Making Theory Meaningful: The Student as Active Participant

Patricia M. Lengermann and Ruth A. Wallace
Teaching Sociology, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Jan., 1981), pp. 197-212
Published by: American Sociological Association

I chose the article because theory can be difficult to teach students. The article begins by discussing that most students taking sociological theory are in the class because it is a requirement. They argue that students often believe theory is boring and that by teaching through a lecture format where the students are passive, it reinforces their belief of theory as dreary and impractical.

The authors believe that the best way to show students the importance of theory is to start with something the students know well- their own experiences and situations “of deprivation, anxiety, stress, their own biographies and problems” (pg. 200). The authors then take students through a series of exercises, which allow students to realize the ways in which theory “makes personal biography and personal problems more meaningful” (pg 200). The authors state that, “the natural outcome of this exercise is that students realize the connection between their personal situation and the organization of society, between biography and structure” (pg. 200).

The authors’ goal is for students to see how theory links in with society and individuals’ personal experiences so that theory becomes meaningful to them. It is their hope that by students’ understanding theory and having the ability to critically apply it to their lives and society, that new theoretical insights will be had. The authors say that the goal of their theory courses is to teach students to how to detach “themselves from the mere experiencing of the ongoing process of life and to turn their attention consciously, formally, and analytically back on that process;” the authors call this “rational knowledge” and cite it as the main adaptive attribute of humans (some sociologists refer to this as reflexivity) (pg. 200). The authors state that sociological theory is the rational attempt of sociologists to reflect on and make sense of parts of the human social experience. By teaching theory to students as “a way of making sense of aspects of the human experience” and having students reflect on and analyze their own situations as relating to theory professors may be able to truly engage their classes in courses which are normally viewed as aloof and impractical in relation to daily life.

One of the most important techniques the authors state, as helping engage students, is to make theorists real people by teaching about their lives. A variety of activities are discussed as helping to accomplish this such as reading articles and books about theorists’ lives to writing letters to living theorists asking questions. Some of my best theory teachers greatly helped me and engaged my classmates during theory courses when they discussed the lives and times of theorists which allowed us to understand why they came up with their theories and what influenced them. It was also very interesting and helpful for us to know that most theorists and sociologists were trained in a variety of fields and were simply trying to solve problems when they created their theories- they weren’t simply a bunch of trained sociologists sitting around trying to be grand theorists. The broader application of this article is that it points out the importance of showing students how a course relates to their lives by taking concepts which seem abstract and showing students how they apply in current times directly to them or others around them.

Some of the other activities listed for getting students involved in theory courses are holding debates on theories, role playing theorists positions, take home essay questions (where students focus on specific events and look at what occurred before, after, and during the event analyzing it from several theoretical perspectives) and using examples from the media to illustrate sociological theory.