the monstrous body as a stand-in for the demonized (often literally) outgroup. Through tracing some of the historic roots of monsters, students are better able to see monsters as a recurring framing device for social fears. Utilizing the concepts of frame alignment (aligning individuals’ frames with larger social movement frames) and frame analysis (investigating the processes and mechanisms people utilize to make sense of situations), exploration of various subgenres of horror (including psychological horror, body horror, killers, monsters, zombies, and the paranormal) flesh out how frames are amplified, bridged, transformed, and extended.","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"50 1","pages":"372 - 383"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46482231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-06DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221120861
B. Prince
Sociologists are uniquely positioned to use science fiction literature in the classroom. Despite students reading less, the science fiction novel The Handmaid’s Tale is more popular than ever. I obtained the data for this study through content analysis of 108 student journal entries in a sociology of gender course at a small liberal arts college. Journal entries were analyzed for identification and application of class concepts in addition to an overall rating of The Handmaid’s Tale. Students successfully identified and connected 58 distinct class concepts to the novel. The most common concepts that students identified were gender stereotype, doing gender, and patriarchy. In addition, students enjoyed the novel and rated it highly. The average rating was 4.2 stars out of 5. Results from this study suggest that science fiction remains relevant and useful in the contemporary sociology classroom.
{"title":"The Handmaid Still in the Classroom? Using The Handmaid’s Tale in Sociology of Gender","authors":"B. Prince","doi":"10.1177/0092055X221120861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221120861","url":null,"abstract":"Sociologists are uniquely positioned to use science fiction literature in the classroom. Despite students reading less, the science fiction novel The Handmaid’s Tale is more popular than ever. I obtained the data for this study through content analysis of 108 student journal entries in a sociology of gender course at a small liberal arts college. Journal entries were analyzed for identification and application of class concepts in addition to an overall rating of The Handmaid’s Tale. Students successfully identified and connected 58 distinct class concepts to the novel. The most common concepts that students identified were gender stereotype, doing gender, and patriarchy. In addition, students enjoyed the novel and rated it highly. The average rating was 4.2 stars out of 5. Results from this study suggest that science fiction remains relevant and useful in the contemporary sociology classroom.","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"50 1","pages":"340 - 348"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43222150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-04DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221120870
Erin Siodmak, R. Scannell
At a cultural moment in which the horrifying is central, what are the pedagogical options available by which to teach and think with our students? Horror movies, like all media, are mythmakers; media and culture reflect and reproduce but also create or consolidate. Teaching horror leads to new conversations, makes the familiar strange, and gives students new language and tools through which to assess and rewrite cultural and social narratives. This conversation bridges sociology, gender studies, and media studies to highlight the importance and usefulness of film analysis and theoretical texts that fall outside of sociology in developing robust sociological and interdisciplinary dialogue. We review the films, texts, themes, and approaches that we have used to get students to read difficult theory, think collaboratively and critically, and write in ways that push their voices and ideas beyond that with which they are accustomed and comfortable.
{"title":"What’s Blood Got to Do with It? A Culture of Cinema Horrors at the Precipice of an Abyss","authors":"Erin Siodmak, R. Scannell","doi":"10.1177/0092055X221120870","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221120870","url":null,"abstract":"At a cultural moment in which the horrifying is central, what are the pedagogical options available by which to teach and think with our students? Horror movies, like all media, are mythmakers; media and culture reflect and reproduce but also create or consolidate. Teaching horror leads to new conversations, makes the familiar strange, and gives students new language and tools through which to assess and rewrite cultural and social narratives. This conversation bridges sociology, gender studies, and media studies to highlight the importance and usefulness of film analysis and theoretical texts that fall outside of sociology in developing robust sociological and interdisciplinary dialogue. We review the films, texts, themes, and approaches that we have used to get students to read difficult theory, think collaboratively and critically, and write in ways that push their voices and ideas beyond that with which they are accustomed and comfortable.","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"50 1","pages":"399 - 408"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41671916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-04DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221120868
S. M. Rodriguez
Sci-fi has the power to open dialogue because its alternate world-building enables students to feel far enough from reality to discuss social problems unreservedly. In this essay, I review an assignment I developed using Black Mirror and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams that present episodes in which militarized policing, segregation, and genocide occur with the consent and complicity of populations convinced that these measures enable their safety. Paralleling U.S. carceralism, the fictional communities have been inundated with media and political advertising for greater segregation but have themselves never experienced the criminalized violence that justifies widespread state harms. Through a generative dialogue engaging the media, a discussion question, and the concept of state terrorism, students move to observe their positionality and critically assess state violence. Therefore, I recommend this teaching tool for any critical instructors—especially minoritized professors teaching primarily White classrooms—to inspire a stimulating dialogue in service of connection-making and peacemaking in the classroom.
{"title":"Black Dreams, Electric Mirror: Cross-Cultural Teaching of State Terrorism and Legitimized Violence","authors":"S. M. Rodriguez","doi":"10.1177/0092055X221120868","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221120868","url":null,"abstract":"Sci-fi has the power to open dialogue because its alternate world-building enables students to feel far enough from reality to discuss social problems unreservedly. In this essay, I review an assignment I developed using Black Mirror and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams that present episodes in which militarized policing, segregation, and genocide occur with the consent and complicity of populations convinced that these measures enable their safety. Paralleling U.S. carceralism, the fictional communities have been inundated with media and political advertising for greater segregation but have themselves never experienced the criminalized violence that justifies widespread state harms. Through a generative dialogue engaging the media, a discussion question, and the concept of state terrorism, students move to observe their positionality and critically assess state violence. Therefore, I recommend this teaching tool for any critical instructors—especially minoritized professors teaching primarily White classrooms—to inspire a stimulating dialogue in service of connection-making and peacemaking in the classroom.","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"50 1","pages":"392 - 398"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49042111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-04DOI: 10.1177/0092055x221120864
TRAILS, a peer-reviewed digital teaching resources library developed by the American Sociological Association (ASA), is an innovative educational tool that provides sociology teachers with access to thousands of teaching resources. Launched on May 25, 2010, the website offers many useful features, such as a searchable database of peer-reviewed teaching resources and the ability to customize presented content based on the interests of the subscriber. The types of resources that can be found on TRAILS include syllabi, assignments, class activities, lectures, PowerPoint slides, and assessments. Resources published in TRAILS have been through a strong, two-stage process of peer review based in empirically proven best practices in pedagogy. Access is free for ASA members and available at a discounted price for nonmembers in Department Affiliate departments. Submission instructions for TRAILS can be found at http://trails.asanet.org/ Pages/SubmissionDetails.aspx. Questions regarding TRAILS can be directed to the editor, Dr. Gregory Kordsmeier, at gkordsme@iu.edu.
{"title":"New Resources in TRAILS: The Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/0092055x221120864","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055x221120864","url":null,"abstract":"TRAILS, a peer-reviewed digital teaching resources library developed by the American Sociological Association (ASA), is an innovative educational tool that provides sociology teachers with access to thousands of teaching resources. Launched on May 25, 2010, the website offers many useful features, such as a searchable database of peer-reviewed teaching resources and the ability to customize presented content based on the interests of the subscriber. The types of resources that can be found on TRAILS include syllabi, assignments, class activities, lectures, PowerPoint slides, and assessments. Resources published in TRAILS have been through a strong, two-stage process of peer review based in empirically proven best practices in pedagogy. Access is free for ASA members and available at a discounted price for nonmembers in Department Affiliate departments. Submission instructions for TRAILS can be found at http://trails.asanet.org/ Pages/SubmissionDetails.aspx. Questions regarding TRAILS can be directed to the editor, Dr. Gregory Kordsmeier, at gkordsme@iu.edu.","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"50 1","pages":"409 - 411"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48112396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-04DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221120863
Juan L. Salinas
This article is a reflective analysis of an assignment in which undergraduate students developed dystopian, postapocalyptic, fantasy, and fictional short story parables to illustrate their understanding of sociological theory. In a social theory course, students were assigned a final paper in which they designed a short story that integrated sociological theory, including classical and contemporary concepts, which were applied to these fictional worlds. The assignment encouraged students to develop both macro- and micro-level creative social theory analysis using a fictional society that often touches on the themes of futurism, science fiction, or postapocalyptic settings. These scenarios allowed students to engage in world-building linked to systems of oppression that were analyzed through various perspectives, including Marxist theories, critical race theory, and feminist theories. The assignment is a creative way for students to apply their sociological imagination with the world-building process for an in-depth understanding of sociological theory.
{"title":"Sociological Theory through Dystopian and Fictional World-Building: Assigning a Short Story Parable Inspired by Derrick Bell’s “The Space Traders”","authors":"Juan L. Salinas","doi":"10.1177/0092055X221120863","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221120863","url":null,"abstract":"This article is a reflective analysis of an assignment in which undergraduate students developed dystopian, postapocalyptic, fantasy, and fictional short story parables to illustrate their understanding of sociological theory. In a social theory course, students were assigned a final paper in which they designed a short story that integrated sociological theory, including classical and contemporary concepts, which were applied to these fictional worlds. The assignment encouraged students to develop both macro- and micro-level creative social theory analysis using a fictional society that often touches on the themes of futurism, science fiction, or postapocalyptic settings. These scenarios allowed students to engage in world-building linked to systems of oppression that were analyzed through various perspectives, including Marxist theories, critical race theory, and feminist theories. The assignment is a creative way for students to apply their sociological imagination with the world-building process for an in-depth understanding of sociological theory.","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"50 1","pages":"331 - 339"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44184246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-02DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221120859
Benjamin Gallati
Sociology instructors have long used nontraditional texts such as literary fiction to demonstrate core course concepts, increase student engagement, and develop students’ critical thinking in the classroom. In this article, I explore how written assignments structured around identifying core course concepts in a dystopian novel that connects to student interests can help develop higher-level and critical sociological thinking skills. Using data from an upper-level Sociology of Media course at a large, Midwestern university, I detail a final paper assignment centered around M. T. Anderson’s dystopian satire novel Feed. I present qualitative and quantitative findings that demonstrate students’ successful use of higher-level and critical sociological thinking to identify, analyze, and support original arguments regarding core course concepts within the dystopian world and our own.
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Pub Date : 2022-09-02DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221120858
Katherine E. Fox
The Alien Worlds project teaches ethnographic skills using the societies of dystopian, postapocalyptic, and science fiction texts as imagined field sites and targets for analysis. These exercises and assignments, which illustrate principles of qualitative fieldwork, were developed when COVID-19 precautions made it impossible to assign tasks that involved in-person social interaction. Preliminary findings from use in 2020–2021 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (n = 140) and Science Fiction and Society (n = 10) classes suggest that science fiction may have an ongoing place in beginning and intermediate social science courses, as it provides an entertaining, low-stakes way for students to practice observation and analysis. The original project is designed to span at least six weeks or the course of a semester, but variations for shorter and stand-alone assignments are provided in addition to ways that it can be adapted to suit the needs of different audiences. Though it will not replace all in-person field experience for advanced sociology and anthropology students, it provides a bridge between classroom content and hands-on interaction that encourages a growth mindset in learning.
{"title":"Immersion in Alien Worlds: Teaching Ethnographic Sensibilities through Dystopian and Science Fiction","authors":"Katherine E. Fox","doi":"10.1177/0092055X221120858","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221120858","url":null,"abstract":"The Alien Worlds project teaches ethnographic skills using the societies of dystopian, postapocalyptic, and science fiction texts as imagined field sites and targets for analysis. These exercises and assignments, which illustrate principles of qualitative fieldwork, were developed when COVID-19 precautions made it impossible to assign tasks that involved in-person social interaction. Preliminary findings from use in 2020–2021 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (n = 140) and Science Fiction and Society (n = 10) classes suggest that science fiction may have an ongoing place in beginning and intermediate social science courses, as it provides an entertaining, low-stakes way for students to practice observation and analysis. The original project is designed to span at least six weeks or the course of a semester, but variations for shorter and stand-alone assignments are provided in addition to ways that it can be adapted to suit the needs of different audiences. Though it will not replace all in-person field experience for advanced sociology and anthropology students, it provides a bridge between classroom content and hands-on interaction that encourages a growth mindset in learning.","PeriodicalId":46942,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Sociology","volume":"50 1","pages":"384 - 391"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44940784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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