Information Literacy Assignment

Information Literacy Assignment 1 Introduction to Sociology (SOCI 100) Information Literacy ) . Constructing physical fights: An interactionist a n a l y s i s of violence among affluent, suburban yout h. Qualitative Sociology, 36, 2 3 - 5 2 - Sc hwadel, P . ( 2 0 0 8 ) . Poor t e e n a g e r s ' religion. Sociology of Religion, 69, 2, 1 2 5 - 1 4 9. - Shih, M., & S a n c h e z , D. ( 2 0 0 9 ) . When race becomes e v e n more complex: Toward understanding the l a n d s c a p e of multiracial identity and e x p e r i e n c e s . Journal o f Social Issues, 65, 1, 1 - 1 1 . - King, E. B., Knight, J. L., & Hebl, M. R. ( 2 0 1 0 ) . T h e influence of e c o n o m i c conditions on a s p e c t s of stigmatization. Journal of Social Issues, 66, 3, 4 4 6 - 4 6 0 . You can locate databases via the SMCC portal: Ë “ MyMaineGuide ” Ë My Learning Ë “ Library ” ‡ “ Find research sources ” Ë identify search engine for student s i.e EBSCOHOST or “ Proquest ” Step 2: Evaluate the author ’ s argument After reading and assessing this article, you will submit a written review of this article by responding to the questions below. Your responses to the questions do not need to be integrated into a single response paper. Rather, you may separately answer ea ch question about your peer - reviewed article in paragraph form. Please answer the following questions THOROUGHLY and in COMPLETE SENTENCES with CITED REFERNCES in APA STYLE : ( adapted from Paul & Elder, 2006 Foundation for Critical Thinking) 1. The main purpose of this article is __________________________________________ ? (State as accurately as possible the author ’ s purpose for writing the article.) 2. The key question that the author is addressing is ___________________ ? (Figure out the key question in the mind of the author when s/he wrote the article.) 3. The most im portant information in this article is ____________________ ? (Figure out the facts, experiences, & data the author is using to support her/his conclusions). 4. The main inferences/conclusions in this article are ______________________ ? (Identify the key conclusions the author comes to and presents in the article.) 5. The key concept(s) we need to understand in this article are ______________. By these concepts, the author means ________________. 2 ? (Figure out the most important ideas you would have to understand in order to understand the author ’ s line of reasoning). 6. The main assumption(s) underlying the author ’ s thinking is (are) ____________ ? (Figure out what the author is taking for granted [that might be questioned]). 7. If we take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are _______________ ? (What consequences are likely to follow if people take the author ’ s line of reasoning seriously?) 8. If we fail to take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are ___________________ ___ ? (What consequences are likely to follow if people ignore the author ’ s reasoning?) 9. The main point(s) of view presented in this article is (are) ____________________ ? (What is the author looking at, and how is s/he seeing it?) 10. Write 2 - 3 parag raphs (minimum of 315 words) relating this article to specific sociological topics and concepts you have learned over the course of the semester. You should explain how this article supports or contradicts material learned in class. For example, you may wa nt to discuss the importance of social structures, using information learned in Chapter 4. Use at least 3 different sociological topics and /or concepts in your answer. Please correctly cite your article by referring to the guidelines in Step 3 or using ou tside resources such as the Writing Center at the Learning Commons. Step 3 : Correctly cite your article When referring to your article in Step 2, you should refer to the article using American Psychological Association (APA) formatting, rather than Mod ern Language Association (MLA). After you have quoted or paraphrased another person's work you need to correctly attribute credit to their ideas. This is done by citing. Some examples of citing in APA format include: ? Direct Quotes : o "Race is a socially constructed category that is predicated on political, social, and economic process es " ( Wegener & Petty 1992, p. 58). o Berndt (2002:67) argues that “ race is a socially constructed category. ” ? Paraphrasing : o Res earch by Wegener and Petty (1992 ) supports the view that ... o Some have argued that race is a socially constructed category ( Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983 ; Smith et. al., 2010). o Ethnicity is a different concept than race (Berndt, 2002). ¸ If you are still unclear on how to use in - text citations plea se see: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/ At the end of this assignment, you will need to cite your peer - reviewed journal article using APA formatting. Citation for a journal article: Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55 , 893 - 896. ? For more help on using APA citations see: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ ? Also, if you need writing help on this portion of your assignment, please visit the Writing Center at the Learning Commons. Constructing Physical Fights: An Interactionist Analysis of Violence among Affluent, Suburban Youth Curtis Jackson-Jacobs Published online: 13 January 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012 Abstract Based on more than four years of ethnographic fieldwork and a dataset of 189 violent encounters, this article explores the social phenomenology of physical fights in a novel setting. Although American sociologists have traditionally depicted violence as a distinctively “ ghetto ” phenomenon, the members of this sample were overwhelmingly white and affluent. Since the usual explanatory background factors — race, poverty, and neighborhood — cannot adequately account for their violent experiences, the dataset is especially valuable for analyzing the generic interactional processes through which physical fights unfold. Furthermore, the article suggests a model that runs counter to the prevailing sociological perspective that violence is universally motivated by independent, preexisting conflicts. Oftentimes, the sample members set out to “ get into ” fights for their perceived experiential rewards and only later instigated disputes as a means to motivate and justify violent action. Using the method of analytic induction, the article presents a generalizable theory of how fights unfold in interaction. Three stages were necessary for achieving a fight: (1) agreeing to fight as a solution to a challenge to “ interpersonal sovereignty, ” (2) transcending the ordinary fear of violence, and (3) using competitive techniques of violence. Keywords Interpersonal conflict . Violence . Crime . Youth culture . Ethnography . Social phenomenology Watching from a safe distance, physical fights can appear inhuman and animalistic, group fights especially. It can be hard to tell who is fighting whom, much less why. Arms swing and heads bounce. Projectiles fly. People run around frantically. And the noises — sounds one never knew humans could make. Everyday language aptly conveys this sense of chaos and disorder. Fights are called “ free-for-alls, ”“ dust-ups, ” and “ knock-down, drag-out brawls. ” They “ erupt ” and “ break out, ” like forces of nature, as if beyond the limits of social order — a view sustained by many psychological and biological theories of violence, and only rarely challenged by sociologists. Qual Sociol (2013) 36:23 – 52 DOI 10.1007/s11133-012-9244-2 C. Jackson-Jacobs ( * ) Department of Crime, Law, and Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA e-mail: [email protected] What to make of these beasts with four-fists? Looking more closely, fights are prime sites for studying what is most human about humans: social interaction that is thoroughly meaningful and organized at each moment (Blumer 1969 ; Garfinkel 1967 ; Goffman 1967 ; Katz 1999 ; Mead 1934 /1962; Schutz 1962 ). To contribute to the sociology of interpersonal conflict and violence, I document a theoret- ically strategic phenomenon: physical fights in a sample of overwhelmingly white, subur- ban, affluent youth. My sample members defined a “ fight ” much as the broader culture does: a stretch of serious competitive violence (Jackson-Jacobs 2009 ). 1 This definition served as both an interpretive lens for defining situations and also a practical guide for organizing action (Garfinkel 1967 ; Polanyi 1958 ;Sacks 1967 – 1968/1992; Schutz 1962 ). In the cases I describe, members specifically meant to do their violence as fights — rather than, say, unilateral beatings — thus constructing themselves as competitive opponents rather than sadistic predators. American sociology, like popular culture, tends to depict youth violence as a distinctively “ ghetto ” phenomenon. Since the background factors usually presumed to cause violence are absent in my sample, the data are strategically valuable for highlighting the general process of constructing physical fights in face-to-face interaction. Thus, following the tradition of “ interactionist ” studies of violence (especially Katz 1988 ; see also Collins 2008 ), I seek an explanation that lies closer to and within the moments of violence. Although I make general claims about fighting, I report evidence from a single ethno- graphic study for two reasons. First, I report on this sample to debunk the perspective that violent youth cultures are exclusive to contexts of poverty. Second, I present the evidence as an empirical contribution to the comparative backdrop of studies that have described qualitatively similar fights across race, class, and gender lines, and in diverse neighborhood, institutional, historical, and geographical contexts (e.g., Anderson 1999 ; Athens 1997 ; Brown 2010 ; Collins 2008 ; Conley 1999 ; Farrington et al. 1982 ; Garot 2010 ; Gorn 1985 ; Hagedorn 1988 ; Horowitz and Schwartz 1974 ; Jones 2010 ; King 1995 ; Monkkonnen 2001 ; Polk 1999 ; Sanders 1994 ; Short and Strodtbeck 1968 ; Tomsen 1997 ; Winlow and Hall 2006 ). In the spirit of analytic induction (Znaniecki 1934 ), grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967 ), and the comparative method (Ragin 2008 ), my purpose is to highlight what is common across contexts without losing sight of what is unique. Whether fights occur in settings such as those I describe or in impoverished, working- class, or “ gang ” contexts, the actors often pursue them as an opportunity to experience thrilling “ action ” (Garot 2007a , b ; Katz 1988 , chap. 4; see also Goffman 1967 ), to “ test ” or demonstrate one ’ s emotional and violent skills (Brown 2010, 186; Garot 2007a ; Sanchez- Jankowski 1991 ), and to achieve the narrative payoffs and prestige of storytelling (Collins 2008 ; Jackson-Jacobs 2004a ; Katz 1988 , chap. 4; Morrill et al. 2000 ). To be sure, there are differences in the interactional repertoires for provoking fights, the ways violent emotions are generated, and the bodily techniques of violence across contests and categories of actors. Gang members may challenge other youth by demand- ing to know the other ’ s affiliation (Garot 2007a , 2010 ). Young men and women living in impoverished urban neighborhoods may be particularly sensitive to how their violent performances will affect the “ respect ” they receive from their peers (Anderson 1999 ; 1 I refer to the young people about whom I write as members in two senses of the term: as members of my research sample, but also as members of a particular culture, with its own boundaries, practices, and shared knowledge. As much as possible, I tried to organize my sample to follow natural categories of membership in friendship networks. 24 Qual Sociol (2013) 36:23 – 52