Week 8 · Readings & resources

Week 8 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Sociology Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 8 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 10 items (4 readings and 6 videos). Allow 73–91 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more review before the midterm, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (18–21 min total)

① Is it about one person or a whole society? Troubles, issues, and three lenses

Chapter 8, Section “Connect a trouble to an issue: the imagination and three lenses” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Troubles, issues, and three lenses” · Remember: one jobless person has a trouble, while many people out of work across an economy is an issue rooted in how society is arranged.

C. Wright Mills and the Sociological Imagination Explained — Social Theory on Film — a short explainer on Mills's idea of linking a private life to the history and structure around it; listen for the difference between a trouble and an issue. Use it while working through the Week-8 module overview. (video, 6 min) (captions: creator)
Macro vs. Micro Sociology — Sociologylearners — a walk through the two levels sociologists work at, whole societies and face-to-face interaction, with examples of each; pause after each example and say which level it sits at. (video, 9 min) (captions: automatic)
Karl Marx & Conflict Theory: Crash Course Sociology #6 — CrashCourse — a review of the conflict perspective from its roots in Marx, a good refresher before you run one case through all three lenses. (video, 11 min) (captions: creator)
How the Government Measures Unemployment — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — the agency's own explanation of how one national rate is built from a survey of households; read the sections on who counts as employed and unemployed and how the rate is figured, and notice that a public issue is measured by adding up many private situations. (reading, 10–15 min)

② Which distinction is this? Rules, roles, and the self

Chapter 8, Section “Sort the rules and the self: norms, judgment, Cooley and Mead” · Session 1, Segment 2, “Rules, the self, and groups” · Remember: weigh a norm by its moral weight, and sort a pull between two roles from a pull inside one role.

What are Folkways, Mores & Taboos? — Sociology Vibes — a short refresher on sorting norms by how much moral weight they carry; as you watch, sort each example into a folkway or a mos. This builds on Week 3's work with culture and socialization. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)
What is Role Strain & Role Conflict? — Sociology Vibes — a quick explainer on the difference between tension inside one role and a clash between two roles, the swap students most often make on this topic. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)

③ Who is the figure about? Explanations and the ecological fallacy

Chapter 8, Section “Build the level-of-analysis habit: patterns, explanations, and one fallacy” · Session 2, Segment 3, “The level-of-analysis habit” · Remember: a rate describes a group, so name the level of the pattern and of the explanation before you argue about either.

Self-Help Sociology — Sociological Images, The Society Pages — a short blog post on how focusing only on personal fixes can lead people to blame themselves for larger social forces; read the post and skip the comments below it. (reading, 5–8 min)
Ecological fallacy — Elizabeth Lynch — a short explainer on why a pattern found across groups can mislead when it is read as a fact about the individuals inside them. (video, 7 min) (captions: automatic)
Ecological Fallacy — Simply Psychology — a long overview; read the definition and the examples near the top, and treat the later sections on statistics as optional. (reading, 10–15 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Poverty in the United States: 2024 (P60-287) — U.S. Census Bureau — the government report behind the official poverty rate and the Supplemental Poverty Measure this week's habit is run on; read the Highlights and skip the detailed tables unless you want them. (reading, 5–10 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com