Timothy Madigan
April 29, 2011
... , rational choice theory, cognitive dissonance, cultural capital, postmodernism and others.
Several methodological lessons can be demonstrated to the students. The instructor could say hat before the exercise he or she predicted students would not succeed at naming a significant number of important bills. Why not? In addition to several theories suggesting low levels of political knowledge, other researchers have found college students across the nation lack basic knowledge of political literacy, American history and economics (Curlin 2010; Intercollegiate Studies Institute 2007). Furthermore, research by two of their fellow students (at my university) found that local university students failed to pass the citizenship test and failed to pass a test on politics and current global events (Manavizadeh 2007; Taylor 2007). The instructor could discuss any number of methodological issues such as the importance of operationalizing variables such as “political knowledge”, the need to strive for valid and reliable measures, conducting convenience vs. random sampling, replicating the work of others and following the scientific method.
College instructors often discover during the course of teaching that their students typically do not follow the news. Few students in my class were aware of President Obama’s announcement to the nation of the end of military activities in Iraq. This ignorance of current events makes it difficult to generate lively discussion of sociology concepts aimed at explaining how society operates. Sometimes when I raise a political topic it is often met by humorous remarks such as Bush being so incredibly dumb which causes laughter but not debate or analysis. The above exercise is a way to turn the often found lack of political knowledge on the students’ part into a profitable sociology teaching opportunity.
REFERENCES
Ashley, David and David Michael Orenstein. 2005. Sociological Theory: Classical Statements. New York: Pearson
Curlin, Casey. 2010. “Study Finds Lack of Civic Learning In College.” The Washington Times, Feb 10.
Domhoff, William G. 2006. Who Rules America? Power, Politics and Social Change. NY: McGraw Hill.
Intercollegiate Study Institutes. 2007. “Failing Our Students, Failing America.” Retrieved October 17, 2007 (http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/report/summary_summary.html)
General Assembly. 2011. “The Pennsylvania General Assembly Website.” Retrieved March 10, 2011 (http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/session.cfm)
Giddens, Anthony, Mitchell Duneier, Richard Appelbaum, and Deborah Carr. 2010. Introduction to Sociology, 7th Ed., NY:W.W. Norton.
Hai, Yu, ed. 2002. Western Social Theory: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Fudan, China: Fudan University Press.
Madigan, Timothy and Jan Purk. 2010. “In Government We Distrust: Public Opinion Towards Approaches to Fix the National Economy.” Paper presented at the Eastern Sociological Society’s Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
Manavizadeh, Bijan. 2007. “Does Political Orientation Have an Effect on Political and Global Knowledge?” Unpublished Manuscript, Mansfield University, Mansfield, PA.
Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. Oxford University Press.
Neuman, Lawrence. 2005. Power, State and Society: An Introduction to Political Sociology. NY: McGraw Hill.
Taylor, Justine. 2007. “Are American Students Even Qualified to be U.S. Citizens?” Unpublished Manuscript, Mansfield University, Mansfield, PA.
APPENDIX
Pennsylvania General Assembly website allows one to search for bills by session, year, number and topic: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/session.cfm
Note the list for 2007-2008 contains many bills which could potentially have a strong impact on ordinary people such as new tax laws, new medicine laws, new insurance rules, the ban on smoking, Roger Madigan highway, etc. Below is a partial listing of the bills which were passed:
MERCURY-FREE THERMOSTAT ACT
MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
MORTGAGE PROPERTY INSURANCE COVERAGE ACT
MUNICIPAL VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER INCENTIVE ACT
NATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION AND PRIVACY COMPACT ACT
NEIGHBORHOOD BLIGHT RECLAMATION AND REVITALIZATION ACT
NEW HOME CONSTRUCTION CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT
NEWBORN CHILD SCREENING FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM
NOTIFICATION OF COLLEGE UNDERAGE DRINKING ACT
OLDER PENNSYLVANIAN PROPERTY TAX ELIMINATION ACT
PATIENT TEST RESULT INFORMATION ACT
PENNSYLVANIA AMBER ALERT SYSTEM
PENNSYLVANIA CLIMATE CHANGE ACT
PENNSYLVANIA DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE ACT
PENNSYLVANIA DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE CONTROL ACT
PENNSYLVANIA ENERGY FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT
PENNSYLVANIA FARMS TO FUELS INITIATIVES ACT
PENNSYLVANIA GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION ACT
PENNSYLVANIA INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AUTHORITY ACT
PENNSYLVANIA MILITARY HEROES DAY
PENNSYLVANIA OFFICIAL LANGUAGE ACT
PENNSYLVANIA PROPERTY TAX ELIMINATION ACT
PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND NATURAL GAS ACT
PHARMACEUTICAL AVAILABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY ACT
PHARMACEUTICAL DRUG DISPOSAL ACT
PIPELINE INFRASTRUCTURE PUBLIC SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT
PREPAID HEATING OIL AND GAS CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT
PRISON POPULATION REDUCTION ACT
PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP FOR RECEIPT OF PUBLIC BENEFITS ACT
PROPERTY TAX INCREASE LIMITATION ACT
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT
PUBLIC SERVICES PRIVATIZATION WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT
BROAD GOALS:
To develop in students an awareness of their political knowledge and participation levels and how they fit in or not to the political knowledge and participation of common Americans.
To be able to apply theories of political and classical sociology to results from a classroom exercise on political knowledge and to learn about research methods.
To provide an opportunity for interaction whereby the instructor can learn more about his or her students as individuals and for the students in the class to learn about each other and their instructor.
SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Learn to identify the three levels of political knowledge and involvement of citizens in the United States
Learn the patterns of participation in voting in the United States
Learn about the full scope of the idea of democracy
Recognize weaknesses in the basic premises of functionalist theory through research findings on lack of political involvement
Recognize the applicability of some conflict theory ideas to the lack of political knowledge
Learn about sociological methodology or more specifically scientific vs. convenience sampling, constructing research questions and questionnaires, testing hypotheses, replicating the work of others and using the scientific research approach
ASSESSMENTS
Essay Questions:
Compare and contrast the functionalist and conflict approaches to explaining the lack of political knowledge and participation among Americans.
Provide a general description of each of the three levels of political involvement Americans can be classified into by political sociologists.
Describe the main ideas of the concept of the power elite. Which two theorists’ footprints are evident in the power elite concept?
How do the descriptions of society put forth by Durkheim and Weber differ in terms of capability of explaining low levels of political knowledge and participation among individuals in modern society?
True/False and Multiple Choice Questions:
1-Students in political sociology were highly capable of naming and discussing important bills passed by the house and senate in the state of Pennsylvania.
True/False
2-Karl Marx believed that capitalism created an increased interdependency between individuals which leads to more social solidarity.
True/False
3-C. Wright Mills was optimistic about leaders of business, politics and the military working together to solve the most critical problems faced by the masses.
True/False
4-Weber believed bureaucracy would have a negative impact on the individual’s capability to emit creative and autonomous actions and thoughts.
True/False
5-Which of the following theorists stressed the idea of consensus existing among individuals in modern society?
a. Marx
b. Weber
c. Durkheim
d. none of the above
6. The word Democracy has which of the following meanings?
a. a political system in which people vote in free and fair elections
b. direct rule by the people
c. people electing representatives to political office to make decisions on their part
d. all of the above
Take Home Essay Projects
Perform an investigation into the bills which have been recently passed in another state. Uncover how many bills were introduced and passed in the chosen state’s general assembly. Pick the top dozen or so in terms of widespread social importance. Are you surprised by the focus of the legislation? Describe the bills and whether you would want your representative to support them or not. Why or why not?
Talk with several close family members and friends. Ask them if they know the major bills which were passed by the general assembly last year. Be able to provide them with at least a half a dozen or more. Given their performance and what you know about their political awareness over time, how would you classify them using the three categories developed by political sociologists? Why? Discuss the results from your small, selective sample and what they suggest about political knowledge and participation, especially if most people in society behaved in a similar manner. ..."
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Subject Area(s):
- Public Policy
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Resource Type(s):
- Class Activity
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Class Level(s):
- Any Level
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Class Size(s):
- Any
- Abstract:
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EXAMPLE RESOURCE: Students often come to class with little to no awareness of the specifics of the world of politics operating around them. This exercise asks students, without warning, to name the major bills that have been passed in their state’s General Assembly....