1. Karl Marx
2. Emile Durkheim
3. W.E.B. Du Bois
4. Jean Baudrillard
5. Erving Goffman
6. Patricia Hill Collins
7. Charlotte Perkins Gilman 8. Max Weber
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY DINNER PARTY ASSIGNMENT WHAT YOU WILL DO:
1. Imagine you are throwing a dinner party and you have invited the attendees listed above, then:
a. Pair up the theorists listed (you do not pair yourself with a theorist, rather you are their to
document and observe the conversations). You will place two people at each table. Group the available dinner guests according to what pairings you think would elicit the most interesting conversations. Think about who would have the most to talk about with each other based on their theoretical orientation, questions they are trying to answer, and assumptions about the social world.
b. Think about one topic, question, event, or scenario the pairs could discuss with each other. Your topic can be contemporary or from history. It could be (but is not limited to) a television show, a current event, something that we have covered in class, a social problem, and/or a philosophical inquiry. Your topic or question can be the same for each theorist pairing or can vary. For instance, you could pair up Karl Marx and W.E.B. DuBois together to discuss the racial wealth gap and you can choose this topic for your other theorists to discuss, or you could pick a new topic.
WHAT YOU WILL WRITE:
You will write a paper that is no more than 5 7 pages, single spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font with one inch margins. No cover page is necessary. If you use outside sources, please include a reference page that is formatted using ASA citation guidelines. ASA guidelines can be found here: ASA CITATION GUIDE
In your paper, you will relate the course material to your theorist pairings. This means you will include information from lectures, readings, and other relevant material (including theories and other terminology you have learned over the course of the semester) when writing about your theorist pairs.
IN ORDER TO COMPLETE YOUR ASSIGNMENT, YOU WILL:
1. Pair the eight theorists;
2. Select a topic for each of the pairs to discuss (you will have four pairs of theorists).
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3. In your write up you should address the following:
a. Why did you group these two theorists together? Why did you choose that particular question,
event, topic or scenario for them to discuss? How do you believe your theorists would discuss the topic of your choice.
4. At the end of your paper you should include a reflection on this assignment. Your reflection should include the following:
a. Was it difficult to determine whom to pair up? Why or Why not?
b. How did you go about selecting the topics for your theorist pairs to discuss?
c. What do you think the classical social theorists would say about our current social world?
d. What were your overall feelings with regard to this assignment? What did you think about this
assignment?
