Social Class Autobiographies and the College Experience

Abstract

This assignment asks students to write autobiographies of their college experiences through the lens of their own social class. This assignment helps make the lived experience of social class visible to students in a way that most students can easily access. This assignment also helps students apply theoretical aspects of social class to the empirical...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Race, Class and Gender

Resource Type(s):

Assignment

Class Level(s):

College 200

Class Size(s):

Any

Usage Notes

I have used this assignment in my mid-level Social Inequality course, but I would also use it for a course on Social Class if I had the opportunity. My students seem to find it very difficult to see the operation of social class in their own lives, although they seem to find it easier to see the social class elements of class groups other than their own....

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Students will be able to define social class in their own words.
   
   
2. Students will be able to identify their own social class position.
   
3. Students will be able to provide concrete examples of the lived experience of social class in their own college lives.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Students will successfully articulate a definition of social class that includes both the social and economic aspects of social class.
2. Students will demonstrate that they can successfully apply ideas about social class to their own lives by identifying their own class-specific traits, attitudes, and characteristics.
3. Students will demonstrate that they can express a sociological view of the operation of social class in their own lives through providing specific examples of how social class impacts their own life at college.