Harry Potter, Benjamin Bloom, and the Sociological Imagination

This paper is an examination of utilizing the J.K. Rowling Harry Potter series as a teaching tool for introductory sociology courses. Because of the ease in comparing the Wizard culture in which Harry lives with their own culture, students apply critical thinking skills and thus increase their ability to think beyond their own, immediate social systems carrying them to stages three and four, application and analysis, in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Particular strengths of the Harry Potter series are illustrations of sociological theories and social processes; examples of social stratification; and explanations of basic sociological concepts such as norms, sanctions, and deviance For this class, students are required to read the first two books or watch the movies adapted from these books. In addition, they must read the third and fourth books in the series as the movie adaptations understanding of sociological concepts as they apply to the fictional world of wizards. These abstractions become concrete as students apply this understanding to the analysis of their own place in their social environments