Social issue of personal interest

In this paper you will review Part 1 by applying your learning to a social issue of personal interest. Please make

sure to select a social issue (one involving groups of people/relating to society) and to address that same social

issue throughout the paper.

Please follow the paragraph structure outlined below, and please address every outlined question. Each paragraph

should reflect approximately one page of writing, with the entire paper constituting a streamlined narrative essay.

Paragraph 1: Sociological Thinking (see Writing Assignment #1, Questions 1-2)

• What does it mean to study a topic sociologically?

o What is the scientific approach to sociological study? What is the interpretive approach?

• If you were to study a social issue sociologically, what would you choose to study?

o Would you study that social issue from the perspective of a scientific or an interpretive

sociologist, and why?

Paragraph 2: Research Methods (see Writing Assignment #2, Questions 1-2)

• Why do sociologists collect data?

o What are the various methods that sociologists use to collect data?

o Which (and what) are qualitative methods? Which (and what) are quantitative methods?

• Which method is best suited for your study of the social issue identified in paragraph 1, and why?

o Is that method qualitative or quantitative?

o Is that method reflective of scientific or interpretive sociological concerns?

o What are the strengths and weaknesses of that method?

Paragraph 3: Sociological Theories and Paradigms (see Writing Assignment #3, Questions 1-2)

• What are the sociological paradigms and how do they relate to theory development?

o What are the foci/concerns of the functionalist paradigm?

o What are the foci/concerns of the conflict theory paradigm?

o What are the foci/concerns of the symbolic interactionist paradigm?

• What might a sociologist from each of the three paradigms find interesting about the social issue

identified in paragraph 1?

• From your perspective, which paradigm best suits the study of the social issue identified in paragraph 1,

and why?

Paragraph 4: Conclusion (see Writing Assignment #4, Questions 1-2)

• What is the sociological imagination?

o What is the difference between Mills’ concept of ‘personal trouble’ and his concept of ‘public

issue’?

o What is the difference between Mills’ concept of ‘history’ and his concept of ‘biography’?

• What makes the social issue identified in paragraph 1 a ‘public issue’?
• How does the social issue identified in paragraph 1 relate to ‘history,’ as Mills defines it?
• What do we stand to gain from applying the sociological imagination to the social issue identified in paragraph 1?

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