the idea must be unique to everyday life. I am a student at Manhattan College, so i have all of the city to work with. Besides watching bootleggers all day, are there any creative ideas that will impress my teacher?
2007-03-01 03:52:47 · 8 answers · asked by tippy 1 in Social Science ➔ Sociology
I am not sure what you are looking to do with the paper... but i remember writing a zinger of sociology paper having to do with "learned behavior."
I went to public places and broke the norm of learned behavior and then recorded the reactions of those around me. I compared it to learned behavior that we preform ever day that we aren't even aware of.
Some great examples would be going to a restaurant and sitting on the floor and eating - there is nothing "wrong" with that, but it is against our learned behavior, and would probably cause a scene...which is kind of a good thing for research purposes.
Also- you could compare doing something like sitting on the floor in a major NYC restaurant to eating on the floor in some small time diner upstate, do we expect different social boundaries in different places?
Another good one would be to actually take someone in need of care from the streets, and instead of giving them money, offer to buy them something that they need, observe the reactions of those around you, and that of the person you are helping.
You have so many great options! good luck, and enjoy the class! It's a wonderful subject!
2007-03-01 04:06:42 · answer #1 · answered by PiaAntonia 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think a good, unique direction to go would be to analyze the interaction among people on the sidewalk. I am going to Syracuse University, and I'm originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I've noticed a big difference in the way people treat you as you walk along the street. When I smile at someone, I often get a scowl. This would never happen in Tulsa. Try an experiment where you smile at everyone you make eye contact with while walking along the sidewalk and analyze their reactions. If you have the resources, compare these reactions to those in another city/country
2007-03-01 12:04:37 · answer #2 · answered by Joonas N 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've got a really good idea for you. It worked for my sociology paper. Dress up like a street person and go into an upper-class resteraunt, walk past the mait-tre-de like your deaf, and take a seat. See if you get served or thrown out. Go into the bathroom while the suits are in there "freshening" up and extend your hand to make a formal introduction. See if they return the gesture.Then go outside and linger at the front door to see how much of the patronage turn away from the joint. Tip: you might want to let the cops in that district know what you're doing.
2007-03-03 04:08:53 · answer #3 · answered by 4everamusedw/humanity 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I were your teacher I would be most impressed by your unique idea not the best the web poll could get you in three days. Read this section completely and Do Your Own Homework!
2007-03-01 15:20:29 · answer #4 · answered by NakasEvilTwin 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When I was in a bad mood one night I went and chanted for my old cat in this one neighborhood packed with apartment buildings. The next day a payphone in a different neighborhood started ringing when I approached it. The dude on the other end said "meow" and hung up.
You could research Gang Stalking.
http://www.skewsme.com/mclinks.html#topic7
2007-03-01 12:56:31 · answer #5 · answered by SkewsMe.com 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You could try to impress ur teacher by studying and discussing
some of the brilliant ideas of that Critical 20th century social
scientist- Sir karl Popper. (there again,he may not be
impressed,if he's not heard of him either).
2007-03-01 13:15:02 · answer #6 · answered by peter m 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How about discussing "The lack of personal integrity in elected leaders."
2007-03-01 12:45:20 · answer #7 · answered by rico3151 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do it on Yahoo answers..you have the whole world then .and the gene pool here is full of chlorine.Good luck!
2007-03-01 17:03:45 · answer #8 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋