Aim: How does Schwalbe explain “how the social world works?”

True or False Democratic Government is most efficient The Average Person Unknowingly Swallows Eight Spiders A Year In Their Sleep Chewing Gum Takes Seven Years To Digest A high school diploma will likely yield higher earnings by mid life for a white man than a college degree will for a black woman

Which picture displays poverty?

Remember: If our premises are wrong, our conclusions will also be wrong

Is This Dog Cute?

What is truth? How do sociologists find truth? What types of questions can be answered using research? Empirical: questions that can be answered through observation and experiment Aesthetic: questions that relate to physical beauty or attractiveness Moral: questions that relate to right and wrong Interpretative: questions that can be viewed in different ways by different people

With a partner: Provide an example of each type of question

Schwalbe mentions a number of facts that people must look at mindfully: Numbers of poor blacks vs. poor whites incomes of black women vs. white men according to education Democracy vs. Authoritarian government

What is “being mindful?” –Being skeptical about information - do not just accept facts, but learn and research for truth and hear differing opinions –Be open minded –Know how your actions affect others –Know that the social world is a human construction –Change is difficult to enact, but not impossible –Change in our small sector of the world can be brought about by the way we interact with people

Questions for Discussion: How does Schwalbe use statistical evidence to prove points about race and class, and how statistics can be unreliable at times? Why is it important for our premises to be correct when doing social research? According to Schwalbe, how can an empirical question best be answered? According to Schwalbe, why is it important for a sociologist to “be mindful?” What would sociology be without “sociological mindfulness?” How might this affect others? What questions does the author raise regarding how the social world works, and how it is interpreted?