No Secular Music for Funerals, says Australian Catholic Church
The Catholic Church in southern Australia has banned the playing of romantic ballads, pop and heavy metal music, and football anthems at funerals. The church wants the music at funerals to be sacred “rather than a secular expression of the individual’s life.”

Questions to Consider:

1. In what way is the church seeking to conserve the norms surrounding funerals?
2. What is the Catholic church’s concern?
3. How does this reflect changes in Western culture?

Muslim Holiday Eid Keeps Texas Butcher Busy
Brief description of Eid (Muslim holiday). Interview with a butcher in a small Texas town who provides halal (acceptable to those who follow Islamic dietary law) meats for grocers who serve the North Texas Muslim community.

Questions to Consider:

1. Why the disclaimer at the beginning of the piece that some listeners might find elements of the segment offensive?
2. What makes a meat halal?
3. Changes in the ethnic and religious composition of the U.S. shape both the material and nonmaterial culture of the U.S. as a whole. What were some of the changes identified in this piece?

Inside Access: Photographer Captures the Taboo
Interview with a photographer who captures sub- and counterculture groups on the margins. He discusses his techniques for gaining entry to these often secretive groups and how he gains the trust of members. He mentions that it is often difficult to determine which events are staged and which are real. Very similar to what field researchers confront when studying groups that do not welcome outsiders.

Questions to Consider:

1. Is Karen doing a type of visual sociology? Explain your answer.
2. What are the difficulties we—whether professional sociologists or individuals in other vocations who are studying social phenomena—face when studying highly secretive groups?
3. Why would some groups not welcome outsiders? How can this pose a challenge for sociological research?

337: Man vs. History
This program presents stories about people taking history into their own hands. In the first act, a man with no practical experience hatches a plan to curb the violence in Iraq. He thought he could get the Sunni resistance to sit down with Coalition forces to negotiate a cease-fire. So he hooked up with a member of the Iraqi parliament and headed to Baghdad and Amman, where, remarkably, doors opened to him.

Questions to Consider:

1. Do the activities of the man in the first act conform to or violate cultural norms? If so, how?
2. What role does cultural variation play in these stories?
3. Identify the cultural forces that are providing stability in these stories?

380: No Map
Norms are defined as culturally expected rules of conduct. Norms may be ambiguous or contradictory. This episode reveals stories of people who find themselves in situations far from the beaten path, where there are no guidelines and no useful precedents.

Questions to Consider:

1. What do the three parts of this episode tell us about norms in society?
2. How do the people in these stories react when faced with a situation that seems to be normless? Why do you believe they act in the manner they do?
3. A sanction is a direct social response to some behavior. What sanction(s) are demonstrated in each of the stories?