Sociology instructors have long used nontraditional texts such as literary fiction to demonstrate core course concepts, increase student engagement, and develop students’ critical thinking in the classroom. In this article, I explore how written assignments structured around identifying core course concepts in a dystopian novel that connects to student interests can help develop higher-level and critical sociological thinking skills. Using data from an upper-level Sociology of Media course at a large, Midwestern university, I detail a final paper assignment centered around M. T. Anderson’s dystopian satire novel Feed. I present qualitative and quantitative findings that demonstrate students’ successful use of higher-level and critical sociological thinking to identify, analyze, and support original arguments regarding core course concepts within the dystopian world and our own.

The relationship between subjective social status (SSS) and mental health and its underlying mechanisms remain an area of interest in the social sciences. Using data from the Midlife in the United States 2 (MIDUS 2), we examine how individual differences in valuing achievement and autonomy moderate the relationship between SSS and symptoms of depression. We find evidence of a moderation effect; there is a weaker relationship between SSS and depression for individuals who strongly hold the values of achievement or autonomy. In addition, at low levels of SSS, there are significant differences in the number of depression symptoms depending on personal values which are not seen at higher rungs of the SSS ladder, indicating a difference in this relationship dependent on how strongly one holds values of achievement and autonomy. We conclude by speculating on the mechanisms by which values shape the link between SSS and mental well-being and suggest future directions in studying values.