The first detail I want to point out is that even though we are comparing a woman teaching sociology to a man teaching sociology, I will say that I believe it is more so the method of teaching rather than if the professor is a male or female. With that said, the first thing I noticed is she has a very soft voice. It is not that she is hard to understand but rather has the voice that makes you comfortable and a bit sleepy. Not from being boring just has a soft “mother story time” voice. Then she starts off the class right away with a serious social issue (homelessness) and asks a question to get your mind going. It also grabs your attention which challenges the soft “mother story time” voice. During the lecture, she also includes a PowerPoint with many pictures to help explain what she is teaching. I find that extremely helpful along with putting pictures of the authors she is talking about, that way you can put a face with a name. She also doesn’t “teach PowerPoint” she uses some of her own personal experiences while she is teaching to make what she is saying more relatable. While she has a PowerPoint, she reads only some of the information given to keep track of where they are in the lecture so that lets me know she is organized and seems to like it that way. Although she doesn’t seem to interact with the class very much, she keeps it interesting by laughing, smiling, being pleasant, and hand gestures but doesn’t engage the class in discussion which I feel is a very important tool for learning and retaining information. But by not doing so she covers a lot of information in 34 minutes. Whether or not it is a male or female teaching the class I feel like there are different ways to keep the attention of your students, how much information they retain depends on how they learn and how you teach. -Slimjim789
By my observations she goes over the main points of what is sociology? She goes into great detail how to see a social perspective. She then goes to the founders and their sociological perspectives. I will agree her voice did make me nod off a few times but i did find it easier to understand the information given. I don't think there is a difference between a man or a woman teaching sociology or any other course, other then tone or gender. The same information is being displayed. In high school my favorite classes where sociology and psychology taught by a woman. Not because I had a female teacher did I love it. I loved it because I understood it and i didn't feel ashamed to let her know I still don't understand instead she gave me compassion and understanding. Not saying male professors lack compassion or understand they are more likely to be straight forward facts over emotions.
I agree with everything you stated beside the gender of the teacher. Now you are right both a male and a female teacher can get the same point across. However, a male teacher may appeal to male students and a female teacher to females, or vise versa. The main thing would be real world applications, a male teacher may have a completely different outlook on the world than a female teacher. The in class examples they use could be different based solely on gender. You mention mother story time, I regularly see female teachers able to display large amounts of information out in a short time, while male teachers tend to deviate sometimes and start to tell stories and make jokes. It’s all in how you look at it but gender definitely has something to do with it.
I agree as well on how the voices of the different individuals teaching may appeal more to the learning styles of different individuals. I, however, would rather listen to a male voice when being taught. Men are typically louder, and it honestly keeps me more interested and awake. If I have to listen to a softer voice, I feel like it relaxes me too much and I start to get tired and bored. I also believe that men usually get to the point and women tend to beat around the bush when explaining things to soften the message. MommaJ789
I feel like Dr. Peek’s tendency to stick behind the podium, along with not including her listeners with the lecture, would start to bore me. With her pleasant voice, I probably would find myself dozing off in her class too. I admit that her energy and excitement would have my attention most of the time, but without something new, my focus would wander. But I also feel like her gender doesn’t really impact her teaching in a large way, but of course it still has a role in making up her personality. I believe a person’s upbringing and background have a bigger role in her teaching style and attitude (in regard to race, economical background, etc.). Papyrus789
So the topic of video is what is sociology? We all know sociology is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. Then she goes into how to see a social perspective which I find just fascinating. As your walking through a huge crowd to get somewhere you find yourself wondering where is that person going, by the way they are dressed or their belongings we begin to think. They are going to an interview or they are running late ( by the worried expression on their face). Lets just say you walked into a building high enough when you look out the window all you see if colors and patterns. You then see things going together. How the cabs are around or how the people walk together like a pack. I just find that amazing when looking into a sociologists point of view. She then gets into a big subject into today society homelessness. As for me when I see someone that is homeless i often feel bad and before I always gave them money. Clearly they need food, their only homeless because they can't get a job. Right? Sadly not always the case sometimes its due to drugs or mental illness. Some people are even homeless because they have no family to help them threw there hard times. Normally when we see someone homeless we either think they did it to them selves or you feel sorry for them. One time in Louisiana i stepped out of a cafe a woman approached me saying she was homeless and needed a few dollars to spare for food. I knew up in Illinois if you were homeless you could receive food stamps to help you be able to eat. I didn't know if Louisiana was the same so i gave her 5 dollars. I followed the lady just a few blocks too see if she was indeed getting food and sadly I watched her walk into a liquor store n walk out with a few beers. I was very disappointed, but does that mean every homeless person is the same? No, I've met war veterans that were homeless I've met people with degrees that have had to stay at shelters. Sociology to me is the why behind it all to look at the big picture. -Gander789
I also really enjoyed the social situations she used, such as the streets of New York and getting a drink with friends at a bar. It was very easy to picture in my mind and relate to what she was teaching with it. It made it easy to understand the material. Along with that, I am glad she also had a comedic edge! Teachers who take a more monotone, serious approach can barely hold my attention. I also feel bad when I see a homeless person. I actually give food when I give for that reason exactly. In Peoria, my mother and I went to Burger King and got a man a meal and gloves and he was very appreciative. Catzfuhdays789
This was great feed back, As I read your statement on how Dr. Peek gave a great amount of information on social perspective I found it interesting as well because she could tell the story making clear points vs if I read it I could have been confused trying to picture it. She also did a great job at explaining the founders and where there perspective stood with each other. When Dr. Peek went into the subject of homelessness, I often thought your way and looked at them and felt sorry. But as I've gotten out to the real world I have learned that every homeless person has their own story and yes I feel bad for some but there's also a good portion that don't make me feel bad as I've seen them give me a story that wasn't true. I know that not every homeless person is the same so therefore if I have the extra money on my person or a helping hand at that time, I will still continue to give as its usually appreciated by someone. unknownzeeha789
It is always interesting to look at the bigger picture like you said in your post. I like how you put in the example of walking in New York in there because honestly it was a good way to look at things. Another way I looked at it is if you are driving down the interstate and people are passing you all I can think is if the people are in a hurry and where they are going. If you were to stand on a overpass and watched the cars from the distance you would notice more of the care interchanging lanes and the way they are all just flowing together and not crashing together. It is sad the lady went and got beers because to some people that could be the last straw and they would never help out another homeless person again when like you said not all homeless people are like that, some really want to get the help they just may not know where the resources are to get it. EPIC789
I enjoyed how she used pictures to go along with her notes to give an idea or picture of what she is trying to demonstrate. This really helped those students who are visual learners, and her tone was very calm and enthusiastic in its own way. I really enjoyed the video, although it had more similarities than differences but it was great. Ria789
After watching the video, I noticed more similarities than differences. Both teachers taught the same material, noting the same people, such as Compte, and definitions. Her method of delivery was more anecdotal and off of the powerpoint. She related a lot of situations to the real world, such as the busy streets of New York and brought it back to the same story to relate parts of her teachings. Both teachers also had a comedic edge. When talking about schoolwork and class lectures, exciting is not the word that comes to the front of your mind, but both teachers found a way to add levity to the class with funny stories, comparisons or pictures. She showed a picture of a very confused looking cat in one of her slides, prompting laughter from both me and the students in the video. Along the same line, both teachers involved the class, whether it was just to reflect on an idea, such as she did with homelessness, or tying students’ lives to the presentation. For example, she mentioned that she heard a student say they were from New York, which fit in to the conversation. Mr. White asked about his students’ backgrounds and told a little bit about the differences of expectation among the many different areas of the world. Teachers, male or female, have different teaching methods and adding a different gender in the video allows for a different perspective. Her tone was very soft and inviting, similar to an audiobook recording. She also brought up a lot of social anecdotes to tie her teaching to, such as her story about getting a cocktail with friends and the confusion of how to truly explain sociology. She also taught a little more with lecture than with PowerPoint. The titles and main points of the discussion were shown, but the rest was mainly by lecture and anecdotes. More detailed powerpoints help me learn more by outlining the main points I should be noting, though. In all, gender is just one thing that can change a perspective and the actual material is what is important, which was pretty similar between the two. Catzfuhdays789
I agree! The way the class is taught is the most important. The information brought to you in a lecture by the teacher not if the teacher is male or female. It simply depends on the method of teaching. The picture entered to the PowerPoint made the lecture more interesting because it induced laughter. And yes, the way she used comparison to the streets of New York gave you a better idea of how she was trying to explain what Sociology really is. Then using the aerial view to get the point across was a clever idea. It helped me understand Sociology a little better. However, I do wish she engaged the class more. For video purposes, I can see how that wouldn’t be very effective because you can’t talk back but if I were sitting there in the class it would have kept my attention more. I like that you need the detailed PowerPoint too! So do I! I like to have the main points there but I also like to take my own notes too while listening to the lecture I can add to my notes details that the professor gives from personal experience. Slimjim789
In this video she explains sociology in the simplest form than what I'm use to hearing. She simply says sociology is the study of life, the human life or the study of society vs sociology is the systematic study of human behavior with social interaction, social institution, and society. And its not that I don't get that, its more of I'm a simple person and just need to hear it in the simplest form at times because sociology is everything in life. Dr. Peek defines sociological perspective by comparing it to New York and the experience of walking in the city and the encounters we would have with random people. While meeting those people or just seeing those people we often judge others just by their looks and what we imagine other people are about. In one of Dr. Peek's experiments on the homeless she is completely right. We would often pass some that is homeless and assume that they would be from broken families, drug addictions, etc. She states we would have to look at the history, biography and social structure to get a better understanding. We have to question the homeless rates, child homelessness when it comes to children and start understanding our social economic and political structure to help better understand. But, what Mills would say is that would just need to pay attention to our history, biography and social structure and he gives a quote that is on point saying " when a city of 100,000, only one man is unemployed that is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look at the character of the man, his skills, and his immediate opportunities. But when a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is an issue and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual." He did a great job summing his idea up in a quote. I learned that Marx, Weber and Dirkheim are larger considered our big three founding fathers in sociology. They are the foundational thinkers and well known. Durheim was a French Sociologist, that had patterened ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any individual but tat exert social control over each person. Marx was a German Economist and Philosopher, which unlike Durkheim he believed that it was the economic conflict between the capitalist class and the working class that would lead to social change. Weber was a German Social Scientist and he believed that rational bureaucracy was the most significant factor in determining the social relationships between people in industrialized societies. I also learned the functionalist theoretical approach which is considered a macro and is parts that work together to maintain stability within society. As well as conflict approach is a macro too and deals with society being characterized by social inequality. Symbolic interactionist is included in this approach which is a micro and is the sum of interactions of people and groups. It deals with behavior that is learned in interactions with other people and can dictate how they behave. Dr. Peek mentions a George Herbert Mead which is an American philosopher, psychologist and sociologist. He explains the "I' and "me" which "I" is active, spontaneous and creative while "me" is attitudes and demands of others and the awareness of those demands. Meso or mid-range theoretical explains where sociology is today is where the discipline is standing as well. I agree with that we are diverse when it comes to society, you have to do a lot of studying on people because the world is constantly changing. I enjoyed this video as she was a great speaker when it came to keeping it simple. She used great examples that made it clear to what she was talking about. unknownzeeha789
After watching the lecture of Loki, I can only say "WOW". She spoke fast but clearly the overview information of what is sociology?
I got the similar lecture given in my first day of sociology class with a male professor. I can say they both were great and similar in the information about sociology but different in the way they explain it and interact with the audiences. I'm the type of reading learner so I like the way she used power point with pictures on it. Although she speaks a little fast, I can catch up on by using caption and pause the video. May be because of the time limit and recording, Dr. Loki seems a little nervous but she managed the good lecture overall.
Because it was very easy to understand, so that why I like the example of New York street that Dr. Loki gave to describe the basic view of sociology that system of human behavior pattern and the example of my professor used in class of how many people have job to compare the issue of society and individual problem. She used an example of homelessness that was similar to the example of my professor used about population density in Africa countries which both show what are some of the factors that contribute to those issue like the biography of individual, history, economic, and policies of the place.
And one really surprised me that when Dr. Loki show the subs section of sociology. I never know that sociology was so wide and diver. There are 52 subs sections! And sociologist can spend their whole career concentrate on one of them. So, my professor was right when he said that sociology is everything we do on the daily basis and the sociology book only touch the surface of it. And sociology is the cross course of every other course, according to Dr. Loki and my professor, I found some of similar in my communicate class like social norms, my psychology class like human behavior and more. Subjects that my professor not yet cover were about the fathers of sociology and level of analysis. I'm pretty much feeling excited about my 2nd day of sociology class.
I am a visual learner also and I do find that writing it down and reading it later helps me, too. I had to pause the video at times so that I could catch up with my notes, but other than that the video and the way she spoke was simple and very educational. I notice I retain quite a bit more information when I have a good teacher that knows how to present material to different types of learners all at once. I enjoy when the professor connects with their students on a personal level to help them best understand the material by using past experiences and Dr. Peek didn’t do much of that. I’ve had teachers that just stand up at the front of the class and just read from their power point slides, and it does make it hard to follow along because it becomes boring. She did a really good job of keeping the students attentions, but I really do enjoy my professor and wish there were more out there that taught like him. MelRich895
You right! I totally agreed with you. The information will affect me more if the professor used more of images, examples from their past experiences, and some funny jokes. Those will help me a lot for understanding and remember the information. After watching the video, I may not remember all of the information except the ones which I have strong impressions such as the New York street examples, the quote, and the subs section. I like her smooth voice and the ways she changes her pacing. But her lecture can be better if she can interact more with students like walking around. But overall, she did a great job for introducing to us about sociology.
Dr. Lori Peek spoke smoothly and simply enough so that those who were either in her class or who would be watching the video later on would be able to keep up with her pace of teaching. She touched base on some major points that I remember my professor speaking about, like homelessness and she asked the class to think of ways they believed those people became homeless, but it didn’t feel as effective to me because the class was never truly involved. I noticed, unlike my professor, she was very straight to the point and always stuck to her topic that she was presenting to the class. There weren’t any personal stories she told to help connect our thoughts to the material and or to help personalize her teachings, but there were plenty of diagrams and pictures to help us visualize how all the scientist and sociological founders helped create sociology and how all their opinions and visions came together to make the systematic study of human behavior, social interaction, social institutions, and society. All I noticed to keep our attentions to the screen and to what she was teaching, was some pictures in power points to help connect our thoughts visually, but did not use personal attentions getters as I have witnessed with my professor. The presentation was truly interesting and because of the simplicity of the presentation I learned increasingly more about sociology in just thirty-four minutes. It was not as interesting as my experience in the classroom with my professor, because he not only stuck to the points of his presentation he adds in the flare of humor and real-life incidences to help us better understand what he is trying to teach. He was able to keep the whole class’s attention on what he was presenting because we were able to connect to him since he told us about his background. I really did enjoy watching Dr. Lori Peek teach sociology with such ease, but I wish there was more attention getters or personal ties to her teachings to help those more understand on a personal level how sociology connects to them and to help capture the attention of the students and to keep their attention. MelRich895
Ever since the first day of class I keep finding myself thinking more and more about why people do the things they do and what could possibly influence it. One thing that really stood out to me was when homeless people were brought up. I never really stopped to think about all of the possibilities of why they might be homeless, usually I just assume they lost their job when really there could be so much more to it. It is always interesting how the first thing we do when we see a homeless person is give them money, while they do appreciate the money maybe they want more than that. Everyone needs someone to listen to them when they are in need so maybe if we just stopped and gave them a listening ear it could point them in the right direction of what they really need. Also in the video, she talked about actually walking on the streets in New York vs being on the top floor of a building looking out at the streets. This was interesting to put yourself in that point of view, because like she said when we see people we are automatically thinking they are in a hurry or they are having a day off. When you are on top of the building you are focusing more on how the whole picture is going, like the cars going or all the people stopping before crossing the street. She talked about functionalist in the video, which for me is how I look at things a lot. The example she used was that they look at it like a bicycle and try to understand how all of the parts are moving together to keep it going. Personally I learned more in class because of the way the material was taught, the way our professor broke things down and the examples he gave helped me understand more. EPIC789
In this video about “what is sociology”, Dr. Lori Peek defines sociology as the “systematic study of society, and the sociological perspective as one that analyzes patterns of individual experience. Instead of giving the basic simple difinition, she gives a much more in depeths difinition for everyone to understand what sociology is. The Thursday lesson was really similar to the video lesson, but the video lesson had more visuals so it was kinda easy to understand what Dr. Peek was talking about rather than just having words on the powerpoint. Both lectures have more similarities rather than differences, there are a few differences such as gender, the way the information is presented, voice tone and the presentation itself. The male speaker I would say had more energy than the female speaker in terms of tone because the female had a soft tone and her tone was very relaxing on the other hand the male speaker had an enthusiastic voice and had a lot of jokes to go with his lesson which kept the audience ingaged and also grabbed their attention. Dr. Peeks talks about the big three, meaning the three major people who played a big role in sociology. The people are the foundation thinkers as she calls them, Comte, Marx, Weber and Durkheim. They all had a different contribution towards sociology. She also touches a little bit about what sociologists do, I remember our professor talked about it a little in class. Not only does she talk about the role of a sociologist, she talks about the differences between quantitative and qualitative data gathering and analysis and also highlights important sociological concepts, including structure and agency, social stratification and inequality. Ria789
To start off with, I noticed both similarities and differences in both teachers. To start off with there was no real difference in gender however that does not mean there could be with other teachers. For instance a male teacher could have a completely different way of seeing things than a woman. If a male teacher wanted to use a childhood story as an example in class, more than likely it would not include going to the hair salon and getting his nails done. Same goes for a woman teacher. The teacher in the video used many examples to get her point across like the homeless example. However, she did not use many personal examples like Professor White. He used examples of sitting in class in Miami coming straight from work. There was not a real personal feel to this professor in the video, but that could also be because she is talking to way more mature peers. They way she talked also was different. She did do a good job blowing over the general ideas and perspectives of sociology, however she seemed to talk fast and really lost interest in her students. As you can see many are on their phones or seem to not be paying attention. A different professor may stop on a certain topic and talk about it longer, with more examples to keep the attention focused in the room. Also I feel that more personal examples and stories help the listeners engage and relate more efficiently. Navajo789
When you say both teachers, are you referring to Dr. Lori Peek and the young lady who did the Sociological Paradigms video? Personally, I think that Dr. Peek gave her lecture, as a workshop, more of a general type of approach that didn’t necessarily need a personal experience of her own to be incorporated into her speech. Dr. White the other hand, is teaching a class, so personal experiences while adding humor to his class, also give us as a class the feeling that he is personally involved in what he is discussing. I totally agree with you that giving a personal touch to a lecture can make it more interesting and relatable, but all we know is that in the beginning, she referred to her lecture as a workshop. So it is kind of unclear as to whether or not this was an ongoing class or just a short term deal for those in attendance. - Thanos789
I absolutely agree with you how she did not use very many personal examples in the video. I didn’t feel nearly connected to this instructor as I did after hearing Dr. White speak. He spoke in examples that a broad majority of people can relate to. As he was talking I could see myself in his shoes and directly relate to him. I also agree that she almost breezed through the topic at hand. While I understand she might have a limited amount of time to get her subject across, she could have modified her lecture to include more examples of what was on the powerpoint and help students comprehend what she was saying. I feel like between our lecture in class and this lecture, I definitely understand the intro to Sociology better. - pmed789
Well the video does very good showing what make up sociology like there are multiples views like how everything in the society to how the economy set up. There tons of factors that make up sociology. Like there are three diverse types. And the descriptions of each one. What sociologist look at when they look at what led to it like being homeless they might look at the history of the prices of affordable housing. the founders of sociology like august comte put down the basic of sociology making paths for like weber, Marx, and Durkheim, what each talk about marx look more in the capitalist ideal to see what is going on in the economy. Durkheim talk about how people level which lead to write about things like suicide. How weber talk about more about labor is and bureaucracy. There wheir good picture that help explained that what is sociology like it is the studies every thing like how people think . there is two types sociology that is built the structured like agency those who believed that every one has the change how to viewpoints as people sees it . or structure , that is that everything is way it is so can not change how people view the world . there is tons ways to get information like through surveys. Multiple way that research can done like quantitative research is like numbers or qualitative research is the social relationship. She explained thing more in detail but while making seem like her prospestive of sociology. I learned that their tons relation to other social science like it be the topic for example global warming , there is a lot of in crimel justice that have something to do with sociology. She talked about what is basically is s sociology and what made is up. Gamer789
Obvious differences like the instructor is a woman aside, there are a couple key differences between our instructor and this one. The main difference that I noticed is the tone of voice. While she isn’t quite monotone in speaking, she speaks with a lot less enthusiasm than our instructor. Dr. White has a style that could probably keep a majority of people interested with his highs, lows and tonal changes. She doesn’t seem to be nearly as engaging as our instructor as well. Another big difference is that she is teaching mainly from the powerpoint. It is her main focus point. Dr. White does use powerpoint but does not center his lectures around it. By doing this, he can engage his audience and keep them interested in the material. Speaking of keeping them engaged, she really doesn’t ask questions of the audience to answer or elicit a response. Whereas our instructor did this at least 4-5 times during the first lecture. While she did expand her thoughts and experiences from the the powerpoints, she mainly kept her lecture on what was on the screen. This is not a bad thing, but for me it did not keep me interested very long. That’s not to say she was not a bad teacher. I learned a great deal from her lecture, just wasn’t the most exciting. The examples she used were basic and I did understand the material better after hearing her speak, they were different than some of the examples Dr. White used. She also uses no humor in her lecture. I feel like using humor is a way of endearing people to you. It shows that you are human and not a robot just spewing information to everyone and expecting them to absorb it instantly. Humor will absolutely keep people more interested in you and the information you are providing. Also for me, humor makes me look forward to attending class instead of just going and listening to someone talk off a power point presentation for 2-3 hours at a time. - pmed789
Personally, I feel as if Lori Peek did a great job. No, she wasn't as enthusiastic or humorous as Dr. White , but her knowledge really shined through. She squeezed a lot in, in only 30 minutes! It was concise yet thorough, and she made the information easy to retain. Her examples were the highlight for me, as they were abundant and fitting. Humor is a great way of endearing people, but I feel as if knowledge and truth trumps all. With that being said, I enjoy Dr. White's methods of teaching quite a lot so far. He is quite funny and engaging. Hopefully there continues to be a healthy balance of intellectual conversations and funny side comments. -QuinkThick789
I feel the same way. Yes, she did not have a monotone but lacked excitement. To be honest when I watched the video I was totally lost. Even though she was very knowledgeable, gave good examples and references she talked too fast I was unable to keep up. I loved the PowerPoints. I stopped and rewind the video multiple times to grasp a full understanding and to take more notes but unlike the classroom you can’t stop and rewind. My personal preference would be learning in a classroom setting especially if the teacher makes it fun but at the same time makes the material easy to understand. Granny789
In the video titled: What is sociology? Dr. Lori Peek brings in many different examples and gives context around sociology. She uses the example of being in a big crowd and walking around in it. Most people would look at another and start to make general stereotypes of that person. What they are wearing, what they are doing, and what they look like all add into our information to create that stereotype. She then goes into explaining that if you take a bird's eye view of that city that you begin to see patterns, and that's what sociologist try to do is find those patterns and see how the connect in with life. Does the same pattern for a small down apply in a large town? Patterns are apparent in everyday life. This morning most people completed the same pattern, Wake up, get out of bed, brush your teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, and head to school. Another way Dr. Lori Peek engages her class is by asking questions and trying to get her class thinking. However for me personally this class would make me bored and I would have a hard time paying attention. She tries to keep the class engaged but she stays behind the podium and is not creating a energy to keep the class awake and engaged. Personally I learn better when the teacher is walking around the room asking questions and making jokes. Not only does this help you stay awake in a class period but it also helps you remember what is taught by adding in other ways to help remember things. However, she did used hand gestures a lot to motion to the slides which helped me focus on the slides and read them to know what she was discussing. Personally, I enjoyed the energetic class rather than the lecture behind the desk. Cassiopia789
What is Sociology you ask?....well that answer can vary depending on whom you ask. Sociology is a systematic approach of society. Too some that may be seen as a vague question and perhaps still have you wondering, what is Sociology? An more in depth response, would be that Sociology looks at human behavior, social interactions, as well as social institutions, and society as a whole.
Durkheim, Weber, and Marx are the three founding fathers of Sociology. Durkheim was a functionalist who believed in social order. Marx on the other hand believed that the economic conflict between the capitalist(money class; as referenced in the video) and the working class would lead to social change. This particular conflict is noted through struggles over scarce resources it's even said to bring about powerlessness depending on economical status. Our third founding father, Weber, felt as though Sociology should be "value free." Mead has also help coin a different perspective of Sociology but on a much smaller, micro level, known as symbolic interactionism.
There are two types of social theories within Sociology, they are agency and social structure. Agency is more of a rational way of taking in information and making changes accordingly. While those with a more structural mindset tend to believe that one is born into a particular social, economical, political background, etc.. Depending on the the issue I can be either agency or structural in my thought process. Family, religion, and education falls under the social structure platform, while not wanting to sit outside in the summer/or being one with nature due to the increased amount of insects is more of an agency thought process for me. Which may change based on how much rain we receive that summer and/or consistent fluctuation in temperatures during summer months, possibly leading to less insects and more time outside for me.
I like how she referenced walking down a street in NYC and observing people/getting a perspective vs going up to the 14th floor and looking out on the same street. And now because you are at a different height your perspective has changed. That most definitely help me make the connection and it is examples like such that will help me both grow/flourish being able to walk away from this class having a much better understanding Sociology.
This is a very informative video explaining the basic fundamentals of sociologists, sociology, and its origin and main founders. I think it is an interesting concept comparing the general idea of sociology to going to the top of a building in New York City to look down on the city. Understanding sociology I absolutely agree that we would no longer see faces, clothing, or contours of anyone’s face. We would see patterns. From that high up, we would only see simple patterns of interaction and movement, such as how people stop at crosswalks, and when they move. Another great point made by Dr. Lori Peek is that sociological perspective can be referred to as simply imagination. As Dr. Peek stated, C. Wright Mills defined sociological perspective as a vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the broader or wider society in which individuals are embedded. Unfortunately for me, this doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me because nothing is included about human interaction. Maybe I just don’t understand what he meant by that definition. I think that bringing up homelessness as an example of how to understand the influence of sociological perspective is an excellent idea. There are all kinds of different people that are homeless, each with a different reason for being homeless, which means there are almost infinite scenarios that can be explored while searching for this understanding. When Dr. Peek gave everyone in attendance just a bit to think about reasons people are homeless, she brought up some great examples, but I think that being out of work plays a part for many homeless people in our country. There are many veterans who just cannot find employment. As a vet myself, having been looking for work, I have come across many programs asking me if I am a homeless veteran, as I would then get priority with housing assistance as well as employment assistance. - Thanos789
I do agree with you about the video explaining basic fundaments of sociology. It is just quite interesting the fact that she explained that a sociological paradigm is based in the perception and belief of each sociologist what will lead their research. This had me thinking, well than how do we know who is right and who is wrong about sociology. Well I think we all have created a pattern of society that continues changing is form and its behavior just like technology may take our jobs just like the example she gave about the truck drivers loosing their job against automated driving trucks. Koi789
In this video Dr. Peek discusses what sociology is. She goes on to say how it is the study of society or the study of human behavior or life. Dr. Peek talks about social perspective and one of the examples that she used was picturing yourself in a big crowd. While you’re walking in this big crowd you are probably wondering what the people around you have going on, for example by looking at the person appearance or facial expression you would be able to tell if the person is in a rush or if they are out shopping or on their way to work. She then asks her class to think about how people become homeless. When most people see homeless people, they assume they are the reason they have nowhere to live. That’s just everyone judging though or just believing stereotypes that every homeless person is either on drugs or an acholic. What I got out of that example is that you should try to look at the situation in a distinct perspective and not just look up to the stereotypes. I feel that Dr. Peek discussed the material good and I understood everything she was teaching, but one thing that could be different is being more active with the class and including them in the discussions. Class discussion could make the material easier to understand. I did like how she had the PowerPoints to follow along with, writing stuff down always helps me with learning things. Crown789
The examples she used helped me understand a broad overview of the introduction to sociology, but I don’t think long term I would be able to keep up with her. Her pace was quick, and that is probably due to this being a workshop environment instead of a classroom. It’s not to say I’m a slow learner, but I rely on teachers to expand the material with their own input and experiences. Those experiences will allow students to relate to them and retain the knowledge once applied to real life examples. I also like that she used powerpoints, but she heavily relied on them. At times she would mainly read from them and then move on. That kind of teaching isn’t really teaching, it’s repeating. Overall I did learn quite a bit and her lecture really helped reinforce what we learned the first night of class and what I read in the textbook so far. - pmed789
I enjoyed Lori’s statements about answering the question “What is sociology?” It really is so simple, yet insanely complex. It’s the study of society. The quote from Kai T. Erikson was a great way to kick off the lecture. It shows that sociologists look out at the world with many perspectives. Like examining individuals in NYC, making assumptions about each person. Then climbing up to the top of a skyscraper, and examining the patterns of the bigger picture. The quote from C. Wright Mills resonated with me. “Vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society.” Once we realize that we are one with everything, society can be easier understood. I really enjoyed the part about homelessness and I feel as if Lori presented that well. I’ve always thought about the the personal perspective and the political structures affect on individuals. It’s one of the most troubling social conflicts and I feel as if it is a societal problem more than a personal problem in most cases.
I’d be interested in learning more about Durkheim's writings. It seems like he was very interested in finding out why societal norms and conflicts have came about. These are the things that I am also curious about. I’m also interested in Max Weber's work. He seems like a free thinker (something that strikes a chord with me.) I agree that bureaucracies are dangerous. The systematic nature of things bothers me personally, and it seems Weber has been bothered too. Mead was much more interested in examining the micro level norms that influence our everyday lives. The “I” vs. “Me” is incredibly revealing about society. We all have the self that is free thinking with free will. But we also have the “me” who fits in to norms and molds society. I hope Dr. White touches more on this. -QuinkThick789
Asking the question “what is sociology”? Makes you say hmm. Sociology is the study of human life or society. Sociology is not definable because of its broadness. Even though sociology is defined as the systematic study of human society we need to understand general patterns in the behavior of people and how society impacts those individual lives by using the sociological perspective. The sociological perspective is a point of view that sociologist sees general patterns of society in the everyday life of certain people. The sociological perspective helps sociologist to use basic common sense, understand opportunities and limitations in our own lives, encourages us to become more active in society, and helps us live in a diverse world. Sociologists uses theory to interpret observations and to find understanding by practicing one or all three theoretical approaches. There is the structural-function theory, which looks at social structure and social functions. The social-conflict theory, which includes gender conflict and race conflict. These two approaches focus on the macro level. The symbolic-interaction theory focuses on the micro level believing that society is the result of daily interactions amongst individuals. The lesson taught in a classroom by a male professor compared to the lesson taught by an online lecture given by a female professor I obtained the same concept. The materials and information were the similar, however, the approach was different. I always believed that sociology was a boring class, which consisted of listening to lectures by a teacher who has this monotone voice. My first class was nothing what I had expected. I was very intrigued by the male professor, but not because of his gender. I was fascinated more by his race and background. In my life experiences, I rarely see Black African-American males that has a higher education, a successful job, and is family oriented. He was also pleasant and funny. However, I was unable to take good notes in the classroom. Watching the video online I could pause and rewind to get a better understanding and to take notes. I still read and studied the first chapter and took additional notes. For me it did not matter where the teaching was taking place or the gender of the teacher. Granny789
I agree with the broadness and complex nature of sociology makes it difficult to define. It was also interesting to me that two different professors were able to get the same message across but still bringing their own personal style to the lecture. This is my second time taking this Sociology course. I took it the first time online and realized very quickly that it wasn't a good fit for me and that I was missing the lecture component. I definately came into this class with less than a positive attitude because of my online experience. However during the first class period I realized that Sociology is actually very interesting and that I will be successful in this course. I was shocked to see an African American male instructor and I have to be honest that I was unsure what to expect. I know that there is nothing specific to be unsure about, I guess it's just the idea that this isn't the norm. We are worried / unsure about the unfamiliar. I found it difficult to keep up with what is important during lecture. I will be using the powerpoint during the next class period to see if this assists me.
Sociology Explained using a Different Lense ... Your thoughts?
In regards to professor Lori Peck. I noticed that her teaching style was different than my professor Anthony White. The obivous differences is that she is a caucasian middle aged woman and my professor is a african american middle aged man. The experience that they both bring to Sociology is probably very different. She did a visual powerpoint however, it was a mixture of words and pictures. I personally find this helpful because I am a visual learner. It allows to me to hear what she is explaining and relate a picture to topic. She stayed in the center of the classroom and used her laptop and clicker to navigate through the lecture. I would get restless and become unengaged with this teaching style. Unlike like my professor who moves around freely and engages us in conversation thoughout the class period. I am definately more receptive to this style of teaching. Her explanation of the Sociologist Perspective of Kai T. Erickson really caught my attention. Relating this example to myself I definately see society from the ground view. Erickson would say find the highest building and view the city from above. In this example you will not see the details that you see on the ground level. You will see patterns in people moving through their day or a common color of vehicles. The ground view and the looking from above view both make sense and have different outcomes of information to provide. The most interesting part of the lecture for me was when she presented the following question: List factors as to why a person becomes homeless. Here are the reasons that I came up with; drugs and or alcohol addiction, mental disorder, parents are homeless, and loss their job. Then she proceeded to explain that the United States tends to lean towards to the individualistic side of things. I didn't realize that I was only looking at the individual. I learned that my ideas are not incorrect, they are just looking directly at the person as the problem. Additional things to consider: The history of homelessness in the United States, when has it been high and low in the past and what was occuring in our society at that time. The average age of a homeless child is 9 years old in Peoria, IL according to the United Way. It leaves me with the following: What is causing the rise in homeless children?
I would say that teaching is not necessarily different just because of the gender of the individual instructor. There are many different factors associated with how facts and opinions are portrayed and taken in by students. This professor has a softer voice than what most men would have and even if she said the exact same words, the message could be taken differently. She tends to stand behind the podium as she teaches. This may bore some individuals and they may not intentional day dream, but they may start thinking of other things because she isn’t keeping their interest. If another person was teaching the same information, but walked around the classroom engaging the different students and including them in the discussion, some students may learn more from this style of teaching. She does smile and change up her voice a bit, which helps, but she still stationary. I tend to learn more when I am included in the information. I would prefer this over someone just standing up in front of the room lecturing and basically just stating a bunch of information. I like to be asked questions and opinions on the topic that we are learning about in the lecture. MommaJ789
I would say that teaching is not necessarily different just because of the gender of the individual instructor. There are many different factors associated with how facts and opinions are portrayed and taken in by students. This professor has a softer voice than what most men would have and even if she said the exact same words, the message could be taken differently. She tends to stand behind the podium as she teaches. This may bore some individuals and they may not intentional day dream, but they may start thinking of other things because she isn’t keeping their interest. If another person was teaching the same information, but walked around the classroom engaging the different students and including them in the discussion, some students may learn more from this style of teaching. She does smile and change up her voice a bit, which helps, but she still stationary. I tend to learn more when I am included in the information. I would prefer this over someone just standing up in front of the room lecturing and basically just stating a bunch of information. I like to be asked questions and opinions on the topic that we are learning about in the lecture. MommaJ789
When I started watching this, I did like that she says, “sociology is sometimes hard to explain because it is everything” and by just having one sociology class I get what she means. Being that this is a women professor while watching is didn’t have to think of like how is she better that a man or how is a man better than her. I was looking at the teaching. yes, I did think it way somehow easier for me personally to relate to the examples she is using, it was either for me to put myself in those situations. I did like how she used more picture than just being the teacher that flips through slides with me being a more visual learning I did appreciate that. I like how she did use being homeless from as an example from one of the past sociologist, because it is true we do seem them and assume all these things a lot them without actually knowing what got them into that situation, even though Mills is right when we need to take all factor before assuming what got them there. Dr. Peek was very enjoyable to watch she seems to be really be into sociology with a lot of good examples. She did bring up at one point the things in society that influence which we have so many and some can cause conflict in our life. Even though the video was great and informative one thing that personally didn’t work well with me is that she does work at a fast pace, to me personally at some point it did all kind of seem like a huge run on sentence I was at points confused to if she had just moved on to a new topic or still on the same topic. The visual aids did help but if it was not for that I probably would have been confused through it all Vct789
I like how she started the video out that many times the answer to what sociology is depends on who you are asking and who you are talking to. And I also realized that you can't just put what sociology is into a box because it's truly a perspective and not necessarily hardcore evidence like physics is. Instead it's a perspective and anybody can have a different answer to the same question and it can all be still right because there doesn't have to be hard evidence because society doesn't give you hard evidence all the time. But we all have a sociological perspective even if we don't see it and we might not think of it like that but because we all experience life and we experience society we develop one and just in conversations we use it. And I liked her example of how we make stories for people when walking which is something I do and that you would have to study patterns of people instead of like individuals. Sociology is more of the study of the world and the people in it and not the individual and sociologists are studying this as a broad subject and that they want to understand how the world works and why it works a certain way and when it doesn't function like that what happened to cause that change in it. And this helped me to understand how important sociologist are to our world because they give us an inside look on how society operated and gives us and easier way to navigate through it and communicate with people because they delve deeper into the world and see it on a global scale. And without them we wouldn't know how the world works and why it works like that and how it works like that which I think would make it hard to live and communicate because you don't know how your society is working and when you don't know how your society is working it typically begins to fail because the people in it don't know how to function and live in it which you can see happens in some societies. But also with the video the way she spoke with excitement helped me to get excited about it and she also really broke down what she was saying and the visual aids helped me out a lot to see the main ideals of what she was saying and to understand and think about it. She really gave me a unique perspective on sociology because she used examples of things we truly do everyday so she put the known with the unknown to help people to understand and it really did make it simpler to understand and grasp the concepts that she was teaching but she also did it from a sociologist's stand point of view because that's what she is and so she had more insight into the subject then just a teacher and was able to tell you what they really do from a first hand experience of it and I thought that was unique because a lot of the things she said I didn't know was what a sociologist did. Buttercup789
While watching this lecture about what exactly is sociology, the first thing I noticed was that Doctor Lori Peek came across as a relatable and energized teacher. She used real world examples and analogies to help get her point across to her audience, using a simplistic PowerPoint that they would be able to remember. This personally made her quite effective in capturing my attention. She explained the sociological perspective well, to where I could easily understand how we can see the patterns and conditions that she showed in the example. Like how if we put our perspectives somewhere broader, like seeing the patterns of the forest instead of just looking at the tree, we would see how that environment is succeeding or failing. She made it obvious that Sociology really is about everything we do and the world around us. In her explanation on how we see homeless people, it made me realize how our assumptions impact how we treat others and how we see the world. Although humans are judgmental people, this reminds us to think about the causes behind the issues that we believe are individualistic, when they are the effect of that society or that environment. I don’t really believe that gender is a big role in how Dr. Peek views Sociology. Of course, gender is a significant role in how we are raised, and how it shapes the expectations that go along with a person’s gender. In comparison to my Professor’s lecture on Sociology, Dr. Peek didn’t use as many humorous, personal and relatable experiences to better help the students understand how sociology relates to them. While their genders are different, the fact that they are two unique people is the reason why their perspectives differ. If both were the same gender, the presentation and teaching method would have likely differed, on the account of their (racial, economical) backgrounds and experiences. Most importantly, her lecture helped me realize how big and diverse Sociology is, and why exactly its considered an important science.
I agree with you about that that contagious energy she has to talk about the subject, and her not complicated way of teaching about sociology. She really called my attention about what she talking about taking a consideration that she was only using plain photographic images she really made me feel like I was in new york doing some people watching with her. She was right on target when she mentioned that there is a lot assumed ideas about people as she mentioned the homeless and how it is assumed that they struggling with addictions or that they severally mentally ill, but that is the reality for all the homeless because they are different stories going on and not all of them follow within the same circumstances.
I really like her introduction of the video where she ask “what is society exactly” and she start describing it as a well functioning whole or several competing groups struggling for control or maybe just people doing their very own thing without being able to come with the right answer about the nature of society out of the three models that she has provided. Society as well oiled machine, as group of competing interests, and people interacting with each other. The three models provided in the video are all important to observe and try to understand a little bit more about social behavior based on different perspectives essentially leading to pattern of discipline. Sociological Theoretical Paradigms which are based on fundamental assumptions of sociologists about the world of sociology being these assumptions the ones who lead their research and thinking about sociology. These types of behavior leads to many assumptions provided these paradigms in instead of just empirical reality. However the logical assumptions are going to be made to understand the way society works in a macro or a micro level. Social structures has the assumption of well organized functioning society created by behavior and interactions with other individuals while going to schools and other types social dysfunctions to understand the meaning of social behavior like a waving hand by itself is just a movement but the sociological inference is taken as a waving hand just to say hello or at least assumed that this is the meaning of the waving hand because we recognize this as being the meaning of waving hand. I personally find these video very interesting because it has opened up my perception of social interaction in a different level by a little bit more understand of constructive paradigms and behaviors that can create a norm or behavioral pattern with in society. Koi789
Dr.Lori peek talks about the introduction to sociology focus, history, and approach of sociological inquiry. Defining sociology as the systematic study of society and the sociological perceptions of individual experiences. She has a really soft spoken and more detailed style to explain what Sociology is which makes it easier to understand and the different levels of understanding and perceiving the different levels of sociology. She has a quite interesting to keep interested about what she is talking about and the fact that she uses visual aid images she is not reading anything from the projector screen and is just using her spontaneity of speak to make a good presentation about what is sociology. I really liked when she gave her definition of sociology and stated that sociology is the science that study society I really liked that she than said that sociology has been among humans since way back and that it is was perceived in different levels. We are social, cultural and political and that defines the behavior of who we are and how we behave. I loved the people watching examples that she used from the picture of New York and the details that she was able to observe about every person within the crowd. Looking at the people from the top of a building she noted that she wasn't able to see the people in such great detail but she was able to observe all the patterns colors and structural behavior from a different perspective and using this examples to talk about the macro level of sociology and the micro level of sociology just using this two situations as an example. I personally enjoyed the video and how she captured my attention about what she was talking about. Koi789
The first detail I want to point out is that even though we are comparing a woman teaching sociology to a man teaching sociology, I will say that I believe it is more so the method of teaching rather than if the professor is a male or female. With that said, the first thing I noticed is she has a very soft voice. It is not that she is hard to understand but rather has the voice that makes you comfortable and a bit sleepy. Not from being boring just has a soft “mother story time” voice. Then she starts off the class right away with a serious social issue (homelessness) and asks a question to get your mind going. It also grabs your attention which challenges the soft “mother story time” voice. During the lecture, she also includes a PowerPoint with many pictures to help explain what she is teaching. I find that extremely helpful along with putting pictures of the authors she is talking about, that way you can put a face with a name. She also doesn’t “teach PowerPoint” she uses some of her own personal experiences while she is teaching to make what she is saying more relatable. While she has a PowerPoint, she reads only some of the information given to keep track of where they are in the lecture so that lets me know she is organized and seems to like it that way. Although she doesn’t seem to interact with the class very much, she keeps it interesting by laughing, smiling, being pleasant, and hand gestures but doesn’t engage the class in discussion which I feel is a very important tool for learning and retaining information. But by not doing so she covers a lot of information in 34 minutes. Whether or not it is a male or female teaching the class I feel like there are different ways to keep the attention of your students, how much information they retain depends on how they learn and how you teach.
ReplyDelete-Slimjim789
By my observations she goes over the main points of what is sociology? She goes into great detail how to see a social perspective. She then goes to the founders and their sociological perspectives. I will agree her voice did make me nod off a few times but i did find it easier to understand the information given. I don't think there is a difference between a man or a woman teaching sociology or any other course, other then tone or gender. The same information is being displayed. In high school my favorite classes where sociology and psychology taught by a woman. Not because I had a female teacher did I love it. I loved it because I understood it and i didn't feel ashamed to let her know I still don't understand instead she gave me compassion and understanding. Not saying male professors lack compassion or understand they are more likely to be straight forward facts over emotions.
DeleteI agree with everything you stated beside the gender of the teacher. Now you are right both a male and a female teacher can get the same point across. However, a male teacher may appeal to male students and a female teacher to females, or vise versa. The main thing would be real world applications, a male teacher may have a completely different outlook on the world than a female teacher. The in class examples they use could be different based solely on gender. You mention mother story time, I regularly see female teachers able to display large amounts of information out in a short time, while male teachers tend to deviate sometimes and start to tell stories and make jokes. It’s all in how you look at it but gender definitely has something to do with it.
DeleteNavajo789
DeleteI agree as well on how the voices of the different individuals teaching may appeal more to the learning styles of different individuals. I, however, would rather listen to a male voice when being taught. Men are typically louder, and it honestly keeps me more interested and awake. If I have to listen to a softer voice, I feel like it relaxes me too much and I start to get tired and bored. I also believe that men usually get to the point and women tend to beat around the bush when explaining things to soften the message. MommaJ789
DeleteI feel like Dr. Peek’s tendency to stick behind the podium, along with not including her listeners with the lecture, would start to bore me. With her pleasant voice, I probably would find myself dozing off in her class too. I admit that her energy and excitement would have my attention most of the time, but without something new, my focus would wander. But I also feel like her gender doesn’t really impact her teaching in a large way, but of course it still has a role in making up her personality. I believe a person’s upbringing and background have a bigger role in her teaching style and attitude (in regard to race, economical background, etc.).
DeletePapyrus789
So the topic of video is what is sociology? We all know sociology is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. Then she goes into how to see a social perspective which I find just fascinating. As your walking through a huge crowd to get somewhere you find yourself wondering where is that person going, by the way they are dressed or their belongings we begin to think. They are going to an interview or they are running late ( by the worried expression on their face). Lets just say you walked into a building high enough when you look out the window all you see if colors and patterns. You then see things going together. How the cabs are around or how the people walk together like a pack. I just find that amazing when looking into a sociologists point of view. She then gets into a big subject into today society homelessness. As for me when I see someone that is homeless i often feel bad and before I always gave them money. Clearly they need food, their only homeless because they can't get a job. Right? Sadly not always the case sometimes its due to drugs or mental illness. Some people are even homeless because they have no family to help them threw there hard times. Normally when we see someone homeless we either think they did it to them selves or you feel sorry for them. One time in Louisiana i stepped out of a cafe a woman approached me saying she was homeless and needed a few dollars to spare for food. I knew up in Illinois if you were homeless you could receive food stamps to help you be able to eat. I didn't know if Louisiana was the same so i gave her 5 dollars. I followed the lady just a few blocks too see if she was indeed getting food and sadly I watched her walk into a liquor store n walk out with a few beers. I was very disappointed, but does that mean every homeless person is the same? No, I've met war veterans that were homeless I've met people with degrees that have had to stay at shelters. Sociology to me is the why behind it all to look at the big picture. -Gander789
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed the social situations she used, such as the streets of New York and getting a drink with friends at a bar. It was very easy to picture in my mind and relate to what she was teaching with it. It made it easy to understand the material. Along with that, I am glad she also had a comedic edge! Teachers who take a more monotone, serious approach can barely hold my attention.
DeleteI also feel bad when I see a homeless person. I actually give food when I give for that reason exactly. In Peoria, my mother and I went to Burger King and got a man a meal and gloves and he was very appreciative.
Catzfuhdays789
This was great feed back, As I read your statement on how Dr. Peek gave a great amount of information on social perspective I found it interesting as well because she could tell the story making clear points vs if I read it I could have been confused trying to picture it. She also did a great job at explaining the founders and where there perspective stood with each other. When Dr. Peek went into the subject of homelessness, I often thought your way and looked at them and felt sorry. But as I've gotten out to the real world I have learned that every homeless person has their own story and yes I feel bad for some but there's also a good portion that don't make me feel bad as I've seen them give me a story that wasn't true. I know that not every homeless person is the same so therefore if I have the extra money on my person or a helping hand at that time, I will still continue to give as its usually appreciated by someone.
Deleteunknownzeeha789
It is always interesting to look at the bigger picture like you said in your post. I like how you put in the example of walking in New York in there because honestly it was a good way to look at things. Another way I looked at it is if you are driving down the interstate and people are passing you all I can think is if the people are in a hurry and where they are going. If you were to stand on a overpass and watched the cars from the distance you would notice more of the care interchanging lanes and the way they are all just flowing together and not crashing together. It is sad the lady went and got beers because to some people that could be the last straw and they would never help out another homeless person again when like you said not all homeless people are like that, some really want to get the help they just may not know where the resources are to get it. EPIC789
DeleteI enjoyed how she used pictures to go along with her notes to give an idea or picture of what she is trying to demonstrate. This really helped those students who are visual learners, and her tone was very calm and enthusiastic in its own way. I really enjoyed the video, although it had more similarities than differences but it was great.
DeleteRia789
After watching the video, I noticed more similarities than differences. Both teachers taught the same material, noting the same people, such as Compte, and definitions. Her method of delivery was more anecdotal and off of the powerpoint. She related a lot of situations to the real world, such as the busy streets of New York and brought it back to the same story to relate parts of her teachings. Both teachers also had a comedic edge. When talking about schoolwork and class lectures, exciting is not the word that comes to the front of your mind, but both teachers found a way to add levity to the class with funny stories, comparisons or pictures. She showed a picture of a very confused looking cat in one of her slides, prompting laughter from both me and the students in the video. Along the same line, both teachers involved the class, whether it was just to reflect on an idea, such as she did with homelessness, or tying students’ lives to the presentation. For example, she mentioned that she heard a student say they were from New York, which fit in to the conversation. Mr. White asked about his students’ backgrounds and told a little bit about the differences of expectation among the many different areas of the world.
ReplyDeleteTeachers, male or female, have different teaching methods and adding a different gender in the video allows for a different perspective. Her tone was very soft and inviting, similar to an audiobook recording. She also brought up a lot of social anecdotes to tie her teaching to, such as her story about getting a cocktail with friends and the confusion of how to truly explain sociology. She also taught a little more with lecture than with PowerPoint. The titles and main points of the discussion were shown, but the rest was mainly by lecture and anecdotes. More detailed powerpoints help me learn more by outlining the main points I should be noting, though. In all, gender is just one thing that can change a perspective and the actual material is what is important, which was pretty similar between the two. Catzfuhdays789
I agree! The way the class is taught is the most important. The information brought to you in a lecture by the teacher not if the teacher is male or female. It simply depends on the method of teaching. The picture entered to the PowerPoint made the lecture more interesting because it induced laughter. And yes, the way she used comparison to the streets of New York gave you a better idea of how she was trying to explain what Sociology really is. Then using the aerial view to get the point across was a clever idea. It helped me understand Sociology a little better. However, I do wish she engaged the class more. For video purposes, I can see how that wouldn’t be very effective because you can’t talk back but if I were sitting there in the class it would have kept my attention more. I like that you need the detailed PowerPoint too! So do I! I like to have the main points there but I also like to take my own notes too while listening to the lecture I can add to my notes details that the professor gives from personal experience.
DeleteSlimjim789
In this video she explains sociology in the simplest form than what I'm use to hearing. She simply says sociology is the study of life, the human life or the study of society vs sociology is the systematic study of human behavior with social interaction, social institution, and society. And its not that I don't get that, its more of I'm a simple person and just need to hear it in the simplest form at times because sociology is everything in life.
ReplyDeleteDr. Peek defines sociological perspective by comparing it to New York and the experience of walking in the city and the encounters we would have with random people. While meeting those people or just seeing those people we often judge others just by their looks and what we imagine other people are about.
In one of Dr. Peek's experiments on the homeless she is completely right. We would often pass some that is homeless and assume that they would be from broken families, drug addictions, etc. She states we would have to look at the history, biography and social structure to get a better understanding. We have to question the homeless rates, child homelessness when it comes to children and start understanding our social economic and political structure to help better understand. But, what Mills would say is that would just need to pay attention to our history, biography and social structure and he gives a quote that is on point saying " when a city of 100,000, only one man is unemployed that is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look at the character of the man, his skills, and his immediate opportunities. But when a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is an issue and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual." He did a great job summing his idea up in a quote. I learned that Marx, Weber and Dirkheim are larger considered our big three founding fathers in sociology. They are the foundational thinkers and well known. Durheim was a French Sociologist, that had patterened ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any individual but tat exert social control over each person. Marx was a German Economist and Philosopher, which unlike Durkheim he believed that it was the economic conflict between the capitalist class and the working class that would lead to social change. Weber was a German Social Scientist and he believed that rational bureaucracy was the most significant factor in determining the social relationships between people in industrialized societies.
I also learned the functionalist theoretical approach which is considered a macro and is parts that work together to maintain stability within society. As well as conflict approach is a macro too and deals with society being characterized by social inequality. Symbolic interactionist is included in this approach which is a micro and is the sum of interactions of people and groups. It deals with behavior that is learned in interactions with other people and can dictate how they behave.
Dr. Peek mentions a George Herbert Mead which is an American philosopher, psychologist and sociologist. He explains the "I' and "me" which "I" is active, spontaneous and creative while "me" is attitudes and demands of others and the awareness of those demands.
Meso or mid-range theoretical explains where sociology is today is where the discipline is standing as well. I agree with that we are diverse when it comes to society, you have to do a lot of studying on people because the world is constantly changing.
I enjoyed this video as she was a great speaker when it came to keeping it simple. She used great examples that made it clear to what she was talking about.
unknownzeeha789
After watching the lecture of Loki, I can only say "WOW". She spoke
ReplyDeletefast but clearly the overview information of what is sociology?
I got the similar lecture given in my first day of sociology class with a male professor. I can say they both were great and similar in the information about sociology but different in the way they explain it and interact with the audiences. I'm the type of reading learner so I like the way she used power point with pictures on it. Although she speaks a little fast, I can catch up on by using caption and pause the video. May be because of the time limit and recording, Dr. Loki seems a little nervous but she managed the good lecture overall.
Because it was very easy to understand, so that why I like the example of New York street that Dr. Loki gave to describe the basic view of sociology that system of human behavior pattern and the example of my professor used in class of how many people have job to compare the issue of society and individual problem. She used an example of homelessness that was similar to the example of my professor used about population density in Africa countries which both show what are some of the factors that contribute to those issue like the biography of individual, history, economic, and policies of the place.
And one really surprised me that when Dr. Loki show the subs section of sociology. I never know that sociology was so wide and diver. There are 52 subs sections! And sociologist can spend their whole career concentrate on one of them. So, my professor was right when he said that sociology is everything we do on the daily basis and the sociology book only touch the surface of it. And sociology is the cross course of every other course, according to Dr. Loki and my professor, I found some of similar in my communicate class like social norms, my psychology class like human behavior and more. Subjects that my professor not yet cover were about the fathers of sociology and level of analysis. I'm pretty much feeling excited about my 2nd day of sociology class.
Zero789
I am a visual learner also and I do find that writing it down and reading it later helps me, too. I had to pause the video at times so that I could catch up with my notes, but other than that the video and the way she spoke was simple and very educational. I notice I retain quite a bit more information when I have a good teacher that knows how to present material to different types of learners all at once. I enjoy when the professor connects with their students on a personal level to help them best understand the material by using past experiences and Dr. Peek didn’t do much of that. I’ve had teachers that just stand up at the front of the class and just read from their power point slides, and it does make it hard to follow along because it becomes boring. She did a really good job of keeping the students attentions, but I really do enjoy my professor and wish there were more out there that taught like him.
DeleteMelRich895
You right! I totally agreed with you. The information will affect me more if the professor used more of images, examples from their past experiences, and some funny jokes. Those will help me a lot for understanding and remember the information. After watching the video, I may not remember all of the information except the ones which I have strong impressions such as the New York street examples, the quote, and the subs section. I like her smooth voice and the ways she changes her pacing. But her lecture can be better if she can interact more with students like walking around. But overall, she did a great job for introducing to us about sociology.
DeleteZero789
Dr. Lori Peek spoke smoothly and simply enough so that those who were either in her class or who would be watching the video later on would be able to keep up with her pace of teaching. She touched base on some major points that I remember my professor speaking about, like homelessness and she asked the class to think of ways they believed those people became homeless, but it didn’t feel as effective to me because the class was never truly involved. I noticed, unlike my professor, she was very straight to the point and always stuck to her topic that she was presenting to the class. There weren’t any personal stories she told to help connect our thoughts to the material and or to help personalize her teachings, but there were plenty of diagrams and pictures to help us visualize how all the scientist and sociological founders helped create sociology and how all their opinions and visions came together to make the systematic study of human behavior, social interaction, social institutions, and society. All I noticed to keep our attentions to the screen and to what she was teaching, was some pictures in power points to help connect our thoughts visually, but did not use personal attentions getters as I have witnessed with my professor. The presentation was truly interesting and because of the simplicity of the presentation I learned increasingly more about sociology in just thirty-four minutes. It was not as interesting as my experience in the classroom with my professor, because he not only stuck to the points of his presentation he adds in the flare of humor and real-life incidences to help us better understand what he is trying to teach. He was able to keep the whole class’s attention on what he was presenting because we were able to connect to him since he told us about his background. I really did enjoy watching Dr. Lori Peek teach sociology with such ease, but I wish there was more attention getters or personal ties to her teachings to help those more understand on a personal level how sociology connects to them and to help capture the attention of the students and to keep their attention.
ReplyDeleteMelRich895
Ever since the first day of class I keep finding myself thinking more and more about why people do the things they do and what could possibly influence it. One thing that really stood out to me was when homeless people were brought up. I never really stopped to think about all of the possibilities of why they might be homeless, usually I just assume they lost their job when really there could be so much more to it. It is always interesting how the first thing we do when we see a homeless person is give them money, while they do appreciate the money maybe they want more than that. Everyone needs someone to listen to them when they are in need so maybe if we just stopped and gave them a listening ear it could point them in the right direction of what they really need. Also in the video, she talked about actually walking on the streets in New York vs being on the top floor of a building looking out at the streets. This was interesting to put yourself in that point of view, because like she said when we see people we are automatically thinking they are in a hurry or they are having a day off. When you are on top of the building you are focusing more on how the whole picture is going, like the cars going or all the people stopping before crossing the street. She talked about functionalist in the video, which for me is how I look at things a lot. The example she used was that they look at it like a bicycle and try to understand how all of the parts are moving together to keep it going. Personally I learned more in class because of the way the material was taught, the way our professor broke things down and the examples he gave helped me understand more. EPIC789
ReplyDeleteIn this video about “what is sociology”, Dr. Lori Peek defines sociology as the “systematic study of society, and the sociological perspective as one that analyzes patterns of individual experience. Instead of giving the basic simple difinition, she gives a much more in depeths difinition for everyone to understand what sociology is. The Thursday lesson was really similar to the video lesson, but the video lesson had more visuals so it was kinda easy to understand what Dr. Peek was talking about rather than just having words on the powerpoint. Both lectures have more similarities rather than differences, there are a few differences such as gender, the way the information is presented, voice tone and the presentation itself. The male speaker I would say had more energy than the female speaker in terms of tone because the female had a soft tone and her tone was very relaxing on the other hand the male speaker had an enthusiastic voice and had a lot of jokes to go with his lesson which kept the audience ingaged and also grabbed their attention. Dr. Peeks talks about the big three, meaning the three major people who played a big role in sociology. The people are the foundation thinkers as she calls them, Comte, Marx, Weber and Durkheim. They all had a different contribution towards sociology. She also touches a little bit about what sociologists do, I remember our professor talked about it a little in class. Not only does she talk about the role of a sociologist, she talks about the differences between quantitative and qualitative data gathering and analysis and also highlights important sociological concepts, including structure and agency, social stratification and inequality.
ReplyDeleteRia789
To start off with, I noticed both similarities and differences in both teachers. To start off with there was no real difference in gender however that does not mean there could be with other teachers. For instance a male teacher could have a completely different way of seeing things than a woman. If a male teacher wanted to use a childhood story as an example in class, more than likely it would not include going to the hair salon and getting his nails done. Same goes for a woman teacher. The teacher in the video used many examples to get her point across like the homeless example. However, she did not use many personal examples like Professor White. He used examples of sitting in class in Miami coming straight from work. There was not a real personal feel to this professor in the video, but that could also be because she is talking to way more mature peers. They way she talked also was different. She did do a good job blowing over the general ideas and perspectives of sociology, however she seemed to talk fast and really lost interest in her students. As you can see many are on their phones or seem to not be paying attention. A different professor may stop on a certain topic and talk about it longer, with more examples to keep the attention focused in the room. Also I feel that more personal examples and stories help the listeners engage and relate more efficiently. Navajo789
ReplyDeleteWhen you say both teachers, are you referring to Dr. Lori Peek and the young lady who did the Sociological Paradigms video? Personally, I think that Dr. Peek gave her lecture, as a workshop, more of a general type of approach that didn’t necessarily need a personal experience of her own to be incorporated into her speech. Dr. White the other hand, is teaching a class, so personal experiences while adding humor to his class, also give us as a class the feeling that he is personally involved in what he is discussing. I totally agree with you that giving a personal touch to a lecture can make it more interesting and relatable, but all we know is that in the beginning, she referred to her lecture as a workshop. So it is kind of unclear as to whether or not this was an ongoing class or just a short term deal for those in attendance. - Thanos789
DeleteI absolutely agree with you how she did not use very many personal examples in the video. I didn’t feel nearly connected to this instructor as I did after hearing Dr. White speak. He spoke in examples that a broad majority of people can relate to. As he was talking I could see myself in his shoes and directly relate to him. I also agree that she almost breezed through the topic at hand. While I understand she might have a limited amount of time to get her subject across, she could have modified her lecture to include more examples of what was on the powerpoint and help students comprehend what she was saying. I feel like between our lecture in class and this lecture, I definitely understand the intro to Sociology better. - pmed789
DeleteWell the video does very good showing what make up sociology like there are multiples views like how everything in the society to how the economy set up. There tons of factors that make up sociology. Like there are three diverse types. And the descriptions of each one. What sociologist look at when they look at what led to it like being homeless they might look at the history of the prices of affordable housing. the founders of sociology like august comte put down the basic of sociology making paths for like weber, Marx, and Durkheim, what each talk about marx look more in the capitalist ideal to see what is going on in the economy. Durkheim talk about how people level which lead to write about things like suicide. How weber talk about more about labor is and bureaucracy. There wheir good picture that help explained that what is sociology like it is the studies every thing like how people think . there is two types sociology that is built the structured like agency those who believed that every one has the change how to viewpoints as people sees it . or structure , that is that everything is way it is so can not change how people view the world . there is tons ways to get information like through surveys. Multiple way that research can done like quantitative research is like numbers or qualitative research is the social relationship. She explained thing more in detail but while making seem like her prospestive of sociology. I learned that their tons relation to other social science like it be the topic for example global warming , there is a lot of in crimel justice that have something to do with sociology. She talked about what is basically is s sociology and what made is up. Gamer789
ReplyDeleteObvious differences like the instructor is a woman aside, there are a couple key differences between our instructor and this one. The main difference that I noticed is the tone of voice. While she isn’t quite monotone in speaking, she speaks with a lot less enthusiasm than our instructor. Dr. White has a style that could probably keep a majority of people interested with his highs, lows and tonal changes. She doesn’t seem to be nearly as engaging as our instructor as well. Another big difference is that she is teaching mainly from the powerpoint. It is her main focus point. Dr. White does use powerpoint but does not center his lectures around it. By doing this, he can engage his audience and keep them interested in the material. Speaking of keeping them engaged, she really doesn’t ask questions of the audience to answer or elicit a response. Whereas our instructor did this at least 4-5 times during the first lecture. While she did expand her thoughts and experiences from the the powerpoints, she mainly kept her lecture on what was on the screen. This is not a bad thing, but for me it did not keep me interested very long. That’s not to say she was not a bad teacher. I learned a great deal from her lecture, just wasn’t the most exciting. The examples she used were basic and I did understand the material better after hearing her speak, they were different than some of the examples Dr. White used. She also uses no humor in her lecture. I feel like using humor is a way of endearing people to you. It shows that you are human and not a robot just spewing information to everyone and expecting them to absorb it instantly. Humor will absolutely keep people more interested in you and the information you are providing. Also for me, humor makes me look forward to attending class instead of just going and listening to someone talk off a power point presentation for 2-3 hours at a time.
ReplyDelete- pmed789
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DeletePersonally, I feel as if Lori Peek did a great job. No, she wasn't as enthusiastic or humorous as Dr. White , but her knowledge really shined through. She squeezed a lot in, in only 30 minutes! It was concise yet thorough, and she made the information easy to retain. Her examples were the highlight for me, as they were abundant and fitting. Humor is a great way of endearing people, but I feel as if knowledge and truth trumps all. With that being said, I enjoy Dr. White's methods of teaching quite a lot so far. He is quite funny and engaging. Hopefully there continues to be a healthy balance of intellectual conversations and funny side comments. -QuinkThick789
DeleteI feel the same way. Yes, she did not have a monotone but lacked excitement. To be honest when I watched the video I was totally lost. Even though she was very knowledgeable, gave good examples and references she talked too fast I was unable to keep up. I loved the PowerPoints. I stopped and rewind the video multiple times to grasp a full understanding and to take more notes but unlike the classroom you can’t stop and rewind. My personal preference would be learning in a classroom setting especially if the teacher makes it fun but at the same time makes the material easy to understand. Granny789
DeleteIn the video titled: What is sociology? Dr. Lori Peek brings in many different examples and gives context around sociology. She uses the example of being in a big crowd and walking around in it. Most people would look at another and start to make general stereotypes of that person. What they are wearing, what they are doing, and what they look like all add into our information to create that stereotype. She then goes into explaining that if you take a bird's eye view of that city that you begin to see patterns, and that's what sociologist try to do is find those patterns and see how the connect in with life. Does the same pattern for a small down apply in a large town? Patterns are apparent in everyday life. This morning most people completed the same pattern, Wake up, get out of bed, brush your teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, and head to school.
ReplyDeleteAnother way Dr. Lori Peek engages her class is by asking questions and trying to get her class thinking. However for me personally this class would make me bored and I would have a hard time paying attention. She tries to keep the class engaged but she stays behind the podium and is not creating a energy to keep the class awake and engaged. Personally I learn better when the teacher is walking around the room asking questions and making jokes. Not only does this help you stay awake in a class period but it also helps you remember what is taught by adding in other ways to help remember things. However, she did used hand gestures a lot to motion to the slides which helped me focus on the slides and read them to know what she was discussing. Personally, I enjoyed the energetic class rather than the lecture behind the desk. Cassiopia789
What is Sociology you ask?....well that answer can vary depending on whom you ask. Sociology is a systematic approach of society. Too some that may be seen as a vague question and perhaps still have you wondering, what is Sociology? An more in depth response, would be that Sociology looks at human behavior, social interactions, as well as social institutions, and society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteDurkheim, Weber, and Marx are the three founding fathers of Sociology. Durkheim was a functionalist who believed in social order. Marx on the other hand believed that the economic conflict between the capitalist(money class; as referenced in the video) and the working class would lead to social change. This particular conflict is noted through struggles over scarce resources it's even said to bring about powerlessness depending on economical status. Our third founding father, Weber, felt as though Sociology should be "value free." Mead has also help coin a different perspective of Sociology but on a much smaller, micro level, known as symbolic interactionism.
There are two types of social theories within Sociology, they are agency and social structure. Agency is more of a rational way of taking in information and making changes accordingly. While those with a more structural mindset tend to believe that one is born into a particular social, economical, political background, etc.. Depending on the the issue I can be either agency or structural in my thought process. Family, religion, and education falls under the social structure platform, while not wanting to sit outside in the summer/or being one with nature due to the increased amount of insects is more of an agency thought process for me. Which may change based on how much rain we receive that summer and/or consistent fluctuation in temperatures during summer months, possibly leading to less insects and more time outside for me.
I like how she referenced walking down a street in NYC and observing people/getting a perspective vs going up to the 14th floor and looking out on the same street. And now because you are at a different height your perspective has changed. That most definitely help me make the connection and it is examples like such that will help me both grow/flourish being able to walk away from this class having a much better understanding Sociology.
mommyoftwo789
This is a very informative video explaining the basic fundamentals of sociologists, sociology, and its origin and main founders. I think it is an interesting concept comparing the general idea of sociology to going to the top of a building in New York City to look down on the city. Understanding sociology I absolutely agree that we would no longer see faces, clothing, or contours of anyone’s face. We would see patterns. From that high up, we would only see simple patterns of interaction and movement, such as how people stop at crosswalks, and when they move.
ReplyDeleteAnother great point made by Dr. Lori Peek is that sociological perspective can be referred to as simply imagination. As Dr. Peek stated, C. Wright Mills defined sociological perspective as a vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the broader or wider society in which individuals are embedded. Unfortunately for me, this doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me because nothing is included about human interaction. Maybe I just don’t understand what he meant by that definition.
I think that bringing up homelessness as an example of how to understand the influence of sociological perspective is an excellent idea. There are all kinds of different people that are homeless, each with a different reason for being homeless, which means there are almost infinite scenarios that can be explored while searching for this understanding. When Dr. Peek gave everyone in attendance just a bit to think about reasons people are homeless, she brought up some great examples, but I think that being out of work plays a part for many homeless people in our country. There are many veterans who just cannot find employment. As a vet myself, having been looking for work, I have come across many programs asking me if I am a homeless veteran, as I would then get priority with housing assistance as well as employment assistance. - Thanos789
I do agree with you about the video explaining basic fundaments of sociology. It is just quite interesting the fact that she explained that a sociological paradigm is based in the perception and belief of each sociologist what will lead their research. This had me thinking, well than how do we know who is right and who is wrong about sociology. Well I think we all have created a pattern of society that continues changing is form and its behavior just like technology may take our jobs just like the example she gave about the truck drivers loosing their job against automated driving trucks. Koi789
DeleteIn this video Dr. Peek discusses what sociology is. She goes on to say how it is the study of society or the study of human behavior or life. Dr. Peek talks about social perspective and one of the examples that she used was picturing yourself in a big crowd. While you’re walking in this big crowd you are probably wondering what the people around you have going on, for example by looking at the person appearance or facial expression you would be able to tell if the person is in a rush or if they are out shopping or on their way to work.
ReplyDeleteShe then asks her class to think about how people become homeless. When most people see homeless people, they assume they are the reason they have nowhere to live. That’s just everyone judging though or just believing stereotypes that every homeless person is either on drugs or an acholic. What I got out of that example is that you should try to look at the situation in a distinct perspective and not just look up to the stereotypes.
I feel that Dr. Peek discussed the material good and I understood everything she was teaching, but one thing that could be different is being more active with the class and including them in the discussions. Class discussion could make the material easier to understand. I did like how she had the PowerPoints to follow along with, writing stuff down always helps me with learning things.
Crown789
The examples she used helped me understand a broad overview of the introduction to sociology, but I don’t think long term I would be able to keep up with her. Her pace was quick, and that is probably due to this being a workshop environment instead of a classroom. It’s not to say I’m a slow learner, but I rely on teachers to expand the material with their own input and experiences. Those experiences will allow students to relate to them and retain the knowledge once applied to real life examples. I also like that she used powerpoints, but she heavily relied on them. At times she would mainly read from them and then move on. That kind of teaching isn’t really teaching, it’s repeating. Overall I did learn quite a bit and her lecture really helped reinforce what we learned the first night of class and what I read in the textbook so far. - pmed789
DeleteI enjoyed Lori’s statements about answering the question “What is sociology?” It really is so simple, yet insanely complex. It’s the study of society. The quote from Kai T. Erikson was a great way to kick off the lecture. It shows that sociologists look out at the world with many perspectives. Like examining individuals in NYC, making assumptions about each person. Then climbing up to the top of a skyscraper, and examining the patterns of the bigger picture. The quote from C. Wright Mills resonated with me. “Vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society.” Once we realize that we are one with everything, society can be easier understood. I really enjoyed the part about homelessness and I feel as if Lori presented that well. I’ve always thought about the the personal perspective and the political structures affect on individuals. It’s one of the most troubling social conflicts and I feel as if it is a societal problem more than a personal problem in most cases.
ReplyDeleteI’d be interested in learning more about Durkheim's writings. It seems like he was very interested in finding out why societal norms and conflicts have came about. These are the things that I am also curious about. I’m also interested in Max Weber's work. He seems like a free thinker (something that strikes a chord with me.) I agree that bureaucracies are dangerous. The systematic nature of things bothers me personally, and it seems Weber has been bothered too. Mead was much more interested in examining the micro level norms that influence our everyday lives. The “I” vs. “Me” is incredibly revealing about society. We all have the self that is free thinking with free will. But we also have the “me” who fits in to norms and molds society. I hope Dr. White touches more on this. -QuinkThick789
Asking the question “what is sociology”? Makes you say hmm. Sociology is the study of human life or society. Sociology is not definable because of its broadness. Even though sociology is defined as the systematic study of human society we need to understand general patterns in the behavior of people and how society impacts those individual lives by using the sociological perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe sociological perspective is a point of view that sociologist sees general patterns of society in the everyday life of certain people. The sociological perspective helps sociologist to use basic common sense, understand opportunities and limitations in our own lives, encourages us to become more active in society, and helps us live in a diverse world. Sociologists uses theory to interpret observations and to find understanding by practicing one or all three theoretical approaches. There is the structural-function theory, which looks at social structure and social functions. The social-conflict theory, which includes gender conflict and race conflict. These two approaches focus on the macro level. The symbolic-interaction theory focuses on the micro level believing that society is the result of daily interactions amongst individuals.
The lesson taught in a classroom by a male professor compared to the lesson taught by an online lecture given by a female professor I obtained the same concept. The materials and information were the similar, however, the approach was different. I always believed that sociology was a boring class, which consisted of listening to lectures by a teacher who has this monotone voice. My first class was nothing what I had expected. I was very intrigued by the male professor, but not because of his gender. I was fascinated more by his race and background. In my life experiences, I rarely see Black African-American males that has a higher education, a successful job, and is family oriented. He was also pleasant and funny. However, I was unable to take good notes in the classroom. Watching the video online I could pause and rewind to get a better understanding and to take notes. I still read and studied the first chapter and took additional notes. For me it did not matter where the teaching was taking place or the gender of the teacher.
Granny789
I agree with the broadness and complex nature of sociology makes it difficult to define. It was also interesting to me that two different professors were able to get the same message across but still bringing their own personal style to the lecture. This is my second time taking this Sociology course. I took it the first time online and realized very quickly that it wasn't a good fit for me and that I was missing the lecture component. I definately came into this class with less than a positive attitude because of my online experience. However during the first class period I realized that Sociology is actually very interesting and that I will be successful in this course. I was shocked to see an African American male instructor and I have to be honest that I was unsure what to expect. I know that there is nothing specific to be unsure about, I guess it's just the idea that this isn't the norm. We are worried / unsure about the unfamiliar. I found it difficult to keep up with what is important during lecture. I will be using the powerpoint during the next class period to see if this assists me.
DeleteAnimalLover789
Sociology Explained using a Different Lense ... Your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteIn regards to professor Lori Peck. I noticed that her teaching style was different than my professor Anthony White. The obivous differences is that she is a caucasian middle aged woman and my professor is a african american middle aged man. The experience that they both bring to Sociology is probably very different. She did a visual powerpoint however, it was a mixture of words and pictures. I personally find this helpful because I am a visual learner. It allows to me to hear what she is explaining and relate a picture to topic. She stayed in the center of the classroom and used her laptop and clicker to navigate through the lecture. I would get restless and become unengaged with this teaching style. Unlike like my professor who moves around freely and engages us in conversation thoughout the class period. I am definately more receptive to this style of teaching.
Her explanation of the Sociologist Perspective of Kai T. Erickson really caught my attention. Relating this example to myself I definately see society from the ground view. Erickson would say find the highest building and view the city from above. In this example you will not see the details that you see on the ground level. You will see patterns in people moving through their day or a common color of vehicles. The ground view and the looking from above view both make sense and have different outcomes of information to provide.
The most interesting part of the lecture for me was when she presented the following question: List factors as to why a person becomes homeless. Here are the reasons that I came up with; drugs and or alcohol addiction, mental disorder, parents are homeless, and loss their job. Then she proceeded to explain that the United States tends to lean towards to the individualistic side of things. I didn't realize that I was only looking at the individual. I learned that my ideas are not incorrect, they are just looking directly at the person as the problem. Additional things to consider: The history of homelessness in the United States, when has it been high and low in the past and what was occuring in our society at that time. The average age of a homeless child is 9 years old in Peoria, IL according to the United Way. It leaves me with the following: What is causing the rise in homeless children?
AnimalLover789
I would say that teaching is not necessarily different just because of the gender of the individual instructor. There are many different factors associated with how facts and opinions are portrayed and taken in by students. This professor has a softer voice than what most men would have and even if she said the exact same words, the message could be taken differently. She tends to stand behind the podium as she teaches. This may bore some individuals and they may not intentional day dream, but they may start thinking of other things because she isn’t keeping their interest. If another person was teaching the same information, but walked around the classroom engaging the different students and including them in the discussion, some students may learn more from this style of teaching. She does smile and change up her voice a bit, which helps, but she still stationary. I tend to learn more when I am included in the information. I would prefer this over someone just standing up in front of the room lecturing and basically just stating a bunch of information. I like to be asked questions and opinions on the topic that we are learning about in the lecture. MommaJ789
ReplyDeleteI would say that teaching is not necessarily different just because of the gender of the individual instructor. There are many different factors associated with how facts and opinions are portrayed and taken in by students. This professor has a softer voice than what most men would have and even if she said the exact same words, the message could be taken differently. She tends to stand behind the podium as she teaches. This may bore some individuals and they may not intentional day dream, but they may start thinking of other things because she isn’t keeping their interest. If another person was teaching the same information, but walked around the classroom engaging the different students and including them in the discussion, some students may learn more from this style of teaching. She does smile and change up her voice a bit, which helps, but she still stationary. I tend to learn more when I am included in the information. I would prefer this over someone just standing up in front of the room lecturing and basically just stating a bunch of information. I like to be asked questions and opinions on the topic that we are learning about in the lecture. MommaJ789
ReplyDeleteWhen I started watching this, I did like that she says, “sociology is sometimes hard to explain because it is everything” and by just having one sociology class I get what she means. Being that this is a women professor while watching is didn’t have to think of like how is she better that a man or how is a man better than her. I was looking at the teaching. yes, I did think it way somehow easier for me personally to relate to the examples she is using, it was either for me to put myself in those situations. I did like how she used more picture than just being the teacher that flips through slides with me being a more visual learning I did appreciate that. I like how she did use being homeless from as an example from one of the past sociologist, because it is true we do seem them and assume all these things a lot them without actually knowing what got them into that situation, even though Mills is right when we need to take all factor before assuming what got them there. Dr. Peek was very enjoyable to watch she seems to be really be into sociology with a lot of good examples. She did bring up at one point the things in society that influence which we have so many and some can cause conflict in our life. Even though the video was great and informative one thing that personally didn’t work well with me is that she does work at a fast pace, to me personally at some point it did all kind of seem like a huge run on sentence I was at points confused to if she had just moved on to a new topic or still on the same topic. The visual aids did help but if it was not for that I probably would have been confused through it all
ReplyDeleteVct789
I like how she started the video out that many times the answer to what sociology is depends on who you are asking and who you are talking to. And I also realized that you can't just put what sociology is into a box because it's truly a perspective and not necessarily hardcore evidence like physics is. Instead it's a perspective and anybody can have a different answer to the same question and it can all be still right because there doesn't have to be hard evidence because society doesn't give you hard evidence all the time. But we all have a sociological perspective even if we don't see it and we might not think of it like that but because we all experience life and we experience society we develop one and just in conversations we use it. And I liked her example of how we make stories for people when walking which is something I do and that you would have to study patterns of people instead of like individuals. Sociology is more of the study of the world and the people in it and not the individual and sociologists are studying this as a broad subject and that they want to understand how the world works and why it works a certain way and when it doesn't function like that what happened to cause that change in it. And this helped me to understand how important sociologist are to our world because they give us an inside look on how society operated and gives us and easier way to navigate through it and communicate with people because they delve deeper into the world and see it on a global scale. And without them we wouldn't know how the world works and why it works like that and how it works like that which I think would make it hard to live and communicate because you don't know how your society is working and when you don't know how your society is working it typically begins to fail because the people in it don't know how to function and live in it which you can see happens in some societies. But also with the video the way she spoke with excitement helped me to get excited about it and she also really broke down what she was saying and the visual aids helped me out a lot to see the main ideals of what she was saying and to understand and think about it. She really gave me a unique perspective on sociology because she used examples of things we truly do everyday so she put the known with the unknown to help people to understand and it really did make it simpler to understand and grasp the concepts that she was teaching but she also did it from a sociologist's stand point of view because that's what she is and so she had more insight into the subject then just a teacher and was able to tell you what they really do from a first hand experience of it and I thought that was unique because a lot of the things she said I didn't know was what a sociologist did. Buttercup789
ReplyDeleteWhile watching this lecture about what exactly is sociology, the first thing I noticed was that Doctor Lori Peek came across as a relatable and energized teacher. She used real world examples and analogies to help get her point across to her audience, using a simplistic PowerPoint that they would be able to remember. This personally made her quite effective in capturing my attention. She explained the sociological perspective well, to where I could easily understand how we can see the patterns and conditions that she showed in the example. Like how if we put our perspectives somewhere broader, like seeing the patterns of the forest instead of just looking at the tree, we would see how that environment is succeeding or failing. She made it obvious that Sociology really is about everything we do and the world around us. In her explanation on how we see homeless people, it made me realize how our assumptions impact how we treat others and how we see the world. Although humans are judgmental people, this reminds us to think about the causes behind the issues that we believe are individualistic, when they are the effect of that society or that environment. I don’t really believe that gender is a big role in how Dr. Peek views Sociology. Of course, gender is a significant role in how we are raised, and how it shapes the expectations that go along with a person’s gender. In comparison to my Professor’s lecture on Sociology, Dr. Peek didn’t use as many humorous, personal and relatable experiences to better help the students understand how sociology relates to them. While their genders are different, the fact that they are two unique people is the reason why their perspectives differ. If both were the same gender, the presentation and teaching method would have likely differed, on the account of their (racial, economical) backgrounds and experiences. Most importantly, her lecture helped me realize how big and diverse Sociology is, and why exactly its considered an important science.
ReplyDeletePapyrus789
I agree with you about that that contagious energy she has to talk about the subject, and her not complicated way of teaching about sociology. She really called my attention about what she talking about taking a consideration that she was only using plain photographic images she really made me feel like I was in new york doing some people watching with her. She was right on target when she mentioned that there is a lot assumed ideas about people as she mentioned the homeless and how it is assumed that they struggling with addictions or that they severally mentally ill, but that is the reality for all the homeless because they are different stories going on and not all of them follow within the same circumstances.
DeleteKoi789
I really like her introduction of the video where she ask “what is society exactly” and she start describing it as a well functioning whole or several competing groups struggling for control or maybe just people doing their very own thing without being able to come with the right answer about the nature of society out of the three models that she has provided. Society as well oiled machine, as group of competing interests, and people interacting with each other. The three models provided in the video are all important to observe and try to understand a little bit more about social behavior based on different perspectives essentially leading to pattern of discipline. Sociological Theoretical Paradigms which are based on fundamental assumptions of sociologists about the world of sociology being these assumptions the ones who lead their research and thinking about sociology. These types of behavior leads to many assumptions provided these paradigms in instead of just empirical reality. However the logical assumptions are going to be made to understand the way society works in a macro or a micro level. Social structures has the assumption of well organized functioning society created by behavior and interactions with other individuals while going to schools and other types social dysfunctions to understand the meaning of social behavior like a waving hand by itself is just a movement but the sociological inference is taken as a waving hand just to say hello or at least assumed that this is the meaning of the waving hand because we recognize this as being the meaning of waving hand. I personally find these video very interesting because it has opened up my perception of social interaction in a different level by a little bit more understand of constructive paradigms and behaviors that can create a norm or behavioral pattern with in society. Koi789
ReplyDeleteDr.Lori peek talks about the introduction to sociology focus, history, and approach of sociological inquiry. Defining sociology as the systematic study of society and the sociological perceptions of individual experiences. She has a really soft spoken and more detailed style to explain what Sociology is which makes it easier to understand and the different levels of understanding and perceiving the different levels of sociology. She has a quite interesting to keep interested about what she is talking about and the fact that she uses visual aid images she is not reading anything from the projector screen and is just using her spontaneity of speak to make a good presentation about what is sociology. I really liked when she gave her definition of sociology and stated that sociology is the science that study society I really liked that she than said that sociology has been among humans since way back and that it is was perceived in different levels. We are social, cultural and political and that defines the behavior of who we are and how we behave. I loved the people watching examples that she used from the picture of New York and the details that she was able to observe about every person within the crowd. Looking at the people from the top of a building she noted that she wasn't able to see the people in such great detail but she was able to observe all the patterns colors and structural behavior from a different perspective and using this examples to talk about the macro level of sociology and the micro level of sociology just using this two situations as an example. I personally enjoyed the video and how she captured my attention about what she was talking about. Koi789
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