USING THE CONSTANT COMPARATIVE METHOD IN THE FOREIGN CLASSROOM - SHOPPING AS A SOCIAL-PROBLEM IN ROMANIA

This paper describes how the senior author introduced the constant com parative method as a teaching and research tool to a class on the soci ology of deviance. The students selected the topic of shopping as a so cial problem for a class project. The project not only held the intere st of students but also generated information relevant to understandin g the transformation of the former Soviet Union. Consumers were found to be developing their own procedures for responding to the difficult conditions created by the dual market economy. constant comparative me thod. The procedure may be especially applicable for teaching sociolog y to small numbers of committed students in the foreign classroom.