The Sociological Imagination:  Select a personal problem that you or someone around you is currently grappling with, like juggling work and school, peer pressures, finding adequate childcare, dealing with drug or alcohol abuse or other addictions, or securing school financing.  First explain how you or they are coping with the problem as a “personal trouble,” and then have them consider how the problem is a “public issue,” and explain how sociologists analyze it as an issue.

Culture (wk3ch3)

Student Cultures:  Describe the culture of a social group you are part of, or were a part of at one time, taking into account the characteristics and elements of culture described in the text.  Explain whether the culture is the dominant culture, a subculture, or a counterculture, and describe its material and nonmaterial aspects. 

Deviance (wk4ch7)

Being Deviant:  Write a reflective essay of a time when you engaged in deviant behavior, or declined to participate in deviant behavior despite heavy peer pressure or other factors.  Describe your feelings and thoughts while you were engaged in the behavior and afterwards, indicating whether or not you were “caught” or “labeled” for the behavior.  What sociological theory of deviance best explains your behavior?  What about your social characteristics (race, ethnicity, class, gender, and age) do you think that had an effect on how others reacted to your behavior?  If you resisted the deviant behavior, how do you explain that?  How did others react to you?

Social Class and Social Stratification (wk6ch9)

Social Class/Social Mobility:  Write an essay describing the social class status of your parents and your own social class status, if you are not living with your parents.  In addition to using the three indicators of social class, describe the lifestyle and other cultural features of your social class experience.  What impact does race, gender, and age have on your experience and that of your family?  Has your family, or particular members, experienced social mobility?  What structural factors do you think contributed to this mobility?  Compare your personal findings with national trends.

Race and Ethnicity (wk8ch11)

Ethnic Identity:  Research and write an essay about your ethnic identity.  If you have no strong ethnic identification, focus on the reasons why you have not developed such an identity and the implications of the lack of ethnic identity.  Alternatively, if you have no specific ethnic identity, but identify as “White,” explore “Whiteness” and “white privilege” using some of the suggested resources in the textbook.

Gender (wk9ch12)

Gender Socialization:  Reflect on the process of your own gender socialization.  What were the expectations and influences of parents, peers, schooling, religious training, mass media, and other agents of socialization?  How were gender-linked behaviors reinforced?  Did they experience contradictory influences?  Do they recall any particular events or turning points that marked a significant transition in your gender identity?  What do your current interests, skills, interpersonal style, and occupational aspirations say about your conformity or deviation from the gender expectations that you grew up with?  Do you experience pressure to conform, or experience negative consequences from over-conformity to gender expectations?  What effect do race, class, age, sexual orientation, and other social factors have on your gender identity?

Families (wk11ch15)

Families and Social Policy:  Select a major issue confronting U.S. families that interests you and argue for a policy direction to address the issue.  Examples of projects might include the following:  Should gay and lesbian marriages be legalized?  What can be done to improve children’s adjustment to divorce?  What can communities do to assist working families with children?  How can the problems confronting female-headed households be addressed?  What can be done to reduce or prevent domestic violence?

Education (wk12ch16)

Educational Autobiography:  Following the introduction of educational issues and the reading of this chapter, write your educational autobiography.  How were you schooled?   What did you notice about inequalities in the school, about tracking, about the hidden curriculum, and teacher expectations?  How did your educational experience affect your self-esteem and aspirations?  How did you arrive in college?  Writing this and sharing experiences with other students will set the stage for a serious consideration of educational policy.

Religion(wk13ch17)

Exploring Religious Traditions:  Write a sociological description of a religious group that you know well or are interested in researching.  Your description should include a discussion of how the religious group illustrates the six elements of the definition of a religion, the religious form, religious socialization processes of the group, and its type of organization.  Also address how the group relates to social and political issues and tendencies toward racial prejudice, homophobia, anti-Semitism, or other forms of intolerance. 

Economy and Work (wk14ch18)