Aim: How does Schwalbe
explain “how the social world
works?”
True or False
• Democratic Government is most efficient
• The Average Person Unknowingly
Swallows Eight Spiders A Year In Their
Sleep
• Chewing Gum Takes Seven Years To
Digest
• A high school diploma will likely yield
higher earnings by mid life for a white man
than a college degree will for a black
woman
Which picture displays poverty?
Remember:
• If our premises are wrong, our conclusions
will also be wrong
Is This Dog Cute?
• What is truth?
• How do sociologists find truth?
• What types of questions can be answered using
research?
• Empirical: questions that can be answered
through observation and experiment
• Aesthetic: questions that relate to physical
beauty or attractiveness
• Moral: questions that relate to right and wrong
• Interpretative: questions that can be viewed in
different ways by different people
With a partner:
• Provide an example of each type of
question
Schwalbe mentions a number of facts that
people must look at mindfully:
• Numbers of poor blacks vs. poor whites
• incomes of black women vs. white men
according to education
• Democracy vs. Authoritarian government
What is “being mindful?”
– Being skeptical about information - do not just
accept facts, but learn and research for truth and
hear differing opinions
– Be open minded
– Know how your actions affect others
– Know that the social world is a human
construction
– Change is difficult to enact, but not impossible
– Change in our small sector of the world can be
brought about by the way we interact with people