Sociology Participation Assignment

1.     Pick any two of the following sociological theorists and discuss the theories they proposed.  What are your feelings; do you think the theory was true or untrue?  (in what ways).  The list of theorists are as follows: Auguste Comte, Harriet Martineau, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Jane Adams, W.E.B Dubois

2.      Pick an article from a newspaper that your feels captures a current hot issue in sociology, and summarize the article.  What aspects of the topic tie it into the field of sociology. Does the article focus on a Micro, or Macro Sociological issue?

3.     Describe the ethical issues presented in the Milgram Obedience Experiment?  How was the contemporary experiment changed to get around the ethical digressions of the 1962 experiment?  What were some of the conclusions that were drawn from this experiment?

4.     Write about a Milgram experience in your own life, whereby someone in authority was telling you to do something that you thought was totally wrong.  Feel free to substitute an experience of a friend, or a case in the news—if you can’t think of one in your life.

PS.  The Stanley Milgram Experiment on Obedience can be accessed through www.youtube.com For the original experiment, a nice overview can be found by typing into youtube:  (Milgram Obedience Study)

And by typing into the youtube search engine: (ABC Prime Time Milgram) you can find a more contemporary (2009) version, with significant changes from the original experimental design.