Sociology Students as Storytellers: What Narrative Sociology and C. Wright Mills Can Teach Us about Writing in the Discipline

Abstract

The Writing in the Disciplines approach encourages writing instruction in specific majors so that students learn the writing conventions of their discipline. As writing instructors, however, the role of the sociologist is problematic. Not only has standard sociological writing been jargon laden, it has privileged a clinical style of writing. Thus, we ask whether learning sociology also means learning how to write poorly or at least narrowly. Drawing from narrative sociology, we suggest that mainstream sociological writing should be viewed as a writing genre—one of many genres that students, and sociologists themselves, can choose from. Framing sociologists as both truth tellers and storytellers, we invite sociology instructors to consider at least three alternative genres for assignment in the classroom: life stories, fiction stories, and visual stories. Finally, we offer C. Wright Mills as a model for how to think like a sociologist while still writing well.

Fronts Matter: The Effectiveness of an “Edited Book” Project in Classical Theory

“…Nonformal writing has also been increasingly used to achieve similar results and has included poster presentations to illustrate the ideas of theorists in their proper historical context (Eglitis 2010) or writing about films using sociological concepts to relieve some of the anxiety associated with learning about them (Pelton 2013). The effectiveness of these activities, often reported in Teaching Sociology , is further confirmed by the success that others have had with a collection of writing activities as advocated by WAC to foster a more participatory classroom environment and greater appreciation for the role of theory (Mannon and Camfield 2019; Scarboro 2004).…”

Assigning Authenticity: Future Directions for Undergraduate Writing in Sociology

“…Even sociologists who are critical of traditional academic writing norms still tend to frame this debate narrowly in terms of style. For Mannon and Camfield (2019), sociology’s commitment to inculcating disciplinary rhetorical conventions evidences a sad irony: “Although we sociologists often are quite iconoclastic and sympathetic to deviants,” they note, “we are also uncompromising enforcers of the current structure when it comes to composition. Our red ink blazes across the pages and we complain bitterly about the nonconformity of our students to writing conventions.…”

“…Our red ink blazes across the pages and we complain bitterly about the nonconformity of our students to writing conventions. How much more tolerant we are of other types of deviance” (Mannon and Camfield 2019:186). Mannon and Camfield’s objection is stylistic.…”

“…Teaching Sociology , however, has published numerous studies that show the potential rewards that await professors who choose to forgo this kind of institutional socialization in favor of creating occasions for students to enhance their reflexivity (Kaufman 2013; Picca, Starks, and Gunderson 2013), experience greater engagement (Auken 2012), recognize sociological shifts (Whitaker 2017), overcome theory anxiety (Pelton 2013), sharpen their sociological imaginations (Bidwell 1995; Petray and Halbert 2013), mitigate plagiarism (Heckler, Forde, and Bryan 2013), and develop storytelling skills (Riedmann 1991; Mannon and Camfield 2019). Other studies demonstrate that this is not a zero-sum game: Hudd et al (2013), Migliaccio and Carrigan (2017), and Howard and Butler (2018) put forward multifaceted definitions of writing in the service of varied learning outcomes while still preserving instruction in disciplinary norms as an essential goal.…”

Podcast Review: Nice White Parents

“…Each of them was assigned one episode to listen to and take notes; then they shared with each other to complete the story and sort out the timelines and analytical framework. One of the groups even created its own podcast, as a method of storytelling, to reflect on Nice White Parents (Mannon and Camfield 2019). The other related limitation (or challenge) for the instructor is to make sure students are reminded of many important details before they dive into the entire series.…”