The final blog post... for now...

So our summer session comes to a close this week. Six weeks, 19 lectures, some of them in a very hot environment - we made it through our fast and very surface level survey of what sociologists study and how they go about it. We've used the sociological imagination to briefly examine how we construct our social realities, the construction of categories that are then the basis on which power, privilege, and prestige are systematically distributed, the ways that the intersections of race, class, and gender at which we each exist structure how we experience health and illness, education, and family, and how the ways that we have constructed those institutions impact our abilities to experience the good things in life, and finally, how we simultaneously reproduce and resist the social inequalities that divide and discriminate.

Most of you will not go on to become sociology majors - and that's okay because I think that it is useful for individuals in all fields to have sociological imaginations, to be able to look at the everyday world through a sociological lens. [I do hope I piqued some interest and that at least a few of you will choose to take some sociology classes that explore these ideas in more depth.] A well-honed sociological imagination that connects history and biography, the personal and the social, will enable us to find solutions to the inequities we face in our daily lives.

So, for your last blog post, I'd like you to return to the idea of the sociological imagination. How did using a sociological perspective provide a different way of looking at a problem or an institution or a social phenomena? Be specific. Hint: You might return to the social phenomena that you discussed in your first post as something that you'd like to "make strange." Has your analysis changed? How? If you wish to pick a problem, institution, or social phenomena that you didn't discuss in your first post, that's fine, but be specific and concrete with your examples and analysis.

And then finally, reflect on what using a sociological imagination "looks" like for you. When we began the course, you defined it - but what is it to use a sociological imagination in practice? Is there something you will take from this class for your future classes?

It was truly a pleasure to serve as your instructor this Session. I wish you lots of luck in your future endeavors and I hope that, no matter what life path you follow, you continue to develop your sociological imaginations and become engaged, critical, and reflexive citizens.
Anna

Week 4 Blog Prompts

This week we discussed gender and race as socially constructed categories that serve as the basis for differential distribution of power, prestige, and privilege. Our systems of gender and racial stratification shape individuals' life chances and lived experiences in a variety of ways.

This week:

Option 1: We discussed gender as "achieved," that is, we "do" gender and we are held "accountable" for how well we achieve (or don't) gender. Use these concepts to discuss a time when you failed to achieve your gender, and how you were held accountable. Did you purposefully fail to "achieve?" Why? You may find it useful to discuss this in terms of hegemonic masculinity, ideal femininity, and other course concepts.

Option 2: We also discussed racialization: how boundaries are drawn around a group, how people are mapped into those groups, the meanings assigned to the category, and the everyday consequences of being marked as part of that racial category. Use these concepts to discuss a time when you experienced being racialized (for example, the first time you became aware of your racial category) and connect that to our discussion of structural racism. It may be relevant to you to discuss the invisibility of whiteness as per Peggy McIntosh.

Finally it is important to note that we do not experience one identity separately from the rest; that is, we are all raced and all gendered. Our lived experiences are situated at "the intersections" of race and gender (and class, etc.). Where we may have privilege and access to resources (the good stuff of life) based on our belonging to one category, we may simultaneously be at a disadvantage based on belonging to another category. For example, as a White woman, my white skin affords me access to privilege (not being assumed to be a criminal and being assumed to "belong" in the U.S) at the same time that I may make less money than my male counterpart. Thus, if it makes sense to you to discuss your experiences at the intersection of race and gender (e.g. as a Latina woman or a Asian man), rather than discussing them separately, please feel free to do so.