First Essay Assignment

SOCIOLOGY 340
ESSAY I
2/19/09

A. I want each of you to discuss the meaning of the passage quoted below from a study of American society entitled, "Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life," and how it relates to class lectures and text readings (Chaps. 1 & 2) on the origin of modern sociology. There are different ways to do this and several relevant points that could be brought out, so do NOT worry that you did not do it the "right" way or that you may have missed some points. As long as you have some confidence that you interpreted the passage appropriately and made some good connections to class material, you should do fine. And remember that class material would also include comments I posted on the blog about our "missing the forest for the trees" exercise.

"We believe that much of the thinking about the self of educated Americans, thinking that has become almost hegemonic in our universities and much of the middle class, is based on inadequate social science, impoverished philosophy, and vacuous theology. There are truths we do not see when we adopt the language of radical individualism. We find ourselves not independently of other people and institutions but through them. We never get to the bottom of our selves on our own. We discover who we are face to face and side by side with others in work, love, and learning. All of our activity goes on in relationships, groups, associations, and communities ordered by institutional structures and interpreted by cultural patterns of meanings. And the positive side of our individualism, our sense of the dignity, worth, and moral autonomy of the individual, is dependent in a thousand ways on a social, cultural, and institutional context that keeps us afloat even when we cannot very well describe it. There is much in our life that we do not control, that we are not even "responsible" for, that we receive as grace or face as tragedy, things Americans habitually prefer not to think about. Finally, we are not simply ends in ourselves, either as individuals or as a society. We are parts of a larger whole that we can neither forget nor imagine in our own image without paying a high price. If we are not to have a self that hangs in the void, slowly twisting in the wind, these are issues we cannot ignore." (p. 84, Habits of the Heart)

hegemonic - ruling or predominant
vacuous - empty, vacant; having or showing a lack of intelligence

B. Your essay should be roughly 3 pages (single-spaced handwritten or double-spaced typewritten). DO NOT POST IT AS A COMMENT ON THE BLOG (although you may post questions about the assignment which I'll try to respond to). If you quote anything from the text in your paper, please indicate the page # in parentheses.

C. This essay is due THURSDAY, FEB. 26TH.