Social theory can often feel too abstract for many students, particularly when it is disconnected from empirical research. These tricks have worked in my classroom to make the theory feel more tangible and more usable.
1. Coding the article. The basic components of a theory reading are often harder to find than those for a research article. Student readers may need extra help in finding those components so I push them to identify the following:
The Question:
The Assumptions:
The Answer to the Question (presumably the argument):
The Argumentation/Evidence (empirical, ideological, logical, practical?)
The Conversation in Which it Operates:
The Hook (what makes this answer to the question better and different?):
The Irritation (What's under the author's craw? What pissed them off so much they had to write this piece?):
Key Words with Definitions/Conceptualizations:
2. Mapping the Theory: I ask students to draw a map of the theoretical frame that is presented, identifying things like concepts, component parts, relationships and other dynamics, rejected elements (asserted by other authors but rejected by this one), hierarchies, etc. This reduces lengthy text to a one-page visual.
3. Mapping the conversation: Same as above, but involves one visual map for multiple authors who are in conversation around a common issue (race, social capital, postmodernism, etc.).
4. Interrogating the Passage: Have students identify a passage that seems to be particularly important and also particularly opaque. Read it word by word, refusing to move forward until each phrase/clause is understood. If you can open up these passages, the rest of the reading will also open up quickly.
5. Research Proposal: Develop a research proposal that incorporates the theory into the student's research area (works best with grad students). This allows students to see how abstract theories apply to practical research.
6. Interpret the Data: for this exercise, I bring in a short summary of data that is relatively straight-forward (income data from the census, suicide rates from the CDC, crime rates from the BJS, etc) and ask students to use the theoretical frame to interpret that data.
7. The Theorist as an Author: My classes are writing intensive and we spend a lot of time talking about the writing process, so it's important to think of social theorists as authors who are also wrestling with that process. I encourage students to name the elements of the readings that work for them as readers so that they can then learn how to incorporate those elements into their own writing style. Similarly, we identify writing styles that do not work and which students should avoid.
1. Coding the article. The basic components of a theory reading are often harder to find than those for a research article. Student readers may need extra help in finding those components so I push them to identify the following:
The Question:
The Assumptions:
The Answer to the Question (presumably the argument):
The Argumentation/Evidence (empirical, ideological, logical, practical?)
The Conversation in Which it Operates:
The Hook (what makes this answer to the question better and different?):
The Irritation (What's under the author's craw? What pissed them off so much they had to write this piece?):
Key Words with Definitions/Conceptualizations:
2. Mapping the Theory: I ask students to draw a map of the theoretical frame that is presented, identifying things like concepts, component parts, relationships and other dynamics, rejected elements (asserted by other authors but rejected by this one), hierarchies, etc. This reduces lengthy text to a one-page visual.
3. Mapping the conversation: Same as above, but involves one visual map for multiple authors who are in conversation around a common issue (race, social capital, postmodernism, etc.).
4. Interrogating the Passage: Have students identify a passage that seems to be particularly important and also particularly opaque. Read it word by word, refusing to move forward until each phrase/clause is understood. If you can open up these passages, the rest of the reading will also open up quickly.
5. Research Proposal: Develop a research proposal that incorporates the theory into the student's research area (works best with grad students). This allows students to see how abstract theories apply to practical research.
6. Interpret the Data: for this exercise, I bring in a short summary of data that is relatively straight-forward (income data from the census, suicide rates from the CDC, crime rates from the BJS, etc) and ask students to use the theoretical frame to interpret that data.
7. The Theorist as an Author: My classes are writing intensive and we spend a lot of time talking about the writing process, so it's important to think of social theorists as authors who are also wrestling with that process. I encourage students to name the elements of the readings that work for them as readers so that they can then learn how to incorporate those elements into their own writing style. Similarly, we identify writing styles that do not work and which students should avoid.
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