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Reel Society
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INSTRUCTIONS: The links below take you to video clips from Reel Society, a unique movie that brings sociology to life through the use of actors and scenarios involving life on campus, in the community, and within the family. These clips allow you to explore a wide variety of topics and issues, including culture, socialization, marriage and family, inequality, race and ethnicity, deviance, the media, social change, and more.

View the videos, answer the following questions below and discuss your answers with your classmates and instructor.

1
Discrimination: Gita & Sayeed Are Detained

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  • In the United States it is common for people to face discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, age, or religion. In this essay, think about some of the other social groups that are subject to discrimination in the United States. Why, in your view, do these other groups face discrimination?
  • Describe a personal experience of having faced discrimination. What was the basis for the discrimination you experienced? Are there social changes that might eliminate this basis for discrimination?
2
Model Minorities: Dave's Slam Channel Profile

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  • It is easy to see how stereotyping a minority group in negative ways is objectionable. However, in Reel Society Dave complained about being held up as a model minority. Imagine that you are telling someone about Dave. How would you explain why Asian Americans should not be stereotyped as a model minority?
  • Because of their status as a model minority, Asian Americans are often excluded from progressive programs directed at other minorities, such as affirmative action. Do you agree or disagree with this practice? Can you think of any reasons why Asian Americans should not be excluded from such programs?
3
Patterns of Intergroup Relations: Sayeed's Arranged Marriage

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  • Besides assimilation and pluralism, what other possible kinds of intergroup relations can you imagine? Would any of these alternative forms of intergroup relations be more beneficial in some ways, either for society as a whole, or for particular racial or ethnic groups?
  • Explore the extent to which assimilation and amalgamation can co-exist in the same society. Is it possible to have a society in which roughly half of racial and ethnic minorities are assimilated, and roughly half are amalgamated? Or are there factors that encourage a balance toward one form of intergroup relation or the other?







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