Auteothnography as a Practice of Reflexivity on Social Inequality

Abstract

There is a broad array of texts that have structured and shaped inequality in the United States in the form of legal briefs, immigration acts, and textbooks, as well as advertisements. During the course of the semester, students learn that unequal conditions today are not the unintended results of American laws and policies, but instead are...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Ethnography, Qualitative Methodology, Race, Class and Gender, Socialization, Stratification/Mobility

Resource Type(s):

Assignment

Class Level(s):

Any Level

Class Size(s):

Medium, Small

Usage Notes

Instructors can assign this writing assignment as a final paper to assess students’ ability to connect their experiences and everyday lives with the concepts and theories they have been learning throughout the course. For example, they can connect their stories of privilege with their family’s homeownership in greenlined versus redlined neighborhoods....

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Identify and critique various social structures, particularly those resulting in inequality and injustice.
   
2. Evaluate and apply social science data to inform decisions in everyday life.
3. Apply service-minded sociological concepts to specific need areas in our communities.
   
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the complex issues faced by diverse groups in global contexts and across cultures.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Student understanding of concepts and theories presented in readings and discussed in class will be evaluated through an autoethnographic paper that asks them to apply these ideas to their experiences and everyday lives.
2. Students will be expected to demonstrate critical thinking and the sociological imagination by linking biography, as in their experiences and personal stories, to history and social institutions.