Description
Preparation:
You will be donning the hat of a sociologist and conducting an ethnography and/or participant observation. Prepare for this assignment by reviewing the readings and your notes on culture and socialization in your text and from the course materials. This assignment asks you to do something in the present – DO NOT write about past activities. Include dates and times of your observations or points will be deducted. How much time you spend at each observation is up to you – just enough time to gather the data you need to write this paper. DO NOT INCLUDE ANY PHOTOS/IMAGES, this is an essay-style assignment. Conform to all the instructions outlined below. NO resubmissions after assignments have been graded.
NOTE: In this COVID-19 world, please be safe and practice social distancing and/or wear a mask while doing these activities. Feel free to add observations to how life and norms have changed with these activities compared to before COVID.
Instructions:
Date, time, and location of your observations must be included for Part 1 and Part 2 below.
Part 1: Unfamiliar Setting (location name, date, time, city, and state)
You are going to go out into a social setting that you are unfamiliar with and document what you see. You will go anywhere where people may be gathered that you have not previously been before. Examples: perform your observation in a church, club, store, coffee shop, park, restaurant, beach, or any other location that you have never been before. Questions to guide and keep you focused that must be answered throughout your essay:
Describe the space and the function that this space serves to society.
Describe what people are doing in this space (how are they socialized to behave in this space) and why the space might be important to society.
What might be the values of the space and how might they tie into with American values discussed in Chapter 3?
Describe the group dynamics – are people in groups or are they alone? (If they are in groups what do you notice about the group dynamics?)
List the norms of this space (What folkways do you notice? How are people expected to act in this space? Did you observe any norms being violated and/or any sanctions (formal or informal) applied)?
Define any cultural universals and how they might tie into this space.
Define aspects of material culture observed in this space and why they might be important to the people in this environment.
Define aspects of non-material culture observed in this space and why they might be important to people in this environment.
Define elements of ideal, real and popular culture observed.
Define what languages are being spoken in this space, including any gestures, non-verbal communication, or body language observed.
Describe the symbols of this space, what they mean and how they relate to the culture of this space (What would a symbolic interactionist say?)
Describe any cultural diversity or lack thereof observed in this space.
Define what the behavior of this setting may imply about society as a whole. (What would a sociologist have to say about what they observed?)
Part 2: Familiar Setting (examined with fresh eyes, including location name, date, time, city, and state)
Go into a familiar setting and do the exact same thing as part 1 – document what you see and include all items from above. Observe the norms, values, symbols, the language of the place. However, to truly ‘weird the normal’ look at everything as though you have never been there before (much like an outsider might, the way that Horace Miner wrote “Nacirema”, making every day ritualistic behavior around body hygiene seem weird and abnormal). This is the most difficult part of the assignment. It is harder to see the familiar as something extraordinary but if you actively use your newly formed sociological lens to view the world and see the strange in the familiar you can see otherwise hidden idiosyncrasies in your familiar world.
Much like Part 1 above, do the same for Part 2: Write down people’s behaviors, rules of behavior, elements of culture, group dynamics, etc., expectations of how to behave in those given circumstances, etc. The point here is to see the ordinary as extraordinary. In essence, you will be ‘weirding the normal’, that is:
(1) making visible all the social rules that guide the activity that are normally taken for granted and
(2) speculate as to how following the rules is enforced.
Once again, make sure to use terms and concepts taken from the book/class material to back up your observations! The truly exemplary papers will make very rich and in-depth connections back to the topics of culture and socialization from our textbook.
Part 3: Compare the Two
The final part involves comparing the two settings.
What did you notice is similar between the two settings?
What did you notice is different between the two settings?
What became apparent that you would not have otherwise noticed had you not worn your sociological cap?
Format:
The paper composed of all the parts above should be MINIMUM 4 full pages (and not more than 6 pages, please); double-spaced; 11-12-pt font; Margins: 1″ (top, bottom, left, and right).
You should use terminology learned in class and in the text and be sure to properly cite when appropriate, especially when using terms learned from your text or another source. Please use your own words!
Grammar and spelling ARE important. Please use the Review tools in Word or your word processing program to check spelling/grammar as points are deducted for mechanics.
Please upload as a .docx or .pdf file only. Do not copy/paste into the submission text box – this will make your paper look weird and will not be in the format I’m looking for and you will lose points. If you are using Apple Pages you can export the file as a .docx or .pdf.
https://brytewave.redshelf.com/app/ecom/shelf- This is link for the textbook.
The login is [email protected]
The password is Budbud20!
