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Winter Term 2012 Essay Topics in Sociological Theory (2040B)

Basic Research Technique: input an Author or experts name plus keyword in your possible subject area. An important keyword is Review, to guide searches for experts views on an important book by a significant author.

Note that topics deriving from first term regarding Marx, Durkheim, Weber and psychoanalysis are suitable. But be sure to discuss before hand with your TA. The Second, Winter Term of this course deals with the major questions: Why No Revolution, why Nazism, why Religious Fundamentalism, why Consumerism, why fragmented consciousness and a culture of images? The Non-Marxist formulation of the same Question remains How is Society Possible? Hence, we look at social classes and culture industries, power, discourse, knowledge, and professionalism as articulated by Symbolic Interaction, Structural Functionalism, PostModernism, as well as Conflict approaches from Feminism, Black Theory, and branches of Neo-Marxist theory.

I Contemporary Capitalism
o o o o Multi-National Corporate: Nike, Shell, McDonalds Investment/Finance as most powerful type of capitalist today World Bank and International Monetary Fund Lawsuits against MNCs: McDonalds and Big Tobacco.

II 20th and 21st century Culture

o o o Analysis of Film Industry and Capitalist Culture: Critical Theory versus Hollywood Conflict Analysis of Spectacles in Popular Culture: such as Oscar Ceremonies, Olympics, Tour de France, Superbowl. Apply concept of hegemony. Malcolm X and Tupac: Marxist critics? Hip Hop as Resistance?

o The American Dream and Lifestyle of Consumption. Look at work of Juliet Schor. Retail Therapy; o Sex Sells: begin with The Erotic History of Advertising by Tom Reichert o Sex Sells: 21st century Repressive Desublimation from Marcuse (in kit)

o Rebel Sell by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter. the alienation market
o o o o o o o o o Are squeegee kids and street people a threat to society or a version of the American Dream? Who are the officials involved and what do they say? There was an Alt movement from the 1990s. Discuss the politics of protest, resistance, and cooptation as marketing alienation. Protest Lyrics of Popular Songs in each decade: Culture Jamming and Revolution? Jamming as youth sub-movement vs. real class conflict? Rage against the Machine vs. other genres. Eminem as Post-Modern artist Punk Rock 1970s Rock 1950s Hip Hop (see Angela Davis in reading kit) Video Games and Hypercapitalism: look at ideas from sources such as: Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture and Marketing. Authors: Stephen Kline, Nick DyerWitheford and Grieg de Peuter. Violent (Movies/Sport/VideoGames/Militaristic Culture) as Repressive Desublimation and or hyperreality (from Baudrillard, the post-modernist) Justin DeRose, et al. Pop (Up) Goes the Blind Date: Supertextual Constraints on Reality Television Journal of Communication Inquiry 27 (2), 2003: 171-189. TV talk shows as Foucault-style confessions Mans relationship with Machines in Movies: Six Million Dollar Man, Terminator and The Matrix. Based on Post Modern Theory and Art/Literary Criticism Virtual culture/community: sociology of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Indigo Kids: autism/quasi-autism created by Cybernetic conditions Durkheim and online, virtual communities. Begin with Sherry Turkles discussion of. Multiuser Domains. See Turkles book Life on the Screen and article in Contemporary Sociology, 28(1999): 643-654. Social Control and new Microelectric Hardware and Software: Corporate Monitoring, Identity Theft Resurgence of interest in social analysis using concept of Narcissism.

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o Historical Materialism of Christmas or Valentines Day: Historical appearance of Love, Individual Choice as ideas.cultural conditions coinciding with rise of Capitalism. Commodification of feelings. Female Bodybuilding and Trish Stratus and women on WWF Barbie Doll and.female role/ideal.and marketingyounger female athletes

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Hilary Swank won Academy Award for film role in Million Dollar Baby in Feb, 2005. Begin with film critics reviews, and then find Feminist commentaries depiction of women. Education today. Start with Paulo Freires Pedagogy of the Oppressed or Ivan Illichs DeSchooling Society, or Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis Moral Purpose of Education. Return to Durkheims Moral Education? Michael Fullans Moral Imperative of Leadership?title? Conflict versus Functional Analysis of Education in Advanced Industrial Societieshigh School student drop outs without a diploma.

III Medicalization in contemporary culture

A semi-critical perspective on medicine, Medicalization, was founded by Parsons, and explored in reading kit as the process by which medical profession acquires social reality as within its knowledge base claiming some medical expertise. Feminists and conflict thinkers have developed the critique further. Look at Disorders and Syndromes: ADD/ADHD, Battered Woman, Hurried Woman Medicalization of Children with Ritalin Medicalization of Adults with Prozac, et al. Medicalization of fe/male sexuality Cosmetic Industry = Medicalization and Commodification.. How medicine has dealt with threats to its expertise and authority: i.e. information produced for new consumerism by doctors o Eating Disorder and Globalization: spread of obesity in countries formerly malnourished Francis F. Lappe has examined the flip side, the creation of food shortages

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Social-Psychiatry: history and current developments Anti-Psychiatry: begin with work of R.D. Laing and Thomas Szasz Critical commentaries on DSM-IV (the psychiatrists handbook)

IV Global GeoPolitics and Political Economy o o o o o Following from the work of Naomi Klein: protests based on internet technology as new, democratizing force in the G8 countries? No Logo; No Fences. Anti-Capitalist Protest today, such as at APEC summits and in popular music, such as Rage against the Machine North/South differential development in global economy The Internet and Protest and Resistance in the late 20 th and early 21st centuries. Where and how? The Question of 3rd World Feminism. What are the facts? How are feminists theories meeting these realities? A Sociological Analysis of 9/11/01 based on critiques of global capitalism: Dependency Theory and Terrorism as Resistance. Begin with Noam Chomskys books and video Power and Terror in York U. Film Library Noam Chomsky as heir to CW Mills in his various books and movie: Manufacturing Consent Jihad Vs. McWorld? Begin with Benjamin Barbers book by that title. Towards global government: the role of NGOs vs. UN vs. nation-states vs. TNC Globalization and the creation of a single global culture? George Ritzer on McDonaldization and other approaches Politics and Policies of the Modern State: Sociological approaches.

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Prospects for Radical Politics and Communist Parties in Canada, USA and Mexico (including the Chiapas Revolt see NAFTA and Chiapas Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1997. Vol 550, p. 72)

V REALITY TV and GOFFMAN:

Read The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman (1959), and write paper applying concepts to the current television show Desperate Housewives. You may need more data from other TV shows. All those makeover shows, including the ones about houses, have a Goffmanesque premise and all speak to the underlying values of society and connections of identity to values and situation. Note also, how in a society which allows mobility, the many situations where Presentation of Self to an audience occurs, including dating, and job applications. Note also, the prevalence of manipulated reality in spin via controlling the media by corporations and governments, and interpersonal level, of con-artistry. Have you ever seen a bumper sticker on a smaller, older, car, a beater, reading: My Other Car Is A _____?
Goffman sees social interaction as analogous to the theater. His theoretical perspective is often referred to as a dramaturgical approach. As actors we project images of ourselves to our audiences and construct images of others from their performances. We are always moving from one "stage" to another and trying to create favorable impressions. Goffman says that we are who we present ourselves to be. The "masks" we wear do not hide us, they are a part of us.

To ground yourself, also look at current criticism/reviews from critics and journalists. As you read and write consider these questions:

What is the difference between a sincere and a cynical performer? What does he mean by the terms "frontstage" and "backstage"? In what ways does behavior differ in the two regions? Are these concepts valid for individual performances as well as team performances? What is "impression management"? What are some ways that we try to manage the impression we are making? Aside from our behavior, what are some other things that help to create an impression? Explain how "mystification" and "social distance" play a part in impression management. What does Goffman mean by "maintaining a line"? According to Goffman does the audience play a supporting role in an individual's attempt to manage his or her impression? If so, how? What are some things that may cause a performance to "breakdown"? Give an example of how an actor or actors might use "scenery" or "props" to create a particular impression. Goffman discusses something he calls "discrepant roles." What are some of these? Give some examples. Does Goffman ignore issues relating to social class? Can you see his approach being used along with a class perspective? If so, give examples.

Do you think his approach can be a good one for studying social inequality as between the genders? What are the elements of functionalism in Goffman's approach: specify how Goffman's analysis similar to Durkheim (or to any other sociologists you've studied)