SOCIOLOGICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY: SOCIAL PROBLEMS

SYG 2010E

  Social Problems Online

SOCIOLOGICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY: SOCIAL PROBLEMS 

Objective: This assignment is designed to get you thinking about sociology as a social scientific discipline as it relates to “social problems” and to learn more about Mills' concept of the Sociological Imagination. 

Instructions: Read The Promise of Sociology.  Then, along with the information you have learned from your chapter readings respond to the following questions and statements.  Your completed autobiography must include at least 3 theories or concepts (cited and referenced) from your textbook/readings.  DO NOT PLAGIARIZE THIS ASSIGNMENT. 

1.  In one well conceptualized paragraph, give a precise definition and summary of the main components of the sociological imagination.  Be sure to explain the difference between "personal troubles" and "public issues."  

2.  Look up a newspaper or magazine from the month and year of your birth (online or hard copy).  What was going on in the news that month?  What were some of the key social or cultural events/trends/problems during that month?  Briefly summarize at least two major news stories that were reported during your birth month.  Cite and reference the source(s) that you used.  

Important reminder: You should have a total of five (5) sources: one should the textbook, one a newspaper or magazine, and three should be peer-reviewed journal articles no later than the year 2014 cited in your paper throughout and listed on your reference page.

3.  In a separate paragraph, and in your own words, discuss what the following quote means:

"...the individual can understand her/his own experience and gauge her/his own fate only by locating her/himself within her/his period, that she/he can know her/his own chances in life only by becoming aware of all those individuals in her/his circumstances.  In many ways it is a terrible lesson; in many ways a magnificent one." 

4.  Identify two of the following phenomena that occurred sometime in your teenage life or early adulthood that you think has shaped your biography and who you are: an historical event, a cultural trend, a feature of the economy, a political event or issue, or a social issue (for example, a baby boomer might say the Vietnam War or the sexual revolution).  Please name and describe the two phenomena you have chosen and discuss how you think each has influenced your biography or who you are.  

5. Taking one of your own personal experiences, describe in detail how it might or could have been the product of historical, biographical, and social forces.  

6. Finally, discuss how has the sociological imagination helped you to understand your own situation better?  In other words, what “terrible” lesson have you learned that helped you to understand a situation/event or issue better? 

FORMATTING INSTRUCTIONS

 •Cover page with title, name, date, class

•Double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font

•Approximately 5 full pages

•Cite & reference, American Sociological Association Style, all sources used 

•Include a reference page