Autobiography and Sociological Paradigms Assignment
The Autobiography and Sociological Paradigms Assignment requires you to apply an analysis of events in your life using the three main sociological paradigms or perspectives we have been focusing on in this course. The goal of this assignment is to help you become more familiar with the three sociological paradigms or perspectives and to give you practice in applying sociological theories in analysis of phenomena.
Step 1: Gather your data.
Think about some of the major events that have taken place in your life or have been significant in your life. You may want to make a list of these in preparation for your analysis.
Step 2: Complete your analysis.
Analyze three of these events in your life using the three sociological perspectives we have focused on in this course (i.e. structural functionalism, critical or conflict, and symbolic interactionism). Briefly define in your own words the three sociological perspectives by describing and outlining the main ideas and/or concepts within each perspective. Next, use each sociological perspective to analyze your three chosen events in your life. Apply the main ideas and/or concepts of each sociological perspective to discuss each life event sociologically. For example, how is a specific paradigm useful or relevant in analyzing or understanding a particular life event? Or, how is your life event an example that helps to illustrate a specific paradigm? You are to analyze three different events using a different paradigm for each, i.e., one event should be analyzed using the structural functionalist paradigm, a second event using the conflict or critical paradigm, and the third event through the symbolic interactionist paradigm.
Step 3: Write up your assignment.
Your completed assignment will consist of three main components:
1) Introduction. Choose an interesting title that reflects the content of your paper and begin your introduction with a sentence that introduces your reader to the topic of your paper.
2) Analysis. Using the three sociological perspectives, analyze your three life events.