INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

SOCIOLOGY 100-010

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

Winter 2014

ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

This essay is due in class on March 31^st and is worth 15% of your final mark. You should consider this assignment a major part of the term’s work for this class. I encourage you to get started on your essay as soon as possible. This assignment will help you develop your sociological imagination by applying some of the ideas you have learned to a real world issue, controversy, or sociological debate. 

For this assignment, you will write a 4-5 page essay on a topic chosen from the list below. The topic questions are intended to be provocative – that is, to stimulate some reaction in you, be it positive or negative. You are free to develop any position you like, as long as you support your ideas with sound reasoning and apply relevant sociological concepts.

The most important sources for this paper are the course text book and lecture material. Although it is not a requirement of the assignment, you may use other scholarly literature in sociology (books or articles). Web research cannot substitute for library research, and you should only cite web material that is authoritative and not available elsewhere (e.g., Wikipedia does not qualify as an authoritative source of information).

FORMATTING

Write your essay in Times New Roman, 12-point font, using normal margin widths, and double-spacing. Your paper should include a title page with your name, student number, the name of the class and the date. Your essay should include page numbers, starting with the first page after the title page.

For this paper, I ask that you use the following format when citing your sources:

• If you are quoting or paraphrasing material from another source, cite the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence in question.
• E.g., Sociology emerged as a separate academic discipline during the 19^th century (Knuttila and Magnan 2012, 32).
• You must use quotation marks around any wording that is taken directly from another source (i.e., a quotation). If you fail to properly document exact words from another source, it could be interpreted as plagiarism.
• Paraphrasing consists of summarizing an argument or claim made by someone else in your own words. When you are paraphrasing, make sure to change the wording and sentence structure completely, not just substituting a few words here and there. Failing to paraphrase properly can under some circumstances be interpreted as plagiarism.
• At the end of your paper, provide a bibliography listing the works you cited in your paper, even if it’s only one book.
• In your bibliography, use the following format: Knuttila, Murray and André Magnan. 2012.  Introducing Sociology: A Critical Perspective, 5^th edition. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press.

LIST OF TOPICS

1. Have the new social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc.) made for a more enlightened, connected, and democratic society? In your answer, explain the similarities and differences between the ‘traditional’ media and the ‘new’ media and draw on some concepts from the sociology of mass communications. **The textbook material on this topic is available as an online chapter only (The Sociology of Mass Communications). You can access it by going to UR Courses, clicking on the link for the textbook companion website, clicking on Student Resources, and finally, Online Chapter.

2. Family structures and patterns have changed a lot over the last few decades. Is the institution of “the family” in crisis? Use two different sociological theories to answer the question. Which answer is most convincing and why?

3. The top 100 highest paid CEOs of major corporations in Canada earn on average 171 times more money than the average Canadian worker. How would a stratification approach and a class-based approach to social inequality explain this fact? Which explanation is more convincing and why?

4. Why do the inequalities between aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadian society persist? Use a sociological theory to support your answer.

5. Feminist sociologists claim that differences between men and women that are commonly taken for granted (their interests, attitudes, styles of dress, patterns of interaction) are part of a system of gender inequality. Do you agree or disagree? Support your answer by referring to key sociological concepts for understanding sex, gender, and gender relations.

6. Can social deviance play a positive role in society? Explain your answer by drawing on one or more sociological theories.

7. Social movements challenge the existing power relations, social structures, and decision-making processes of their societies. Choose a social movement to analyze based on the following questions: What resources have they mobilized for their cause? What are the most important ideas driving the movement? Which aspects of society is the movement trying to change? Incorporate sociological concepts throughout the essay.

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