TY - JOUR AU - Baumann Grau, Amy PY - 2014/06/26 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Social Construction of Race, Ethnicity, and/or Gender Through Media JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/social-construction-of-race-ethnicity-andor SP - AB - The social construction of race, ethnicity, and gender are common topics in sociology classes and can be difficult for students to grasp on their own. This assignment has students look at the media and advertising displays of race, ethnicity, and/or gender and how those portrayals build upon and reinforce the concepts. Through examining and discussing the social construction of race, ethnicity, and gender in advertising and news or magazine articles, students come to recognize the how traditional gender roles and stereotypical racial/ethnic displays are not only all around them but also make arbitrary and unnecessary distinctions between groups of people. This assignment by its very nature is intended to allow for students to be creative and to be able to apply the concepts of the social construction of race, ethnicity, and gender to something that they interact with and see every day. With the assignment instructions, students are provided expectations of both successful and unsuccessful discussions of the social construction of race, ethnicity, and gender. In past experience, students have responded positively to this assignment and are able to go beyond explaining that race, ethnicity, and gender are social constructions to the point in which they can articulate more fully examples of the social construction of these concepts and discuss the racist and sexist images that are out in society. ER -