Art -what is good for? Absolutely something! I am paraphrasing the lyrics from Edwin Starr鈥檚 song War, which I love, because I want to reflect on the way in which sociologists can use cultural artifacts to teach sociology. My reflection is based on my own experience teaching a variety of courses, as well as on the experiences of two of my colleagues: Alison Bianchi and Mary Noonan.
Personally, I like to use examples from music, paintings, and movies to encourage students to reflect on the 鈥渂ig picture鈥 and to connect seemingly separate phenomena, music and social movements for example.
In my Political Sociology and Social Movements course, I ask students if they have heard
Most students have heard the song, and some students know that it was a major hit during the 1970s. Then I ask the students: what social movement does this song represent? When they mention the peace movement, I ask them: what other songs are emblematic of the peace movement? Then, we discuss the role of music for social movement mobilization, and how music is also shaped by social movements.
Another example is the painting Hunters in the Snow, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. I show this painting in my Energy, Sustainability, and Society course and ask the students: what energy-related themes do you notice in this painting from 1560? Most students notice the fire that is made by a group of people at the left side of the painting. Then, we discuss how the process of combustion from biomass was essential for survival, particularly during the Little Ice Age from the 14th to 19th century. When I ask students if they notice anything else, some students will mention that a house in the background is on fire, which prompts a discussion about the potential dangers of biomass combustion. Finally, I ask students if they can see the frozen waterwheel in the lower right corner of the painting. I explain next that waterwheels and windmills were crucial for the development of human civilization; virtually every European city and town during the Middle Ages had a waterwheel or a windmill for grinding grain.
Hunters in the Snow - Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1560)
This is How Professor Alison Bianchi uses cultural artifacts in the Research Methods course.
On the first day of lecture for Research Methods, we discuss how our understanding of social reality almost always comes with certain biases and through certain lenses. We view our understanding of social reality through prisms of: (1) Authority, (2) Personal Experience, (3) 鈥淐ommon Sense鈥, (4) Media and Social Media Myths, and finally (5) Tradition.
To highlight the last point, I use the following music and video from .
In this piece, the students learn the customs, mores, and norms of a late 18th century Jewish village in Russia. These include the understanding of social reality through gender roles, religious behaviors, and so on. I really like this piece because it is rich with symbols and obvious behavior patterns.
The narrator tells us 鈥渨hy do we do what we do? I don鈥檛 know!鈥 鈥 and that is how we often understand social reality, through our own traditions. I tell the students that traditions are great: they help us understand our identities and cultures. However, they can also blind us from knowing what is really happening within a social situation, especially if it is embedded within a culture that we do not know.
I tie this to sociological research methods because I present to the students another way of understanding social reality, and that is through the prism of science. While science isn鈥檛 perfect 鈥 there are hidden assumptions with it as well 鈥 it is the best way that we can capture and understand social reality without all of the biases associated with those 5 that I point out, and especially through tradition.
And this is how Professor Bianchi uses cultural artifacts in the Social Psychology of Small Groups.
When we get to the unit that examines group formation, I tell the story of the Impressionists. I discuss how the invention of the camera freed painters from having to capture reality as the Realists had to do. However, at first, the Impressionists were not accepted in 18th century France. In fact, they were tossed out of 鈥渞espectable鈥 salons and treated as if they were disgusting. Accordingly, these starving artists formed their own salon, led by 脡douard Manet, and presented their own exhibition in 1867. This exhibition was an enormous public success and changed Western art ever since.
I use this example not only to expose my students to one of my favorite art genres, but also to discuss how groups are often formed through both push and pull factors (much like how you network scholars discuss!). If the Impressionists had not been thrown out of respectable French artist salons, and then formed their own salon, we may never have known of the artists Monet, Renoir, Degas, or Van Gogh.
Water Lilies - Claude Monet (1919)
And this is how Professor Mary Noonan uses cultural artifacts in the American Family course.
I have used the TV shows Leave it to Beaver and Modern Family in my American Family course. Leave it to Beaver is a 1950's TV show 鈥 with a working father, a housewife and two kids. Modern Family features multiple families with different family structures -- a traditional nuclear family (the Dunphys - both husband and wife work), a same-sex couple with adopted children (Mitchell and Cam), and a step-family (the Pritchetts). We watch clips from each show and then I ask student to think about and then discuss how these two shows exemplify evolving definitions of 鈥渇amily鈥, how family structures, gender roles, parenting styles, and societal expectations have evolved, and the challenges faced by non-traditional families in modern times.
What do you think?
I hope this brief reflection will inspire sociology instructors who want to find creative ways to engage their students in fascinating topics. Please contact me (ion-vasi@uiowa.edu) if you want to share your own examples.