Understanding how power and dominant ideologies construct the social world and our ideas of it has been the cornerstone of our discussions. One of the first ways that we can reflect critically on issues and events in popular culture is to look for factors that are invisible or not obvious at first glance—in other words, we make an attempt to understand issues from another group or individual’s perspective or point of view.The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize ourselves with the current debates and themes present in popular culture and to examine strategies that will allow us to think critically about them. In this assignment, you will be asked to undertake a field study.InstructionsChoose a “site” of popular culture that interests you. Your “site” should be a physical place of social interaction. Your site must be something that is new for you, so do not chose a location that you frequent regularly (such as your regular gym or favourite bar). This site can be any of the following examples:- a club or a bar- a café or coffeeshop- a gym- a sporting event- an art show- a car show- book sale / library- – a yoga, dance, or martial art class (some places will let you take a first class for free)- a concert- a museum exhibit- a play or musical- the cinema ** don’t watch the same film that you watched for Assignment #1!- a brand store (Apple, Gap, The Bay, etc.)- a shopping mall- a market, supermarket or farmer’s market- a church event- a festival- the circus- the beach- a public parkFeel free to choose another site around the city for yourself!! If you are concerned that it may not be relevant, please ask me and we can discuss it together.Go to your “site” and observe for however long you think is appropriate. Take notes, reflect on what you observe; what kind of culture is taking place here; who is in this space and what are people doing?Prepare a critical paper describing the site that you selected. It should include:- what individuals and groups are in the site,- what they are doing,- how they are or are not interacting,- what if anything is the central focus of the site/activity,- what objects or activities are most important in the site and- how can you tell this by observing the site, and where do you fit into the site.(Suggested length: 1.5-2 pgs)Prepare a sociological analysis of the site. First, decide which of the following are MOST important issues in the site: power, race, class, gender, consumption/consumerism, globalization, authenticity, industry, public space, etc. etc. Please remember that a critical response is not only a summary of your site. You are required to reflect upon and draw on key ideas from the course, and apply them to the site in question.(Suggested length: 3 pgs)Make sure to include an introduction and conclusion!(Suggested length: 0.5 -1 pg each)Do not interview anyone in this essay. You are required to receive Review of Ethics Board (REB) clearance to conduct interviews for academic purposes; even for coursework. You should simply be silently observing in order to form your critical analysis.This is a formal assignment but you may use ‘I’ if you choose.Formatting Guidelines1. Your response MUST BE 5-6 double-spaced pages in length. If it is longer or significantly shorter, you will lose marks. This does not include your Cover Page and Bibliography.2. Your assignment must be type-written in 12pt Times New Roman font and adhere to margin guidelines of 1 inch on all sides.3. You MUST provide an explicit argument/thesis statement in your response.4. You MUST incorporate course material (i.e., from the textbook, videos/documentaries and clips screened in classes, seminar session and lecture material) in order to do well on these assignments.5. Please place the following information on the title page of your assignment: a) first and last names, b) student number, c) course code d) my name, and e) the date.6. In the body of your assignment, you MUST explicitly reference (verbatim or paraphrasing):a) the O’Brien and Szeman (2017) textbook;b) material from two or more lectures;c) suggested: evidence of your own properly cited research: news/magazine articles, journal articles, web articles, etc. This research could be about the specific site that you chose (i.e. a store, a concert review, a team’s website, etc.). Or it could be about a broader cultural phenomenon/trend/social practice.ReferencingPlease use the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style guide to properly format in-text references and sources for your References page. You MUST include a References page at the end of your assignment listing the sources you have referenced in the body of your response. You are not expected to consult other secondary sources (i.e., library research) in order to complete this assignment as you are being assessed on your understanding of course knowledge, but if you would like to do extra research to strengthen your argument this is fine. Remember that you are working with a strict 5-6 double-spaced page limit.
