Developing A Sociological Perspective on Mental Illness Through Reading Narratives And Active Learning: A “Book Club” Strategy

Lewis, Michael

doi:10.1177/0092055x0403200405

Cited by 17 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In general, we recommend that instructors choose readings that students will find familiar or fascinating (Sullivan 1982). We found that nontraditional books in the classroom can be highly appealing if they involved scenarios that interested students on a personal level (Lewis 2004). In Castellano's class, corporate downsizing was a relatable social problem for the students in Southern Ohio, who have experienced the effects of mass layoffs on a personal level.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They reported that the use of literature seemed to enhance the students' understanding of sociological theory and concepts, but was also useful for exposing students to different forms of technological culture. Lastly, Lewis (2004) incorporated nontraditional readings into his Sociology of Mental Health class with the goal of empowering students to draw upon their own experiences.…”

Section: Cultivating a Sociological Perspective Using Nonfiction Popmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cultivating A Sociological Perspective Using Nontraditional Texts

2008

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In this paper, we argue that novels, mysteries and nonfiction books can provide undergraduate students with an accessible and exciting place to explore sociological concepts. Using storytelling as a pedagogical tool, we teach students key theoretical ideas by analyzing the books in their specific sociocultural contexts. First, we put forward three different strategies for using nontraditional readings in the classroom. We then present standardized assessment data to measure how well these strategies helped to meet our student learning goals: increasing engagement, enhancing conceptual understanding and improving analytic ability. We also discuss what we consider to be the pedagogical costs and benefits of using these approaches in the classroom.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cultivating a Sociological Perspective Using Nonfiction Popmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivating A Sociological Perspective Using Nontraditional Texts

2008

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“…Coser has assembled extracts from novels, categorizing extracts according to sociological themes. 25 Indeed, it is the existence of collections such as these (Clowers and Mori 1977;Coser 1963), and the concomitant "professionalization" of non-sociological materials, that undermine the characterization of novels as "nontraditional readings" (Castellano et al 2008;Lewis 2004). Using novels to teach sociological concepts is not new (Blauner 1964;Jones 1975) and anything but "non-traditional".…”

Section: Pedagogic Potential Of Fiction For Teaching Sociologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…32 So, for example, we can read accounts of novels in the "sociology of the family" (Hall 2000) and the "sociology of mental illness" (Lewis 2004). Hence Hornby's Fever Pitch is a resource for the "Sociology of Sport".…”

Section: Propaedeutic Features Of Fiction For Sociologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Corpus Status of Literature in Teaching Sociology: Novels as “Sociological Reconstruction”

Carlin¹

2010

Am Soc

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Using fiction in teaching sociology involves what Harvey Sacks calls "sociological reconstruction". Numerous comments on teaching sociology provide advice and suggestions on the use of literature and "what counts" as "sociological" literature, including specific titles. This paper goes further: while the use of literature is a routine feature of sociological accounts, discerning the relevance of a novel, or a passage within a novel, to sociological themes is an analyst's achievement. It requires work both by the teacher and the student to recognize the relevance of fiction to sociology. Previous studies on fiction in sociology focus on the pedagogic aspects of using novels but fail to acknowledge the key problem of "sociological reconstruction" attempted through the use of novels. The paper explicates the crucial and generic issue of "corpus status", which is fore-grounded by the use of nonsociological materials in sociology.

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“…While the amount of work should not be underestimated, the result was well worth the effort. As others have found, an active learning environment that engages and challenges students to view stigmatized ''others'' with greater tolerance and understanding has proven successful (Halnon 2001;Howard et al 1996;Lee 1993;Lewis 2004;Malkin and Stake 2004;Rodgers 2003;Sakalli and Ugurlu 2002). Active learning was pursued in multiple ways in this course.…”

Section: Changing Impressions In the Sociology Classroommentioning

confidence: 99%

One Starfish at a Time

Moremen

2010

Teach Sociol

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The purpose of this article is to document how a course in the fundamentals of sociology encouraged students to rethink negative impressions about people with AIDS. Multimethod, active learning processes were utilized to introduce the sociological imagination, critical thinking, and theory and methods in sociology. The intent was to apply basic sociological knowledge to a real-world issue, HIV/AIDS in a global perspective. In the process of developing basic skills in sociology, a consistent change was noted in students' self-reported impressions about people with AIDS in each of four semesters (N 5 160). Catastrophic contagion characterized their impressions at the beginning of the semester; humanizing attributes (encouragement and empowerment) replaced catastrophic contagion at the end of the semester. Implications of these findings for teaching and learning, and deconstructing HIV/AIDS stigma, are discussed.

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Developing A Sociological Perspective on Mental Illness Through Reading Narratives And Active Learning: A “Book Club” Strategy

Cited by 17 publications

References 16 publications

Cultivating A Sociological Perspective Using Nontraditional Texts

Cultivating A Sociological Perspective Using Nontraditional Texts

The Corpus Status of Literature in Teaching Sociology: Novels as “Sociological Reconstruction”

One Starfish at a Time

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