A. Discuss one of the following items with your classmates after reading your textbook and reviewing the videos.
- Were you surprised to find out how wealth is actually distributed in America and if so, how? Is there a relationship between the actual distribution of wealth in the U.S. and the ideologies of capitalism and individualism?
OR
- How do the forces that have led to the shrinking of the middle class impact your chance of becoming (or remaining) a member of the (a) middle, (b) upper middle, or (c) upper class after you graduate from college?
B. Discuss the following items with your classmates after reading chapters in your textbook and reviewing the videos:
- What are your career goals? Do they follow traditional gender roles? Why or why not? How has your gender socialization impacted your career plans?
OR
- How does gender socialization influence who runs for office and for whom we vote? How are female politicians treated by the media, compared with male politicians? How has that impacted your own perception of female politicians?
C. Discuss the following items with your classmates after reading chapters in your textbook and reviewing the videos:
We know that efforts to reduce prejudice, racism, and discrimination must take place at all levels (micro, meso, and macro). Most organizations, though, must choose one level on which to focus their particular efforts. If you were going to start an organization to
- decrease racial or ethnic prejudice, would you focus on the micro, meso, or macro level? Why? Explain what your organization would do.
OR
- Do you agree with preferences for college applicants at the University of Michigan who were scholarship athletes or the sons or daughters of a large donor or a politician but not for racial or ethnic minorities? Why, or why not?
D. Discuss the following items with your classmates after reading chapters in your textbook and reviewing the videos:
- Do you think health care is a human right? Why, or why not? How can equality or inequality in health care impact a society?
OR
- If you were a policy maker, how might you try to curb binge drinking or smoking among college students?
E. Discuss the following items with your classmates after reading chapters in your textbook and reviewing the videos:
- Does (or did) your family expect you to marry someone of a particular (a) race or ethnicity, (b) social class, (c) educational background, or (d) religion? Why, or why not? How do you think endogamous norms impact (a) individual marriages and (b) society?
OR
- Imagine a society without families. How would children be cared for and how would training and values be instilled? What type of adults would this society create?
F. Discuss the following items with your classmates after reading chapters in your textbook and reviewing the videos:
- Why is a good system of education important for a democracy? How can a well-developed sociological imagination help people become more effective participants in a democratic society? What changes would you make to the U.S. system of education at the K-12 level and why? What changes would you make to the U.S. system of education at the college/university level and why?
OR
- How do schools reproduce and perpetuate social stratification? If you had the power and desire to use the school system to reduce inequality, what policies would you implement and why? What do you think the chances would be that your policies would be adopted and put into place and why?
G. Discuss the following items with your classmates after reading chapters in your textbook and reviewing the videos:
- Why might studies be suggesting that teenagers are the least likely to be religious? What factors contribute to adolescent withdrawal from religion?
OR
- Why do you think the rates of Atheism is higher among men than women in the U.S.?