Case of Conflict

The goal of this assignment is for each student to use the concepts and theories covered in the course to reflect on a historical or modern example of social conflict. There is an incredibly broad range of examples that you could use – as long as you can explain how your example represents a case of conflict, it is usable. However, your example should not be a fictional one, and cannot be one we have already covered in readings.

A successful essay will do the following:

Accurately and thoroughly describe the conflict you’ve chosen to analyze.

What actors (individuals and/or groups) are involved?

What is the conflict about?

Keep in mind that the amount of detail in your paper needs to be enough that a reader who knows nothing beforehand about the case you’ve chosen (me, for example) will be able to have a good understanding after reading your description of it.

Analyze the conflict using theories and concepts.

Remember that different theories can be used like different “lenses” for viewing the problem.

Your essay should apply at least one theoretical perspective from the lectures and readings to your case. Each perspective and the way that it applies to your case should be summarized so that a reader unfamiliar with the idea could understand it.

You must cite at least one of the following authors in connection to the case you’ve chosen to analyze: Simmel, Chase, Gould, Ellickson, or Blumer.

You should cite work in the text (example: DellaPosta 2017) and include a list of references at the end of the document listing all of the works cited. For class readings, providing the name of the author and title of the work is enough. For other works, you may use any standard reference format (MLA, Chicago, etc.) as long as you are consistent.