Author Meets Critic

This class format is similar to the author meets critic sessions that are popular at professional meetings.  Two or three people from our class will play the role of the authors.  Their job is to defend the work we read for the day and answer questions about it.  The rest of the class will be critics.  At most professional meetings in sociology, the critics provide lots of praise and a little bit of critique.  In our class, the critics should challenge the authors more openly and critique their work more thoroughly.  Nevertheless, the critics should also identify things they liked about the readings and ask the authors to talk about those points as well.  Authors and critics will be assigned ahead of time so they can prepare for class.

Research Day

On research days, everyone will type a research question about stratification that is inspired by something we have read.  Then, as a class, we will pick one question (perhaps modify it) and develop a research plan to answer it.  In particular, we will develop hypotheses, describe how we will collect data, and describe what kinds of results would support our hypotheses.

Seminar

On these days, 2-3 members of the class (or I when the day is marked with an asterisk) will lead a discussion that is designed to clarify, synthesize, or extend the readings for the day.  I strongly encourage the people organizing these seminars to provide the class with questions to guide them as they prepare for class.

Application Day

It is sometimes easy to leave academic insights behind when we leave the classroom. On application days, we will do our best to live sociologically inspired lives.  In groups of 3-4 (or sometimes alone), we will  select a piece of music, a TV show, a newspaper article etc. that is related to the readings and develop a presentation that shows how ideas from the readings can help us understand the world in new ways.  Groups will be assigned ahead of time.

Capital by Karl Marx: $11.53

Economy and Society by Max Weber: $38.15

Realizing that the French fries you are eating are a product of capitalist exploitation and bureaucratic efficiency: priceless.

Thematic Session

In preparation for thematic sessions, we will pick one topic (e.g., UGA, segregation in Athens) and then ask members of our class to consider independently what a particular theorist might say about that topic.  Everyone will think about the same topic, but some people may be thinking about different theorists.  We will understand the theorists better by comparing different people's interpretation of the same theorist and in some cases by comparing how different theorists would think about the same topic.