Sociology 90W Senior Seminar

After you have submitted your research topic (using the correct form) post a one paragraph summary of your proposal in the comments here. Feel free to comment on other students' projects. Where there are opportunities for collaboration, you should make use of them. (That is, if two people are doing a project on fashion as an indicator of class identity, for example, you could collaborate on finding theoretical and empirical sources.)

We will discuss the projects in class on Thursday, 9/27, so please post your summary before class on that date.

Using material from Turley, chapters 4 through 7, identify some aspect of urban culture under discussion and generate a prediction based on a particular theoretical interpretation. Express this prediction in the form of a hypothesis indicating what kind of data you would use to evaluate it.

For example, on page 73, Turley notes that music consumption is linked to social class. Different kinds of music are more popular in different class settings. You might then generate a prediction of what kind of music consumption would be more likely in your neighborhood based on some indicators of class. (You could also include race differences too, as Turley discusses, but let's keep it simple.) Next, identify the kind of data that you could use to test your hypothesis—demographic, visual, narrative, etc.

Post your response as a comment to this page, and we'll discuss some of the ideas you've come up with to illustrate the principle.

Our writing tutor, Michael Griesinger, will be visiting class on Thursday, 9/20. He'll talk about how he can help you with the research paper.

Michael's office hours will be:
Tuesday: 12:00 to 2:00
Thursday: 1:00 to 4:00
Friday: 1:00 to 4:00
in 3416 James (around the corner from my office).

In this group exercise, you will discuss a particular aspect of urban culture (assigned in class) from two different perspectives. The goal is to imagine how each perspective might explain the phenomenon and what kind of visual data would be relevant to test the explanation.

Begin with one interpretation of the phenomenon. Explain briefly the theoretical rationale for that interpretation. Where possible, refer to theories or theorists by name.

What kind of visual data would support this interpretation?

Next, imagine an alternative interpretation of the phenomenon. Go back to the original interpretation, and change some aspects of it. (It doesn't have to be the opposite interpretation to be different. Even small differences would suffice.) Explain the theoretical rationale for this new interpretation.

What kind of visual data would support this alternative interpretation?

Discuss and collaboratively write a response (two to four paragraphs) and post as a comment to this page.

These are hypotheticals. They may or may not be supported by actual empirical data.

1. Why are flags in windows so common in this neighborhood?

2. Why do gentrifying neighborhoods tend to look alike?
3. Why is hip hop subculture as popular in the suburbs as in urban neighborhoods?
4. Why do residents socialize in public rather than private spaces in this neighborhood?
5. Why is religious dress more common among women than men in this neighborhood?

Let's use this post to create a kind of catalogue of theories of urban culture that might be useful. Write a paragraph or two about a particular theoretical perspective and how it might apply to your research. Feel free to comment on the posts if you think they apply differently. I'll post from time to time as well about materials that I am reading that might be useful to you.

The Bookstore informed me that both textbooks are now on the shelf. Please let me know if you encounter any problems.

Write a couple of paragraphs in which you compare interpretations of some aspect of urban culture. Don't worry about getting all the complexity of the theories, but rather, concentrate on thinking about how the two approaches might be similar and different in terms of the particular phenomenon.

This exercise will give you an opportunity to get a feel for the task of comparing theoretical perspectives. (This exercise is intended as practice.)

I have to attend a (boring) committee meeting for the college's ongoing self-study, so office hours on Thursday will be from 7:45-8:45PM only.

Your first task this semester, after logging in to the course site and browsing around to get a feel for where things are, is to post a brief biography of yourself as a comment to this page.

Include your name in the title of the comment and then write a paragraph or so about yourself. Since this page will be in the public part of the site, don't include any identifying information, such as email addresses or phone numbers. You can write as much or as little as you wish. It doesn't even have to be true. What do you want the instructor and other students in the course to know about you?

If you post a comment about yourself before the end of the second week of classes, you'll earn 1 participation point.

In this course, we will investigate aspects of urban culture using visual research methods. Since the seminar is intended as the capstone experience for the major, in this course, students will have the opportunity to conduct original empirical research and produce a journal-style research paper. You can take this with you when you graduate as evidence of your ability to do sociology.

Much of what we do will build on the foundation laid by Sociology 19, Principles of Social Research. Keep your notes from that course at hand. We will consult them regularly.

The first part of the course will be a quick review of urban sociology, with an emphasis on theories of urban culture. Next, we'll focus on visual methods. Research projects in this course will use photography as the primary visual medium. In addition, students will do written description and demographic analysis to complete the ethnography of their neighborhood.

The end of the semester will be given over to work on the research projects and, finally, to presentations of the work.