in the text, you find sociological views pertaining to different religions, religion and identity, and the changing religious culture.  I have an optional film you can watch that covers America’s growing religious diversity.

I would like you to read this article by Brenda E. Brasher called  ” The Cyborg: Technological Socialization and Its Link to the Religious Function of Popular Culture.”  This is a really interesting article that represents sociology of religion in a way that infuses religion and poststructuralism/postmodernism.   I think you’ll find it interesting.  I think you’ll find it interesting.  You do not have to read the entire article, but give it a try.  Here is a direct link if the above link does not work:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/1465623  You will probably have to sign in using your BB signin/password.

You may also want to watch this brief video from Amber Case, Cyborg Anthropologist.

After reading this article, you should contemplate what you have read, choose a topic, and compose a 2-3 page double spaced reflection paper.   This assignment is worth 20 points.

If you have trouble with the article or with trying to find something to write about it, break it down to specific theories, or specific assertions or conclusions that you read.  For instance, you could use Goldberg and Haraway (or any other theorist mentioned) to compare to the summary/conclusions – or to some other theorist; analyze the cyborg or the technological socialization to your own experience (religious or not); you can take a section of the paper and write about what it means to you; and etc.

You may also want to read Haraway’s work
Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991), pp.149-181.
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.htmli

on a seperate paper

After completing the previous family assignments and watching the Coontz lecture, answer the questions below  using sociological concepts and the chapter completed to address the following questions.

Why does Coontz argue that “even if families could choose to return to the shape they held in the 1950s,” business and government would probably not follow?

Why do people blame themselves for their families’ failure to measure up to a mythical cultural?

How does Coontz challenge the mainstream understanding of the family?

Will we ever stop believing in a mythical family?  How has the mythical family changed since the 1950s or has it changed at all?  

Post this assignment on the discussion board.  Read two of your classmate’s posts.  Respond to their work, challenge their answers, etc.