Week 3 Blog Posting Suggestion: Seeing the "strange" in familiar cultural objects
By simply looking at the cultural objects that surround us we can learn a lot about our society. Time magazine recently published an excellent photo essay spread dealing with the theme of "the global diet" or what people in different parts of the world eat, and what our different diets reveal about our different societies. To see the link to this photo essay, click on the link below: (You can use your back button to navigate back to this blog): What the World Eats
For this suggested blog topic, you will analyze a cultural object from your everyday life through the eyes of a sociologist! It can be an "everyday" food item, but it doesn't have to be. Below are some questions that you can address in your analysis of this object, but make sure your posting is a narrative that is interesting to read (don't just answer these questions one-by-one!)
1) Description
What is the object under consideration? How is it referred to? Briefly describe it. What are its personal uses for you? What other uses could it serve?
2) Historical Diagnosis
When did the object come into existence? Why did it come about at this time? How has the object changed over time? What other aspects of social life have changed as a result of this object? What will this object be like in the future? Will it still exist? Why or why not?
3) Immediate Diagnosis--How is this object social?
How does this object touch other aspects of social life? How is it used, bought and sold? How does its use or existence affect others? How does its use or existence affect society? Who benefits from it? Who suffers from it? What kinds of social interactions stem from its use or existence? What might this object ell you about the kind of society we live in (e.g. the values that we hold and what is important to "us")?
4) Global Diagnosis
Does this object exist in other countries? If so, in what form? How is it used there? How is this use different from its use in the U.S.? Is it altered in any way when used elsewhere? Does it affect life on the planet in any significant way? Where and how is it made?
