SOCI 2314SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND HUMAN VALUES PROFESSOR SPENER

SECOND MINI-ESSAY ASSIGNMENT SPRING 2004

MUST BE EMAILED TO INSTRUCTOR NO LATER THAN 9:55 AM ON MAR 30

Write a short essay in response to ONE of the questions appearing below in Section A and ONE other question appearing in Section B.Base your answer upon your understanding of the assigned readings/videos for the seminar and our discussion of related issues in class. This is not an exam; it is an assignment that is meant to be a learning experience. Although your essays must reflect your own thinking and your own, original writing, feel free to consult the readings/videos and your notes, as well as discuss your ideas with your classmates.

Each essay should be typewritten using a Times New Roman 12-point typeface (i.e., this typeface) and 1” margins throughout. Type NO MORE THAN two (2) SINGLE-SPACED pages answering each question. [Note: Don’t take this page limit to mean, “Write at least two pages.” What you write is of greater consequence than how much you write.] Be sure to make explicit reference to portions of the assigned readings where appropriate. If you would like to “bullet” portions of your answer in the interest of saving time and space, you may do so as long as your meaning is clear and your essay does not become a mere “list” of facts and ideas with no clear line of argument that logically links them together.

Save BOTH of your essays in a SINGLE MS-Word file titled YOURLASTNAME1.doc. Send this file to the instructor as an email attachment to the . Do NOT send your essays in the body of your email message. Instructor corrections/comments will be made directly in Word using the “track changes” feature and returned to your email address.

Base your essay on ideas and data contained in or discussed in conjunction with the following items:

  • Collins and Yeskel, Economic Apartheid in America
  • These chapters from Eitzen and Zinn’s Social Problems
  • Chapter 8: Race and Ethnic Inequality
  • Chapter 12: Crime and Justice
  • Chapter 14: Work
  • The PBS documentary Trading Democracy (on reserve in IMS)
  • “Class Rules: The Fiction of Egalitarian Higher Education,” by Peter Sacks
  • PBS Frontline episode, “The Merchants of Cool”
  • Illinois Prisoners' Reflections on Returning Home (Urban Institute Report)
  • Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States
  • State of the Dream 2004, by United for a Fair Economy
  • California's Latino Children, 0-5, Executive Summary (MALDEF)
  • When a Dissertation Makes a Difference
  • Other materials posted to the course website
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  • Your notes from class discussions.

You should attempt to integrate concepts/data from more than one source in your essays. Be sure to refer specifically to the materials you draw upon in writing your essays.

QUESTIONS

SECTION A

A1.Based on your reading of Economic Apartheid in America and other materials/concepts involving political economy covered in the course, explain why income/wealth inequalities have grown in the United States over the last 30 years. What kinds of negative effects does growing inequality have on lower-income sectors of U.S. society?

A2.U.S.-based corporations are among the most powerful economic institutions in the world. They are also quite powerful as political actors that are quite effective at advancing and defending their interests. How do corporations exert their political influence? To what extent might corporate economic and political power threaten the equitable functioning of our democracy? Provide illustrative examples as needed. Base your answer on assigned materials and concepts discussed in class.

A3.In the middle of the 19th century, Marx and Engels argued that the ruling ideas of any epoch are the ruling ideas of its ruling class because,in addition to holding economic power, that class also controls the means of ideological production. Apply Marx and Engels’ argument to contemporary capitalism in the United States. Be sure to illustrate your argument with examples taken from class discussions and assigned readings and audiovisual materials.

SECTION B

B1. What are three significant social problems in the United States today that can be attributed to some extent to the “normal” operation of a capitalist social system? Explain how the dynamics of capitalism contribute to the creation of each problem.

B2. What are some of the ways in which race/ethnicity and class/socioeconomic status interact to determine an individual’s life chances in U.S. society? With regard to life chances, you may think in terms of opportunities to get a college degree from an elite institution, owning your own home, living in poverty, being incarcerated, having a high prestige occupation, et cetera.

B3. How does the operation of capitalism interact with race and class to produce criminal behavior and a large incarcerated population in U.S. society? Why are members of some racial groups and social classes so much more likely than others to be incarcerated? What impact does incarceration seem to have on their subsequent life chances?

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