World’s Largests: Understanding Expressions of Place Character and Efforts to Attract Economic Investment

Abstract

Place character is a modern concept in urban sociology that is a critical piece for understanding how processes of economic development can be rooted in socially constructed subjective understandings of place characteristics. Because understanding the processes from which place character emerges implies dealing with social constructions and subjective...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Urban Sociology

Resource Type(s):

Assessment, Assignment, Lecture, PowerPoint

Class Level(s):

College 200

Class Size(s):

Medium

Usage Notes

This assignment works well in an undergraduate urban sociology course, but could be adapted for community sociology, rural sociology, or other courses, or as part of an urban/community/rural sociology unit in an introductory course. The lecture and assignment could be adapted according to the purposes of the instructor. The instructor may connect this...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. 1: Students will be able to define the concept of place character and explain how socially constructed meanings become associated with particular places and patterns of local life.
2. 2: Students will be able to apply Paulsen’s framework for studying place character to various expressions of place character as shown in the documentary World’s Largest.
3. 3: Situated within broader scholarship on economic development, globalization, and deindustrialization, students will be able to describe how social life in towns observed in World’s Largest is shaped by these larger economic processes.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Assessment 1: This goal may be assessed with in-class discussion at the end of the lecture, or short answer essay questions as outlined on the last slide of the lecture or the beginning of the video assignment.
2. Assessment 2: This goal is assessed through student responses to short answer essay questions in the video assignment, including "How does a world’s largest express place character? Provide an example from the documentary."
3. Assessment 3: This goal is assessed through student responses to short answer essay questions in the video assignment.