Argumentive essay

Short Essay Section

Like in the previous exam, you will write a total of (3) short essays. These are worth (75 points, or 25 points each) If you use actual definitions from the online text please make sure to cite references in your paper ( Little 2018). If you use my powerpoints or handouts just say (Buhl Poverty Quiz Slide etc.).However, if other external internet sources are used

please include some kind WORKS CITED PAGE OR PROPER REFERENCE

SHEET (worth 5 points) at the end of your take-home-exam! (PICK ANY 3 FROM

THE LONG LIST OF OPTIONS BELOW!)

Crime/Deviance/Stratification

1. Elaborate on Robert K. Merton’s Strain Theory and highlight all possible forms of adaptation from his theory. Use the graph from the module or the graph in our textbook to assist with your short essay. Be sure to include the “conventional means” as well as the “cultural goals” or also known as the American Dream. You are also encouraged to use examples like pan-handling, urban squatters, informal labor, underground economies, describing the various stages of adaptation in strain theory. You are also permitted to think of examples beyond these two. Please bold the concepts and individual stages (ex: Conformist, Innovator, Ritualist, Retreatist, Rebel) whenever you use them! You must still discuss all 5!

2.The United States is stratified in levels which are sometimes linked with one’s own socio-economic and/or occupational status: upper class, upper / lower middle class, working class, working poor, underclass etc. In your own words, describe some features of each level including the median income ranges, type of housing, type of occupation type of education, and any leisure activities etc. (You are encouraged but not required to draw it out!). If possible, try to locate your own social class location and why you think you would likely fit into it and not well into others. Important: If you incidentally picked middle class, explain in your own words what social markers makes someone middle class and how can you be sure this is what the middle class objectively is nowadays compared to working class and the upper classes. This time include a minimum two sociological theories or concepts which you feel can be useful in your analysis and compare/contrast it to a third sociological theory which you feel is less useful in your sociological analysis of social class ( Meritocracy ‘bootstrap ideology’ , Social Darwinism, American Dream, Marxian Class Analysis,

Culture of Poverty, Davis & Moore Thesis (Supply&Demand),Class, Reserve Army of

Labor(Marx), Gans Thesis, Max Weber’s Multi-Dimensional Theory of Stratification, Intersectional theory (feminist approaches etc). One additional requirement for this essay is that you must include 1 statistical graph or chart (do not use pure descriptive or mostly visual-based charts. They must contain numbers inside them!) and provide a minimum 50 word interpretation of it Please bold the concepts or theories you decide use in your essay!

**You are permitted to use the Wikipedia page here for poverty statistics. Just make sure not to just copy and paste https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States )

3. Discuss who is poor in America, in relation to what areas of the United States, gender, age, race and ethnicity, etc. How has society responded? What are some of the common false stereotypes and stigmas about the poor and welfare recipients generally? What is wrong or incorrect with the cultural scripts of deserving and undeserving poor in the broader culture and on television? In your write up, include a minimum two sociological theories or concepts which you feel can be useful in your analysis and compare/contrast it to a third sociological theory which you feel is less useful in your analysis of poverty (Strain theory, Meritocracy ’bootstrap ideology’, Social Darwinism, , Marxian Class Analysis, Culture of Poverty, Davis

& Moore Thesis (Supply/demand) ,Reserve Army of Labor(Marx), Class, Gans Thesis, Max Weber’s Multi-Dimensional Theory of Stratification, Intersectional theory (feminist), etc.) . One additional requirement for this essay is that you must include 1 statistical graph or chart (do not use pure descriptive or poverty map charts unless they contain actual numbers!) and provide a minimum 50 word interpretation of it. Again, please bold the concepts or theories you use in your paper!

III Race & Ethnicity

4. In your own words, write a(n) essay in which you try to map out the concept of race from a sociological perspective. This time you will need to include a minimum of two sociological theories or concept from the Race and Ethnicity chapter which you feel can be useful in your analysis and compare/contrast to a third sociological theory or concept which you feel is less fruitful in your analysis of Race ( scientific racism, eugenics, social Darwinism, ethnocentrism/ nativism, prejudice, social learning theory, institutional discrimination, scapegoat theory, group threat theory, economic and political competition, authoritarian personality, white privilege(P. McIntosh), white spaces (E. Anderson), color-blind racism, overt/covert racism, etc.). Link to chapter with theories: https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/10-3-prejudice/Again, please bold the concepts or theories you use in your paper! Finally, you are encouraged to apply what you have learned so far about race and relate it to your own city and community. Ask yourself, how diverse is your city and community? Which racial and ethnic groups live near you? Is there any evidence that ethnic groups are neglected or being subordinated? What patterns do you see currently in your own city or community that differ or compare with other communities? If you do not know about the statistics in your own community you are encouraged to go to this link and look for your specific zipcode and examine the stats on race and ethnicity : https://statisticalatlas.com/metro - area/Texas/Dallas/Overview

So I can more easily find the theories or concepts that you are using, please bold the concepts or theories you are using. Also, one additional requirement for this essay is that you must include 1 statistical graph or chart (do not use pure descriptive or poverty map charts unless they contain actual numbers!) and provide a minimum 50 word interpretation of it.

5.Using the White supremacy pyramid graph above, write a short essay demonstrating you can differentiate between both overt and covert forms of racism that exist in our society nowadays (either online or offline). I suggest picking 2 or more examples from each of the two sections highlighted in the graph. Naturally, this means investigating the nature of such forms and providing both details and contexts. For example, how would the acts of white people calling the police or 911 on minorities randomly fit into either overt or covert forms of racism? Or what about a white male wearing a KKK hood in a grocery store is overt or covert example of racism ? https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/04/kkk-hood-coronavirus-mask/ You do not have to use the example I use here, but are encouraged to look for such similar examples or policies highlighted in the graph above which may shed light to different forms of overt and covert racism. You are also permitted to bring in examples of covert and covert racism pertaining to the covid-19 outbreak. Still, you will need to include a minimum of two sociological theories or concepts from the Race and Ethnicity chapter which you feel can be useful in your analysis and compare/contrast to a third sociological theory or concept which you feel is less fruitful in your analysis ( scientific racism, eugenics, ethnocentrism/ nativism, social darwinism, prejudice, social learning theory, institutional discrimination, scapegoat theory, group threat theory, economic and political competition, authoritarian personality, white privilege(P. McIntosh), white spaces (E. Anderson), color-blind racism, overt/covert racism, etc.). Link to chapter with theories: https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/10-3-prejudice/Again, please bold the concepts or theories you use in your paper!

6. For this essay or write-up, I would like you to conduct some sociological research on American hate groups that operate overtly/covertly online or on social media. To assist in your research, you are encouraged to use the “Hate Map” from the Southern Poverty Law Center website. Link: https://www.splcenter.org/hate - map You will notice that many of these 940 hate groups tracked by the SPLC in 2019 have exist not just in Texas but throughout much of the heartland in the United States. You might also consider reviewing the hate symbol database from the Anti- Defamation league and see if these symbols match anywhere on social media or meme generator websites. Link: https://www.adl.org/education - and - resources/resource - knowledge - base/hate symbols?page=1 Next, try to conduct a(n) content/textual analysis that links their specific hate ideology with some of the theories provided by sociologists you have read about in the Race and Ethnicity chapter. Like before, you will need to include a minimum of two sociological theories or concepts from the Race and Ethnicity chapter which you feel can be useful in your hate group analysis and compare/contrast to a third sociological theory or concept which you feel is less fruitful in your analysis ( scientific racism, eugenics, ethnocentrism/ nativism, social Darwinism,prejudice, social learning theory, institutional discrimination, scapegoat theory, group threat theory, economic and political competition, authoritarian personality, white privilege(P. McIntosh), white spaces (E. Anderson), color-blind racism, overt/covert racism, etc.). Link to chapter with theories: https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/10-3-prejudice/Again, please bold the concepts or theories you use in your paper!

IV Sex and Gender

7. Statistics continue to illustrate that for every dollar earned by males, females earn around 81 cents (or less) in the United States. The gender pay gap is even larger for women of color in the U.S., and far more severe when looking at the gender pay gap of women located in any of the Global South Countries (Haiti, Guatemala, Indonesia etc) were child labor/prostitution and/or unpaid housework is very common. Can any of this inequality by justified? Do you think the gender pay gap could be eradicated or reduced, and, if so, how do you think this could occur in the U.S. and also Globally?

(Govt. Legislation, Gender quotas, Education, Poverty reduction, Protests etc). Finally, briefly indicate whether you see yourself as a feminist or not? . Like before, you will need to include a minimum of two sociological theories or concepts from the Sex/ Gender chapter which you feel can be useful in your response and compare/contrast to a third sociological theory or concept which you feel is less fruitful in your analysis( patriarchy, institutional sex discrimination, gender discrimination, gender roles, sexism, blaming the victims (ryan 1971), male privilege, bifurcated consciousness (smith 1987) overt/covert sexism, intersectionality, etc.). Again, please bold the concepts or theories you use in your paper! You will find most of the above concepts in the chapter below:

https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology2ndedition/chapter/chapter - 12 - gender - sex - and sexuality/

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