Assignment #1

Deviance is the label sociologists use to describe behavior that violates cultural norms. Norms include the expectations and rules that guide our behavior, appearance, manners, gestures, body language, conduct, et cetera. For this assignment, your task is to break a norm and write about your experience, as follows:

Choose one norm to break as long as it is within the guidelines for legal behavior. Examples of acceptable norm violations include dressing in a manner that would be considered eccentric or inappropriate for a given social situation or invading someone’s personal space.

In a 2- to 3-page paper, double-spaced, include the following:

Explain which norm you broke and why you chose it. Discuss what the appropriate behavior for the situation you chose would typically require (for example, if you are violating a dress code, discuss what you would normally wear in that situation).

Discuss why your behavior violated those norms and the reaction you received upon breaking them.

Apply one sociological theory of deviance to interpret the response to your behavior. Begin by briefly discussing the key aspects of the theory you have chosen and then explain why that theory is useful for understanding your norm-breaking experiment.

Assignment#2

Coverage by of the news is not carried out by any monolithic organization that gets to decide what is, and is not, the correct way to report the news. Today perhaps more than ever, the editorial or opinion piece of the news is more apparent and widespread than it had been in the decades before cable news, 24-hour-news cycles, and the rise of the Internet as a news source. This does not necessarily mean that the news has become any less impartial, simply that news organizations are more conscious of markets and demographics, the people they are trying to attract, than ever before.

For your assignment this week, find two articles that address the same issue produced by two different news sources (this cannot be the same AP story published by different sources). In 1-2 pages, provide a summary of what message each writer is trying to get across, and provide a brief compare and contrast analysis of the two pieces. Explain which piece you feel is more effective and why. Be sure to include links for each article in your assignment.