MARCH12 T H / 14 T H , 2013

Sociology 103 Tutorial #2

TA contact info

My email – joshcurtis.utoronto@gmail.com

Office – Sociology building 725 Spadina (Room 333)

Office hours – Monday 9-10:45

Web site - http://joshcurtispolisoc.com/

Plan

1) Explain test structure

2) Discuss three chapters:-open with a general discussion questions-give a sample multiple choice questions-we’ll discuss the main themes of each chapter

(in groups, then together).

Test #2

Starting PointsChapter 11 (Families and Socialization)Chapter 12 (Schools)Chapter 13 (Religion)Chapter 14 (Media)

Readings in SociologySection 3 (ch 10-13)Section 5 (ch 18-21)Section 6 (ch 22-25)Section 16 (ch 64-67)

All multiple choice.In exam center during class time (next week?)

Exam Breakdown

20 Reading Sociology (16 chapters, 2 multiple questions per chapter in few cases)

20 questions from Lectures (4 lectures)

60 Starting Points (4 chapters)

Total 100.

How to tackle RinS

Understand the overall goals, purpose, and findings in the article. What problem is the author trying to solve and what does she/he show?

Answer the following questions:1) What is the purpose of the article (i.e., academically,

why did the author write this paper – is it tied into a debate?). (Puzzle/contribution).

2) Identify the main argument of the chapter (thesis).3) Identify and define all key terms and key figures.

How do they relate to the main arguments in the text?

Where do questions come from?

Typically:1) Related to the purpose/debate of the article (1st para)2) The main finding/ findings of the paper (introduced,

then repeated at the end)3) The implication this finding has for society more

generally. (last para).

Think about this as an inverted triangle.

Use these three criteria to see through the ‘fluff’ in the article – most of what you’re reading is not important, pre se…..

Chapters

Readings in Sociology:

Chapter 11 – The Ecology of College DrinkingChapter 12: Duality and DiversityChapter 20: Love and Arranged Marriage

Chapter 11

College drinking.

Page 54.

Discussion

Critique of the article:All behaviours need to be thought of relative to others, otherwise they are

not truly meaningful. I.e., need a comparison group.

1) Do you think drinking in more widespread among university students compared to same aged people in the work force?

2) Do you think campus culture encourages heavy drinking?

2) Do you think UofT is different in terms of promoting a drinking culture compared to a more autonomous university (more secluded from the broader city)? Why or why not?

3) How do you explain the ‘anomaly’ that education leads to better health, yet school ‘encourage’ drinking culture, and other ‘risky’ health behaviours?

Chapter 11

The Purpose or ‘Puzzle’: “It is now recognized that higher education

institutions contribute to youth health capital. Yet, the nature of the specific pathways through which higher education institutions shape student culture is debated”.

The puzzle: On the one hand, education leads to GOOD

health decisions later in life. Yet, educational institutions shape drinking culture in a BAD way.

Arguments

From Durkheim: “human activity defines and is defined by the social environment”

Lifestyles are not random behaviours reflecting deliberative individual choices.

Student’s perceptions of drinking were informed by the norm in their campus environment. Social norm theory

Focus on two areas: (1) the integration of plural intuitional pathways under a unified scheme; (2)the specification of their analytical levels.

“Alcohol consumption is meaningfully constructed by students as a functional, integrative, and inherent social practice of post-secondary life”

Critique of the article:

All behaviours need to be thought of relative to others, otherwise they are not truly meaningful. I.e., need a comparison group.

Chapter 12

“Duality and Diversity”

Page 61

Discussion Question

1) What do you think about the ‘problem’ of immigrant integration in Canada? Do you feel that immigrants are actually disadvantaged in terms of income, or employment, relative to others?

Why?

2) Can it be beneficial to maintain distinct cultural identities and still become economically and socially integrated (or successful)?

3) Do immigrants in Canada actually ‘have it worse’??

MC question

_______ is a common theme in the autobiographies of children of immigrants.

a. A changing family unit b. Preference for the host societyc. Resenting one’s parentsd. Little desire to participate in the ethnic

communitye. Rejection of the host community

Chapter 20 (pg 104)

The Purpose or ‘Puzzle’:

This paper is about arranged marriages in India, and how changing cultural trends have shaped this process in Indian society.

“The research discussed here asks what is happening to the arranged marriage tradition in the current environment of rapid economic change”

So, how has arranged marriage evolved as Indian societies have become increasingly globalized, and modernized?

More broadly: “Addresses a gap… “Our sociological reflection on family and kinship… is missing a qualitative dimension of love, sex, marriage, and family life…. The emotional tenor of family relations”

Chapter 12: Duality and Diversity

Purpose or Puzzle:

“This paper is an examination of the two worlds thesis in light of autobiographies written by children of immigrants in twentieth-century North America”

Wants to investigate how immigrant children perceive their own identities in light of holding different identities. “live in many worlds”

Generations

Studies of immigrants often explore ‘generational’ effects.

Native born (family from Canada, child born in Canada)

First generation (living in Canada, but born elsewhere)

Second generation (parents were immigrants, child born in Canada).

Why does this matter?

The argument is that depending on your generational status, you will fare better/worse in terms of integration into society (workforce, socially, etc).

Do you ‘feel’ Canadian?

Duality

1) Children of immigrants ‘live’ in many worlds. The two worlds thesis depicts an existence shaped uncertainty and ambivalence.

2) The realization of ‘dreams and desires’ for a different kind of life is equally as important as the ‘problem’ of integration into society.

Two worlds thesis

“Immigrants will bring with them “the principles of the governments they leave… these principles with be transmitted to their parents.

Chapter 20

Arranged Marriage.

Page 104

Discussion question

1) What are your thoughts on arranged marriages? Are we being ethnocentric by favouring north American practices?

North American divorce rates are abut 40 percent, if not higher. Why are we not critiquing North American marriage practices?

Do statistical failures not indicate poor practice?

2)Has it become too culturally normative in North America to get divorced?

3) Have men or women benefited MORE from increasingly liberal divorce standards?

Facts about divorce

The riskiest year is the fourth year of marriage. first year of marriage, there are less than one divorce for

every 1,000 marriages. After one year of marriage, there are 5.1 divorces for every

1,000 marriages in Canada. After two years of marriage, there are 17 divorces for every

1,000 marriages in Canada. After three years, there are 23.6 divorces for every 1,000

Canadian marriages. After four years, there are 25.5 divorces for every 1,000

Canadian marriages. After that, the chances of divorce decline slowly for each

subsequent year of marriage.

Divorce in Canada

Income

Remarriage

Which hypothesis predicts the collapse of the arranged marriage system in India?

a. Westernization theoryb. Individualization thesisc. Neo-traditionalismd. Post-traditionalisme. Modernization theory

Modernization Theory is a theory used to explain the process of

modernization within societies. The theory looks at the internal factors of a country while assuming that, with assistance, "traditional" countries can be brought to development in the same manner more developed countries have.

It is about rising national affluence and how this shapes how people think.

Argument or Findings:“The results showed that arranged marriages,

as they exist in today’s India, are a product of ongoing evolution. It is still occasionally expected that marriages will be arranged, but the process has changed considerably over the past generation” (104).

Parents create a list… interview process… children can veto.

Critique?

Sociology research is a scientific enterprise. Think about how the author conducted the analysis.

Problems?

A goal or research should be to generalize.

(p.105)