Course: Introduction to Sociology (SOC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Adeyemi
Module: Week 14 of 16 · Fall 2026 · in-person, two 75-minute sessions
Objective covered: Objective 7 — Analyze the major social institutions — here the economy and the polity — using the sociological perspectives.

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Module 14 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Welcome Announcement that drips out when the module opens. Dates below assume a Tuesday/Thursday session pattern with Week 14 meeting Tue Dec 1 and Thu Dec 3, and end-of-week work due Sunday Dec 6, 11:59 p.m. Adjust the day-of-week and times to match your section.

(A) Module 14 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Week 14: Economy, Work & Politics

This is your home base for the week. Read it first, then work the checklist below from top to bottom. Everything you need is linked inside the module.

This is the third of our three institution weeks (Week 12 was family, Week 13 education & religion, and this week is the economy and politics). These two institutions are the closest to your wallet and your future: the economy sets your job, your pay, and your benefits; the polity decides who gets to make the rules. We'll do four big things — present capitalism and socialism fairly (as analytic types, not slogans), trace the changing nature of work from the factory to the gig economy, learn Weber's three types of authority, and weigh two rival pictures of who really holds power — the pluralist model against C. Wright Mills's power elite. Then, in the Workshop, you'll read a real labor statistic from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The week's big questions

(1) "Is the gig economy a good deal for workers — or just less-secure work with a friendlier name?"
(2) "Who really holds power in society — is it spread among many groups (pluralism), or concentrated at the top (the power elite)?"

By Friday you'll define the economy's sectors, contrast capitalism and socialism evenhandedly, explain Marx's idea of alienation, name and tell apart Weber's traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal authority, contrast the pluralist and power-elite models, and read the BLS union-membership rate correctly — including what it does not show.

By the end of this week, you can…

Use this as a checklist. If you can do all five out loud, you're ready for the quiz.

• [ ] Describe the economy as an institution — its primary / secondary / tertiary sectors and the shift from an industrial to a post-industrial / service economy.
• [ ] Contrast capitalism and socialism fairly — private ownership + markets vs. collective/state ownership + planning — and recognize that most real economies are mixed.
• [ ] Explain the changing nature of work, including the gig economy (contractor classification; flexibility vs. security) and Marx's alienation.
• [ ] Name Weber's three types of authority — traditional (custom), charismatic (the person), rational-legal (rules/office) — and the power vs. authority distinction.
• [ ] Contrast the pluralist and power-elite (Mills) models of power, and read a labor statistic (the BLS union rate) for what it shows and doesn't — never reading a cause into a trend.

What's due this week, and when

Work these in order — each one gets you ready for the next.

Heads-up on the AI tools: you'll use a chatbot to draft and explain, and then you judge its work. Chatbots are especially shaky this week — they fabricate labor statistics and cite the wrong year, slide from correlation to causation ("unions declined, so that caused inequality"), take a political side on capitalism vs. socialism instead of laying out the arguments fairly, and overgeneralize ("all gig workers are exploited"). Catching the model is the point — and it's the whole skill the Workshops build.

Late policy reminder: 10% off per day late. If life happens, reach out before the deadline — I'd much rather hear from you early.

How to succeed this week

• Present, don't preach. Capitalism and socialism are analytic types here, with real trade-offs (efficiency vs. equality, freedom vs. security) — not teams to root for. The gig economy and the power question get the same evenhanded treatment.
• Memorize three tiny hooks. For authority: "Tradition (always been so) · Charisma (the person) · Law/Office (the rules)." For work: "Farm → factory → service → gig." For the economy: "Income from a job; power from a position."
• Keep two pairs razor-sharp. Power vs. authority (authority is power people accept as legitimate). And pluralist vs. power-elite (power spread among many vs. concentrated in a few at the top).
• Read the labor number for what it shows. The union rate fell over four decades — that's a real, sourced trend. It does not tell you why it fell, and a co-trend (inequality also rose) is not proof that one caused the other.
• Treat the chatbot as a smart intern, not an oracle. It drafts; you check every figure at the BLS source and refuse any "X caused Y" it can't support.

No background needed — just your own experience of work (a job, a gig, a paycheck) and a willingness to ask who benefits. Come ready to argue about whether the gig economy is freedom or precarity. See you Tuesday.

(B) Welcome Announcement — Module 14

Release setting: post on the module's start day (offset = 0 days), i.e., Tue Dec 1, 2026 — not before. If your platform won't preserve the scheduled date on import, post this as a draft labeled "Release: Tue Dec 1."

Subject: Welcome to Week 14 — work, the gig economy, and who really holds power 👋

Hi everyone,

Quick warm-up before we start: a delivery driver picks her own hours, answers to an app instead of a boss, and has no health insurance, no paid sick days, and no unemployment cushion. Good deal — or a bad one dressed up as freedom? That tension is the heart of this week. We're studying two of society's master institutions: the economy (how we produce goods and organize work) and the polity (how we organize power).

This week — Economy, Work & Politics — we tackle two big questions: Is the gig economy good for workers, or just less-secure work? and Who really holds power — is it spread among many groups, or concentrated at the top? By Friday you'll present capitalism and socialism fairly, trace the shift from the factory job to the gig economy, explain Marx's alienation, name Weber's three types of authority (traditional, charismatic, rational-legal), and weigh the pluralist model against Mills's power elite — then read a real labor statistic from the BLS.

Four things not to miss:
1. Lecture Tutorial 14 — work through the week's ideas with one approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) and submit the share link. You'll catch the model's slips — it loves to invent labor stats and pick a political side. Due Sun Dec 6.
2. Quiz 14, Discussion 14, and Assignment 14 also close Sun Dec 6 — the discussion ("Who Really Holds Power?") is a quick AI dialogue you summarize and post, so start early and leave time to reply to classmates.
3. Workshop 14 — "Read the Labor Data" — our signature weekly activity. You'll read the real BLS union-membership rate (and what it does and doesn't show), then fact-check an AI's reasoning. Due Sun Dec 6.
4. Open the Start Here page first — it lays out everything in order with due dates.

One promise: this is a course about thinking clearly with evidence, not picking a political team. We present capitalism and socialism, the gig economy, and the power question evenhandedly — and we read the labor data for exactly what it shows. The next time someone tells you "the gig economy is freedom" or "unions caused inequality," you'll know what to ask.

Bring your own experience of work — a job, a gig, a paycheck — to class on Tuesday.

See you soon,
Prof. Adeyemi