SYG2000 (CC12) 02 - Introductory Sociology

Bookmarks

SOCIOLOGY TEXTBOOK

For this course, we will be using the openware textbook, Intro to Sociology by Ron Hammond & Paul Cheney. The book is provided free to you. This bookmark is for the main page of the textbook website, and once there, you will see additional links to all the chapters. Translations of the textbook are also available in Spanish, French, German, and Filipino (Tagalog?). You can also download the textbook for free in a variety of e-formats via the other bookmark in this folder. If a scholarship or some other form of financial aid subsidizes the cost for your textbooks, you can go to the campus bookstore and they should be able to print you out a free hardcopy. Make sure to ask for assistance, do not copy it yourself and expect to be reimbursed.
Visit Textbook main website
If you are just using the textbook on a laptop or other computer, I would recommend simply downloading it from the HANDOUTS section (see above) as a pdf file.  The textbook is also available in other formats for e-readers, including:  Kindle as a .mobi file, Stanza as a Epub, Sony Reader as a LRF, Palm as a PDB, and others.
Visit Downloadable Textbook (Openware)

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMS OF INTEREST

Probably the most important living sociologist in the world.
Visit Pierre Bourdieu: Sociology Is A Martial Art
A world reknowned scholar and considered by many to be today's foremost intellectual, yet most Americans have never been exposed to his philosophy. I think he would be a rockstar-calibre celebrity if they ever put him on TV here in the States (perhaps as a judge in a competition/variety show/reality series). This playlist is an assortment of videos in which he discusses a variety of topics dealing with society, individual identity, and living a meaningful life.
Visit Slavoj Zizek
A 2011 BBC documentary series by English filmmaker Adam Curtis that critiques the usage of computers in modern life. It claims that computers have failed to liberate us and instead have "distorted and simplified our view of the world around us".
Visit All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
A 2007 BBC documentary series by English filmmaker Adam Curtis which explores the concept and definition of freedom, specifically, "how a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures led to today's idea of freedom."
Visit The Trap: What Happened To Our Dream of Freedom
A 2004 BBC documentary series by English filmmaker Adam Curtis that suggests a parallel between the rise of Islamism in the Arab world and Neoconservatism in the United States in that both needed to inflate a myth of a dangerous enemy in order to draw people to support them.
Visit The Power of Nightmares
A 2002 BBC documentary series by English filmmaker Adam Curtis that explores how Sigmund Freud's discoveries concerning the unconscious led to Edward Bernays' development of public relations, the use of desire over need, and "self-actualization" as a means of achieving economic growth and the political control.
Visit The Century of the Self
A 1992 documentary film detailing the life of intellectual Noam Chomsky and his activism and critique of politics and the mass media using the propaganda model.
Visit Noam Chomsky and the Manufacturing of Consent
An amazing 2007 BBC documentary film written and presented by (my favorite documentarian) Louis Theroux about the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). The WBC is led by Fred Phelps and located in Topeka, Kansas. Church members believe that the United States government is immoral due to its tolerance of homosexuality, and they protest at funerals of U.S. military killed in action with signs that display text such as "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". Underpinning the WBC's theology is that anyone who dies of unnatural causes has actually been slain by God for their sins and are condemned to Hell.
Visit The Most Hated Family In America

FILM PLAYLISTS FOR ESSAYS

Playlist for the sociological film we watched and analyzed in class. Several excellent sample essays based on this film (which were all written by students in past semesters) are available for your perusal under HANDOUTS. These essays should be used as examples for how to possibly approach writing your own film analyses. Each sample essay is very different from the others, but all show a sophisticated conceptual framework and are well written.  They are intended to serve as general stylistic guides and sources of inspiration for your own work...
*Note: This film cannot be used for one of your essay selections.
Visit A Perfect World
Playlist for the sociological film analysis
Visit Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Playlist for the sociological film analysis
*Note: Mandarin Chinese language with English subtitles
Visit Raise the Red Lantern
Playlist for the sociological film analysis
Visit Little Big Man
Playlist for the sociological film analysis
Visit After Hours
Playlist for the sociological film analysis
Visit Heathers
Playlist for the sociological film analysis
Visit True Romance