Option 1: Powerpoint on Important Childhood memories:

I will be asking you to produce a powerpoint with pictures explaining which specific agents of socialization (family, mass media, music, peers, religion, school etc) shaped your identity and self the most while you were growing up. You could start your presentation by talking about the type of resources you had in your household while you were growing up. Another option is to recall a specific social experience that had an enormous impact on your identity formation (this might be positive or negative).If you recall, in my powerpoint I chewed on my school experience and taste of music which likely shaped my own view of society in the future. You do not necessarily have to share a picture for this but consider including it in your powerpoint. Finally, you must also utilize and define one of the culture/socialization concepts in your essay (socialization, self*, looking-glass-self, significant others, generalized others, cultural capital, resocialization, reference groups, symbolic interactionism etc) If you do not produce a powerpoint, I will ask you to do a 3 pages/single-spaced write-up instead. I WILL ENCOURAGE YOU TO LOOK AT MY DEMO POWERPOINT SLIDE IF YOU NEED SOME GUIDE!

Option 2: My Racial/Ethnic identity

Although there is no real biological basis to race, it is still a socially relevant and powerful concept to most people in the United States. Hence, for this presentation/essay, I would like you to discuss your own racial/ethnic identity. As much as possible, I would like you to also utilize sociology concepts and terms from the chapter on Race and Ethnicity, or even bring in the audio podcast on complex identities. Link: https://kpfa.org/episode/against-the-grain-march-20-2018/ You are also encouraged to bring in issues related to overt/covert discrimination, hidden bias, white privilege, color blindess, witnessed social distance between other racial/ethnic groups, first time you experienced racism or racist migroaggressions, knew a victim or family member who was a victim of hate crime, witnessed forms of online racism/discrimination related to race/ethnicity, witnessed use of negative stereotypes or racist jokes etc. that you think pertain to your own race and ethnicity or another race or ethnicity.

Please attempt to answer the questions as best as you can in your essay.

1)Looking at the current U.S. census racial and ethnic classifications from the graph above, which of these terms/labels is closest to you?

2)Hence, what is your own (self-identified) racial or ethnic identity? Do you fit between any of these? Do you occasionally personally practice or see others perform ethnic-options (See Mary C. Waters book/article, if this applies to you! https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2008/10/01/optional-ethnic-identities /), or do you have a complex/unique racial/ethnic identity that is not included in the current U.S. census classification?

3)At what age do you think you started becoming aware of your own racial and ethnic identity? Was this a positive or negative experience? Do you think race has definitely impacted you in your life? Do you think it affects your life chances now? In the future? Will it impact your children (if you have any)?

4)Do you think being a certain race and ethnicity benefits some while hurting and discriminating others ? Is our society still stratified on the grounds of race/ethnicity? Or do you think have we have already entered into a post-racial ethnic (individualized) society? How do you think race and ethnicity (numerically and demographically) will look like in the United States in the next 50 years?

If you do not decide to make a powerpoint presentation, the minimum requirement for this essay is three pages/single spaced. Please do include and bold two concepts or theories from the Race Ethnicity readings you did. For an additional 5 points extra credit points added to this assignment, please also include some statistics on the race and ethnicity stats using your (zip code) as location. You can find racial and ethnic stats using your own zipcode info here: https://statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Texas/Dallas/Overview

Youtube(video) Media-Post

Starting in Fall 2018, students may also substitute self-produced 4-minute (minimum) youtube videos for our discussion posts/mini assignments/ and replies (This excludes major assignments and Tests/Exams). However, these student-produced videos must still fulfill all of the basic assessment requirements outlined in the modules. Several additional rules will apply for this assignment/discussion post option: