Teaching Undergraduate Sociology through Feature Films

Abstract

This film approach is a continuation of a project that began in 1968. Initially, the goal was to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of Introductory Sociology by reshaping the mode of instruction in a manner applicable to any size class. That goal, and the film approach, has now been extended to other undergraduate sociology courses as well. The basic premises of this approach are: (a) that the lessons of undergraduate sociology are to be found in many resources other than explicitly educational materials, and (b) that contemporary feature films often carry competent sociological information and cogently express many of the basic sociology lessons in a manner of great interest to undergraduate students. The emphasis is on high-quality feature films, originally intended for entertainment. The films (or, more often, selected excerpts from them) provide the core content. Readings drawn from the sociological literature amplify and clarify the film content and tie it in with the sociological literature. The lectures continue this amplification and provide the necessary cohesion between the films. For the current Introductory Sociology course, the ratio of film to lecture time is 60:40.