Compare and contrast the viewpoints of the sources and reflect on your own responses Martin Luther King, Jr.: ” Letter from Birmingham Jail” and This article, Henry Thoreau and ‘Civil Disobedience’ by McElroy (2005)

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The Meaning of Freedom

Compare and contrast the viewpoints of the sources and reflect on your own responses Martin Luther King, Jr.: ” Letter from Birmingham Jail” and This article, Henry Thoreau and ‘Civil Disobedience’ by McElroy (2005)

Compare and contrast the viewpoints of the sources and reflect on your own responses.

“The Meaning of Freedom assignment is a chance for you to compare (find similarities) and contrast (find differences) two of the authors: Thoreau and MLK Jr.

You’ll also incorporate your beliefs about the relationship between freedom and being a responsible citizen.

In other words, is it possible to be both free and socially/civically responsible? How does one do that?

 

Write 3 penetrating open-ended questions (not yes/no) to pose to the group to discuss.

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Discussion notes: week 8

Discussion Questions:

Write 3 penetrating open-ended questions (not yes/no) to pose to the group to discuss.

They cannot all be opinion questions, but should rely on knowledge of the material.

They are meant to inspire discussion or debate, so be creative in writing conversations topics through your questions that will get the group thinking and chatting.

Make a copy of the template or set up the assignment just like the template below.

Below are the materials needed to make the notes materials for notes:

article:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0003122418796807

videos:

 

What are some of the key differences between systematic racism and structural racism? What is color-blind racism, and how does it perpetuate inequality? What did the elections of Presidents Obama and Trump reveal about racial ideologies in the United States?

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Race and Racisms

According to chapters 5 & 6 of the textbook: Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach answer the following questions.

  1. What are some of the key differences between systematic racism and structural racism? Provide one example to justify your answer.
  2. Think of an issue related to racial inequality in the U.S.A and use one of the frameworks (biological racism, cultural racism, or color-blind racism) discussed on chapter 3 of the textbook, Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach, to explain it.
  3. The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. African American men are seven times more likely than white men to go to prison. It is a reflection of cultural racism, systemic racism, or structural racism? Explain.
  4. What is color-blind racism, and how does it perpetuate inequality? What did the elections of Presidents Obama and Trump reveal about racial ideologies in the United States?
  5. Have you heard someone say, “racism is a thing of the past?” If that statement were to come up in conversation, what have you learned from this chapter that might help you counter the idea that racial inequality or racial discrimination has gone away? In what ways is the current era unique? What are some parallels today and one hundred years ago, and how far have we come as a country?

 

Based on your statistical analyses, what kinds of people are more likely to support sex education in public schools? Who is more likely to oppose sex education in public schools? Describe what you have learned from the analyses in words that are easy to understand for someone who has not taken a statistics class.

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Bivariate Analysis Assignment

Download and open gss2016_10.sav Download gss2016_10.sav A local school is planning a progressive sex education program. To prepare for any resistance from the community, the teachers want to know characteristics of individuals who would strongly oppose the school’s active engagement in sex education. You are hired by the school to conduct statistical analyses to answer the series of questions from the teachers.

One of the teachers asked, “Is the self-identified religiosity level related to attitude toward sex education in public schools? If so, how are they related?” First, using the provided codebook, find the variables that are appropriate for this analysis. Then, conduct chi-square test to answer the research question.

Identify the variables you will use:

IV:

DV:

State your hypothesis and provide rationale

Test the hypotheses using the Chi-Square test. Report the following results.

Chi-Square value =

p-value =

Gamma/Phi/Cramer’s V=

People who reported strong religiosity and opposed sex education =  %

People who reported somewhat strong religiosity and opposed sex education = %

People who reported not very strong religiosity and opposed sex education = %

Atheist who opposed sex education = %

Provide your interpretation (ie., explain the findings to the teacher)

Another teacher asked, “Is sex (men vs. women) related to attitude toward sex education? If so, how?” First, using the provided codebook, find the variables that are appropriate for this analysis and conduct Chi-Square test.

Identify the variables you will use:

IV:

DV:

State your hypothesis and provide rationale

Test the hypotheses using the Chi-Square test. Report the following results.

Chi-Square value =

p-value =

Gamma/Phi/Cramer’s V=

Men who opposed sex education = %

Women who opposed sex education = %

Provide your interpretation (ie., explain the findings to the teacher)

  1. Based on your statistical analyses, what kinds of people are more likely to support sex education in public schools? Who is more likely to oppose sex education in public schools? Describe what you have learned from the analyses in words that are easy to understand for someone who has not taken a statistics class.

 

Conduct a visual analysis of this second-century Bodhisattva. Discuss the stylistic and formal elements of this sculpture and what elements seem to be influenced by or drawn from other cultural stylistic characteristics? What can this tell us about concepts and representations of gods throughout history and cross-culturally?

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Second-Century Bodhisattva

Instructions

Conduct a visual analysis of this second-century Bodhisattva. Discuss the stylistic and formal elements of this sculpture and what elements seem to be influenced by or drawn from other cultural stylistic characteristics? What can this tell us about concepts and representations of gods throughout history and cross-culturally?

Cultures, Styles, and Visual Languages

What other cultures, styles, and visual languages influence your work? Explain your answer.

 

Describe a scenario in the past year where you’ve made a decision that was based on data of some kind. Was the data qualitative or quantitative? What was the data source? How much faith did you have in this data?

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Discussion Thread 3:

Write about a decision you made or an action you took that was informed by data. Think critically about a time in the past year when you made a decision (either big or small, consequential or trivial) and how data shaped that decision.

Answer each question/prompt in numbered order.

  1. Describe a scenario in the past year where you’ve made a decision that was based on data of some kind.
  2. Was the data qualitative or quantitative?
  3. What was the data source? How much faith did you have in this data?
  4. What additional data could have been useful to inform your action/decision?

Listen to the podcast from 3:40 until 10:55:

https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-histor…

Answer each question/prompt in numbered order.

  • From a social institutional perspective, why did Hoffman’s research not get acted on for 50 years?
  • How do you feel about Gladwell’s argument that football is like miners asthma/Black Lung?
  • As research is produced that shows the negative impacts of football on the brains of its players, what changes might occur? What are the barriers to changes, in the case of football (think in terms of social institutions here! Use terms/concepts from Module 2!? Concepts and terms from module 2
  • “Sociological imagination”
  • Understand the concepts of social structure, social institution, and organization
  • Know broadly what “social theory” is and how it relates to social institutions
  • Be able to describe three theoretical approaches: functionalist theory, conflict theory, and critical theory
  • Understand three key parts of social institutions: roles, norms, and values Sociology

 

How is gender “performed” every day and in social situations? What are some techniques for “performing” gender identity that people use? How does the idea of performance fit into the nature vs. nurture debate?

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Nature, Nurture, and Gender Identity

Sociologists and other social scientists have long been skeptical of biological explanations of social life, and many continue to be so despite advances in the integration of biological and social research. One classic example of the debate between nature and nurture is that of gender identity formation.

First, consider how gender is formed as a social construction. How were you socialized into learning what was considered culturally appropriate behavior for your gender? What agents of socialization taught you these cultural norms, and which was the most significant in shaping your sense of self? Be sure to use specific examples from the reading and your own experience to help form your response.

Second, consider the idea of gender as a performance.

Watch the following TED Talk, “A Playful Exploration of Gender Performance (Links to an external site.)” by performer Jo Michael Rezes.

As you watch the TED Talk, consider and address the following questions:

  • How is gender “performed” every day and in social situations?
  • What are some techniques for “performing” gender identity that people use?
  • How does the idea of performance fit into the nature vs. nurture debate?

 

While at a restaurant, convenience store, bank, place of business, or any shopping location, ask you waiter or waitress, bartender, server, sales clerk, or cashier personal questions about their family or their interests. How much information are you able to obtain about this person you do not know?

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Social engineering experiments

Conduct your own social engineering experiments.

1) While at a restaurant, convenience store, bank, place of business, or any shopping location, ask you waiter or waitress, bartender, server, sales clerk, or cashier personal questions about their family or their interests. How much information are you able to obtain about this person you do not know?

Name, address, age, religion, political beliefs, place of birth, pets, hobbies, number of children, type of car they drive, or any other information you think you can obtain.

Write your findings in either a list or in paragraph form.

 

Define each of the 4 dimensions of McDonaldization as outlined by Ritzer and give several specific, detailed examples of each dimension from your chosen organization.

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McDonaldization

In his book McDonaldization: The Reader, George Ritzer defines the term and collects multiple essays that explore many different institutions in our society that have been McDonaldized.

For this assignment, read the excerpt provided to you from Ritzer’s book, as well as the pages in your textbook which discuss this concept.

Next, choose an institution or organization in our society with which you are familiar. It may be your place of employment, an organization you are or were a part of, or a store or other place you frequent. DO NOT use a fast food company of any kind as your case study.

In about 3 pages: Define McDonaldization; Introduce your chosen organization/institution and how it has been McDonaldized;

Define each of the 4 dimensions of McDonaldization as outlined by Ritzer and give several specific, detailed examples of each dimension from your chosen organization.

 

How does your previous experience, socialization, and sense of reality impact the manner in which you carry out and perceive your roles??

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Social Structure and Social Interaction

In this same section of your post, for two of your ascribed and achieved statuses identified, detail in a listing-type fashion the roles and subsequent responsibilities associated with each status that you possess. For instance, one of the achieved statuses is being your instructor.

To this end, the roles include teacher, mentor/role model, disciplinarian, and entertainer (to a degree).

As for duties, teach and to ensure that prepare to competently do so, to inform, to give constructive criticism, to encourage and be caring, to be knowledgeable about student and community resources, to confront negative behavior, to keep class structured so that it is predictable, safe, and so that the learning environment is positive, to be funny and entertaining so that the subject matter is engaging, to act in a professional manner befitting a college instructor, and to maintain all rules and policies of the college.

As you can see, this section of your post can get pretty lengthy.

For the second half of the post, explain the relationship between one’s (specifically YOUR) “Social Construction of Reality” and their/your perception of their/your roles and duties that accompany each status.

How does your previous experience, socialization, and sense of reality impact the manner in which you carry out and perceive your roles??