Before writing please read instruction file carefully.

The late penalty on the final is 2% per day, for up to 7 days, after which late assignments cannot be accepted. For clarity, an assignment submitted at 12:01 am on April 13th, then, would incur a 0.6 penalty, or minus 2% of 30, and so forth for each additional day

Please read all the directions below. Be sure to complete Part I, Part II, & Part III.

Part I: Documentary Analysis (15%)

Choose one of the following two documentaries to watch & write about:

1. nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up. 2019. Directed by Tasha Hubbard. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada. Length: 1:38:00. Available at: https://www.nfb.ca/film/nipawistamasowin-we-will-stand-up/

2. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. 2020. Directed by James Lebrecht & Nicole Newnham. New York: Higher Ground. Length: 1:42:00. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFS8SpwioZ4

Draw from three sources in the course to explain what is happening in your selected documentary. At least one of those sources must be a reading assigned from Weeks 7 to 12 of the course. After that, your two remaining sources can be lectures and/or readings, from the first or second half of the course.

You can think of this as an essay structure, with a thesis organizing your ideas in a cohesive fashion, and with short intro and conclusion sections that help frame your interpretation. Because of the word limits, it is not advisable to write long intro and conclusion sections that simply summarize the body of the paper, nor is it advisable to take up space summarizing the documentary. Rather, you should focus on making key connections with the course materials and explaining your terms/concepts.

Your sources should lend some sociological insight into the events/themes depicted in your selected film. You will want to draw upon course concepts to help explain the larger underlying patterns (what we might call the social ‘dynamics’, ‘structures’ or ‘processes’) on display. Be sure to make clear how the perspectives in the different course materials you’ve selected fit together (or don’t fit together) in your analysis – this can be achieved in part by a well-crafted thesis statement.

Use of sources from outside the course is not recommended for Part I of the assignment, and such sources should only be used in exceptional circumstances. See the last section of this document for further advise on writing.

Part II: Concept Scavenger Hunt (10%, or 2 x 5%)

Part II requires you to find examples that illustrate concepts we’ve learned about in the second half of the course, drawing upon the specified course materials to provide an explanation in each case.

Complete any two of the five tasks listed on the next page. Your example in each case must be either a news story, an opinion piece, an image, a gif, a meme, a blog post, or a short video (i.e., some kind of online content), but not an excerpt from an online academic journal article, policy report, or book. Be sure to copy and paste the items in the document you are submitting. If it is a news story or opinion piece, provide both the url and a screen capture/image of the top of the article (similar to what you see in the lecture slides). Some suggestions on where to search for your content:

• https://www.google.com/images
• https://news.google.com/
• https://www.tumblr.com/
• https://twitter.com/
• https://imgur.com/
• https://youtube.com/
• https://www.pintecom/

All of your online content examples must be different from ones already used in the course lecture slides or readings. The written explanation you provide to fulfil your selected tasks should be at least 250 words, each (avoid writing more than 400 in each case). Each of your responses is worth a grade out of 5.

1. Find an example from a workplace setting where someone fails to demonstrate the cultural capital or ‘ease’ expected of them, or goes against the gender role expected of them in a conversation ritual, while navigating a professional setting. Draw from either the reading by Shamus Khan or Deborah Tannen, respectively, to explain what is going on. (Examples from tv shows/films found on youtube or Netflix are acceptable, if )

2. Consider the following statement: The ‘beauty’ industry promotes unrealistic standards that can also be harmful to one’s sense of self. Find an advertisement or some other form of online content as evidence of this problem. Draw from the ideas in either the reading by Mary Otto or Tressie McMillan Cottom to help with your

3. Find an example of ‘resistance’ in the workplace or in some other aspect of everyday life. Explain the dynamics at play in your example by drawing on the ideas found in the reading by either Robert Young, Jamie Woodcock, or Lisa Dodson.

4. Find an example of someone or multiple people attempting to make an embarrassing (or potentially embarrassing) situation less embarrassing. Draw from the sociological concepts found in the reading by Eviatar Zerubavel or by Cahill & Eggleston to offer an explanation of what is happening in your

5. Find an example of someone denying that racism is a problem today. Explain why their explanation is flawed by drawing on the ideas in either one of the Week 12 readings (by Devah Pager or by Eva Jewell & Ian Mosby) or the lecture for that

Part III: Reflective Learning Exercise (5%)

Respond to the following two prompts in at least 250 words in total:

• Tell us about something you learned from the course – e.g., perhaps your thinking on a social issue changed, or perhaps you gained a new perspective on society, or perhaps you’ve gained some insight into our everyday experiences of living through a
• As a commerce student, or in anticipation of a future career in a commerce-related field, what is a topic, theme, or theory in sociology you’d like to learn more about?

You don’t need to reference a particular reading or lecture per se for this response, though you are welcome to reflect on the course material. This will be marked in a similar fashion to the discussion forum responses, so full marks (a grade out of 5 in this case) should be readily achievable.

General Notes & FAQ:

Your mark will reflect in part how well you have integrated the course materials into your response, so we are looking for more than the mere insertion of one sentence from or about a reading in order to meet the expectations set out. You may use quotes from the course material, but do so in a very limited fashion (paraphrasing is usually preferable). There is a limited number of words for your analysis/explanations & most quotes you use still need to be unpacked or integrated so you demonstrate you understand its meaning to the reader.

While the discussion forum activities allow for a more conversational tone, the writing style for the final should be more formal. ‘Formal’ doesn’t preclude the use of first- person pronouns, but some usages of “I” (if you happen to use it) read as stronger than others: e.g., “I argue…” or “I claim…” tend to be more compelling than “I think…” or “I feel…”, which can skew toward the subjective.

A bibliography is required. This, and your citations, can follow any of the standard styles (e.g., APA, ASA, MLA, Chicago). If you use an image or gif or meme or video you found online, a listing of the url should be sufficient for sourcing it. If you reference the lecture material, you should cite it as well (the style of lecture citation is not so important, so long as it is clear for the reader). If it is clear to the reader what material/reading you are discussing, from context, and you put the ideas in your own words, you usually don’t need a parenthetical reference at the end of every sentence in a paragraph. Be sure to use quotation marks for any quoted sentences, or even quoted fragments of sentences, to indicate to the reader where your words end and another author’s begin, and provide page numbers when available.

While discussion of the course material with other students is part of the learning process in this course, you’ll want to make sure that what you submit is your own original work since collaboration with others in completing the assignment is not permitted.

The formatting of your responses (spacing, font, margins, etc.) is not so important since we are looking more at the word count than the number of pages.

Be sure to upload the file as a .doc, .docx, .rtf, or as a last resort .pdf (not .pages).

Please back up your work, frequently, and email yourself a copy of your completed assignment so you can verify when it was completed at a later date in case you encounter problems with Brightspace or accidentally upload the wrong file.

Grading Criteria:

We will be looking for how well you grasp the ideas you are discussing, the strength of your analysis, how well you meet the expectations laid out in the instructions, how well you have integrated the course materials (e.g., the quality of the analysis rather than the

quantity of concepts referenced), and the caliber of your writing style. In general, the bar set for an ‘A’ on the assignment is higher than it is for the discussion forums.

The following may be useful as rough criteria for meeting each letter grade:

80 – 100 (A) Excellent. “An outstanding performance in which the student demonstrates a superior grasp of the subject matter, and an ability to go beyond the given material in a critical and constructive manner. The student demonstrates a high degree of creative and/or logical thinking, a superior ability to organize, to analyze, and to integrate ideas, and a thorough familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.”

70 – 79 (B) Good. “A more than adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a thorough grasp of the subject matter, and an ability to organize and examine the material in a critical and constructive manner. The student demonstrates a good understanding of the relevant issues and a familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.”

60 – 69 (C) Acceptable. “An adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a generally adequate grasp of the subject matter and a moderate ability to examine the material in a critical and constructive manner. The student displays an adequate understanding of the relevant issues, and a general familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.”

50 – 59 (D) Minimally Acceptable. “A barely adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a familiarity with the subject matter, but whose attempts to examine the material in a critical and constructive manner are only partially successful. The student displays some understanding of the relevant issues, and some familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.”

0 – 49 (F) Fail. “An inadequate performance.”