Author: George Murray

Prep

• Conley (2015), Ch. 14 (‘Capitalism and the Economy’): ‘A Brief History of Capitalism’, ‘Theorizing the Transition to Capitalism’
• Krugman, Paul. 1996. ‘A Country Is Not a Company’. Harvard Business Review, January-February. You can find a PDF version of the essay here.

Zoom Session

• Keywords: capitalism; communism; socialism; 
• Review for the Midterm (due 10/26)

For Next Time

• Conley (2015), Ch. 14 (‘Capitalism and the Economy’): ‘Recent Changes in Capitalism’, ‘The Reign of the Corporation’,  and ‘Conclusion’
• HW: Annotated Bibliography (due 10/21)

Prep

• Dalton Conley (2017), Ch. 3 (‘Culture and Media’): ‘Media’; ‘The Media Life Cycle’; ‘Media Effects’; ‘Mommy, Where Do Stereotypes Come From?’; ‘Political Economy of the Media’; ‘Policy: What’s in a Name?’; ‘Conclusion’

Zoom Session

• Current Events
• Q&A: Keywords for Culture and Media
• Review: Class Participation Self-Evaluation Essay

For Next Time

• Conley (2015), Ch. 14 (‘Capitalism and the Economy’): ‘A Brief History of Capitalism’ and ‘Theorizing the Transition to Capitalism’

rep

• Dalton Conley (2017), Ch. 3 (‘Culture and Media’): ‘Definitions of Culture’; ‘Material vs. Non-Material Culture’

For Next Time

• Dalton Conley (2017), Ch. 3 (‘Culture and Media’): ‘Media’; ‘The Media Life Cycle’; ‘Media Effects’; ‘Mommy, Where Do Stereotypes Come From?’; ‘Political Economy of the Media’; ‘Policy: What’s in a Name?’; ‘Conclusion’

Prep

• Review Conley (2019), Ch. 2 (‘Methods’): ‘Research 101’

There are no classes Monday, 9/28, because of Yom Kippur.

Zoom Session

1. In the News: Last Night’s Debate
2. Review of the HW, cont’d: Find Top Authorities for a Subject
3. Q&A: What Is a Social Fact?
4. Keywords
5. Q&A: The Research Process
6. For Next Time

For Next Time

• Dalton Conley (2017), Ch. 3 (‘Culture and Media’): ‘Definitions of Culture’; ‘Material vs. Non-Material Culture’

Prep

• Review Conley (2019), Ch. 2 (‘Methods’): ‘Research 101’
• Read Duncan Watts, ‘The Myth of Common Sense: Why The Social World Is Less Obvious Than It Seems’, Freakonomics blog (2011)

Zoom Session

1. Review of the Find Top Authorities for a Subject HW: Q&A
   • Do the best sources show up at the top of Google search results? (This question taken verbatim from Caulfield, Ch. 30)
   • If not, what does show up? Why do you think that result shows up instead? (ibid.)
2. Q&A: The Research Process

For Next Time

• Dalton Conley (2017), Ch. 3 (‘Culture and Media’): ‘Definitions of Culture’; ‘Material vs. Non-Material Culture’

Prep

• Review Emile Durkheim, ‘What Is a Social Fact?’ (pp. 50-59 in the linked PDF), from Les regles de méthode sociologique (1894)
• Review Conley (2019), Ch. 2 (‘Methods’): ‘Research 101’
• Read Carl Zimmer, ‘How You Should Read Coronavirus Studies, or Any Science Paper’, New York Times (1 June 2020)

Asynchronous Learning

• The deadline for the Find Top Authorities for a Subject HW has been extended until 23:59 Tuesday, 9/22.

For Next Time

• Duncan Watts, ‘The Myth of Common Sense: Why The Social World Is Less Obvious Than It Seems’, Freakonomics blog (2011)

Prep

• Review Emile Durkheim, ‘What Is a Social Fact?’ (pp. 50-59 in the linked PDF), from Les regles de méthode sociologique (1894)
• Conley (2019), Ch. 2 (‘Methods’): ‘Research 101’

Zoom Session

1. Review of the Find Top Authorities for a Subject HW: Q&A
   • Do the best sources show up at the top of Google search results? (This question taken verbatim from Caulfield, Ch. 30)
   • If not, what does show up? Why do you think that result shows up instead? (ibid.)
2. The Research Process

For Next Time

• Carl Zimmer, ‘How You Should Read Coronavirus Studies, or Any Science Paper’, New York Times (1 June 2020)

Prep

• Review Emile Durkheim, ‘What Is a Social Fact?’ (pp. 50-59 in the linked PDF), from Les regles de méthode sociologique (1894)

Asynchronous Work

• Find Top Authorities for a Subject HW

For Next Time

• Conley (2019), Ch. 2 (‘Methods’): ‘Research 101’

 

REFERENCES

Conley, Dalton. 2019. You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist, 6^th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Prep

• Review Michael A. Caulfield, Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers (2017), Part I (‘Four Strategies and a Habit’); Part II (‘Look for Previous Work’), Chs. 4 (‘How to Use Previous Work’), 5 (‘Fact-Checking Sites’), 6 (‘Wikipedia’); Part III, Ch. 7 (‘Going Upstream to Find the Source’); Part IV (‘Reading Laterally’), Chs. 16 (‘What Reading Laterally Means’), 17 (‘Evaluating a Website or Publication’s Authority’), 18 (‘Basic Techniques: Domain Searches, WHOIS’); 20 (‘Stupid Journal Tricks’); 21 (‘Finding a Journal’s Impact Factor’); 22 (‘Using Google Scholar to Evaluate Author Expertise’), 23 (‘How to Think About Research’), 24 (‘Finding High Quality Secondary Sources’), 25 (‘Choosing Your Experts First’), 26 (‘Evaluating News Sources’), 27 (‘What Makes a Trustworthy News Source?’), 28 (‘National Newspapers of Record’); Part V (‘Field Guide’), Chs. 42 (‘Avoiding Confirmation Bias in Searches’), 44 (‘Finding Old Newspaper Articles’), and 45 (‘Using the Facebook Live Map to Find Breaking Coverage’)
• Emile Durkheim, ‘What Is a Social Fact?’ (pp. 50-59 in the linked PDF), from Les regles de méthode sociologique (1894)
• HW (due 9/14): Find Top Authorities for a Subject (Group Assignment)

Zoom Session

1. Review: Submitting the Semester Goals HW
2. Four Moves and a Habit for Web-Literate Fact-Checkers
3. Newspapers of Record
4. How to Think About Scientific Research
5. Review of the Finding Top Authorities for a Subject HW
6. Q&A: What Is a Social Fact?

For Next Time

• Conley (2015), Ch. 2 (‘Methods’)

Prep

• C. Wright Mills, ‘The Promise’ (1959)

In Class

1. New Students?
2. Texttbook Orders
3. Review of the HW: How to Properly Submit Your Assignment
4. Overview of the Syllabus
5. Introduction: Ten Core Themes
6. Review of the Final Exam
   1. Other Major Assignments: Brief Introduction
7. Keywords: Sociological Imagination, the

For Next Time

• Michael A. Caulfield, Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers (2017), Part I (‘Four Strategies and a Habit’); Part II (‘Look for Previous Work’), Chs. 4 (‘How to Use Previous Work’), 5 (‘Fact-Checking Sites’), 6 (‘Wikipedia’); Part III, Ch. 7 (‘Going Upstream to Find the Source’); Part IV (‘Reading Laterally’), Chs. 16 (‘What Reading Laterally Means’), 17 (‘Evaluating a Website or Publication’s Authority’), 18 (‘Basic Techniques: Domain Searches, WHOIS’); 20 (‘Stupid Journal Tricks’); 21 (‘Finding a Journal’s Impact Factor’); 22 (‘Using Google Scholar to Evaluate Author Expertise’), 23 (‘How to Think About Research’), 24 (‘Finding High Quality Secondary Sources’), 25 (‘Choosing Your Experts First’), 26 (‘Evaluating News Sources’), 27 (‘What Makes a Trustworthy News Source?’), 28 (‘National Newspapers of Record’); Part V (‘Field Guide’), Chs. 42 (‘Avoiding Confirmation Bias in Searches’), 44 (‘Finding Old Newspaper Articles’), and 45 (‘Using the Facebook Live Map to Find Breaking Coverage’)