It's really easy to get students to see the relevance of sociology to their everyday lives. They're poised and ready to do that. Trinity students want to see the connection. If anything, they have challenged me to do more of that. To see the connection, Valocchi encourages his students to become more closely involved with the people they study.
Research can be a very alienating experience.
I encourage my students to do more qualitative interviewing of a small group of people so a closer connection between the subject and the object of the research can be made. I want my students to look at, and not simply understand in the abstract, the different theories of power in society, understand them, and then apply them in some context. Students then produce an ethnography of their own. Students go and spend time with people different from themselves. They develop a relationship with their subjects so the final project becomes both personal and sociological.