Skill Sets Application Week: Initiative and Organizational Leadership

Skill Sets Application Week: Initiative and Organizational Leadership. Think about the skills you may have gathered so far in the course. This should include time management skills -- learning how to get a lot of course work done by making the most out of the time that you have to do so. This includes doing course assignments with other activities to which you might be involved in the most efficient way possible. Other skill sets include doing comparative analysis. That is, learning about social class development and change and the kinds of dynamics such as economy and changes to the US social structure that can affect the social stratification or social class system in the US. The other skill set is learning how to write a story through descriptive analysis. One way to understand what is happening sociologically towards a sociological analysis is to understand the details of a story and the larger social, political, economic dynamics taking shape. The importance of understanding cultural change within the context of the aforementioned parameters is also an intellectual skill set. That is, it is more to the story than what appears at the surface of the story. The import and net effect of understanding social structures and there impact on the social fabric is an intellectual and critical thinking skill set also offered in this course.Finally, another skill set is learning about and applying social theory as an importance value in understanding what is taking shape in society. More skills noted in the course are detailed in the course's syllabus.
These skills are necessary and come together as you read the work by Vance. Begin writing a draft essay document for the upcoming essay exam. Make sure you play attention to the introduction, speaking to the thesis of the work in particular. Begin laying out your chapter accounts of the work, with the introductory chapter first -- as chapter accounts must be in the order that they appear in the work. Play close attention to Vance's work and whether the author references Murray. There is a connection there, especially as it relates to the importance in stability of family and values that enable individuals to move forward. Again -- for the essay exam all chapters must be covered in this work. Writing descriptive chapter accounts and analysis, using Macionis to enlarge the sociology in the Vance work will also need to be done.
I will provide an outline of what needs to be done over the next two weeks: In the remaining weeks, a unique opportunity is provided for students to self assess their sociological abilities; in addition, my assessment and evaluation of your academic and intellectual abilities will be determined in part through the second and final examination. This includes testing whether one's sociological vision, perspective, and analysis has been mastered in the course. i.e. foundation tenets and social theory laid out in the course. This includes one's ability to understand and to be able to place in context the sociological perspective. In other words, these assessments involve whether one has developed the intellectual and skill ability to see and understand a social world sociologically, resolving social problems with its connections to social reality and public policy. Complete reading chapters 11 thru 13 in the work by Vance.
The work by Vance in particular, and referenced works by Murray, Desmond, and in the case of the first exam, Cherlin, all demonstrate changes in opportunities for the working class, including the poor, as a consequence to changes in US institutions and the economy over time, especially as we operate in a high tech and information age economy. Film clips also became important in demonstrating this structural change, looking at the role of history in this process. Understanding the net effect of social structures on society, individuals in particular, becomes a guiding light. The work by Mitch Duneier, as you will see, shows what this means for the poor in particular via a film clip on street vendors. The setting of this work is New York city. And, as you watch the film documentary based on the work by Duneier, students ought to be able to see the latent forces involved that have impacted on the social group that Duneier's talks about. Likewise, in your review of the Murray video, course students ought to have recognized the structural dynamics affecting the white working class that Murray wrote about in his work, Coming Apart.
I note these points because as course students read Vance's work, one ought to also be able to see how culture and social practice is being used, how socialization becomes a part of the social norms that Vance writes about, how social interaction in everyday life is maintained, including through non-verbal communication, or through symbolic interaction -- whether social cultural rules or values are maintained. This includes through socialization practices. Where people live and how they are affected by structural changes in society is important sociologically, affecting and impacting on their group interactions, networks, exposure to wider societal institutions becomes important points in the story that Vance tells about his community. In Vance's work, place close attention to what the author says about family, or business organizations. In some, course students ought to be able to see how challenges in employment are manifested, how stratification systems and class inequality emerges, how the import of education and exposure to wider institutions are important components to participation in the wider economy.
The second exam will primarily be based on the work by Vance, with the utility of Brooks (lessons learned to resolve social problems though public policy), in addition to what is learned from studying both works, i.e Cherlin and Vance and their implications toward better understanding social relations, class inequality, and racial relations, etc.
Follow the model for the first essay exam in particular. This includes laying out the thesis, research methods, and the basic tenets noted in the pyramid approach to writing. Since Vance is a lawyer, and not a sociologist, think about what you learned in the Macionis text, using the tools of sociology, to enlarge your understanding sociologically of the Vance work. In this, students ought to be able to use one's sociological skills to glean the sociology in the work by Vance – looking at the work through a sociological angel of vision. Doing so will self-test whether students have learned and mastered the basic concepts and social theories of the course.
Vance looks at the net effect of those in working in the lower social strata through the use of bio-ethnographic research. Both Vance, Murray, and even Cherlin, in my view, focus on the white working class, which includes the poor as well. These authors demonstrate how a structural transformation in the US economy occurs and how social problems emerge, becoming more complicated or complex in understanding what is taking shape in society. That is, class divisions, employment challenges that the poor and working class experience in particular. Murray is also demonstrating how economic transformations impact on social and cultural phenomena, including institutions in urban communities. Vance demonstrates how this is played out in the rural areas. 
This complex situation reflects a current of the working class, including increased class divides, negative social trends such as changes to traditional institutions, i.e. in family and business life, as well as changes in social capital, role models in the community and labor force participation. And, these social trends have occurred to social various social groups in the working class irrespective of race or ethnic lines.
In thinking about the points I note above, make sure you think about such points in your reading chapters 11 thru 13 in the Vance work.
Respond: From what I note above, discuss in a post what skill sets you have developed in this course, especially as they relate to the course readings. Discuss whether sociological skills are important towards understanding forces that affect and impact on social life. Provide brief descriptive accounts of chapters in the Vance work.
Post: Provide by posting your thoughts to the above questions.