Teaching and Review Essay

California State University, Dominguez Hills
Created: May 21, 2000
Latest update: May 21, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org.

On Tuesday, May 22, 2001, Tracy Stanford and Aaron Cope wrote:

Hey Jeanne, it's us, Tracy and Aaron, and here is our report on what we have learned this semester in your Moot Court and Peace & Conflict classes. During this semester we discussed certain key terms like Agency and Structural Context, Dominant Discourse, Structural Violence, Fellman's Adversarialism, and Anomie.

From your lectures and readings, we feel that Agency is the ability to make decisions. In other words, when you have agency, you have some control over your life; some decision making power. In contrast, Structural Context inhibits your decision making ability because, as Emile Durkheim stated, "it exercises control over our behavior, as rules of conduct, as laws, as customs and as norms and values that we believe in and that shape our conscience and make us part of a collectivity." For example, Jeanne, you use your decision-making power to conduct your lectures in a way that is not structurally violent (agency). However, the University Administration at CSUDH (structural context) continuously tries to limit your decision-making power (agency) by questioning your teaching methods and demanding that you submit a traditional syllabus to your students.

In addition to that example, we feel that "On My Block" by Glenn Cornwell is also a perfect example of how Structural context can inhibit your decision making ability. Simply because, the people who live on this block make up a collectivity of working class families living in poverty, with the belief that "there's not much they can say 'cause it's just the way life is, on the block."

"Dominant Discourse is the prevailing 'accepted' rules of everyday living as practiced by our decision makers; and it rarely includes the perspective of the non-power holding other." We feel that the "labeling" of deviant behavior is a perfect illustration of dominant discourse. "Deviance is the breaking of any rules created by an individual or group within a society or society itself." Thus, the labeling of deviance is related to dominant discourse because they both deal with the unspoken, written and behavioral expectations that are shared within a cultural grouping. For example, in the U.S., people who have multiple body piercings on their face are seen as deviants by most social groups (dominant discourse). However, in some African countries, body piercings are not only symbols of beauty, but also a part of the African culture (mutuality). In short, when a society chooses to "label" an individual or group as deviant, this is Adversarialism at its best; because this society is, therefore, using its own "wicked little unstated assumptions" to limit this person's decision-making power (agency).

Lastly, from your lectures and readings, we learned that anomie "is a condition of normlessness; a breakdown in the social order." For example, when someone becomes homeless suddenly, they are in a state of anomie. In other words, they find it difficult to adjust to their suddenly altered position. In fact, most homeless people even struggle to keep their identity and their self-worth that they once had before the breakdown in their social order occurred. In addition, this example of anomie also relates to the "Cracking of the Now." In which case, this homeless person, just like the GoldFish, feels that "Now is tough. More than yesterday; and I don't know about tomorrow. Used to be I knew what I should do...what mattered." However, now I "feel like a goldfish in a bowl swimming nowhere."

Well, Jeanne, this is our view of what we have learned this semester. How did we do? See ya at Graduation and have a very restful summer. Oh! We really enjoyed the Sociodramas.

Love and Peace,
Tracy Stanford (Soc. 370-01: Moot Court & Soc. 395-02: Peace & Conflict)
&
Aaron Cope (Soc 370-01: Moot Court & Soc. 368-01 Criminology)

On Tuesday, May 22, 2001, jeanne responded:

Tracy and Aaron, you did wonderfully. The way I know is that I was grinning as I read your final report of learning. First, I think the definitions you give will help others clarify their understanding of these concepts. It helps to have many definitions on the site, and I thought you said it all very well.

I laughed at your description of the university demanding a traditional syllabus. Actually, the students are the ones who usually ask for it. It's become a standing joke that though I can do a huge teaching site and more weekly preparations than anyone in their right mind can get to, students and I still can't manage to understand each other when it comes to syllabi. I think this semester we accomplished that when I finally got you to understand that the site was larger than you could get to in any one semester and that that represented choice for you. But I'm still convinced that when I get to Heaven, St. Peter will be waiting for me, and right after telling me "Have we got a job for you!", he's going to say, "But your syllabi are not in order!"

I added some links to your essay, so that people will be able to go directly to the files you reference. Oh, and I'm glad you enjoyed the Sociodramas. I did, too. I think we'll keep both them and the painting in the act.

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