"This American Life" Radio Archive

Born out of a car trip listening to "This American Life" on the radio, the idea to use these radio links arose from a desire to allow you to hear and feel - not just read - what people experience with issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and class. For each chapter, you will find a link to the radio show, along with discussion questions created by Professor Norman Conti of Duquesne University.

"This American Life" is a popular radio show with an unusual format. Each week, the hosts pick a theme and interview people who have some relation to that theme, with the end result of a powerful combination of pathos, humor, and overall learning.

To hear the radio links, you must go to the links below to access the streaming MP3 files. Once you are on the Episode page these files can be played by clicking on the orange icon underneath the show title . You should first make sure you have Flash installed on your machine. You can do a Google search to find free downloads of Flash. If you are interested in visiting the site or finding more episodes, please go to www.thislife.org.

We hope you enjoy this experience and find it an effective learning tool for putting the issues discussed in Our Social World into personal perspective.

Chapter 1 — SOCIOLOGY: A UNIQUE WAY TO VIEW THE WORLD

Episode 75: "Kindness of Strangers"

This episode presents stories of people who don't really know each other, how they relate to each other, and what results. From an actor welcoming a troubled boy into his home to an obnoxious neighbor, the concept of people as social beings is explored.

1. Do these stories support the notion that human beings are social by nature? How?
2. What are the dyads, small groups, and larger institutions in these stories? How does the experience of Jack with Canada Lee in Act Two "Runaway" fit into the social worlds model?
   
3. What does Act Three "Unkindness of Strangers" tell us about conflict and change?
   

Chapter 2 — EXAMINING THE SOCIAL WORLD: HOW DO WE KNOW?

Episode 296: "After the Flood"

This episode uses the stories of survivors of Hurricane Katrina to paint a much more detailed picture of the disaster than was shown in the popular media. Act One, "Middle of Somewhere" and Act Two, "Forgotten But Not Lost" are particularly important for understanding the social circumstances of the hurricane victims.

1. Would it be possible to study the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina scientifically? How might a sociologist go about doing this?
2. How would symbolic interactionists, structural functionalists, and conflict theorists each respectively explain the events leading up to or following Hurricane Katrina?
   
3. How do the individuals from these stories fit into the social worlds model?
   

Chapter 3 — CULTURE AND SOCIETY: THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE OF OUR SOCIAL WORLD

Episode 197: "Before It Had a Name"

This episode, especially Act One, "Mr. Border Vanishes" and Act Two "Of Course I Remember Your Name," explores the importance of language and labels by examining the meaning of phenomena before they are named. Additionally, it discusses how the phenomena are changed after being named.

1. How do these stories illustrate the evolution of culture over time?
2. How do beliefs and values come together in the stories of language in this episode?
3. What was the impact of the development and application of a label on society?
   

Chapter 4 — SOCIALIZATION: BECOMING HUMAN AND HUMANE

Episode 118: "What You Lookin' At?"

The focus of this episode is on stories of seeing, being seen, and the impact on the individual's self. In Act One, "American Goth" a normally mild mannered young woman is transformed into another type of person through creative make-up and wardrobe. In Act Two, "Lifesaver" a former gang member is able to move beyond her background of violence and brutality through participation in an after school arts program.

1. Describe Sarah's transformation of self in Act One using sociological terms. How is her sense of self temporarily altered? Why doesn't it last longer?
2. How does Lucia's resocialization in Act Two differ from her original socialization before joining the arts program? How is her sense of self transformed? What are the roles of social class and sanctions in her story?
3. What are the rites of passage experienced by each of these women? Who are the agents of socialization in these stories? Are they formal or informal?
   

Chapter 5 — INTERACTION, GROUPS & ORGANIZATIONS

Episode 312: "How We Talked Back Then"

Act Two of this episode presents a number of stories about people interacting on the internet in ways that would not have been possible without it.

1. What type of social interaction occurs in these stories? What is the larger social context for the interaction? How does the interaction vary from what is presented in the JenniCam story to the tale of the mother who sent an email to the wrong address? How is social status conveyed in these interactions (consider the Microsoft story)? How does the internet change interaction (consider the story about the chat rooms for gay men)? How does this relate to larger social issues (i.e., AIDS)?
2. Use a dramaturgical framework to explain the interactions in these stories.
3. How has interaction over the internet changed in the ten years since this episode was produced?
   

Chapter 6 — DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL: SICKOS, PERVERTS, FREAKS, AND FOLKS LIKE US

Episode 135: "The Allure of Crime"

This episode presents stories of different people and the crimes they commit. These crimes are generally expressions of where and how they fit into society.

1. Can social control, rational choice or strain theory be used to explain the crime of the bartender's assistant who stole from her employer? Which one explains it best?
2. Does social control or differential association theory better explain the case of the bank robber? Why?
3. Since senior citizens generally have less money than other people, does strain theory explain their shoplifting? What theory might explain it better?
   

Chapter 7 — STRATIFICATION: RICH AND FAMOUS OR RAGS AND FAMINE?

Episode 19: "Rich Guys"

This episode explores the lives of three wealthy men who pursue ventures that are not what we would expect from them.

1. How can the story of Maury Taylor, the Presidential candidate, illustrate the symbolic interactionist perspective on stratification (consider cultural capital)?
2. How would structural-functionalists explain the candidacy of Maury Taylor?
3. How would a conflict theorist explain the case of the wealthy man's suicide and the postmortem insemination?
   

Chapter 8 — AND ETHNIC GROUP STRATIFICATION: BEYOND "WE" AND "THEY"

Episode 84: "Harold"

This episode explores the intersection of race and politics in the life and career of Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor.

1. How do race and class intersect in the situation surrounding Harold Washington's campaign for mayor? Can you explain this story from a conflict theory perspective?
2. What were the importance of stereotypes and their alternatives in this story? How do institutional and ideological racism fit into this story?
3. How does the story of Harold Washington fit into the social world model?
   

CHAPTER 9 — GENDER STRATIFICATION: SHE, HE…Who GOES FIRST?

Episode 24: "Teenaged Girls"

This episode documents the lives of some teenaged girls and their experiences of gender and its place in social interaction.

1. How do the experiences of young women presented in these stories fit with the typical notions of gender socialization? How do the stories reflect social class?
2. What are these girl's experiences of "doing gender"? How do they negotiate identity, body image and sexuality?
3. Can you explain the circumstances of these young women in terms of feminist theory and symbolic interaction?
   

CHAPTER 10 — FAMILY: PARTNER-TAKING, PEOPLE-MAKING AND CONTROL MAKING

Episode 317: "Unconditional Love"

This episode considers relationships between parents and children and the love that forms the basis of the family unit. Each story examines the circumstances of families with highly impaired children and how they cope.

1. Can you use the symbolic interactionist perspective to explain the circumstances o the family that adopts Daniel, the baby from the Romanian orphanage? How effective is Daniel's family in socializing him after his experience in the orphanage?
2. How does having an autistic child change family dynamics and traditional notions of parenting?
3. How do these stories fit into the social world model?
   

CHAPTER 11 — EDUCATION: WHAT ARE WE LEARNING?

Episode 275: "Two Steps Back"

This episode uses the experiences of a few teachers at one school to tell the story of educational reform in America. In ten years Washington Irving Elementary School rose from being a typically underperforming "bad" school into a very effective setting for learning.

1. How did the educational reforms affect the student's sense of self? How did the student's family situations affect their educational experiences? How did the school take this into account?
2. What changes in bureaucratic structure were important to the school reform? How can teachers resist school reform? How does centralized administration affect school reform? Can you find examples of teacher deprofessionalization in this story?
3. What informal system, hidden curriculum, and value climate can you observe in this school?
   

CHAPTER 12 — RELIGION: MEANING MATTERS

Episode 304: "Heretics"

This episode examines the story of a modern day heresy controversy. Carlton Pearson was a renowned evangelical pastor who was cast out by his church for preaching a message that rejected the notion of Hell.

1. How does Pearson experience conflict in his "belonging system" as part of his religiosity?
2. Explain Pearson's decision to abandon the notion of Hell from a rational choice perspective?
3. How does Pearson's experiences fit into the social world model?
   

CHAPTER 13 — MEDICINE: AN ANATOMY OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS

Episode 71: "Defying Sickness"

This episode, presents three stories of sick people engaging in behaviors contrary to what is expected of those in their position. The first act is the tale of a son who takes his father on a road trip despite a doctor's warning that the father's condition of Alzheimer's disease should prohibit it. The second act details the story of a young man who despite a major illness engages in some extraordinary behavior.

1. Use the model of the sick role to explain the interactions between the father and son in Act One.
2. How does the clapping of the young man in Act Two fit with the sick role? How does the illness of his brother affect his circumstance? Can you explain this from an interactionist perspective?
3. Explain the illness behavior of the man in the iron lung from Act Three. How does his experience fit into the sick role?
   

CHAPTER 14 — POPULATION AND URBANIZATION: LIVING ON SPACESHIP EARTH

Episode 297: "This is Not My Beautiful House"

This episode looks at the mass resettlement following Hurricane Katrina. The stories examine why and how people choose places to live.

1. Describe the push and the pull of the migration described in these stories.
2. How do interactions with neighbors impact decisions to migrate? Do you see examples of the four characteristics that define neighborhood in these stories? Do any of these neighborhoods qualify as ethnic enclaves?
3. Consider the attempts to match people with apartments describe in Act Three. What sociological theories, from this chapter as well as the chapter on inequalty, can be used to explain the problems that developed?
   

CHAPTER 15 — THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL CHANGE: HOPE, THE FUTURE, AND YOU

Episode 254: "Teenage Embed, Part Two"

In this episode a young man named Hydar Akbar goes to Afghanistan with his father who is working for change as the governor of the Kunar province.

1. How does the situation of Hydar and his family fit into the social world model?
2. How would you classify the various social movements in this environment? What are the apparent stresses and strains in the society?
3. Can you think of any cyclical theories that could explain what you've heard in this story? How does globalization factor into the story? How does the story fit into world systems theory?