From the Abstract to the Concrete: Facilitating Student Application of Marxist Theory to Contemporary Class Phenomena

• In Event: 3480 - Section on Teaching and Learning in Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 06. Empowering Ideas in Teaching and Learning

Abstract

One of the typical refrains of faculty teaching sociological theory is the difficulty of moving students from a cursory grasp of abstract theory to its concrete application. Class is a particularly difficult concept, as it involves the intersection of race, gender, and other phenomena that are impacted by class and impact the effects of class on those phenomena.
We have created a useful, interactive tool to assist faculty in facilitating students’ application of Marxist theoretical paradigms they’ve previously learned and apply those theories to their analysis of concrete (so-called real world) phenomena in a way that they can relate to.
This act of applying previous learning onto new contexts is a high impact learning practice that ensures not only is the learned material is placed into long-term memory, but it is an act of training the brain to ensure students continue to apply previous learning to new contexts, even if they might seem unrelated at first glance. In other words, not only does this educational tool serve to enhance students’ abilities to apply the abstract to the concrete, but it serves also to enhance their ability to use Marxist concepts of class in other aspects of their lives.

Author

• Ann M. Strahm, California State University-Stanislaus