Introducing Sociology Using the Stuff of Everyday Life

The challenges of teaching a successful introductory sociology course today demand materials from a publisher very different from the norm. Texts that are organized the way the discipline structures itself intellectually no longer connect with the majority of student learners. This is not an issue of pandering to students or otherwise seeking the lowest common denominator. On the contrary, it is a question of again making the practice of sociological thinking meaningful, rigorous, and relevant to today’s world of undergraduates. This comparatively concise, highly visual, and affordable book offers a refreshingly new way forward to reach students, using one of the most powerful tools in a sociologist’s teaching arsenal—the familiar stuff in students’ everyday lives throughout the world: the jeans they wear to class, the coffee they drink each morning, or the phones their professors tell them to put away during lectures. A focus on consumer culture, seeing the strange in the familiar, is not only interesting for students; it is also (the authors suggest) pedagogically superior to more traditional approaches. By engaging students through their stuff, this book moves beyond teaching about sociology to helping instructors teach the practice of sociological thinking. It moves beyond describing what sociology is, so that students can practice what sociological thinking can do. This pedagogy also posits a relationship between teacher and learner that is bi-directional. Many students feel a sense of authority in various areas of consumer culture, and they often enjoy sharing their knowledge with fellow students and with their instructor. Opening up the sociology classroom to discussion of these topics validates students’ expertise on their own life-worlds. Teachers, in turn, gain insight from the goods, services, and cultural expectations that shape students’ lives. While innovative, the book has been carefully crafted to make it as useful and flexible as possible for instructors aiming to build core sociological foundations in a single semester. A map on pages ii–iii identifies core sociological concepts covered so that a traditional syllabus as well as individual lectures can easily be maintained. Theory, method, and active learning exercises in every chapter constantly encourage the sociological imagination as well as the "doing" of sociology.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS IN BRIEF Preface for Instructors Preface for Students Acknowledgements Chapter 1. A Day in the Life of Your Jeans: Using Our Stuff to Discover Sociology Part I. Surviving (and thriving) in Consumer Culture Chapter 2. You Are What You Eat: Culture, Norms, and Values Chapter 3. Fast Food Blues: Work in a Global Economy Chapter 4. Coffee: Status, Distinction, and ‘Good’ Taste Part II. Fitting In: Being Part of the Group Chapter 5. Shopping Lessons: Consuming Social Order Chapter 6. Get in the Game: Race, Merit, and Group Boundaries Chapter 7. Barbies and Monster Trucks: Socialization and ‘Doing Gender’ Chapter 8. Dreaming of a White Wedding: Marriage, Family, and Heteronormativity Chapter 9. I <3 My Phone: Technology and Social Networks Part III. Standing Out: Individuals Negotiating the Social World Chapter 10. Branding Your Unique Identity™: Consumer Culture and the Social Self Chapter 11. Looking Good: Ideology, Intersectionality, and the Beauty Industry Chapter 12. What’s On Your Playlist? Subcultures, Racism, and Cultural Appropriation Chapter 13. Our Love-Hate Relationship with the Car: Masculinity, Industry, and Environmental Sustainability Appendix: Advertising and Society: An Overview of Sociological Methods Glossary / Index Index of Key Sociological Concepts Bibliography