Paper 1
“Sociology Around Me”
This paper will help you to understand the sociolo
Paper 1
“Sociology Around Me”
This paper will help you to understand the sociology around you. For this assignment, you will write a paper based on a familiar experience. You will observe a situation or place you are familiar with from a sociological perspective and write a paper about the place/situation using the tools and concepts that we have learned in class. You can visit one of six places: a grocery store, a gym, a restaurant, a mall, a sports game, or a place of worship (church, mosque, etc.). This exercise is intended to encourage you to use a sociological lens to examine a familiar situation in a way you have not before. You will write a short paper based on this experience. I suggest observing the selected location for at least 10 to 15 minutes. To do well, you should consider several things before you go and then write the paper after. It may help to write yourself some notes prior to going and writing field notes immediately after the completion of the observation. This will make writing the actual paper easier.
*Note: If you are uncomfortable using a sociological lens to examine your place of worship, I strongly urge you to choose a different social situation.
Please do not get involved in any illegal or dangerous activities while conducting this exercise. Do not conduct any original research involving human subjects.
There are a few things to consider before conducting the exercise, think about what you expect the experience to be like. When and where will you go? Is it free and open to anyone? If not, how will you gain access to the place? Why did you choose this experience? (Personal and/or sociological interests). What are your personal expectations about the event or place? Do you expect it to be fun, boring, exciting, loud, quiet, etc.? Who do you expect will be there? What do you expect the people and place to be like? How do you know what to do and act in this situation? Do you suppose that it will be difficult or easy to fit in? What do you think are the consequences of being an outsider in this situation?
The Paper
The paper should be approximately 3 pages long (or longer) and should be typed, 1″ margin on all sides, font size 12, and double-spaced. The goal of this paper is for you to think sociologically and analytically about a taken-for-granted social situation and demonstrate your ability to apply ideas about social status, social roles, and norms to a real-life situation. You should draw on sociological concepts and ideas we have learned and use them appropriately. In particular, you will need to write about how people interacted in the social situation. Make sure you include examples of social status, social roles, and norms. Please use at least one source (it can be your textbook or academic source) to support your statements. Utilize ASA citation style for your sources.Links to an external site.
Make sure you include the following
Description of the situation: Describe the setting. What was it like? When did you go? What did you see? Who was there?
The InsidersIdentify the status positions of the key actors in the situation. What roles are expected of those people?
What were some of the norms that you noticed? In other words, what were all of the insiders doing? How were they acting? What were they wearing? How did they look?
How would you feel if you did not know the norms? What would you do to fit in (watch everyone else, read the instructions, ask someone, etc.)?
Structure for the paper
The following general structure may be useful to arrange your paper.
Title of the paper
Introduction (background/thesis statement/importance of the paper)
Description of the place/ situation
Key actors and their roles/expectations
Sociological concepts/norms with examples
Conclusion (restate main pints and provide closure)
Intext-citation and Reference (ASA)
Your paper will be checked using Turnitin for plagiarism. This program keeps a database of previously turned-in papers as well. Assignments with more than 24 percent similarities in Turnitin will not be accepted. Additionally, any paper with more than 20 percent AI-generated work will be awarded zero and reported as an academic integrity violation.