The micro-sociological approach examined in this course aims to provide an analytic framework applicable to a wide range of “real life” situations, ranging from our mundane routines to the more exceptional and unusual situations and forms of social interaction. We’ve examined the SI model from the elementary features of human consciousness, to ‘self” and situated identity, all the way up to features of the social order typically examined from a macro-sociological perspective.
For this assignment you will be required to apply what you have learned during the course to an actual ‘real life’ case. Specifically, you will be asked to find a recent news story that you will use as the basis for micro-sociological analysis, perform an analysis on the ‘case’ you have selected and submit your analysis in the form of a brief essay.
Your choice of topic should be limited to one (or more) of the themes that list below, namely gender, race/ethnicity, age and youth, or deviance. For example, you may want to focus on former juvenile offenders who have completed a rehabilitation program, and focus on what this experience has meant in terms of their self-concepts, social interactions, and personal accounts. You might, alternately, want to focus on how female dramatic performers manage ‘age’ in an industry that places a great deal of emphasis on youth.
The ideal place to start is by looking through recent news stories, and select one of the these as the “case’ you are going to analyze. You may want to do a bit of digging to see if the same story has been covered by different news sources. You may also want to select a story that includes self-descriptions, personal accounts, or large sections where the person or persons involved get to tell their own stories. Some of the concepts you may (emphasis on MAY) want to focus on would include personal accounts related to identity, features of unique or novel social situations that influence social interactions and situated self, the management of problematic identities, or how different social elements converge to produce social order.
FORMAT: The assignment should be presented in essay form. Please keep font sizes reasonable, preferably 12 point Times New Roman. Be sure to properly reference and cite all sources.