homework questions

Reading Assignment Three

Contemporary American Society Online

Required Writing Style

1. Answers should be at least a paragraph long

2. Answers should contain detail that demonstrates to the instructor that you clearly understand the material

· Your job is to demonstrate that you have read all of the required material, you understand basic terms and concepts, and that you understand the main points in each chapter.

· Given that this is an online course, I can only assess what you have learned by reading your written answer. I do not know what you are thinking unless you write it down.

· Please answer the question as completely as possible to show me that you are doing your work and you understand the material.

· A good goal to have to ensure that you write a thorough answer is to pretend that you are explaining the course material to a child or someone who has never heard of sociology. Try to forget that your instructor is reading your answers. This way, you will be forced to explain things very clearly and you are less likely to assume that the other person knows something about sociology.

3. Your answers should contain evidence from the textbook to support your answer.

· By “evidence”, I mean quotes from the text, references to a certain reading, specific terms/ideas, and other sources of proof that you read the material and that you can connect your own ideas to the material in the textbook.

· After you have answered the questions using evidence from the textbook, feel free to add your own opinions or examples.

Required Format

4. Please use this document as your writing template.

· Copy and paste this assignment into the document that you will eventually submit on Blackboard, or simply save this document to your computer and type your answers in this document.

· Type your answers beneath each question using the same font type, size, and color (Times New Roman, 11-point font, black).

· Please leave a space between the question and your answer

· If you do not answer a question, please write “omitted” below the question.

· It helps me to read the assignments more clearly if they are all submitted in the same format. Call me if you do not understand these directions.

5. Unique answers are required.

· Although you will all be using the same terms and ideas to support your answers, you will all relate to the material differently and approach the material from different perspectives; therefore, your answers will vary widely. This is to be expected, and in this way, there is no “right” or “wrong” answer, with the exception of the answers that are not thoughtfully explained and do not make use of the course material. It is acceptable and even encouraged to ask your classmates for help on the discussion board when you do not understand a question or a concept in your reading.

CHAPTER QUESTIONS

Remember to use evidence from the text to support your answers, and only write your opinion after you have written the facts supported by evidence.

CHAPTER 7 Deviance and Social Control

1. What is deviance?

Deviance is a violation of contextual, cultural, or social norms.

1. Using evidence from the textbook and online, discuss deviance and social control. Be sure to discuss sanctions for either breaking or adhering to social norms.

Deviance varies across cultures and deviant behavior is relative. Deviance is divided into two groups, crime and violation of informal norms. Example of crime would be robbery or rape and informal norms would be screaming in a library. Social control is the regulation and enforcement of norms. Social control is to maintain social order by making sure rules are followed in society. Sanctions enforce rules, if someone commits a crime such as thief or murder they would be arrested for violating the law and punished for those crimes.

1. Discuss the theories in your textbook that help to explain deviance and crime: strain theory, social disorganization theory, conflict theory, labeling theory, differential association theory, and control theory. (This will require a lot of writing and you should demonstrate that you understand these theories well).

Strain Theory is a theory addresses the relationship between having socially acceptable goals and having socially acceptable means to reach those goals. An example would be students attending college to become doctors that graduate and earn a great wage while helping save lives. Social disorganization theory claims crime occur in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control. Children raised in neighborhoods with low education and high crime rate are more than likely to become a criminal than children raised in wealthy neighborhood with good education. Conflict Theory is the competition of life for limited resources due to power conflicts and inequality which generates social change. Revolution is a great example of that because conflict occurs between social classes and the outcome of it conflict result in change in social order. Labeling Theory is the ascribing of a deviant behavior to another person by member of society. It is primarily the reaction others receive for doing deviant behaviors such as an employee that shows up to work every day late. Differential Association Theory suggest that individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to them who provide model of opportunities for deviance. A person with friends or family involved in crime may think breaking the law is acceptable. Control Theory states social control is directly affected by the strength of social bonds and that deviance results from a feeling of disconnection from society. Values, beliefs, relationships, and norms encourage people not to break the law. Fighting is something a person may avoid to avoid jail and legal consequences.

1. Using evidence that you gather online, select a type of crime of interest to you and discuss which theory best explains the type of crime and why. Please provide links to the online sources that you use.

Gang violence is my crime of interest. Social disorganization theory best explains gang violence because gangs typically form in poverty stricken neighborhood with high drug usage and low education. Drug use is related factors are apart of gang violence. Gang violence is more prone in big cities and urban neighborhood than suburban areas.

https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov

1. How is crime measured in the United States?

Crime is measured in two ways The Uniform Crime Reports which complies data reported to local police and the National Crime Victimization Report which is measure by a collected by self-report study.

1. Using evidence from the textbook and online, discuss the U.S. Justice System.

The U.S. Justice System consists of three branches, the police, the courts, and the corrections system. The police enforce laws in throughout the communities and determine if a crime has been committed. Once a crime has been identified by the police the court system determines the decision of the outcome based on the law. The corrections system is responsible for housing and monitoring individuals that were convicted of disobeying the law.

1. Using evidence that you gather online, discuss one of the major issues that we face in our U.S. Justice System. Please provide links to the online sources that you use.

Prison overcrowding is growing daily and is higher than many other countries. Over 2 million people are incarcerated today and the cost to house prisoners is a exceeding what the government can afford. Many Americans are in prison because of non-violent crimes and unfair drug charges.

https://www.criminaljusticeprograms.com/articles/3-reasons-the-criminal-justice-system-needs-reform/

1. Answer these questions about The Saints and the Roughnecks by William Chambliss: Feel free to discuss this with your classmates on the discussion forum. You can find this article at http://people.morrisville.edu/~reymers/readings/SOCI101/Saints_and_the_Roughnecks-Chambliss.pdf

· Describe the socio-economic background of the Saints and the Roughnecks.

· Describe the kinds of activities the Saints and the Roughnecks each engaged in

· Describe the community’s perception of and reaction to the Saints and to the Roughnecks

(teachers, police, etc.)

· Which group was more delinquent and why?

· What three factors led to different conceptions of the two groups by the community (hint: these can be found as subheadings in the article—you may feel free to discuss this on the board and help each other figure this out)? List and describe them.

· Describe how labeling theory be used to explain the outcomes of the two groups.

CHAPTER 12 Sex and Gender

1. Using evidence from your textbook, what is the difference between sex and gender?

Sex is a term that denotes the presence of physical or physiological differences between males and females. Gender is a term that refers to social or cultural distinctions of behaviors that are considered male or female.

2. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss the difference between sexual orientation, sexuality, and gender identity.

Sexual orientation is an individual physical, mental, emotional, and sexual attraction to a particular sex. Sexuality is a person’s capacity for sexual feelings and gender identity is a person’s deeply held internal perception of his or her gender.

3. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss socialization and gender roles.

Socialization is the process through which people are taught to be well-versed members of a society. Gender roles relates to society’s concept of how men and women are expected to look and how they should behave.

4. What is gender stratification? What are the consequences of gender stratification? Explain thoroughly using examples from the chapter.

Gender stratification is the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women. Men still typically make more money than women who have similar levels of education. Women will generally make only 77 cents for every dollar made by her male counterpart. Women in the paid labor force also still do the majority of the unpaid work at home.

5. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss the theoretical perspectives on gender.

Sociological theories help sociologists to develop questions and interpret data. For example, a sociologist may study why girls are more likely than their male counterparts to develop mental issues in early adulthood using a psychological perspective in their research. This interpretation is to help understand the differences in gender and why they may occur.

6. Using evidence that you gather online, select a gender issue of interest to you and discuss which theory best explains the issue and why. Please provide links to the online sources that you use.

Lack of education for women is a big gender issue. There are over 60 million children who do not attend school 48% of them are girls.  There are approximately 758 million illiterate adults in the world and two-thirds of them are women. Women’s share in the illiterate population has not budged in 20 years. These facts not only affect women but their children as well. A child born to a mother with the ability to read is 50 percent more likely to survive past age five. Feminist theory explains this issue it discuss inequalities in gender-related issues. It uses the conflict approach to examine the maintenance of gender roles and inequalities. 

https://www.right-to-education.org/girlswomen

7. Compare and contrast sexuality around the world and sexuality in the U.S.

Sexual attitudes in industrialized nations reveals that normative standards differ across the world. Sexual attitudes can also vary within a country. The textbook states, 45 percent of Spaniards responded that homosexuality is always wrong, while 42 percent responded that it is never wrong; only 13 percent responded somewhere in the middle. U.S. culture is particularly restrictive in its attitudes about sex when it comes to women and sexuality. It is widely believed that men are more sexual than are women. Belief that men have the right more sexual urges than women creates a double standard. This standard has evolved into allowing women to engage in premarital sex only within committed love relationships, but allowing men to engage in sexual relationships with as many partners as they wish without condition.

1. Discuss how queer theory challenges ideas about gender.

Queer theory is an approach to literary and cultural study that rejects traditional categories of gender and sexuality. Queer theory strives to question the ways society perceives and experiences sex orientation and gender. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick discussed how people’s sexualities were different. The textbook states, some people, whether homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual, experience their sexuality as deeply embedded in a matrix of gender meanings and gender differentials. Others of each sexuality do not.

MORE CHAPTERS ON THE NEXT PAGE

CHAPTER 11 Race and Ethnicity

1. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss race, ethnicity, and minority groups.

Race is physical differences that groups and cultures consider socially significant. Ethnicity is a shared culture, which may include heritage, language, and religion. Minority groups any group of people who are singled out from the others for differential and unequal treatment.

2. What does it mean that race is socially constructed? What other topics in this course could you argue are socially constructed and why?

Race is socially constructed the school of thought that race is not biologically identifiable. One person can be identified as white or black in one place and not the other based on interpretation. Transgender community could be socially constructed because someone who is born male but identify as a woman can be still perceived as a man. Despite the social changes they may have applied to been seen as the opposite gender.

3. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.

Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about groups of people. Stereotypes can be based on many characteristics such as race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation. Prejudice refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. Discrimination consists of actions against a group of people which can be based on age, religion, or health.

4. How do redlining and racial steering contribute to institutionalized racism?

It promotes racial segregation which gives more opportunities to whites. Primary better living conditions and communities compared to black neighborhoods. Which limits the ability for black people to accrue wealth.

5. Discuss the concept of white privilege after reading the following:

· Peggy McIntosh, “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf

· “What is White Privilege, Really?” https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2018/what-is-white-privilege-really

5. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss the patterns of intergroup relations.

Genocide is an intentional attempt to eliminate a certain group of people. Expulsion occurs when a dominant group forces a minority group to move out of a certain area or country. Segregation relates to physical separation of two groups. Pluralism encourages ethnic differences creating a multicultural environment. Assimilation is the process of being absorbed into mainstream culture. Amalgamation is the process of combining two groups into one.

7. Choose one topic to learn more about online—genocide, expulsion, segregation, pluralism, assimilation, amalgamation.

· Please provide a summary of the article or video

Genocide is an intentional attempt to eliminate a certain group of people. An example would be the Nazis party. They were a racist group who believed that were superior to than others. Adolf Hitler was the leader of the party. They were responsible for the genocide of the Jews known as the Holocaust. Which was a process that started with discrimination against Jewish people, and ended with millions of people being killed because of who they were.

· Discuss what you learned about the systemic and negative treatment of racial and ethnic minorities by dominant groups.

I learned that dominant groups used terror and military force to remove people from their homes and jobs to exterminate those they considered useless. By sending them to concentration camps using gas champers, which help kill approximately 6 million Jewish people.

Please provide a link to the sites you visit so your work can be reviewed.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/10/world-war-ii-the-holocaust/100170/

8. Read section 11.5 Race and Ethnicity in the United States

a. Choose one group to learn more about.

· summarize the passage on the group, including key points and terms.

Native Americans-

b. Learn more about your group online --

· Please provide a summary of the article or video

· Discuss what you learned about the systemic and negative treatment of racial and ethnic minorities by dominant groups.

· Please provide a link to the sites you visit so your work can be reviewed.

CHAPTER 18 Work and the Economy

1. What is the economy? Discuss some of the issues we have been facing in the U.S. economy.

2. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss the economics of Agricultural, Industrial, and Postindustrial Societies

3. Using evidence from your textbook, explain the difference between state socialism with central planning and market socialism.

4. Using evidence from your textbook, explain the ways that capitalistic and socialistic economies can converge

5. Describe the impact a rapidly growing economy can have on families.

6. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss section 18.2, Globalization and the Economy

7. What is the American dream? What are the realities of the American dream today?

8. What are some of the issues the American workforce faces today?

9. What does is mean to be underemployed? What is structural unemployment?

MORE CHAPTERS ON THE NEXT PAGE

CHAPTER 17 Government and Politics

1. What is power? Utilizing your textbook, discuss power from a sociological perspective, including a discussion of Weber’s work on power.

2. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss the various types of authority.

3. Explain why leaders as divergent as Hitler and Jesus Christ are both categorized as charismatic authorities. 4. Charismatic leaders are among the most fascinating figures in history. Select a charismatic leader about whom you wish to learn more and conduct online research to find out about this individual. Then write a paragraph describing the personal qualities that led to this person’s influence, considering the society in which they emerged.

5. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss the various forms of government.

6. Has the United States has become an oligarchy? Why, or why not? Use evidence from the Internet to back up your assertions, and provide links to the websites you use to answer this question.

7. Explain how an absolute monarchy differs from a dictatorship.

8. What is politics? Utilizing your textbook, discuss politics from a sociological perspective.

9. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss issues surrounding voter participation in the U.S.

CHAPTER 19 Health and Medicine

1. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss the social construction of health, illness, and medical knowledge.

2. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss social epidemiology and health in high and low income nations.

3. If social epidemiologists studied the United States in the colonial period, what likely differences would they find in health between now and then?

4. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss the factors contribute to the disparities in health according to race, ethnicity, social class, and gender in the United States?

5. Using evidence from your textbook, what is the state of mental health among citizens in the U.S. today?

6. Discuss the difference between public and private health care in the U.S. What are the consequences of these differences for the people these systems serve?

7. Using evidence from your textbook, discuss healthcare in other countries.