Sociology of the New Economy Prof. Nevarez
SOCI/STS 273 Fall 2005
Interview assignment
Due November 2
For this assignment, you will write a 5-8 page paper that evaluates the competing
perspectives of Richard Florida and Simon Head on the changing nature of work. You
will present an argument based on original data: interviews you will conduct with two
people working full-time at different jobs.
The interviews: Find two informants who have 15-30 minutes to answer some questions
about their jobs for you. You may conduct these interviews over phone or in person
(which is always preferable, since you can take notes of their workplace); use e-mail only
if you have follow-up questions. Take some notes during the interview; if you interview
someone at their workplace or are unable to write extensively during your conversation,
you may need to write more extensive notes afterwards. Assure your informants that you
won’t reveal their identity or workplace in this paper.
Begin each interview by asking them to describe their jobs in detail. After they have
introduced their jobs to you, ask follow-up questions so that you cover the issues listed on
the next page. You are encouraged to phrase these questions in your own words and
reorder them to suit your conversation. Be prepared to ask follow-up questions (“Can
you say more about that?”, “What does that mean?” etc.) to get sufficient information.
The paper: How do your interviews correspond to the competing perspectives of Richard
Florida and Simon Head? Do they confirm a particular perspective and reject another, or
do they suggest that both perspectives explain some aspect of the changing nature of
work. You have latitude in the format with which you make your argument, except you
should devote at least one page each to describe each informant’s job. Hint: Look in our
readings to see if they have useful information about the jobs that your informants
described.
