You will choose one of the following options for this assignment. Option 1
For this option, you will write about two sociological concepts that we have learned in
this class. Think about which concepts are going to be most useful or insightful to you, your
education, or your future career. Or maybe learning about these concepts has encouraged you to
think about your experiences or perspectives in a new light. (Remember how we started the
semester by pretending to be aliens in our discussion forum, asking questions about social
behaviors and meanings that we take for granted.)
For each of these concepts, you should answer the following questions:
• How do you define or understand the concept? (Please do not copy the definition directly
from the textbook. You should explain what the concept means in your own words.)
• How do you think you will apply this concept in other classes, or to your future career?
OR How does this concept help you reflect on your own experiences or perspectives?
If you choose this option, I expect your essay to be about 1-2 pages long, with 1 full
paragraph for each concept. If you only write half a page, it is going to be difficult for me to be
satisfied with your essay, so try to reach at least close to 1 full page. Option 2
For this option, you will also write about two sociological concepts that we have learned
in this class, but here you will use these concepts to critique or elaborate on a piece of media
content. You can choose to analyze a movie, documentary, TV show, book, song, album, video
game, etc. Perhaps a song by your favorite artist does a great job of discussing social stigma, and
you want to elaborate
on that by applying sociological concepts. Or maybe a movie that is your
guilty pleasure presents a false image of how easy it is for hardworking people to achieve social
mobility, and you want to apply sociological concepts to discuss how class inequality is
reproduced every generation. You can also use one concept to elaborate on what they did well,
and the second concept to critique.
For each of these concepts, you should answer the following questions:
• First, use about a page’s worth of space to explain or summarize what your chosen piece
of media is about.
• How do you define or understand the concept? (Please do not copy the definition directly
from the textbook. You should explain what the concept means in your own words.)
• How does the media content appropriately reflect how you understand this sociological
concept?
OR How can this sociological concept expose the flawed assumptions or fallacies
reflected in that piece of media?
If you choose this option, I expect your essay to be about 2-3 pages long, with about 1 page
used to summarize the piece of media you chose, and 1 full paragraph for each concept. Regardless of which option you choose, you should follow the following guidelines.
Format: 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins on all sides.
Incorrect formatting will lose you some points, so please check with me if you are unsure about
formatting. You do not need to insert a cover page, but you can if you want.
Submission: Please submit through Blackboard as a Word or PDF document. (I know that some
of your use a Mac, but please convert from your default PAGES file to Word/PDF before
submitting.)