TEACHSOC: Re: Teaching power to intro

[AKarpathak]

Hi Judith: we actually were discussing power today w/in context of Goffman & stigma.  The definition of power I tend to use in class is as simply the capacity to achieve one's will in a social setting.  I then went on to give a story of something that happened a few years ago in my interactions with a homeless woman, where I approached her thru stigma of homeless and she in the process of refusing a meat dinner I purchased for her informed me that she was a Christian woman and she does not eat meat on Fridays.    Students I find like this example and approach to power and then we go on to discuss other sources of stratification and their potential for stigmatization (gender, race, class, health/disability, sexuality, etc. etc. etc.) and how these affect the one-to-one interactions.  Somehow they find it easier to go from the micro to the macro than vice-versa.    Anna K.         In a message dated 1/24/2006 7:43:26 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Hi All, I'm having trouble with explaining power, authority, ideology to my intro class. Last term they just looked very confused and re-reading my notes I can see that it was unclear and dry. This term, (actually on Thursday), I want to communicate to this class of 179 how important power and ideology are to understanding how the world works. I was thinking of maybe concentrating on the idea that 'knowledge is power' and work from there. Any ideas or tips on communicating this topic? Thanks in advance! Judith