SOCI 4301
A4:Watch the following two video clips.
Rationalization – Jess Evans
Rationalization – Seharish Tariq
After watching the video, briefly list three examples of rationalization in your life. Remember that
rationalization is replacing traditions, values, and emotions with concepts based on rationality and reason
as motivators for behavior. Also answer the following: Jurgen Habermas stated that rationalization is the
end of freedom, end of self- determination, desublimation of the spirit. Do you agree: has western
thought resulted in a standardization into which thought and action must conform? Why or why not?
A5: Watch the following video on YouTube. Make sure to watch the actual video – the ads sometimes
look like real content but are just ads.
Durkheim’s Mechanical and Organic Solidarity: what holds society together?
Durkheim warns that when the influence of social values and norms declines, extreme individualism can
result. In turn, social cohesion is threatened. Durkheim believed that the emphasis on individualism also
hurts individuals themselves. Do you agree or disagree that the emphasis on individualism also hurts
individuals themselves? Explain.
A9: Watch the following film:
America’s Leading Dissenter: Noam Chomsky
Answer one of the following questions in around 250 words. (These concepts may be on the exam. So
be familiar with all three).
Describe the idea of “population as enemy” as discussed by Noam Chomsky in the film.
Discuss what Noam Chomsky means by the crisis of democracy: voter as consumer not participant.
What does Noam Chomsky mean when he states that we live in a time of pervasive deceit?
A11: Watch the video: How online social movements translate to offline results –
Answer the following question:
Think about the influence of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Do you agree with
the speaker in the video that algorithmic censorship can influence social movements? How so or why
not?
A12: Think about the television programs, YouTube videos, podcasts that you watch regularly. Look at
your DVR list if you have one. Answer the following questions. Focus on only one of the following
categories in your responses: race/ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, social class (SES), or the role of
religion in society.
Do the programs you watch support your existing conceptions? Explain.
Do you ever watch programs that provide alternative representations (different from those you hold)? If
so, give an example.
Do you think the media has influenced the way you perceive of the category/group? Explain.
A10: Each of your five original essays should be around 500 words, and each reply to a fellow student
around 300 words; be sure to include a word count at the end of your posting. Each original essay is to
cite both your textbook and an outside academic source (preferably a peer-reviewed journal article). This
assignment is the second of five original topical essays you are to write and post on the Discussion
Board—and which I will be using (in lieu of exams) to assess your mastery of course material. When
posting, type or paste directly into the Messages box so that your readers will not have to open attached
files (use attachments only for supplementary materials such as photos). In this essay, you are to do the
following:
(1) Locate, provide a link for, and analyze some specific item in the mass media portraying older people
and/or the aging process.
(2) In your analysis, you are to (a) describe societal attitudes or assumptions you believe form the basis
for the picture you present, and (b) indicate what theoretical perspective or perspectives (as presented in
Chapter 3 of our text) you believe best account for these attitudes or assumptions.
(3) Be sure to consider how and why prevailing attitudes may be changing over time (for instance, by
comparing the depictions of “old folks” in reruns of 1950s and 1960s TV shows with those being
presented in today’s popular media).
(4) Finally, what would you suggest to reduce the impact of ageist stereotyping on the growing number
of people striving to age successfully over their life course?
