If fraternities were feminist [VIDEO]

This skit is intentionally exaggerated to show what fraternities DON'T DO. And by showing this, you can chat with your students about the practices (they think or know) fraternities DO engage in.

Gender Wage Gap by Occupation

The Wall Street Journal created a pretty cool interactive graphic showing how the gender pay gap varies by profession (well the graph is cool...the phenomenon is not).

Check it out! Use this your lectures on the pay gap
http://graphics.wsj.com/gender-pay-gap/

Voting Habits [interactive graphic]

The Upshot at the NY Times put together a graphic that shows voting rates of different groups.

The big interactive graph is a little busy when all of the data are together but users can narrow down by certain categories which can help you make comparisons between groups. You can see what percentage of the group voted in 2012 but also who they voted for.  If that seems like too much information, try using some of the smaller graphs to make your point.

Interactive Graph: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/10/upshot/voting-habits.html

Various Smaller Graphs: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/10/upshot/voting-habits-turnout-partisanship.html?_r=0

Gender in the Movies

The website polygraph looked into the issue of gender equality and film. Here's how they describe their methods: "We Googled our way to 8,000 screenplays and matched each character’s lines to an actor. From there, we compiled the number of words spoken by male and female characters across roughly 2,000 films":  Link to the data here: http://polygraph.cool/films/


The authors use the example of Disney films (Image Below). The site also featured in interactive graph, you can look at 2,000 of the screenplays, search for a specific movie title, and look at the difference in gender dialogue breakdown by genre.

The interactive features make this a great tool to use in class. You can also push your students to discuss the quality of the methods.

Income Distribution of Various Jobs [Interactive Graphic]

Flowing Data used IPUMS data to look at how the salaries of different classes of occupations were spread out over time.

http://flowingdata.com/2016/06/28/distributions-of-annual-income/

 

One of the most interesting trends is to watch how the salaries changed after the 80s.  In most occupations, you can see that a few top jobs were making bank, while most other professions stayed the same.

Sexism and Trolls Online [Videos]

We often have conversations in class about online behavior and how it might resemble or disrupt face-to-face behavior.  Sometimes it can be difficult to bring gender into the mix because students might feel that sexism is just one example of how mean people can be online.  However, this series of videos shows that women, particularly those in mail sphere, have particular harsh critics online. You can use this videos to discuss some of the reasons why that might be.

The first video shows men reading the mean tweets that were sent to female sportswriters.



If you feel ready to take this conversation to the next level, check out the sketch by Amy Schumer. It's a bit harsh but in the sketch, news reporters explain how making a "rape and kill" button on twitter, would be efficient.  This is clearly satire that shows the extent of the problem, but is probably best used with mature groups of students only:http://www.hulu.com/watch/936394

Gun Deaths in America

When teaching about gun violence, it is helpful to have data. It's even more helpful to have that data visualized.

fivethirtyeight put together an impressive visualization: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun-deaths/

In this series of images, each square represents one death.  The images will allow students to see how the gun deaths that dominate our conversations (mass shootings, violence by and against police, and terrorism) are minimal compared to suicides and homicides. The charts also show how this gun violence is connected with gender, age, and race.

Once you scroll through the data, you can explore it on your own using filters.

To compare the US to other countries, check out this data put together by the Upshot: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/upshot/compare-these-gun-death-rates-the-us-is-in-a-different-world.html?_r=0

Cash Welfare in the United States

This summer Marketplace put out a great podcast mini series on cash welfare in the United States.  Not only was the series informative, the accompanying website contained informative info graphics that would be useful in classes.

http://features.marketplace.org/yourstateonwelfare/

When you visit the site, scroll down to the bottom of the page to locate data on your own state. A sample graph is below.

 

It would be great to pair this with readings by some of the sociologists featured in the audio series, such Kathryn Edin or Tressie McMillan Cottom.

American Views on Race [interactive Graphic]

The Pew Center published results from their national survey on race relations.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/interactives/state-of-race-in-america/

The interactive graphics are a great way to show students how divided Americans feel about these issues.  I find this is especially helpful in places where the majority of students come from similar backgrounds > it opens them up to the possibility that not everyone shares their experiences or attitudes about the topic.

The study also looks at certain questions over time which allows students to see the idea of backlash.

Power and Race [Interactive Graphic]

In response to the recent critiques about racial representation in the Oscars, The NY Times recently put together a graphic showing the "Faces of American Power".  The times include powerful people in entertainment, but also looked at leaders in other fields such as business, politics, and sports.

The result is a powerful representation of just how white our power structure is. You  may even want to point out colorism--those leaders who are included as minorities are often very light-skinned. (Think Marco Rubio or Cory Booker). And finally, wile it wasn't the focus on the analysis, this visual can also show your students just how white and MALE the power structure is.


 I often display charts showing how many CEOs or Senators are white, but I think for some students, images work better than numbers can to illustrate the depth and breadth of the issue. I hope you can use this to help students see the concept of white privilege and power. Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/26/us/race-of-american-power.html?_r=0

Women and Sexual Harassment the Workplace [Video]

I'm really enjoying Samantha Bee's new TBS comedy program.   I especially appreciate the feminist viewpoint she brings to the table.

Her segment on sexual harassment in the workplace is spot on. [Sadly] But it will be a good way to break the ice on a sensitive topic before launching into questions about what really makes workplaces equal.

Birth Year & Political Views [Interactive Graphic]

Whenever an election is grabbing media attention, student interest peaks. I often talk to students about how social statuses can influence who votes and what types of choices they make.  The graphic makes a nice starting point when talking about this and can also be used in a methods class.

The NY Times produced this interactive graphic about age and voting.  It clearly shows the cohort effect as well as the tendency to grow more conservative with age.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/08/upshot/how-the-year-you-were-born-influences-your-politics.html

The current graphic is only for whites > I hope they are able to look at other groups in the future.

How close do you live to a Superfund site? [Interactive Map]

This National Geographic site allows you to view Superfund sites on a map.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/superfund/

You can type in your location and the map will zoom to the zip code and give you a sense of where the nearest Superfund sites are. You can also click on the sites for more information about them.



This map is a good starting point for talking about the Sociology of the Environment.   You can ask students to talk about how these sites came to be and about whether the responsibility to clean them up falls on citizens, business, and/or governments.

Additionally, you can use this map to start testing ideas about Environmental Racism.  Does it seem like the nicer areas have less of these sites? If so, why might that be?

Emissions Mapped Out [Video]

When I discuss the environment in my classes, I think it is important to show students how this issue is truly global. I was watching last night's episode of The Daily Show where this video showing worldwide emissions was featured.  I think it can be a very powerful tool to show students the differences between developed and developing nations.

Sport & Racial Ideology [Video]

Racial ideologies are so embedded into everyday discussions, especially when it comes to sports. In this video, actors mock the way sportscasters use ideologies to discuss football players' strengths. I use the video to discuss the mind/body dualism that is so integrated with the way we talk about race.



You can pair this video with an interactive graphic that looks at actual NFL scouting data: http://avidsociologyinstruction.blogspot.com/2014/08/describing-black-and-white-athletes.html

Assumptions About Stealing a Lost Wallet [Video]

My students love prank and social experiment videos and one student recently sent this one my way.

In the video, a man loses his wallet on purpose and then follows the man who found it. As they pranksters follow and film the man who found they wallet, they are guided by assumptions about him based on appearance. The man eventually returns the wallet, surprising the pranksters (and the student who sent the video to me).

I think a good class activity would be to discuss that emotion, being surprised, and talk about what that means about our assumptions of people.  Would you be surprised if an elderly white woman returned the wallet?

More on Privilege [Video]

A student recently sent this video to me because it reminded him of our class. In the video, a woman talks about an experience at the grocery store and the role that privilege played.

I liked the video because I find that personal stories and experiences can really help students see the social positions of others, thus unlocking their sociological imagination.

People Killed By Police [Interactive Graphic]

When I talk to students about police brutality, I usually get several students who express anger that the media talk about police who harm black people more than they talk about police who harm whites.  These students will are upset that these white victims are not getting justice.  As someone who has studied race and justice, I know that the victims are disproportionately black, but the students don't always understand this. But that's why they are in our classes, right?

So I thought it would be helpful for them to see actual data on the issue. I found this interactive database compiled by the guardian. According to the website, "The database will combine Guardian reporting with verified crowdsourced information to build a more comprehensive record of such fatalities"

I displayed it in class and clicked around on the site to show students a little about the data.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database#

Please keep in mind that these victims represent a variety of types of death (motor vehicle fatalities, deaths in custody, shooting, etc). You can use the filters to sort by a number of variables. You can also view the data as a list or on  map.


Here are some interesting things that I found and shared with the students.  Use the database to create your own list of points to share.[ As of today's writing, there were 1000 people killed, so I'll be working with that number. It also makes the math super easy!]

• I started by confirming students' view that the majority of people that were killed by police were in fact white. However, I then toggled back and forth between "total" and "per million".Since whites make up more of the total population, they also make up more of the victims (502 Victims).  But blacks are more likely to be killed respective to the numbers of blacks in the population. There were 250 black victims but that means 5.94 blacks were killed for every million blacks in the population.  The respective numbers for white victims is 2.54.
• 198 of the victims were unarmed, or 19.8%  That is important because it shows 4 out of 5 times, the victims represent threats to police and to others. So here, I like to point out to students that police are doing their jobs well in most situations.
• Furthermore, only 88 of those unarmed victims were killed by gunshot.(For example, many of the unarmed victims died in motor vehicle accidents)  That's only 8.8%.of all deaths.
• So what happens when we look at these 88 deaths?   35 of those victims were white and 31 were black. That means that 6.9% of all white deaths were unarmed victims shot by police and 12.4% of all black deaths were unarmed victims shot by the police. I think this comparison indicates a clear racial disparity that you can talk about with your class.

It may be helpful to go through these same steps above, but using the current numbers. Your class can all calculate the numbers together, which helps students see that you didn't just "make up the numbers to distort the issue"

Money in Politics [Interactive Graphic]

When I talk about inequality and power with student, we often discuss the role of money in politics.  It can be hard for students to grasp exactly how much money we are talking about but I think this interactive graphic from Slate magazine can help students visualize the issue.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/11/super_pac_money_how_political_groups_are_spending_to_influence_the_2016.html

Check it out!

How Privileged Are You? [Activity]

In past years, I have used the Privilege Walk activity to demonstrate the concept of advantages.  I grew disenchanted with the activity for a few reasons. The first was that many students had done the activity and thus knew what to expect. The second was that I felt like the underprivileged students weren't surprised to be at the back, but I could sense the emotional toll that standing there was taking on some of them.   I'm all for generating a healthy level of discomfort but I felt like I was somehow using the underprivileged students' situation to create discomfort for the privileged., which wasn't the purpose.   In addition, in a series of tiny rooms that I was assigned to, this exercise was not possible. I still think the "Walk" works well in some situations, but I was able to find an alternative that accomplished the goals and generated discussions. That alternative was actually produced by Buzzfeed!so the students tend to like it.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/how-privileged-are-you#.vazaNLNnZx

This quiz asks students to answer 100 questions and generates a privilege score.  It's not scientific but it is fairly comprehensive with respect to class, gender, race, sexuality, disability, religion, etc. Instead of doing this in class, I assign the quiz as homework. I ask students to take a screen shot of their results and to write a paragraph about what they think influenced their score the most.  They turn these in at the beginning of  class.  I ask them to discuss in small groups and while they do this, I record all of the answers on a spreadsheet (anonymously),  put them in order, and show the class the range of scores. From here I launch into the discussion  just as I would when the privilege walk ended and people were lined up across the room.  In the quiz version, you actually don't know who scored what - you just know the range of scores in the room. The underprivileged students know where they fell on the scale, but at least they don't have to stand and be gawked at by the high scorers.

It also may be helpful to pair this exercise with this video in class. This video shows other people doing the privilege walk so can be useful in the overall discussion without doing the exercise in class.

PS - One thing I still need to work on here. The high scorers wind up reporting feel "blessed". It's almost if the result is "Wow! I really dodged a bullet" or "I'm lucky" rather than "Wow. Stratification is real and it has given me a leg up and so we should investigate why that is happening ". I realize part of this is where they are in life, how often they have received these messages but still....