SOC1000 Fall 2022

Assignment 2: Autoethnography
10% of final grade

In this assignment, you will give an autoethnographic response to the CBC Ideas podcast
“Reading with a grain of salt” (the link to this podcast is posted on UMlearn). You will reflect on
your own relationship with reading from a sociological perspective. Think about both the
structural and cultural factors that influenced your relationship with reading and books, and
about how that relationship has shaped your university experience so far.

Structural considerations:
- Did I grow up in an environment where books or other reading materials were present?
- Did my parents have the time to read to me when I was young?
- Did my school provide the learning materials and support to encourage reading?

Cultural considerations:
- Did my environment include people to whom reading was an important activity or skill?
- What was the orientation towards reading for pleasure in my childhood environment?
- How did the culture of my environment interact with the more macro-level social
orientation towards reading (you can engage with ideas from “Reading with a grain of
salt” to answer this question)

*Note: You DO NOT need to engage with all of these questions to do well on this assignment.
You should engage with the questions that are most relevant to your own experience.

Format:

- Include your name, student number, section, and the date at the top of the page
- Include a title that summarizes what you’ve said (not just “assignment 2”)
- Times New Roman font, size 12
- Length: 1-2 pages, double spaced (*note: assignments will not be penalized for length
unless they exceed 2 pages)

Grading (10 pts):

- Engagement with ideas introduced in “Reading with a grain of salt” (note: you DO NOT
need to engage with every idea in the podcast, choose the ones that are most relevant to
your experience (2 pts)
- Analysis of how the structure of your environment influenced your relationship with
reading (2.5 pts)
- Analysis of how the culture of your environment influenced your relationship with
reading (2.5 pts)
- Analysis of how your relationship with reading has shaped your university experience so
far (2 pts)
- Adherence to all format guidelines (1 pt)

Due date: November 18th at the beginning of class