“Everyone Is Supersmart Now”: Learning Higher-Level and Critical Sociological Thinking from the Dystopian Satire of M.T. Anderson’s Feed

Abstract

Sociology instructors have long used nontraditional texts such as literary fiction to demonstrate core course concepts, increase student engagement, and develop students’ critical thinking in the classroom. In this article, I explore how written assignments structured around identifying core course concepts in a dystopian novel that connects to student interests can help develop higher-level and critical sociological thinking skills. Using data from an upper-level Sociology of Media course at a large, Midwestern university, I detail a final paper assignment centered around M. T. Anderson’s dystopian satire novel Feed. I present qualitative and quantitative findings that demonstrate students’ successful use of higher-level and critical sociological thinking to identify, analyze, and support original arguments regarding core course concepts within the dystopian world and our own.