Students' Lived Experiences as Text in Teaching the Sociological Imagination

Abstract

Although we may claim our students are developing a sociological imagination, it is quite another to realize this in our teaching and our students' performances. Through a professional move from teaching in Chicago to Maine, I was led to rethink how I teach the sociological imagination. I argue that if we are to teach the sociological imagination, we must consider our students' contextual backgrounds more carefully and use student's lived experiences as “text” from which they exercise and develop their sociological imaginations. I illustrate this approach with an assignment designed to use students' experiences from rural and small towns in Maine. The assignment challenges them to use their sociological perspective to look at the relationship between “private troubles” and “public issues,” and to demonstrate using a sociological imagination to reflect on their biographies.

"Working Lives": The use of auto/biography in the development of a sociological imagination

“…We were, indeed, in it together. Hoop (2009) suggested, in a truly engaged pedagogy, both student and teacher should be self-actualized: each gaining as a result of the process. Through this approach, we sought to provide an environment within which students could discover an innovative approach to the sociological study of work, and the development of critical faculties by reflecting on their own working lives or those of others.…”

“…In order to address the lack of understanding of sociology as a discipline outlined above, we decided to develop a course that would challenge the prevailing neoliberal view that sees choice as the predominant explanation for any or all social actions or inactions (Feigenbaum, 2007;Hoop, 2009). Taking this point further, Lawler (2008) argued that through such a limited neo-liberal lens, even the structures of class are frequently dismissed as the product of a series of poor choices or poor taste.…”

“…Our intention was to encourage our students to think critically, particularly about what they already knew, and to overcome the problem that some come to university better prepared to study sociology than others, a situation noted by Hoop (2009) following a reflection on her own teaching. The use of biography (and autobiography) as the initial teaching strategy would specifically require our students to confront both diversity and common experience, explore different research contexts and methodologies, be critical, and, crucially, make links between private worlds and public contexts.…”

“…The use of biography (and autobiography) as the initial teaching strategy would specifically require our students to confront both diversity and common experience, explore different research contexts and methodologies, be critical, and, crucially, make links between private worlds and public contexts. We had also recognized that many students simply "give them [teachers / assessors] what they want" rather than engaging fully in assignments, or as Hoop (2009), drawing upon Graff (2003), describes, some of her students are very good at doing school without ever "getting it," understanding the sociology as a discipline (Hoop,. We felt that the personal, and/or familial nature of the first assessment would go some way in overcoming this problem.…”

Gender through Their Lenses: A Film of Students’ Images

“…This assignment was meant to open students' eyes to those meta-messages about gender in their own lives. The assumption was that the students' lived experiences exposed them to visual examples of the sociological concepts discussed in their gender course (Hoop, 2009).…”