Sociology 4106. Mass Media and Public Opinion

Sociologists and journalists have much in common professionally, although in public we often prefer to emphasize our differences. Several well-known sociologists worked as journalists; some of the methods for acquiring information are relatively similar, for example, participant observation and investigative journalism. The predominant perspective in both professions is a commitment to writing objective, value-free literature. However, sociologists and journalists work in very different organizational settings and sociologists attempt to arrive at more general and systematic kinds of knowledge. The similarity in occupational perspectives and the crucial impact of journalists in the shaping of public opinion make the mass media a challenging object of study for sociologists.

This course provides an introduction to the varied theoretical approaches which have characterized the sociological investigation of the mass media. The instructor will attempt to present these perspective in a non-judgmental manner considering both their theoretical advantages and weaknesses. Students will be encouraged to learn to assess their own responses to media content as a first step in acquiring a critical understanding of how the media influence public opinion. Thus an important component of this course, one which accounts for one-third of the final grade, is a series of structured exercises in which students are required to analyze in class the content of various genres of mass media. The concepts used in analyses will be explained in lectures and students will be given case studies of each genre. However, the particular examples chosen for the quizzes will not be distributed prior to the exam date. Genres studied in these quizzes include print advertisements, narratives (short stories or fairy tales), television news, and rock videos. The themes of these exercises  -- discourses of gender, environmentalism, and Otherness -- are common ones in the media and lend themselves to analyses without requiring a specialized knowledge of their subject matter. A few lectures will also deal with the work environment of professional journalists.

This is a course in both sociology and cultural studies. Sociology is understood in the context of this class as the more humanistic and qualitative types of social theory such as symbolic interactionism. Cultural studies might be defined as an intellectual and political tradition that concentrates on the meaning and social significance conveyed through “texts,” broadly defined to include films and conversations as well as sophisticated literature and popular mass media. Cultural studies resembles to some extent such apparently different theoretical frameworks as symbolic interactionism and Marxism. In both cultural studies and symbolic interactionism scholars examine how meaning is produced through the formal structures of language and symbols; in both perspectives sociologists are interested in individual and group representation. But cultural studies tends to be more political in nature — explicitly promoting inclusiveness and tolerance — than is characteristic of more scientific types of social theory.

Films used in this course include the following. From China and Taiwan: Pushing Hands, Eat Drink Man Woman, Shower, and The True Hearted. From Japan: Rhapsody in August and Shall We Dance?. From Vietnam: The Scent of Green Papaya. From India: Salaam Bombay! and The Home and the World. From France Delicatessen and Indochine. From Italy: Cinema Paradiso. From Denmark: Babette's Feast. From Australia Strictly Ballroom. The American Native film, Smoke Signals.

Sociology 3180. Minority Groups

The formation of a group identity requires the public articulation of discourses of similarity and difference. Embracing certain identities seems to require explicitly rejecting other identities. The term “Others” thus refers to groups which are perceived — for whatever reason — as mildly or radically different. The discourses of similarity and difference which are highlighted in this course are those that define ethnicity and race.

Ethnicity is a sense of community that arises as a result of perceived common ancestry, culture, language, history, religion or customs. Ethnic identity is a dynamic process that includes an individual’s choice to identify with a group as well as outsiders’ reactions to that group. Especially in a modern society characterized by satellite broadcasting, tourism, inter-racial marriage, and mass migration, ethnic identity is a fragile, fluctuating, and negotiated identity. It is only in part determined by birth or by physical characteristics.

This is a course in both sociology and cultural studies. Sociology is understood in the context of this class as the more humanistic types of social theory such as symbolic interactionism. Cultural studies might be conceptualized as an intellectual and political tradition that concentrates on the meaning and social significance conveyed through “texts,” broadly defined to include films and conversations as well as sophisticated literature and popular mass media. Cultural studies resembles to some extent such apparently different theoretical perspectives as symbolic interactionism and Marxism. In both cultural studies and symbolic interactionism scholars examine how meaning is produced through the formal structures of language and symbols; in both perspectives sociologists are interested in individual and group representation. On the other hand, cultural studies, like Marxism, tends to be more political in nature — explicitly promoting inclusiveness and tolerance — than is characteristic of more scientific types of social theory.
 
Chinese-Canadians are the largest “visible minority” in Canada. Most have arrived since the 1960s, although the community can be traced back to the 1850s. Thus several readings and lectures in this course deal with the historic and contemporary experiences of Chinese minorities in North America and Asia. This part of the course includes readings and lectures about Taoism and Buddhism, traditional sources of social values in China. It should also be emphasized that the experiences of a wide diversity of minority groups are discussed in readings and lectures in the early and concluding weeks of the term.

Attendance in requires at one Wild Goose Qigong class and one Taoist Tai Chi class, which will be offered during regular class hours. Students are required to see outside class one film in Chinese (with English subtitles) about the experiences of Chinese immigrants in North America.

Requirements include an essay (worth 25% of the final grade), which is a critical discourse analysis of ONE newspaper article on ethnic minority relations. The newspaper article will be chosen by the instructor from either The Globe and Mail or The New York Times.
 

Sociology / Anthropology 2270. Families

This course has been organized as a wide-ranging introduction to the sociology of families. The study of families was a rather stodgy specialty in sociology until it was gradually transformed over the past thirty years by the women’s movement, which highlighted the political nature of many features of personal life. The influence of the women’s movement will be taken into account in this course without renouncing the ideal of objectivity which is part of the scientific tradition of sociology

Everyone in a given society has a definition of “the family” as part of her/his commonsense knowledge. But when these definitions are examined closely, it becomes obvious that the family, as commonly understood, is actually a very vague concept although most people may not be consciously aware of many of the ambiguities. Commonsense thinking ignores the fact that there is not one type of ideal family or actual family, but a variety of coexisting types that can be documented both historically and cross-culturally. The course attempts to survey this variety of family structures. The course will take a non-judgmental perspective towards the whole spectrum of the new politics of the family, examining topics that range from relatively “traditional” couples to those who reject state-supported affectional relationship, from the “new celibacy” to “sexual liberation,” from “child-free couples” to “single parents,” from the “pro-family” new right to “socialist feminism,” and from the “normalization of divorce” to the family as a “little utopia.