So a ship sunk and some people survived.  Great!  The only problem is over 20 people were saved and the life boat can only hold 9 before it sinks.  So what nine do you save?  How did the decisions made in class on who to throw overboard relate to what we value in America.  Would other cultures have made the same decisions?  How are values established?  Who establishes values?  This is your next blog (5) along with anything else you learned this week.  You will also comment on 2 classmates blogs

The activity helps to understand the different levels (macrosociology and microsociology) that sociologists study and the Social Construction of Reality. On the macro level, sociologists look for the large-scale groups that people are a part of. For example, students in our class are Americans, teenagers, high-schoolers, mostly from a rural, small-town middle class part of South Dakota. All of these groups have an effect on an individual, so that even when you as an individual makes choices alone, you are still being influenced by these groups.

On the microsociological level, sociologists study how groups interact in face-to-face conversation. That is who makes eye contact, how loud people speak, where they sit, who is the leader etc...So each class that does this activity is different based on how the group interacts. This activity is a metaphor for any group that you are a part of; all of the groups that shape you are governed by both macrosociological forces and micrsociological forces.

 If we examined these two levels in high school, there are certain macrosociological values that one would expect to find no matter where the school is located: grades, learning, homework, rules etc... So as you move from one class to the next, you will see these macrosociological values present. On the other hand, every class is different because of the microsociological dynamics present in that class: some teachers are more casual, some teachers use rows vs. a horseshoe shape, some classes have a few loud boisterous individuals and other classes might be mostly girls or mostly guys etc...

Can you see these two levels at play in your own life? Perhaps in your family, your classes or with a group of friends, or at your job? Think about that lifeboat activity and how it is a metaphor for any of the groups that you are a part of. There are macro forces like culture and social class that affect your group but there are also micro forces at play too such as the dynamic of how the group interacts.

Your assignment is to take what you learned in the lifeboat activity and apply it to your own life in terms of macrosociological and microsociological forces.  I think 100 words for each or 200 words overall will be enough to get the job done.

The video below may help you understand a little bit better.