Sociology 211
Social Problems
Fall 2002
Dr. Scott SchafferMidterm Paper Assignment -- Fundamentalism as a Social Problem (Updated Oct 11/2002)
Due Date: Mon Oct 22/2002 at the start of class. No late papers will be accepted without a compelling reason and convincing documentation. Should you be unable to make it to class on this day, you must email your paper to me as a Microsoft Word attachment prior to the start of class.
The Rules of the Game: This paper must be a minimum of five (5) full and complete pages in length. There is no maximum length for this paper, so you should write until you've completely answered the question. Your paper must be typewritten, double-spaced, in 10- or 12-point font, on 8 1/2" by 11" paper. Your paper must have a cover page, on which a creative title ("Midterm Paper Assignment" is simply not creative enough), your name, and any other pertinent information should appear; your name should not appear anywhere else in the paper.
Your paper must be spell- and grammar-checked; papers that have copious errors will automatically lose two full letter grades. Receiving two "spelling and grammar" deductions during the course will translate into a zero (0) on the research project. You should follow all guidelines in the "How to Write a Schaffer Paper" handout; these guidelines will serve as the basis for my evaluation of your work. And finally, no direct quotations are permitted in this paper; any materials you use to support your argument must be paraphrased and cited following to guidelines in the paper-writing handout.
The Assignment: You should write a well-argued paper that answers the following question:
To what extent do you think that fundamentalisms are beneficial solutions to the social and sociological problems faced by modern societies, and why?
In order to fully, completely, and successfully respond to this question, you must do the following in your paper:
- Outline and analyze two social problems that are dealt with by ideological means, making sure to discuss the sociological problem behind them, the solutions to those sociological problems, and how the social problem develops from those solutions;
- Discuss the ways in which fundamentalisms attempt to or are used to solve those social problems, making sure to discuss how they try to solve them at the micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis;
- Evaluate the benefit or detriment of fundamentalist solutions to the social problems you've identified, making sure to provide the criteria and principles by which you're making that evaluation.
You must use at least four articles from Social Problems and Social Solutions and paraphrased evidence from at least two of the chapters in Identity Mania, and you must cite all evidence you use in developing your argument.
A suggested outline appears on the reverse side of this page for your use should you choose to do so. In any case, you should develop an outline of your own prior to writing the paper, and then "reverse outline" the final product to make sure that you've fully and completely developed the response to this paper.
Happy writing.
Suggested Outline
I. Introductory paragraph
A. "Attention grabbing" statement
B. Thesis statement: "In this paper I will argue that fundamentalisms are/are not beneficial solutions to social problems because...."
C. Path statement: "In order to do this, I will first... then... then...."
II. Social problem analysis 1
A. Discussion of characteristics of social problem -- what it is, how it manifests itself in society
B. Sociological problem analysis -- sociological problem à solution to sociological problem à social practice à social problem
C. How social problem develops from sociological problem
D. Mobilization of evidence to support claims made above
III. Social problem analysis 2 -- repeat section II
IV. Ideology involved in solving social/sociological problem 1
A. Ideology involved in solving social/sociological problem
B. How that ideology attempts to solve sociological problems in general
C. Ideology as it works at the macro level
D. Ideology as it works at the meso level
E. Ideology as it works at the micro level
F. Mobilization of evidence – this gets worked in as you discuss things; don’t make it a separate paragraph or section
V. Ideology involved in solving social/sociological problem 2 (same as section IV)
VI. Whether each ideology qualifies as a fundamentalism
A. What a fundamentalism is and how it operates
B. Criteria for recognizing a fundamentalism and its operation
C. Evaluation of ideology 1 as a fundamentalism
D. Evaluation of ideology 2 as a fundamentalism
E. Mobilization of evidence – this gets worked in as you discuss things; don’t make it a separate paragraph or section
VII. Critical evaluation section
A. “One sentence” response to The Big Question
B. Logic behind that statement (see below)
C. Criteria for recognizing these solutions as beneficial or not
D. Mobilization of evidence you discussed earlier in the paper to support these claims
VIII. Closure paragraph and extension of comments