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In Class
N/A. We’ll be discussing housekeeping/logistics issues via Slack over the next few days as we all get acclimated to our new online existence. Our next Zoom session will be next Wednesday. Speaking of which…
Conley (2015), Ch. 7 (‘Stratification’): ‘How Is America Stratified Today?’; ‘Global Inequality’; ‘Social Reproduction versus Social Mobility’; ‘Conclusion’
Ritzer identifies five characteristics of what he calls ‘McDonaldization’. Can you identify an example of each in the opening scenes of the movie Brazil? I’ll post this prompt on Slack.
Prep
Conley (2015), Ch. 7 (‘Stratification’): ‘Views of Inequality’; ‘Standards of Equality’; ‘Forms of Stratification’
Conley (2015), Ch. 7 (‘Stratification’): ‘How Is America Stratified Today?’; ‘Global Inequality’; ‘Social Reproduction versus Social Mobility’; ‘Conclusion’
Ritzer identifies five characteristics of what he calls ‘McDonaldization’. Can you identify an example of each in the opening scenes of this cult classic by Terry Gilliam?
For those of you who were unable to log in during our first scheduled Zoom meeting, I will try to upload the recordings shortly. Wednesday’s meeting will be asynchronous, meaning that we’ll all likely be logging in (to Slack) and discussing the material at different times over the next twenty-four hours or so.
Prep
Conley (2015), Ch. 15 (‘Authority and the State’): ‘Radical Power and Persuasion’; ‘Beyond Strawberry and Vanilla: Political Participation in Modern Democracies’; ‘Policy: What if the House Is Too Small?’; ‘Conclusion’
In Class
Rather than meeting online at a given time Wednesday, you have two days to do the assigned reading as well as review Chapter 5 in our textbook, then join the online, ongoing chat in Slack. Detailed instructions for the exercise can be found HERE.
For Next Time
Conley (2015), Ch. 5 (‘Groups and Networks’): ‘Social Groups’; ‘From Groups to Networks’; ‘Network Analysis in Practice’
Conley (2015), Ch. 15 (‘Authority and the State’): ‘Types of Legitimate Authority’; ‘Obedience to Authority’; ‘Authority, Legitimacy, and the State’
In Class
More on this in the next few days — obviously there are a number of moving parts that now need to be taken apart and reassembled online. But you’ll be glad to hear that we’ll definitely push the midterm deadline back a bit.
Update: The plan is for us to convene remotely via Zoom, so please set up an account from now, and use this link to join up at the start of our regularly scheduled class session on Monday. The basic plan only allows for 40-minute sessions, so when we get booted out, we’ll take a five minute break and then reconvene for a wrap-up session — here’s that link.
As a backup, we’ll use Blackboard Collaborate Ultra — here’s the link to join that session if we need to go to Plan B. As a Plan C, I would ask you to also open up our Slack Workspace during our class period in case the audio or video goes down on the first two platforms — this is all a bit complicated, I know. I know we’re all dealing with a distractingly scary situation; I ask for your patience and understanding during these tryihng times, and I will try to reciprocate.
Under the circumstances, what with everyone dealing with lockdown under (in some cases) cramped conditions, possibly caring for sick relatives, or caring for children with no school to go to, I doubt that it makes sense for us to meet in real time during every regularly scheduled class session. But at least for tomorrow I think it’s important for us to convene and talk about how we’re going to get through the rest of the semester and still learn things. On Wednesday we’ll try to have an asynchronous discussion — one, IOW, that can go on throughout the day that doesn’t require us all to log in and be present at the same time. We’ll try Slack for that. (More on this in tomorrow’s class.)
Conley (2015), Ch. 15 (‘Authority and the State’): ‘Radical Power and Persuasion’; ‘Beyond Strawberry and Vanilla: Political Participation in Modern Democracies’; ‘Policy: What if the House Is Too Small?’; ‘Conclusion’
Do you see any daylight between Max Weber’s definition of power and Cersei Lannister’s?
