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A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association
ABSTRACTS--Volume 32, Number 3, July 2004
ARTICLES
- "Why Don't I Know about These Women?": The Integration of Early Women Sociologists in Classical Theory Courses ..... Jan E. Thomas and Annis Kukulan
- Preparing Future Faculty: A New Approach at North Carolin State University ..... Angela Lewellyn Jones, Shannon N. Davis, and Jammie Price
- Comparative Collective Community-Based Learning: The "Possibilities for Change in American Communities" Program ..... David Cunningham and Cheryl Kingma-Kiekhofer
- Learning Communities as Transformative Pedagogy: Centering Diversity in Introductory Sociology ..... Monica Snowden
NOTES
- The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP): A Tool for Teaching with an International Perspective ..... Sean R. Lauer
- Embodying Sociological Mindfulness: Learning about Social Inequality through the Body ..... Audrey L. MacNevin
- The Typical Outline of an Ethnographic Research Publication ..... Chris Prendergast
"WHY DON'T I KNOW ABOUT THESE WOMEN?": THE INTEGRATION OF EARLY WOMEN SOCIOLOGISTS IN CLASSICAL THEORY COURSES
In recent years, early women sociologists such as Harriet Martineau, Ida B. Wells, and Jane Addams have begun to appear in some introductory textbooks and theory books. Usually, they appear in a box, as a sidebar, or as selected "others." So why do we not know more about these women? Our research seeks to answer this question. Given the availability of books by and about these women, we hypothesized that one explanation might lie in the training of theory instructors. If graduate students were not exposed to the work of early women sociologists, then it seemed unlikely they would incorporate them into their own teaching, research, and analyses. To assess this theory, we collected theory syllabi from 40 graduate schools. Since we were most interested in early women sociologists, we focused our analysis on "classical" theory syllabi. Our findings indicate that Marx, Weber, and Durkheim still dominate classical theory syllabi. The writings of women were assigned on 17 percent of the syllabi in our sample. We believe this indicates a weak but visible indication that the diffusion of their work has begun.
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PREPARING FUTURE FACULTY: A NEW APPROACH AT NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
In the fall of 2000 the Department of Sociology at North Carolina State University (NCSU) implemented a Phase IV Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) initiative. The goal of this program was (and is) to ensure that doctoral students anticipating entry into a professional position be prepared for all expectations associated with faculty life in a wide variety of college and university placements. NCSU's program combined in-house research mentoring opportunities as well as off-campus mentoring relationships with faculty at other schools to explore the teaching and service responsibilities of junior faculty members. An evaluation committee assessed the effectiveness of this new initiative. Data were collected using several methods, including surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The committee found the PFF program to be a welcome addition to graduate training; however, the NCSU program experienced struggles that provide insight for other schools that may wish to start a PFF program of their own.
COMPARATIVE COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: THE "POSSIBILITIES FOR CHANGE IN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES" PROGRAM
This article introduces an approach to service learning based on students' collective engagement with a range of community organizations. We explore the particular benefits of this comparative collective community-based (CCC) learning model through a discussion of the "Possibilities for Change in American Communities" program, which was begun by the authors in 2001. The program exposes students to a diverse set of community contexts by integrating a 32-day sleeper-bus trip around the eastern half of the U.S. into a yearlong curriculum. We discuss the distinct advantages of such a program as well as the tradeoffs associated with the comparative analysis of multiple communities. We conclude by exploring alternative ways to incorporate the CCC framework within more conventional community-based initiatives.
LEARNING COMMUNITIES AS TRANSFORMATIVE PEDAGOGY: CENTERING DIVERSITY IN INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY
This paper discusses learning communities as pedagogy for introductory sociology courses, which are often plagued by student apathy. Most importantly, it examines the potential for learning communities to incorporate active and collaborative learning techniques as a vehicle to subvert dominant views of diversity, to see diversity as intersecting social inequalities that can be rearranged in favor of greater social equality. The effectiveness of a learning community with the theme of diversity for meeting these goals is assessed using qualitative and quantitative data. It is concluded that the pedagogic framework of the learning community did indeed push students to problematize their student role. Finally, a review of results from a pre/post-test questionnaire suggests that students entered the community as a fairly homogenous group in their views of diversity and left as a more heterogeneous group, indicating some shift in consciousness, however slight.
THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SURVEY PROGRAMME (ISSP): A TOOL FOR TEACHING WITH AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
In this paper, we discuss how the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) can be used as a tool to add an international perspective to the teaching of sociology. The ISSP can be used in a wide range of substantive sociology courses, as well as statistics and methods courses. It is accessible to sociologists with limited as well as advanced knowledge of statistics and can be used in lecture or active learning exercises. Particularly important, it is useful for simultaneously promoting scientific and global literacy.
EMBODYING SOCIOLOGICAL MINDFULNESS: LEARNING ABOUT SOCIAL INEQUALITY THROUGH THE BODY
This paper describes a teaching and learning technique that draws on the power of everyday body language and proxemics to have students feel and critically reflect on the physical-emotional sensations associated with social inequality. Students in mixed-gender pairs perform nonverbal role-playing scenarios copied from selected visual depictions of people interacting. Noting their own body-self impressions while emulating the physical gestures, students use the scenarios in conjunction with written course materials as resources for discussing the daily workings and techniques of power. The purposes of the exercises are to have students gain an appreciation of the connection between sociological concepts and somatic experience and to make visible the norms operating in daily life that create and maintain social inequality. The student is consequently made aware of how normative power operates in the daily encounters that sustain that power through the body.
THE TYPICAL OUTLINE OF AN ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH PUBLICATION
A handout that serves double duty as a device for students to extract more sociologically relevant content from ethnographic research publications and as an outline for their own ethnographic research projects is presented and its uses discussed.
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