ERIC Number: EJ840897
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1011-3487
EISSN: N/A
The Challenge of the Social Sciences: The Impact of Sociology among First Year Students
Graaff, J. F.
South African Journal of Higher Education, v21 n5 p441-454 2007
Sociology invites transformations among first year students which go through at least three distinct levels. At the conceptual level, three basic concepts, debunking, relativizing and system-relating, challenge public opinion modes of thinking. But students in this course go beyond explicit course examples and perform these notions in a more implicit way. While these shifts are predominantly cognitive, there are, in addition, important psychodynamic currents which underlie them. So, relativizing and the ethnographic perspective (following Gadamer) lead from angry, pathologizing projection to tolerant, theorizing empathy, from monsters to forbearance. System-relating (following Jung) entails a diminution of an inflated ego, a move from grandiose hubris to humility. Debunking and critical theory (following Fanon) relate to the change from victimhood to effectuality, from self-negation and self-negativity to initiative and positive self-identity. (Contains 1 table and 2 endnotes.)
Descriptors: Critical Theory, Self Concept, Sociology, Empathy, Social Sciences, Course Descriptions, Critical Thinking, Ethnography, Introductory Courses, Foreign Countries, Student Attitudes, Interviews, Course Evaluation, Outcomes of Education, Teaching Methods
Unisa Press. Preller Street, P.O. Box 392, Muckleneuk, Pretoria 0003, South Africa. Tel: +27-24-298960; Fax: +27-24-293449; e-mail: sajhe@vodamail.co.za; Web site: http://www.sajhe.org.za
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Africa
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A