Sociology

Social Change Paper

Soc 122 Fall 2021

Dr. Rotondi

The specific aim of this paper: to theoretically analyze a technological or cultural source of

social change. The overall goal is for you to see how the theories of social change discussed in

the class can shed light on social processes that impact our day-to-day lives.

The paper will be composed of three parts:

1. What is the source of change that you will be analyzing? a. In this section you will need to discuss the source of change as if the grader of the

paper were an alien vising earth. Think about writing this section as if you were a

reporter, so that you are going to want to make sure you are covering the “what,”

“when,” “where,” and “who?”

2. How is your selected technological or cultural source contributing to social change? a. In this section, you will first need to explain what is meant by social change.

Using the textbook AND the lecture notes define what is meant by social change.

Because there is no one universal definition of social change, be careful how you

define it since you are going to need to connect this definition to your current

event.

b. Not all technological or cultural sources are contributing to societal change. Be specific in this section and defend to the grader how your specific change is

contributing to social change as you defined it.

3. Connecting theory to your technological or cultural source of change. Over the first three weeks of the course, we will be discussing several theories and theorists. In this section

you will respond to the following questions:

a. Argue for your technology or cultural shift being the source of materialistic or idealistic change in society. This is not always that straight forward- recall that

even concepts like capitalism can be either materialistic, idealistic or both. In

order to make this argument, you will need to explain the differences between

idealistic and materialistic change.

b. Argue for your example as being part of linear social change, cyclical social change, or dialectical social change. In order to make this argument, you will need

to explain the differences between these three models.

c. Choose either functionalism, conflict theory or interpretive theories and discuss how that view would explain your source of social change. In order to do this

well, you will need to explain the differences between them.

For all three of these parts, the better scored papers will be the ones that have included quotes

and examples from the course material as well as the most thorough in terms of capturing all of

dimensions of concepts and theories discussed.

This is a complicated paper that requires much of you. There is a lot of material that you will

have been exposed to in your reading and lecture notes, and so condensing that information into

a readable and well-organized document will be a challenge and requires TIME and MULTIPLE

EDITS. If you try to work on this paper a few days before it is due, you will not do well on it.

The best way to get a good score on this paper is to work on the sections of it AS WE

PROGRESS IN THE CLASS. For example, you can start the first part of the paper after Week 1.

Details:

• The paper is due before Wednesday November 24th at 5pm (pst)

• It is worth 35% of your course grade

• The paper will be 12 pages maximum- I do not have a minimum page count since I value concision and editing. Still, concision should not come at the expense of

comprehensiveness.

• The paper will be double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins

• Do not include a title page, an introduction, conclusion or works cited/bibliography.

• In-text citations are required using American Sociological Association formatting. o For citations from the class lecture use the following: (Rotondi, Lecture 3b, Soc

122, Fall 2020)

o ASA Style Guide for In-Text Citations

Visual Representation of the Paper Format:

Part 2

Source of Social Change The Social Change Material (eg. birth control pill) Social Change Description

Idealist/cultural (eg. Free Love movement)

Part 1

Part 3

Patterns of Social Change

Defend the source change

Is this linear, dialectical or cyclical?

Explain this using functionalist, conflict, or interpretivist perspective

Rubric: Course Paper; Sociology 122 Fall 2021 Points Possible

Points

Received

The Source of Social Change

Did the student describe their chosen source in a way that makes sense to someone

who has had no prior knowledge of the event? 3

Connecting to Social Change

Did the student define social change in a thorough way, well supported with class

content? 7

Did the student convincingly explain how their chosen event is contributing to

social change by directly linking their source with social change as they defined it? 10

Theory

Did the student convince you that they clearly understand the differences between

materialistic and idealistic change? Better scores will involve examples from the

class material.

5

Did the student convincingly argue that their source was creating materialistic

or/and idealistic change? 15

Did the student convince you that they clearly understand the differences between

linear, cyclical, and dialectical models of change? Better scores will involve

examples from the class material.

5

Did the student convincingly argue that their source was a component of linear,

cyclical, or dialectical change? 15

Did the student convince you that they clearly understand the differences between

functionalistic, conflict, and interpretive theories of social change? Higher scores

will involve examples from the class material.

5

Did the student convincingly explain their event through the theoretical lens of

functionalism, conflict, or interpretivism? 15

Other Items:

Was this paper carefully edited for grammar and syntax? 5

Did the student use proper ASA in-text citations? 1

Did the student write in a clear and unambiguous style in well-organized way? 4

Presentation Group Work

Was the student presentation a collaborative effort? 3

Did the students convincingly explain how the varied sources of change were

interconnected within a broader system? 7

TOTAL 100