Essay Writing Exam #2: A Particular Social Problem
Instructions: Please find below the second part of your second exam, worth 60 points. The instructions of the first essay exam in terms of following the pyramid approach to writing, exam lateness, citation support for claims made, and citing original posts as a precursor for this essay exam such as chapter accounts of the Vance work, as well as following the University honor code system, are also applicable for this essay exam. Failure to provide citation support for claims about a monograph, for example, chapter accounts, for example, will result in an automatic reduction of (-5) points. Failure to provide at least 6 original posts dates regarding chapter accounts and/or short paper accounts made about the Vance work will also result in an automatic reduction of (-5) points. Remember, your essay must reflect re-visible prose as part of this course. So, you must draw from at least 6 posts for this essay exam. Failure to address questions as they relate to course videos for the second part of the course will also result in an automatic reduction of (-5) points. And, failure to address questions about the Vance work will result in a grade of (F) or zero points for this essay exam. And, not providing an account of the Vance work without the context raised in the essay questions below will also result in a reduction of (-5) points. Failure to use Macionis as part of your essay will also result in an automatic reduction (-5) points.
This exam focuses on the work by J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family in Crisis (New York, NY: Harper, 2016), in addition to the work by John Macionis, Social Problems, chapters 10 thru 15. Class lectures and class videos are part of this essay exam as well. Also, this exam includes the lecture by Arthur Books on how to be happy. This reflects Brooks' video lecture played in class based on his book, the Conservative Heart. Think about Brook's video lecture on the Conservative Heart as a way to create a policy initiative towards revolving a particular social problem learned about in this class, using Vance, Cherlin, or the Macionis work. Focus on one particular social problem to resolve as part of your policy initiative recommendation towards the end of your essay exam.
In terms of the Vance work, make sure all chapters are covered as part of your descriptive chapter accounts. In other words, make sure that what Vance talks about is covered in terms of the central argument and introductory chapter all the way through the last chapter in the work. Remember, the central argument talked about in class.
Towards the end of your essay, deal with the sociological questions in regards to the work by Vance before addressing questions about your learning experience. Make sure the policy recommendation made to resolve a social problem is well thought out, dealing with the complex intersections that such a problem involves. What must be included in your resolve of a social problem based on the required readings is the kind of “central units” of influence or voting-blocks talked about in class regarding how public legislators might see such units. Failure to detail this will also result in an automatic reduction of (-5) points in the grading of your essay exam, as noted here and in class. Be comprehensive and detailed in your essay, citing from which your drawing, and following – as noted above, the same guidelines of your first exam, in addition to comments that I made to your essay papers individually or collectively.
What follows below reflects the essay exam that you will see on the D2L submissions site for the second exam:
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Essay Questions: Write an opening paragraph on a particular social problem that you found important enough to address in this class based on the readings by Vance, Cherlin, or Macionis as noted in class. (You must select at least one social problem. Detail how a particular social problems selected by you based on course readings relate to how social problems are defined by Macionis, or how social theory is used to talk about social problems, i.e. the use of Durkheim, Marx, C. Wright Mills, Joe Feagin's power-conflict, or the social constructionist approach to social problems. Think about how the Brook's video lecture provides insight and/or perspective on how to deal with the social problem that you note towards the end of your essay exam.
After developing this opening paragraph as a framework for your essay, then address the following questions:
1) This course focused on the working class. Situate the work by Vance within an semicircle of the literature. That is, use the work by Cherlin, in addition to the video lectures by Wilson, Murray, Moynihan, Cook, and other video class lectures, as a framework for the Vance work. Then, in the work by Vance, identify the central argument, falling under the arc of the literature, in addition to the research methods Vance used towards gathering and assessing data for Hillbilly Elegy.
2) Develop in detail what the work is about by providing chapter accounts of the Vance work as noted above, using your weekly essay assignments as a guide. Cite in particular the essay number or dates that reflect your work on the Vance book. This would help demonstrate what the book is about through a chapter by chapter account, citing from which your drawing.
Again – provide an account of the introductory all the way through the final chapters of the Vance work. The entire work must be included in the chapter accounts of the Vance work. Think about how the chapters relate to the thesis. In other words,
What is the central argument of the Vance work? Detail the methods used for gathering and assessing data.
Provide chapter accounts of the Vance work – all chapters. Use the class essay assignments as part of your descriptive chapter accounts of the work. How does the author conclude the work?
4. Using at least four of the latter chapters in the Macionis textbook (those covered for this exam), discuss through your “sociological imagination” how this material helps inform your analysis of and insight into the Vance work. How does the idea of a structural-functional approach help inform the sociology that is gleamed from the Vance work? Again -- using what Macionis references as the “sociological imagination," how would you apply the idea of oligopolies operating in the U.S. and its impact on the working-class either talked about in the Cherlin or Vance work? In addition, apply the idea of Max Weber's social theory on alienation, showing how that idea might impact on the working class in Vance's work. How do the Phillips curve and the primary and secondary labor markets apply to the work by Vance? How do the Macionis chapter on education, health, family, the economy and work relate to the Vance work.
3) In your review of the videos used in this course, such as the discussion between Wilson and Vance, discuss how social problems can be similar for the working class, whether in urban communities or rural areas. Use at least 5 course videos to discuss the impact that social structure plays in its effect on the working class as a basis for your answer. This includes video lectures by Murray, Wilson, Anderson, Duneier, Cherlin, among others. How would you resolve a particular social problem noted by one of the author's noted about through a social policy recommendation? This social problem can be the same that you noted in your opening paragraph. Be specific and comprehensive in your “policy initiative” for a proposed change to a particular social problem. Make sure you build your policy recommendation using lessons learned from the Brooks lecture. That is, Brooks' talks about stabilizing social institutions as ways to improve the plight of individuals: this includes both family institutions, community institutions, including educational institutions, and institutions that involve work. Hence, in your policy initiative for a proposal to change a social problem, political strategy, audience for your proposal, an understanding of political culture, and an understanding of postmodern American culture must to be taken into account. This includes the kinds of things talked about in the Macionis chapters for this essay exam.
This is where you will use your sociological imagination -- creative use of ideas and social theory as well. You can also draw from your readings in the Social Problems textbook as points that you might like your proposal to include. Again, think about what policy makers will see.
What are the major social theories or concepts that might be involved as part of your policy recommendation for change, using the works read in the course. If you are dealing with ways to improve the plight of a particular group -- given your understanding of the education chapter by Macionis, think about what becomes important in efforts aimed to improve education as a way to improve individuals for the workforce, either the primary or secondary labor market. In other words, what skills and approaches to the labor market would be necessary in your plan to improve the plights of individuals through education -- given the advice or insights that Brooks provides?
3) What is the sociological contribution that you gleam from reading the work by Vance in examining the rural situation? Consider whether history and the change in the market economy over time play as important role in your analysis of the Vance work. In other words, is a historical analysis important to your understanding of the work or does a sense of community history add to the sociological interpretation and/or significance of your understanding of the Vance work? How has Vance's work provided you with insights on the rural and/or urban situation?
In summation, one of the statements in the syllabus of this course was for students to learn "how to look at our social world through the lens of a sociologist." This reflects a goal of this course, with the added hope that students will also enjoy this learning experience along the way." Think about this in the following questions. In thinking about the life chances of the working class, as talked about in class readings and/or video clippings, discuss whether you were able to think about the material sociologically. Finally, how has learning about sociology in understanding social problems aided you in your understanding of social life? How have you enjoyed this learning experience?
Review for the Multiple-Choice Exam Nov 20, 2017 6:00 AM
As you are aware, the multiple-choice exam will cover chapters 10 thru 15 for this second exam. In regards to the second multiple-choice exam, follow the syllabus on the course, especially the weekly syllabus and other points related to the second exam on the course's home page.
For the multiple choice exam, for example, make sure your examination and study of the Macionis chapters include an understanding of the following points:
How Max Weber understood alienation;
How Frederick Engels developed an early theory of family life, and whether social-conflict analysis can be used;
Understand, according to Macionis, what percentage of women make up the full-time labor force in the U.S.
Understand what social institution is the most important under the structural-functional approach;
Understand how the crude birth rate is calculated;
Understand who Thomas Robert Malthus is and why this might be important towards insights on economic factors in the economy;
Understand the social theories of Simmel;
Understand the primary and secondary sectors of the economy, and what happens to each during different economic periods such as with the Industrial Revolution;
Understand what is meant by the term capitalism and conglomerate according to Macionis.
Essay Exam #2
Your Name
Your Institution of Affiliaiton
November 29, 2017
Write an opening paragraph on a particular social problem that you found important enough to address in this class based on the readings by Vance, Cherlin, or Macionis as noted in class. (You must select at least one social problem). Detail how a particular social problem selected by you based on course readings related to how social problems are defined by Macionis, or how social theory is used to talk about social problems, i.e. the use of Durkheim, Marx, C. Wright Mills, Joe Feagin’s power-conflict, or the social constructionist approach to social problems. Think about how Brook’s video lecture provides insights and/or perspective on how to deal with the social problem that you note towards the end of your essay exam.
After developing this opening paragraph as framework for you essay, then address the following questions:
1 This course focused on the working class. Situate the work by Vance within the semi-circle of the literature. That it, use the work by Cherlin, in addition to the video lectures by Wilson, Murray, Moynihan, Cook, and other video class lectures as a framework for Vance’s work. Then in the work by Vance, identify the central argument, falling under the arc of the literature, in addition to the research methods Vance used towards gathering and assessing data for the Hillbilly elegy.
2 Develop in detail what the work is about by providing chapter accounts of the Vance work as noted above, using your weekly assignments as a guide. Cite in particular the essay number or dates that reflect your work in the Vance book. This would demonstrate what the book is about through a chapter by chapter account, citing from which your drawing.
3 Using at least four of the latter chapters in the Macionis textbook (those covered for this exam), discuss through your “sociological imagination” how would you apply the ideas of Oligopolies operating in the U.S. and its impact on the working-class either talked about in the Cherlin’s or Vance’s work. In addition, apply the idea of Max Weber’s Social Theory of Alienation, showing how that idea might impact on the working class in Vance’s work. How do the Phillip’s curve and the primary and secondary labor class markets apply to the work by Vance? How do the Macioni’s chapter on education, health, family, the economy and work relate to Vance’s Work?
4 In your review of the videos used in this course, such as the discussion between Wilson and Vance, discuss how social problems can be similar for the working class, whether in urban communities or rural areas. Use at least 5 course videos to discuss the impact that social structure plays in its effect on the working class as a basis for you answer. This includes video lectures by Murray, Wilson, Anderson, Duneier, Cherlin among others. How would you resolve a particular social problem noted by one of the authors about a social policy recommendation? This social problem could be the same with what you noted in the opening paragraph. Be specific and comprehensive in your policy initiative for a proposed change to a particular social problem. Make sure you build your policy recommendation using lessons learned from the Brook’s lecture. That is, Brook’s talk about stabilizing social institutions as ways to improve the plight of individuals: this includes family institutions and institutions that involve work. Hence, in your policy initiative for a proposal to change a social problem, political strategy, audience for you proposal, and understanding of postmodern American culture must be taken into account. This includes the kinds of things talked about in the Macionis chapters for this essay exam.
5 What is the sociological contribution that you gleam from reading the work of Vance in examining the rural situation? Consider whether history and the change in market economy over time play as important roles in your analysis of Vance’s work. In other words, is a historical analysis Important to your understanding of the work, or does a sense of community history add to the sociological interpretation and/or significance of your understanding of the Vance work. How has Vance’s work provided you with the insights on the rural/urban situation?
Introduction
One of the first and foremost institutions in our society is the Family. Ever since the beginning of civilization, this institution served as the main bastion for physical, emotional, and psychological guidance, relative to other institutions such as Church, School, Peer groups, etc. Nevertheless, it is also said that these days the family and its function for helping individuals in their formation of normative values have declined due to a combination of an encroachment from other players such as the media (aka mediatization) (Hjarvard, 2008), and external factors such as the failing economy and disparity between the different classes of society (Cherlin, 2016). On one hand, it is said that through the process of mediatization, the roles of traditional institutions (e.g. religion, family, and school) are gradually becoming subsumed under the logic of media, thus making them more independent on these new forms of expression. On the other hand, the external factors in the economy and culture, has also made the problems within family relationships more persistent as it correlates to a ‘radical shift’ in the family’s social structure as characterized by an increase in the number of “cohabitating” couples as compared to those engaged in traditional marriage systems. From this perspective, it could easily be seen that the increasing dominance of mass media could’ve led to the increase in the number of couples who are cohabitating together. Nevertheless, based on the seminal work done by Cherlin (2014), he identified that one of the greatest reasons for this shift in the family structure is education. In his study, he was able to identify there exist a “marriage gap” between individuals who were able to finish a 4-year Bachelor’s degree as compared to those who were only able to finish a high school degree or lower. Nevertheless, looking at a much wider perspective, the author of this article believes that while education could present as one of the strongest factors for the increasing marriage gap, it is the overall structure (i.e. the economy and culture) which creates the disparity in terms of the opportunity for education and employment. Thus, leading to a shift in the traditional structure of the society, a phenomenon called by Durkheim as Anomie. In line with this, this article would focus on the work of Vance, as an example of this phenomenon of ‘normlessness’, especially with regards to the traditional family structures. The next sections would also incorporate the works of Macionis, Wilson, Brooks, and Cherlin, in order to discuss particular topics in class and race, relating to the topic on the ongoing shift in family structures. The said section would also include a discussion about the plight of the working class as discussed in Brook’s lecture, and what we can do to be able to increase our level of happiness. Lastly, the author would also suggest ideas about the role of the state as an over-arching traditional institution and the potential policy programs that it could ‘initiate’ in order to reduce the numbers of couples who are cohabiting together, and thus increase the likelihood for a family to develop a much more conducive environment for the development of a child’s well-being.
Hillbilly Elegy and the Economic Crisis of Marriage
The Seminal work by Vance, entitled Hillbilly elegy, narrates his life in the small town of Jackson, Kentucky, which is primarily a coal country of southeastern Kentucky (Vance & Vance, 2016). From the article, he described how he grew up with his mamaw and papaw, and started to develop “a sense of community” with the hillbilly people. The story starts when Vance was only a child and was adopted by his grandparent's mamaw and papaw in order to help him continue his studies. Just as many children living in the United States, Vance was then conflicted with the problem of a “broken family”. Specifically, he experienced living with five different sets of fathers, and all while re-marrying a different one, their family moves from one place to the other. In Vance’s words, he said that this circumstance left him saying that he has no “address” when people ask him where he lives. Nonetheless, when asked where he finds a mental image of his own “home”, Vance would always have a picture of living in Jackson, Kentucky, together with his mamaw and papaw. While Vance’s story is interesting and eye-opening for many people with regards to the pertinent issues of the family today, the most important part is that it reflects the very reality of today’s pattern in Marriage Gap. In the book written by Andrew Cherlin (2014), entitled Labor’s Love Lost, he discussed the correlation between an individual’s amount of educational attainment and his/her tendency to marry or simply commit to a “co-habiting” relationship. In his study, he was able to find out that as one’s educational attainment increases, the less likely are they to commit to a cohabiting relationship and decide to have kids without getting married. Particularly, his data showed that for couples with less than a High school degree, 30% of this population are in their first marriage, 42.3% for those with high school degrees, 42.6% for those with some college education, and 61% for those with bachelor’s degree or more. From this data, Cherlin argued that as the educational attainment of individual increases, the less likely will he commit to a relationship and have kids, without getting married first. Interestingly, Cherlin also found out that the main reason as to why those with more a bachelor’s degree marry and decide to have kids later in their lives is because they know that they would still be able to do so in the future. Knowing this, most of them invest in themselves, establish their reputations, and seeks to augment their knowledge by taking up post-graduate degrees.
In relation to the social problem posed above – shift in the dominant family structure – the author of this article believes that Cherlin’s and Vance’s work are both crucial in understanding the negative repercussions that co-habitation has in our society. On one hand, Cherlin presented data showing that couples who are cohabiting are m...