Sociological Concepts Presentation

During the last week of class I have assigned a fun, creative and interesting assignment involving photography. You will need a digital camera for this assignment! For this final project, you will spend some time visually exploring the social world around you, taking your sociological imagination and all those concepts, ideas and theories you’ve learned in class with you. 

I’d like you to create a Powerpoint slideshow (or design your own interactive website if you prefer) that presents 8-10 photos that you have personally taken during the term that reflect 3 related sociological concepts or ideas from the course. Your slideshow should demonstrate your knowledge of those ideas/concepts and your ability to see them in action in the social world around you. As such, your presentation should both DEFINE and DISCUSS three specific ideas from the course through paragraph reflections on those ideas, including citations, quotes, and/or references to class readings or other material. It should also include images with captions (a few sentences) that describe to the viewer what sociological content exists in each of your photographs. You can collage several images onto a single slide or display one image per slide. Be creative as you can be, but worry more about content than beauty.

To receive full credit, the photo essay must conform to the outline provided (see instructions above, photo essay template and sample photo essays provided below) and must fulfill the following content standard:

  • You must provideclass definitions of at least three sociological concepts. These concepts should be related to each other, and should be specific ideas presented from a combination of class lecture notes, assigned readings, and supplemental class material, such as videos or web-based material linked to the class.
  • Examples of concept sets you might employ are:
    • deviance – deterrence – social control theory
    • gender roles – homophobia – sexism
    • conflict theory – Kozol’s idea of “savage inequalities” in the U.S. education system – the hidden curriculum
    • environmental justice – deep ecology – radical environmentalism
    • culture – ideologies – norms
    • symbolic interactionism – Cooley’s looking glass self – shared meanings
  • Each of the three concepts presented must be discussed more specifically in at least one complete paragraph, which further elaborates on, or explains the term once it has been defined. You must cite, quote, and/or reference within these discussion paragraphs, tying to a specific reading, lecture and/or supplemental class materials so that the viewer can reference any claims you make here. Your opinion is welcome, but make it an informed opinion by citing, quoting, or otherwise referencing your sources. QUOTING FROM A PARTICULAR READING IS THE BEST WAY TO GET FULL CREDIT ON THIS ASSIGNMENT (Don’t just reference “Laundra’s lectures” throughout your essay, use specific readings or other course material also).
  • Photo essay must include at least 8-10 original images. These images must be ones take during the current term by the student. You may include old vacation photos, magazine or web images as supplementary, but these will not count as original images and will not count toward the required 8-10 photos!
  • A “final thoughts” page that discussed what, if anything, you learned from this learning activity, as well as any general course or instructor comments you’d like to offer, as feedback for me for planning future courses.
  • Submit the photo essay in the drop box provided in the final module folder.

Photo Essay/Technical Issues: Although I am not grading you on your Powerpoint or photography skills, per se, creating an interesting visual sociological presentation will require you to organize sociological concepts in a coherent way. As such, you will need to familiarize yourself with the Powerpoint basics. Here’s some useful tips/suggestions:

  • Use your cell phone camera or a digital camera, whichever is easiest for you to transfer digital images to a computer and into a slideshow.
  • Powerpoint online tutorial is at: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/powerpoint
  • Keep your images small. Too many large image files will result in a PPT show that is too large to email. Try to keep it under 10MB if at all possible. The best way to do this is to reduce your image sizes/resolution before attaching to the Powerpoint.
  • If you are unable to send the file via email (or the site dropbox if available), you can also use Dropbox, Google Docs or DocStoc (free online registration required) to upload these files and then just email me the link for viewing.
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