Teaching sociology 2014- andrist-chepp-dean-miller

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Teaching Sociology
http://tso.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/24/0092055X14524962
The online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: 10.1177/0092055X14524962
published online 24 February 2014Teaching Sociology
Lester Andrist, Valerie Chepp, Paul Dean and Michael V. Miller
Toward a Video Pedagogy: A Teaching Typology with Learning Goals
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Teaching Sociology
1–11
© American Sociological Association 2014
DOI: 10.1177/0092055X14524962
ts.sagepub.com
Video can now be seamlessly integrated into the
classroom as recent technological developments
have reconstituted film into streamable digitized
media. Indeed, the current explosion in online con-
tent and the evolving electronic classroom, among
other innovations, have transformed this medium
into one of the most promising instruments in the
teaching toolkit. Instructors nevertheless have
received little guidance about how to address the
welter of content now available. In fact, the utility
of online video has largely gone unrecognized in
the teaching-with-film literature.
Notwithstanding this neglect, conventional film
resources have received significant treatment
within and outside the discipline of sociology, and
fields as diverse as psychology, business manage-
ment, and economics have been especially notable
for addressing this topic (Anderson 1992; Billsberry
2013; Leet and Houser 2003). However, our disci-
pline has entertained an even longer, more intense
discussion, as is evident by the 30 plus film-related
articles published in Teaching Sociology over the
past four decades. Extending from Smith (1973) to
Pelton (2013), these works collectively demon-
strate how such media can improve instruction in
numerous ways. Films, for example, can arouse
student interest and spark the sociological imagina-
tion (Burton 1988; Dowd 1999; Misra 2000;
Pescosolido 1990). They can bring abstract, sterile
theoretical concepts to life (Collett, Kelly, and
Sobolewski 2010; Pelton 2013), and they can pro-
vide “a bridge between the world of lectures,
research, and textbooks, and the world that really
524962TSOXXX10.1177/0092055X14524962Teaching SociologyAndrist et al.
research-article2014
1
Department of Sociology, University of Maryland,
College Park, MD, USA
2
Department of Sociology, Hamline University, St. Paul,
MN, USA
3
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ohio
Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH, USA
4
Department of Sociology, University of Texas at San
Antonio, San Antonio TX, USA
Corresponding Author:
Paul Dean, Ohio Wesleyan University, Elliott Hall 210,
79 S. Sandusky St., Delaware, OH 43015, USA.
Email: psdean@owu.edu
Toward a Video Pedagogy:
A Teaching Typology with
Learning Goals
Lester Andrist1
, Valerie Chepp2
, Paul Dean3
, and
Michael V. Miller4
Abstract
Given the massive volume of course-relevant videos now available on the Internet, this article outlines a
pedagogy to facilitate the instructional employment of such materials. First, we describe special features of
streaming media that have enabled their use in the classroom. Next, we introduce a typology comprised
of six categories (conjuncture, testimony, infographic, pop fiction, propaganda, and détournement). We
define properties of each video type and the strengths of each type in meeting specific learning goals
common to sociology instruction. We conclude by discussing the importance of a video pedagogy for
helping instructors to employ video more consciously and efficiently.
Keywords
technology, scholarship of teaching and learning, media literacy
Teaching Sociology OnlineFirst, published on February 24, 2014 as doi:10.1177/0092055X14524962
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2 Teaching Sociology
matters” (Demerath 1981:71). Films can also be
used to build media literacy and sharpen critical
analysis skills (Dowd 1999; Loewen 1991; Valdez
and Halley 1999), challenge stereotypical thinking
(Fisher 1992; Loewen 1991), enhance observa-
tional skills (Leblanc 1997; Tan and Ko 2004), and
even overcome anxiety when writing about theory
(Pelton 2013).
Although underscoring film’s instructional
value, these articles generally centered on activities
that were impractical for most instructors to pursue
at the time. Historically, media planning and acqui-
sition could involve substantial work and expense,
and in turn, exhibition was burdensome. The
advent of VHS in the 1980s and then DVD in the
1990s made more films available for teaching than
ever before, but content still had to be physically
procured and played at fixed location—which was
often in class and in full length (Snelson and
Perkins 2009; Streeter 2011). Therefore, actual
film use tended to be restricted to few instructors,
employed rarely or in special classes, and limited
to familiar choices obtainable with least effort—
namely, Hollywood movies or popular television
programs (see e.g., Burton 1988; Cheatwood and
Benokraitis 1983; Dowd 1999; Fails 1988; Loewen
1991; Misra 2000; Scanlon and Feinberg 2000;
Smith 1982; Tolich 1992; Valdez and Halley 1999).
Clearly, the situation is far different today. For
one, content delivery is no longer a major obstacle as
film may be easily integrated into courses, given its
transformation from cassettes and discs to digitized
files streamed on the web. Other developments,
including expanded bandwidth and enhanced deliv-
ery networks, have further driven general accessibil-
ity, while in-class presentation has been facilitated
by the common retrofitting of lecture halls with
Internet-enabled computers, digital projectors, and
sound systems. However, even for those in class-
rooms without relevant technology, video can still
be integral to learning by virtue of assigning it to
students to watch on their own out of class.
Increasing access to computers and high-speed
Internet service among students has been particu-
larly augmented over the past several years with
the proliferation of smartphones and mobile data
support, not only allowing them to watch video
from virtually anywhere, but also to shoot and
instantly upload their own media.
Moreover, the great volume and range of film now
available for instruction were unimaginable until
recently. Today, countless commercial websites (e.g.,
CNN and The New York Times) and nonprofit produc-
ers, such as PBS, continuously distribute video with
strong teaching relevance, thereby enabling instruc-
tors to easily integrate breaking news and timely con-
tent. The fact that these resources are free cannot be
overlooked, and while virtually all are copyrighted,
possible infringement is avoided as long as they are
simply hyperlinked to presentations, blogs, or syl-
labi.1
Traditional staples—feature-length movies and
documentaries—are also now common on the
Internet, and webisodes, interview clips, and abbrevi-
ated segments from films and television episodes
likewise abound. Importantly, these more granular
forms allow instructors to target media to precise
learning contexts, and of course, user-sharing sites,
like YouTube, make such video readily accessible for
popular use.
Ironically, instructors, who once had relatively
few films from which to select, now confront
resource bounty. Indeed, to many faculty, online
video may appear as a bewildering avalanche.
Studies on use among sociologists have yet to be
done, but research on instructors across academia,
albeit somewhat dated (Guidry and BrckaLorenz
2010), suggests that no more than one-fourth regu-
larly employ video in courses. While discussions
with nonadopters reveal that lack of interest plays
some role in their failure to use video, many also do
not seem aware of how video can be effectively
joined to their teaching. A central task for a practi-
cal pedagogy therefore lies in developing strategies
to bring meaning, order, and appropriate use to this
rapidly expanding, undifferentiated mass.
The growing availability of relevant, free online
video is certainly a compelling justification for
encouraging its use as a teaching resource. And in
this vein, we should note that a few sociologists
have begun to bring these materials to the attention
of peers (e.g., Miller 2011), despite the absence of
treatment within the sociology teaching literature
(for a recent exception, see Caldeira and Ferrante
2012). Such efforts are now apparent in multimedia
blogs for the discipline (e.g., DJ Academe;
Sociological Images) and subfields (e.g., SoUnequal),
as well as in various resource directories (e.g.,
Sociology through Documentary Film; Miller 2009,
Appendix E). However, the most ambitious attempt
to make online content accessible for teaching
began in 2010 with the creation of The Sociological
Cinema (TSC). This repository, consisting of user-
contributed links relevant to varied topics, has a
collection to date in excess of 400 clips with each
accompanied by description of conceptual rele-
vance and class application.
In light of emerging instructor interest, we
believe that the time is particularly right to think

Andrist et al. 3
about content in a more nuanced manner than that
provided in the existing literature. Specifically, we
seek to build upon articles that show how film can
promote learning by conceptualizing how different
types of videos can achieve specific learning goals.
Existing literature is limited because it documents
how individual films work well within a given
course or how certain film genres—such as popular
fiction movies (Burton 1988) or documentaries
(Baker-Sperry, Behringer, and Grauerholz 1999)—
are useful for instruction. We are not aware of any
studies that draw conceptual distinctions between
different types of film content for course use, much
less compare their varying didactic strengths, either
in the teaching-with-film literature of sociology or
that of other social sciences. We therefore propose
in this article a set of video types that span a broad
range of resources now available online and then
link them to learning goals prominent in the
discipline.
Building the Typology
Videos archived in The Sociological Cinema
served as the data from which we developed the
typology. We employed two primary methods for
building it: (1) immersive experience, rooted in our
long-term involvement with online video, and (2)
qualitative induction, adopted recently in more for-
malized efforts to identify video types and their
instructionally significant properties. While the
former reflects practical understandings gleaned
over several years working intensively with video
(particularly while building a large, online video
clip repository), the latter draws specifically upon
Weber’s ([1904] 1949) use of the ideal type as a
methodological tool for facilitating categorical
analysis of complex phenomena. His ideal types
were constructions of abstracted features induc-
tively derived through examination of a set of con-
crete cases, which for us was a universe of online
video.
Our immersive experience with video began as
sociology instructors at the University of Maryland,
where we (i.e., the first three authors) indepen-
dently located, cataloged, and employed online
videos in our own teaching. Mutual interest in
video led us to start TSC, and over the process of
curating this collection, we frequently discussed
the ways our growing inventory could be differen-
tiated. From the start, it was clear videos could be
categorized based on sociological concepts and
subfields; however, we also observed that underly-
ing properties made particular videos useful for
achieving given learning goals, and once fully
articulated, these properties could be useful for
organizing videos into different categories or types.
Based on our early impressions, we set out to
examine more systematically our inventory. In
doing so, we employed an iterative inductive pro-
cess by virtue of moving back and forth between
articulating broad, distinct categories (i.e., video
types) and delimiting constituent criteria (i.e.,
properties that define the type). For instance, we
noted how videos variously featured celebrities,
subject matter experts, or “everyday people.” Some
TSC clips were pulled from TV shows and movies,
while others were only Internet accessible; some
presented fictionalized accounts while others
depicted actual happenings. Some videos served as
entertainment; others were clearly intended to edu-
cate or sell products. We also noted our various
emotional responses to videos: some made us
laugh; others made us sad, angry, empathetic, or
inspired.
In total, we identified four fundamental proper-
ties: intent, authority, style, and historical tradition.
Taken together, the properties suggest how instruc-
tors may use a clip for specific pedagogical objec-
tives. Specifically, intent refers to the video’s
purpose as conceived by its creators and describes
how a video’s message is constructed to shape
viewer experience (Ellsworth 2008). Authority
refers to narrative legitimacy, which is the persua-
sive power behind that message. Style refers to the
range of aesthetic and artistic expressions that
characterize a video. Historical tradition denotes
the historical context in which a video is situated,
linking the video category to developments within
film history and criticism, as well as to larger nar-
rative traditions. Using these properties, we were
able to articulate six distinct video types: conjunc-
ture, testimony, infographic, pop fiction, propa-
ganda, and détournement.
Having refined our video typology, we returned
to The Sociological Cinema inventory to determine
how well the typology would encompass a sample
of videos. Each author independently examined 50
consecutively posted videos (from 6/3/12 to
12/16/12) and noted whether the typology needed
to be expanded to include new types. Comparing
results, we determined all 50 videos could be
located within the existing typology. When we dis-
agreed about where a video fit within the typology,
we used the disagreements to sharpen our under-
standing of the typology and to evaluate again
whether we needed to add new types. At the end of
this process, we agreed that the typology related to

the videos in a clear and consistent manner and
were satisfied that additional samples would not
likely lead us to change the typology.
We believe that our typology is an effective
means by which instructors may start organizing
their thinking about using video to teach sociology,
but video is only useful insofar as it is able to help
instructors achieve learning goals. Indeed, we sug-
gest that the process of backwards design (Wiggins
and McTighe 2005) is useful here. Instructors can
first visualize what they hope to achieve in a particu-
lar module, then narrow their search to those kinds
of videos most relevant to realizing such goals.
The learning goals we employ in this article are
those compiled by the American Sociological
Association (McKinney et al. 2004: Appendix 2;
Weiss et al. 2002:72-73) and include cultivating the
sociological imagination; thinking theoretically;
understanding research methodology and data analy-
sis; knowledge of social problems; humanistic values
and social responsibility; knowledge of culture and
social structure; and critical thinking; however, we
also include three additional goals—personal empow-
erment, empathy, and media literacy—as sociolo-
gists recently have demonstrated pedagogical
interest in these areas as well (e.g., Daniels 2012;
Johnson 2005; Richards 2010). Learning applica-
tions are contingent on how instructors use video to
teach given topics, so no learning goal is intrinsic
to a single type. However, some video types excel
at facilitating specific goals. Our objective is not to
generate an exhaustive list of goals, nor is it to sug-
gest that all video clips are reducible to a single type,
but rather to give a general sense of the expansive
teaching and learning possibilities offered by a video
pedagogy.
Video Teaching Typology
Conjuncture
Conjuncture videos have much in common with
documentaries, including web documentaries,
visual ethnographies, and videos of the sort that
photojournalists routinely create for outlets like
The New York Times. As with many such films,
conjuncture videos address some aspect of “real
life” by documenting actual events, connecting
multiple levels of social reality, and depicting the
“conjuncture” of distinct historical processes. To
articulate such complex and contingent connec-
tions, conjuncture videos often employ longer nar-
ratives than do other types.
At the most basic level, conjuncture videos
explicitly document the details of historically
notable events, and often illustrate what Sewell
(2005) has identified as “eventful” social theories,
namely, explanations emphasizing a sequence of
events and path dependence born from events. One
example is the film Poor Us: An Animated History
of Poverty (Lewis 2012), which chronicles a num-
ber of major historical events, each of which helps
explain the enduring nature (or “path”) of poverty
and how the poor are perceived.2
Moreover, conjuncture videos tend to also
depict multiple levels of social reality, evoking
Mills’s (1959:2) claim that “neither the life of an
individual nor the history of a society can be under-
stood without understanding both.” They illustrate
the temporal intersection of distinctive social and
historical processes evident at various levels of
social reality. For example, in the PBS series Black
in Latin America (PBS 2011), racial formation in
the Dominican Republic—itself catalyzed by colo-
nial and slave experiences—intersected with large-
and small-scale political struggles in what became
a move for independence from Haiti in 1844.3
Learning Goals. By documenting events as contingent
and complex, drawing upon narrative strategies and
archival materials for evidence, conjuncture videos
are especially useful for teaching students how cul-
ture and social structure operate across time and
place and how social change affects individuals.
By connecting multiple levels of social reality, they
show how distinct historical processes are related.
For example, the PBS documentary Race: Power
of an Illusion (California Newsreel 2003) illus-
trates well how definitions of race have been
shaped over time to serve various interests.4
It
describes the fluid conceptualization of racial cat-
egories through a sense of realism, thus showing
how the seemingly fixed, taken-for-granted dimen-
sions of social life are contingent on specific social
and cultural processes. Rather than regarding race
as an immutable reality, students are encouraged to
visualize it as a social construct, whose humanly
defined meanings have varied across time and
place.
Conjuncture videos are also excellent for culti-
vating students’ sociological imaginations. To the
extent that they aptly depict multiple levels of
social reality and interweave biography with his-
tory, they can powerfully demonstrate how per-
sonal troubles intersect with public issues. For
example, Duneier’s visual ethnography Sidewalk
(Duneier and Brown 2010) chronicles the lives of
predominantly black homeless book vendors while
exploring the social history of book vending and

Andrist et al. 5
urban policies aimed at sanitizing public space
from the perceived scourge of the underclass.5
Testimony
Testimony videos feature people testifying or offer-
ing firsthand accounts of particular events or
issues. Like the legal tradition of testimony, these
nonfiction narrative statements are made by those
who have special insight about a given phenome-
non through lived experience or scholarly exper-
tise. While testimony can be delivered in many
video forms, such as amateur or professional street
interviews, stand-up comedy sets, poetry slams,
lectures, and video blogs, one common characteris-
tic is the presence of a literal or metaphorical stage
upon which those testifying are granted privileged
space from which to speak their minds.
In testimony videos, speaker authority derives
from subjective social location. Indeed subjectivity is
precisely what makes such narratives compelling and
credible. Testimony can be especially insightful when
sharply deviating from those located at the “center” of
human experience. Given that normative perspectives
presumably reflect “common sense” and are therefore
deemed universal, testimonies from the margins
become powerful for conveying ideas with which
viewers are generally not familiar. For example, in his
TED Talk, activist Tony Porter (2010) draws upon his
own experience in conforming to dominant sexist
assumptions to illustrate how constructions of mascu-
linity contribute to gender violence.6
Learning Goals. In addition to relevant, firsthand
information, testimony videos provide an added
measure of credibility that may counter students’
suspicions of a hidden agenda or bias and, as well,
tendencies to dismiss instructors as “out of touch.”
As such, testimony videos are especially useful for
exposing students to diverse cultural viewpoints
and promoting humanistic values, including social
justice, equality, and respect for human life. Like
all testimonies, a speaker’s unique standpoint
brings authority to speak on behalf of others. For
example, an NBC News (2011) broadcast featuring
an interview with a man who was mistakenly
detained at Guantanamo Bay demonstrates how
governments violate human rights.7
Short docu-
mentary films such as A Girl Like Me (Davis 2005),
as well as excerpts from longer ones like People
Like Us: Social Class in America (Alvarez and
Kolker 2001), draw upon interviews to examine
how inequality and social marginalization are sub-
jectively experienced.8
Students may not have
encountered gender violence, torture, racial dis-
crimination, or poverty in their own lives; however,
such narratives can motivate students to adopt new
ways of thinking about unfamiliar others as real
people with genuine struggles and by doing so,
promote empathy and respect.
Infographic
In recent years, new graphic techniques have
emerged for presenting information, ranging from
statistical data to abstract concepts. While the term
infographic is short for information graphic, and
often refers to posters that graphically represent
quantitative data, we use the term to denote videos
that typically feature expert narrators and employ
special effects to summarize information or present
explanations about given phenomena. The intent of
infographic videos, then, is to clearly communicate
patterns in data or simplify complex ideas. The
inclusion of empirical data and narrator credentials
are the bases of authority for such videos.
Unlike the static bar and line graphs of earlier
decades, infographic videos can leverage the added
tool of animation in order to summarize and place
large amounts of information in easily understood
narratives. For instance, in a short excerpt from
Hans Rosling’s documentary, The Joy of Statistics
(Rosling and Hillman 2010), changes in average
life expectancy and income are plotted for 200
countries over 200 years.9
With the use of special
effects, he illustrates the ebb and flow of correlated
wealth and health variables, and his giddy narration
injects context to guide interpretation. Both enable
him to relate two centuries of world-historical
development in the span of just four minutes.
Other infographic videos employ animation to
visually represent abstract concepts. Animation
works in tandem with the exposition of sociological
concepts, providing additional meaning or even sug-
gesting useful metaphors. The Royal Society for the
encouragementofArts,Manufactures,andCommerce
produces a web series called RSA Animate, which
matches clever animation with popular academic
lectures. In one such infographic video, David
Harvey (Harvey and Stephenson 2010) delivers a
theoretically rich explanation of the economic crisis
beginning in 2007, while a Monopoly board takes
shape and becomes a stage upon which capitalist
cycles of boom and bust occur.10
Learning Goals. Infographic videos can facilitate
quantitative literacy while introducing students to
the potential of numerical data. This capacity is not

always derived from the integrity of featured statis-
tics; drawing attention to erroneous calculations or
misleading interpretations can be just as effective.
Further, as alluded to previously, other infographic
videos, such as RSAAnimate, can promote literacy
in qualitative research by drawing upon historical-
comparative interpretation. Whether animating
quantitative or qualitative data, infographic videos
are well suited for achieving learning goals related
to sociological inquiry.
Pop Fiction
As the name implies, pop fiction videos feature fic-
tional accounts drawn from popular culture and are
located within an array of traditional genres, from
comedy to drama. While often excerpted from
Hollywood feature films, they can also be found in
short films, music videos, and television shows. As
with pop culture media in general, the intent of pop
fiction videos is to entertain audiences. Using situ-
ations that promise powerful punch lines or charac-
ters with whom viewers can emotionally identify,
pop fiction attempts to captivate.
Pop fiction videos derive authority not by
claiming to be unvarnished truth rooted in empiri-
cism as infographic videos do, nor by offering a
unique standpoint rooted in experiential knowledge
as is the case with testimony videos, but rather
from their capacity to tap into powerful emotions.
This authority is based on a relationship, feeling, or
experience that resonates with the viewer and is
perceived to offer a view of truth, even when the
characters and events are, strictly speaking, fic-
tional (McGinn 2005). The fact that pop fiction
videos feature celebrities and are drawn from pop-
ular culture also means that they have already been
voraciously consumed, widely shared on social
media, and come across as immediately relevant.
Instructors therefore do not generally need to
devote much class time to establish the context of
scenes or characters.
Learning Goals. Pop fiction videos have long been
recognized for their ability to advance important
learning goals in the discipline (e.g., Dowd 1999;
Loewen 1991; Misra 2000; Smith 1982; Stein
2011; Valdez and Halley 1999). But pop fiction
videos are only one type of video, and as such, they
have unique strengths for addressing a particular
set of learning goals.
First, pop fiction videos are particularly useful
for teaching media literacy, or the ability to criti-
cally interrogate media by identifying intended
messages, assumptions, and meanings. Some are
valuable for teaching media literacy precisely
because they present students with representations
of groups and events egregiously at variance with
basic sociological insights (Loewen 1991; Valdez
and Halley 1999). Other pop fiction videos can fos-
ter media literacy by simply guiding students to
translate the language of the allegory into the lan-
guage of sociology (Demerath 1981; Dowd 1999).
Pop fiction narratives can also cultivate a more
sophisticated literacy by bringing attention to the
way subtle messages are often smuggled into
media. For example, a scene from the Hollywood
film Superbad (Mottola 2007) can be used to help
students identify the way a dominant patriarchal
discourse links menstruation to bodily shame.11
Pop fiction videos are also often useful for
teaching students how to think theoretically. For
instance, comedic features of the popular television
series Seinfeld (David and Seinfeld 1991, 1993,
1995) can be used to vividly illustrate Foucault’s
theory of sexuality, Goffman’s symbolic interac-
tionism, and Cooley’s looking-glass self.12
One
episode (David and Seinfeld 1994) inadvertently
provides a means of introducing Bourdieu’s theory
of taste when the George Costanza character sud-
denly adopts the practice of eating candy bars with
a knife and fork only after observing a man from a
higher class do the same.13
Finally, in their capacity to engage viewers
emotionally, pop fiction videos may be ideal for
encouraging students to explore the connections
between particular political positions and humanis-
tic values, such as equality. Macklemore’s video
for his hit song “Same Love” (Lewis andAugustavo
2012), for example, tells a story about same-sex
love, marriage equality, and homophobia. With a
seductive melody and an aesthetic style that sug-
gests one is witnessing a memory in progress,
“Same Love” is emotionally resonant, making it
difficult to discuss marriage equality without
empathy.14
In this way, pop fiction’s aptitude for
eliciting emotional response can directly address
recent calls to promote affective forms of learning
(Picard et al. 2004).
Propaganda
Snow (2010:22) writes, “propaganda, as viewed in
the context of mass persuasion that benefits the
manufacturer and sender, often begins where criti-
cal thinking ends.” Propaganda videos include
messages typically created or financed by govern-
ments or corporations with the aim of promoting an

Andrist et al. 7
ideology, policy, or product. An obvious candidate
for this category is the classic wartime film, which
has the dual intent of promoting national chauvin-
ism and demonizing the enemy.
A more contemporary and ubiquitous example
of propaganda video is the 30-second commercial,
which sometimes takes shape as a simple pitch to
persuade consumers of a product’s value or endorse-
ment of a particular lifestyle. For example, in the
interest of selling cleaning products, commercials
often promote and reinforce the idea that women
are the natural custodians of kitchens, carpets, and
toilets.
Some television news can also be considered in
light of propaganda by identifying what counts as
news. But even after a particular event or story has
made it into the news cycle, shows often frame public
understanding of the issue in a manner that is clearly
aligned with corporate or government interests
(Herman and Chomsky 2002). However, the bias evi-
dent in mainstream news pales in comparison to that
passing as news commentary on some cable televi-
sion networks. These programs constitute a particu-
larly popular form of contemporary propaganda that
serve up and spin news stories in ways typically vali-
dating the ideological inclinations of followers.
Learning Goals. Insofar as propaganda videos exist as
illustrations of how visual media persuade people to
behave and think about the world in particular ways,
they are well suited for teaching media literacy. For
example, instructors can guide students through
deconstructing an unassuming toilet paper commer-
cial (Quilted Northern 2010) in order to show how
such messages can work to naturalize gendered logics
pertaining to the allocation of household responsibili-
ties.15
Propaganda videos can also be used to engage
students in thinking theoretically, particularly with
reference to sociological theories that illuminate
power disparities and conflict between various inter-
ests. For instance, an anti-union commercial (Center
for Union Facts 2012) that attempts to obfuscate the
role unions have played in resisting downward wage
pressure can be used to highlight the notion of false
consciousness, a concept prominent in Marxist the-
ory.16
Given their short and popular form, commer-
cials can be especially useful for connecting abstract
sociological theories to concrete everyday examples
(Irby and Chepp 2010).
Détournement
In contrast to propaganda videos that show how
media are often constructed and dispersed from
atop political and economic hierarchies, détourne-
ment videos relate to active media engagement
among non-elites that may challenge and subvert
dominant messages. The term détournement is
taken from an artistic technique, credited to the
Letterist International, a 1950s Paris-based group
of radical artists, which involves “finding” an arti-
fact and then reconfiguring it in significant ways.
The newly imagined artifact (e.g., a recut film)
typically suggests ideas that are irreverently
opposed to those promoted by the creator of the
original artifact (Sandlin and Milam 2008). By the
mid-1970s, the tradition was carried forward by
feminists interested in reworking familiar media in
order to reflect a woman’s point of view, which
was otherwise missing (Coppa 2007). By the early
1980s, self-described “video scratchers” in the
UK began remixing film footage in order to sub-
vert popular culture and politics, but in the U.S.
remix interest exploded two decades later with the
latest invasion and occupation of Iraq, along with
access to cheap, user-friendly editing technolo-
gies (McIntosh 2012).
Video mashups, culture jams, and even some
avant-garde film are found under détournement,
but we also include works of satire. Satire typically
involves seizing a “found object,” such as a news
clip, feature film, advertisement, or politically
crafted language, and humorously reconfiguring it
for the purpose of making an astute observation or
criticism (Warner 2007).
Learning Goals. Détournement videos are particu-
larly useful for encouraging students to explore the
meanings of the messages that bombard them on a
daily basis and, as such, can be useful for promot-
ing critical thinking and media literacy. For exam-
ple, scenes from Avatar, Blood Diamond, The Last
King of Scotland, and 15 other blockbuster films
(Saddlemire 2010) were remixed in order to reveal
a common Hollywood narrative about white pro-
tagonist encounters with the racialized Other.17
Among other themes, the video highlights how
often movie watchers consume Hollywood stories
about a white hero who rescues a strange and
exotic person or tribe from death or genocide. In
their capacity to offer students a means by which
they can confront and consider ubiquitous media
messages, and because they directly engage
language and broader semiotic systems, these vid-
eos can also facilitate theoretical thinking (e.g.,
theories of culture). Due in part to the fact
that détournement videos are centrally concerned
with subversion, they can also be used to promote

personal empowerment, which involves recogniz-
ing how individuals working collectively may cre-
ate social change. As digital remixing technologies
have become widely available, students can be
encouraged to develop their own satirical shorts,
remixes, or culture jams; subvert problematic mes-
sages; and locate themselves within the stream of
historical resistance.
Discussion
The current moment is unique for teaching sociol-
ogy. Innovations in information technologies and
the massive distribution of online content have
called forth video to join textbook and lecture as a
regular component of course instruction. As tech-
nology declines in cost and increases in ubiquity,
instructors and students alike have access to online
troves of video. However, instructors have received
little help in making sense of these resources, and
therefore, our intent has been to initiate discussion
of a video pedagogy. Specifically, we have intro-
duced a framework that outlines how video can be
conceptually differentiated and how certain kinds
of video are particularly well suited for achieving
given learning ends.
Clearly, we have not spelled out a holistic peda-
gogy. For example, we have said nothing about
how to efficiently acquire video, nor how to archive
it, particularly in relation to the typology just
developed. Neither have we outlined how video
can be directly employed in presentations and
assignments, nor more generally, how it can be tai-
lored to best fit both face-to-face and distance
learning, the latter being especially relevant given
the rapid growth of online enrollments and the cur-
rent fascination with massive open online courses
(MOOCs). Likewise, we have given no attention to
larger issues, such as how faculty can be encour-
aged to use video in their teaching, nor how college
employers and professional associations, such as
the ASA, might help to foster such integration.
A viable pedagogy should assist teaching across
increasingly diverse educational environments, but
is obviously no panacea for the challenges brought
with instruction. Just as lectures sometimes fail to
connect with students, using video may not always
advance learning goals. However, a pedagogy is
clearly essential for making sense of the broad
range of film materials now available online. As
implied throughout the article, videos stamped as
being educational in nature are not typically the
most effective in meeting learning objectives.
Publishers often produce videos to accompany
texts, but our own experience suggests that stu-
dents generally find those not explicitly created for
teaching sociology more compelling. In a similar
way that archeologists can better engage students
by using real artifacts discovered in situ, video
taken from the “real world” can be used by sociolo-
gists to imaginatively demonstrate sociological
ideas. Yet, without their content being framed by
way of a coherent typology, such videos are likely
to remain untapped.
Beyond the promise held for bringing order to
an unwieldy mass of disparate media, a pedagogy
is also timely due to instructors’ growing concerns
surrounding the increasing difficulty of getting stu-
dents to engage with core disciplinary material.
This difficulty does not necessarily result from the
shortcomings of students’ secondary education or
shortened attention spans due to digital overcon-
sumption, a critique so often brought against the
present generation. Rather, it is increasingly the
case that standard course content strikes new stu-
dent cohorts as dated and irrelevant, given the
changing realities they face. A video pedagogy,
which draws on breaking news analysis and biting
satire, while routinely deploying pop culture
images and state-of-the-art graphics, can go a long
way toward not only conveying complex sociologi-
cal insights, but also toward making sociology
more meaningful.
Swidler (1986) noted that it is useful to concep-
tualize historical periods along a continuum
between settled and unsettled times, and in unset-
tled times, the potential for charting new courses of
action is greater. Perhaps the present moment is
more of an unsettled time, due in part to rapid
changes in how people access and employ informa-
tion, of which online video is only one example.
For Swidler (1986), unsettled times were marked
by the widespread construction of new action strat-
egies, but one might anticipate the construction of
new pedagogical strategies in unsettled learning
societies. We think the time has come to develop a
video pedagogy.
Notes
Reviewers for this manuscript were, in alphabetical order,
Katrina Hoop and Kylie Parrotta.
1. Copyright is not violated by such hyperlinking since
the material is not downloaded. While there may be
related concern about linking to online resources
known to be in violation of copyright, the Fair
Use clause of copyright law gives instructors and
students significant leeway in copying and trans-
forming materials for noncommercial educational

Andrist et al. 9
purposes. For more on hyperlinking and copyright,
see American Library Association (n.d.); see Digital
Media Law Project (2008) for information on fair
use.
2. “Poor Us: An Animated History of Poverty” (http://
goo.gl/t9xw4c).
3. “Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island
Divided” (http://goo.gl/ZQk9QT).
4. “Race as a Social Construction” (http://goo.gl/
nyF45G).
5. “Ethnographic Filmmaking and the Social Life of a
Sidewalk” (http://goo.gl/7Ddl9D).
6. “A Call to Men: Masculinity Hurts Men and
Women” (http://goo.gl/QTzqPR).
7. “Bare Life at Guantanamo Bay” (http://goo.gl/
VXlmrd).
8. “A Girl Like Me” (http://goo.gl/WpTEyC); “People
Like Us” (http://goo.gl/bHjLxB).
9. “Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4
Minutes” (http://goo.gl/igJ8Qm).
10. “A Marxist Take on the Financial Collapse,
Illustrated” (http://goo.gl/NGrTk9).
11. “Superbad Menstruation” (http://goo.gl/OmRxk9).
12. “Symbolic Interaction on Seinfeld” (http://goo.gl/
t5MPe7); “Independent George’s Identity Work”
(http://goo.gl/GaR4mb); “The Sign of Gay” (http://
goo.gl/XqR1Pg).
13. “Seinfeld, Bourdieu, and Taste” (http://goo.gl/
V0qr5G).
14. “Same Love, Marriage Equality, and Hip-Hop”
(http://goo.gl/IqrASm).
15. “Quilted Northern Soft & Strong Commercial”
(http://goo.gl/OojMA9).
16. “Ideology and False Consciousness through a Super
Bowl Ad” (http://goo.gl/NLGfkn).
17. “Avatar Remix and Representations of the Other”
(http://goo.gl/E55Qia).
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Author Biographies
Lester Andrist is a PhD candidate in sociology at the
University of Maryland and has published on topics per-
taining to gender. His current research examines the
impact of indefinite detention on the racial formations of
Arabs and Muslims in the United States. As co-creator of
The Sociological Cinema, he has also been involved in
developing a pedagogy centered around video.
Valerie Chepp is a qualitative researcher and ethnogra-
pher studying intersectional and cultural approaches to
inequality, art, and social change. She has published on
race, gender, feminism, and hip-hop. Her current research
examines how marginalized groups use artistic creativity
as a form of political protest and engagement. She is co-
creator of The Sociological Cinema and especially enjoys
finding new ways to integrate multimedia and popular
culture into her teaching.
Paul Dean is an assistant professor at Ohio Wesleyan
University. His teaching and research interests focus on
social inequalities, political economy, and social move-
ments. Paul is particularly interested in engaging students
in learning about inequality and justice through civic
engagement projects and multimedia. He is also co-creator
of The Sociological Cinema.
Michael Miller has long centered his research on issues
related to stratification and inequality. Recently, he has
developed interest in addressing how academic disci-
plines can best incorporate online multimedia and free-
ware media-authoring tools into instruction.

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