Sociological Autobiography
Humanities
Research Guide: https://libguides.greenriver.edu/sociology
We are who we are because of our experiences in the social world. Think back on your own life experiences. Write about one or more aspects of your life and interpret from a sociological perspective. You don’t have to tell your whole life story; most effective papers focus only on one or more specific aspects of your life. Try to distance yourself and approach your life as a detached observer might. Your job is to examine the role of external social forces in shaping your life. You may also discuss your own individual agency, but this should be in reference to social forces and how agency and social forces work together. Be specific, using concrete examples and social events/occurrences. You should discuss personal events, but focus on how these events illustrate sociological concepts and tie into bigger social issues. Use concepts from class to explain how your life is shaped by society. In other words, narrate your life story using sociological language. Your goal is to make connections between private experiences and public issues. You should conduct additional research to see if you are an outlier or if your experiences are similar to other patterns noted by social scientists. Cite all your sources.
Additional Resources to help you with your brainstorming: http://penandthepad.com/write-autobiography-sociology-3756.html (Links to an external site.)
http://penandthepad.com/write-autobiography-sociology-6365833.html (Links to an external site.)
The files will be the sample and Rubric
