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A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association
ABSTRACTS--Volume 29, Number 4, October 2001
ARTICLES
- Will and Wile: The Way of the Researcher ..... Steven Brint
- Forming and Transforming the Teaching Self in Different Institutional Environments: Two Teachers' Experiences ..... Toska Olson and Rachel L. Einwohner
- The Sociology of Doing Nothing: A Model "Adopt a Stigma in a Public Place" Exercise ..... Karen Bettez Halnon
- Sharing Secrets Slowly: Issues of Classroom Self-Disclosure Raised by Student Sex Workers ..... Susan Rakosi Rosenbloom and Tina Fetner
NOTES
- Leveling the Playing Field: An Orientation to Graduate Study in Sociology ..... Shannon N. Davis, Denise L. Bissler, and Jeffrey Leiter
- Confronting the Social Context of the Classroom: Media Events, Shared Cultural Experience, and Student Response ..... Sarah Sobieraj and Heather Laube
- Sound and Vision: Using Progressive Rock to Teach Social Theory ..... Jarl A. Ahlkvist
- A Troubling Success Story: Revisiting a Classic Deviance Assignment in a Criminology Course ..... Rebecca L. Bordt
- Bingo for Beginners: A Game Strategy for Facilitating Active Learning ..... Angela Coco, Alex Cody, Gillian Lupton, Andrew Peake, Kirstyn Shaw, and Ian Woodward
WILL AND WILE: THE WAY OF THE RESEARCHER
(Steven Brint)Discussions of the research process, even when they focus on histories of research projects rather than on formal methods, do not sufficiently emphasize the personal qualities, skills, and associations that make for excellence in research. In this essay, which is intended for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students, I use examples of well-known researchers to discuss the qualities of passionate commitment, persistence, ingenuity, and
self-discipline that are essential to a researcher. I also discuss the significance of files, multiple data sources, and personal associations to success in research.
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FORMING AND TRANSFORMING THE TEACHING SELF
IN DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS:
TWO TEACHERS' EXPERIENCES
(Toska Olson and Rachel L. Einwohner)Academic professionals recognize that the educational context affects students’ experiences and achievements. Indeed, teachers manipulate the learning environment in order to facilitate particular learning outcomes. However, instructors may not realize the extent to which the institutional context and learning environment affect their identity and pedagogy as teachers. Using our experiences as two very similar instructors with nearly identical training currently teaching in very different institutional contexts (a large Midwestern Research I institution and a small West coast experimental teaching college), we suggest that an instructor’s “teaching self” evolves and is shaped by the cultural and institutional environment in which she teaches. We end with a call for more systematic research on the effects that institutions have on teachers’ identities.
THE SOCIOLOGY OF DOING NOTHING: A MODEL
"ADOPT A STIGMA IN A PUBLIC PLACE" EXERCISE
(Karen Bettez Halnon)The “doing nothing” assignment is offered as a methodologically detailed, theoretically grounded, and easily implemented exercise for teaching students about stigma. It also provides students with the opportunity to “do” sociology and to learn about everyday interpretations of social life. This paper provides a discussion of the advantages of this stigma simulation, safety issues related to the exercise, and methods teachers can use to assess student learning. Goffman’s works on stigma and Scott and Lyman’s concept of “accounts” frame an analysis of student reports. A composite narrative of doing nothing highlights how the experience unfolds from beginning to end.
SHARING SECRETS SLOWLY: ISSUES OF CLASSROOM
SELF-DISCLOSURE RAISED BY STUDENT SEX WORKERS
(Susan Rakosi Rosenbloom and Tina Fetner)Many teachers find experiential teaching methods useful for discussing emotional and controversial topics such as sexual identity or family violence. These methods, many of which include self-disclosure in the classroom, can break down the barriers between students and the social world. We explore the classroom management of student self-disclosure of sensitive topics drawing on our experiences teaching sociology at a large, urban university in which a number of students used their employment in the sex industry as springboards into class projects. Students' concerns with peer disapproval and the processes through which they disclosed their involvement in the sex industry raised several pedagogical and ethical issues that have not yet been addressed in the self-disclosure literature. We examine a number of difficulties with students disclosing information partially, either to teachers or to a few classmates, on classroom dynamics and teacher-student interactions. Finally, we evaluate a number of strategies, such as hidden involvement, fictitious informant, and full disclosure, for managing self-disclosure in the sociology classroom, and we discuss additional steps that teachers can take to address sensitive topics in class.
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD: AN ORIENTATION TO GRADUATE STUDY IN SOCIOLOGY
(Shannon N. Davis, Denise L. Bissler, and Jeffrey Leiter)Entering graduate school to pursue a doctorate is a difficult transition for many students. Compared to undergraduate and terminal master's programs, the game is different, the players are unknown, new rules must be learned, and the work is more demanding. One of the biggest obstacles new graduate students face in getting the work done is feeling as though they do not belong as a student. A specialized orientation program can ease the transition by allowing new students to bond with other members of their cohort, meet veteran students, hear about faculty expectations, and learn the campus layout prior to engaging intellectually in the classroom. This paper outlines one such orientation for a sociology graduate program, describing the orientation's four goals of creating cohesion and cooperation within the cohort, leveling the playing field of prior training, preparing students for faculty expectations and familiarizing the students with the campus and surrounding area. The paper includes evaluations of the first two iterations of this orientation.
CONFRONTING THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF THE CLASSROOM: MEDIA EVENTS, SHARED CULTURAL EXPERIENCE,
AND STUDENT RESPONSE
(Sarah Sobieraj and Heather Laube)The authors argue that major media events impact the way students relate to course material and may influence their receptiveness to sociological analysis. This note provides an illustrative case study of a sociology of culture class in which the social context created by the ubiquitous news coverage of the high school shootings that occurred in late 1998 and early 1999 interacted with student interpretation of material on media effects. The authors contend that it is imperative for instructors in a broad spectrum of sociology courses to be cognizant of the impact of high-profile media events on student interpretation of social phenomena. The authors provide three classroom techniques that foreground the role of news production as a mediating process that acts both to filter and to highlight particular aspects of the social world.
SOUND AND VISION: USING PROGRESSIVE ROCK TO TEACH SOCIAL THEORY
(Jarl A. Ahkvist)Teaching about the discipline's theoretical traditions is an important but challenging task. Using popular music has proven to be an effective way to engage sociology students in actively learning concepts, ideas, and theories. In this note I describe a technique for using progressive rock music to introduce students to the perspectives of three classical sociological thinkers. By drawing parallels between the ideas of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber, and the music of specific progressive rock artists, I show students how distinct sociological perspectives are reflected in contemporary cultural products. This technique helps students grasp the concepts central to each theory and the key distinctions between them, as demonstrated by the enhanced ability of students taught using this technique to correctly answer theory questions on a final exam.
A TROUBLING SUCCESS STORY: REVISITING A CLASSIC DEVIANCE ASSIGNMENT IN A CRIMINOLOGY COURSE
(Rebecca L. Bordt)For understandable reasons, the literature on innovative teaching focuses on success stories (i.e., teaching strategies that are effective and classroom exercises that work). I argue in this paper that there is also pedagogical value in documenting the unintended, negative consequences of our teaching innovations. Such a focus offers a more realistic view of what the teaching process is like, aids in identifying reasons why certain strategies or exercises are less successful than others, and encourages us to reflect on the ethics and costs of our teaching practices. To illustrate the value of examining the negative consequences of our classroom practices, I describe in detail a successful deviance exercise used in an undergraduate criminology course, what went wrong, and the lessons learned from the experience.
BINGO FOR BEGINNERS: A GAME STRATEGY FOR FACILITATING ACTIVE LEARNING
(Angela Coco, Ian Woodward, Kirstyn Shaw, Alex Cody, Gillian Lupton, and Andrew Peake.)This paper demonstrates the use of a game strategy to promote active learning within a structured lecture situation. Designed to facilitate students' understanding of sociological concepts, the strategy also enables teachers to elicit reactions to the process which then serve as teaching points about the theory and practice of social research. In this teaching method ideas about theoretical concepts and operational definitions are tackled in a manner which students find meaningful and enjoyable, and therefore memorable. The approach is suitable for modification to a variety of teaching situations.
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