Sociology 310 and 500 Class Meetings

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Sociology 310: Special Topics - Death and Dying

Your assignment was to read the Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola. In it, a man is buried alive by his family who assumes his comatose state is death, only to awaken, escape his tomb, and choose not to return to his old life.

The closing lines are "I am an ordinary man who has toiled and eaten like
anybody else. Death no longer frightens me, but it does not seem to
care for me now that I have no motive in living, and I sometimes
fear that I have been forgotten upon earth."

Your essay question is: Does the introduction of death into the realm of life devalue life itself? Does life inherently have less meaning in the face of death, or more?

Please feel free to use your own personal experience in your response. You do not have an assignment for Monday, enjoy the weekend.




Sociology 500: The Sociology of Deviance

First, please pass in your assignment from last class, which was to write a short essay on the definition of deviance, if you have not done so.

Today we will be discussing one of the theories sociologists use to study this field. It is called Labeling Theory.
"Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance." - Howard S. Becker, 1963.

Lecture Notes

Labeling Theory considers that someone becomes deviant by being labeled negatively, and that person may continue these behaviors because they internalize the label. Please feel free to share any reactions you have to that idea.

Your assignment for next week: Choose a deviant subculture that you would like to study in more depth.




[OOC: You can always say "Blahblah hands in her stunningly well-crafted assignment with a grin." I am just giving you topics to explore IC and w/ your classmates if you wish. I am going to start axing people who haven't commented at all by the beginning of next week, however.]

Comments

Soc 310: Death and Dying

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Welcome to class.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

Marty nods to Dr. Grissom and sits in his chair thinking hard about the essay assignment.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Grissom gives Marty a thin smile. He seems to be a bright young man, but deeply troubled. Grissom looks forward to Marty's work, but is glad that the new weapons policy is in place.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

Archie slips into a seat and pulls out a sheet of paper and his copy of the poem, then starts writing slowly and deliberately. As a military officer, he feels that his personal experiences with death make his answer to the essay question quite clear.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your work today Archie. I will see you next Monday.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[marieann-d.livejournal.com]

Rogue comes into class, her hair still wet from a shower. Smiling brightly, she sits down, and thinks hard about the essay assignment. She scribbles something passable down, and turns it in.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Rogue. See you next class.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[stykera]

*Looking slightly lost, Stark steps into the classroom*
I heard you had room here. Do you? Teachers keep disappearing, haven't got enough classes. Nothing to do, need something to do.
*pauses*
May I?

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. The circumstances at this school are sometimes less than acceptable. I'm Grissom, I'll add you to the roster.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

After staring at her blank paper for a good three-quarters of an hour, Callisto, writes and hands in an essay which, while deeply cynical and vaguely disconnected, is passable.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Callisto, your essay is more than acceptable. In this situation, allowing the content to affect the structure of your essay is fine - this isn't a typical class where I expect long, boring, academic essays. Well, not all the time. Thank you.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[conathon.livejournal.com]

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Thank you for coming to class, Sawyer. I know you have a previous engagement today and I will make a note that you completed the assignment even when you would not have been expected to attend.

Have a nice night, see you next Monday.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[http://users.livejournal.com/susan_death_/]

*writes very long and detailed essay, which the mun would totally actually do IC if she didn't have a headache*

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Thank you, your essay looks to be quite a read. See you on Monday.


(feel better)

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[forlornslayer.livejournal.com]

Buffy stared into space for a very long time, then bent her head and started writing. At the end of class, she turns in a sheet of paper, covered both front and back in neat writing on the subject.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[allie-cameron.livejournal.com]

Allie ponders the statement.

She knows it is something she is going to have to deal with a lot when she becomes a doctor and she isn't sure if she could actually ever tell someone that they were dying.

She begins scribbling notes frantically for her paper.

Re: Soc 310: Death and Dying

[sumeragi-13.livejournal.com]

Subaru enters quickly, taking a seat. He stares at the topic for quite some time before beginning to write frantically, wanting to get all his thoughts on paper. He adds bits from his many experiences with death, and concludes that, to him, life has more meaning in the face of death.

After a while he walks up and hands it in, bowing before taking his leave.

Soc 500: Deviance

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Welcome to class.

Re: Soc 500: Deviance

[addams-daughter.livejournal.com]

((OOC: I had something half written for Wednesday, but I'm sick as a dog today and barely remembered to log in. I'm really sorry. If I'm feeling better before the weekend, I might come back to this entry and hand it in. As it is, Wednesday's not going to get anything done today. Sorry.))

Re: Soc 500: Deviance

[demonbelthazor]

Belthazor hands in his essay. "Blah blah blah Deviant behavior is behavior that is a recognized violation of cultural norms. Blah blah blah." It's adequate, but not stunningly brilliant, and is perhaps a little disturbing.

Re: Soc 500: Deviance

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Hey doc," Angelus, who was inadvertently a total nerd and did his essay last class, signs the roll sheet. [ooc: His mun, who is sick as a dog, inserts mumbling here about what topic he picks to study. Which he so will, once I'm well enough to pick something interesting enough for him IC.]

"You free after class?" Angelus asks. "Got something for you."

Re: Soc 500: Deviance

[suzotchka.livejournal.com]

Ivanova proudly pulls the correct assignment out of her bag the first time, without hunting.

"I have to say, sir, this assignment was difficult. I mean, defining deviant behaviour within a certain society is fairly easy, but try to generally define deviance is quite hard."

Re: Soc 500: Deviance

[other-logan.livejournal.com]

Logan hands in a well-written essay without any real depth to it. It does meet the requirements, though.

Re: Soc 500: Deviance

[littleluck.livejournal.com]

*hands in decently written assignment, though it is by no means stunning*