Category: Sociology

Step 3.  Write, edit, revise, and submit your Research Brief. (100 points)
After analyzing and synthesizing your scholarly sources, you will craft a research brief. Briefs should be 2 pages in length (plus a 3rd page with references) and should include the following sections:
-Heading & intro to the research question/topic (clearly explain to the reader why the topic is significant)
-Key Findings: organize by subheadings; describe your findings in both textual and visual formats
(and include in-text citations for all information)
-Include a third page with references in ASA style (all references should have an in-text citation and all citations should be referenced)

See paper instructions, I will submit everything in the file section. Also for sources, its mentioned in the instruction, I’ll add the book as well. Also please ask if any questions or materials/informations needed

Use your PEEEL outline to craft your work. (Attached for reference) 
**The (LINK) in PEEL method must include a suggestion for future research on this topic.**
Your Paper should be at least seven pages, and no more than 10 pages
(not including your reference list)
Your work must be formatted in APA style – particularly with respect to in-text citations, and reference list.
You MUST have at least 5 journal or statistical citations.
You must use 12 point New Times Roman font.

Discussion 3
1st -Watch the following videos:
PBS – Parenting Trans Youth in a contentious Political ClimateLinks to an external site. https://www.pbs.org/video/parenting-trans-youth-contentious-political-climate-gpwzu5/
PBS Frontline – Growing Up TransLinks to an external site. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/growing-up-trans/?
2nd – Review and provide a response the following:
After watching “Parenting trans youth in a contentious political climate” – Transgender policies in Virginia schools have become a political flash point impacting families across the commonwealth. At the same time, many parents are learning about the trans community, what it means to be transgender, and how they can help their own children.
After watching – “Growing Up Trans” – you heard the stories of about intimate and eye-opening journey inside the struggles and choices facing transgender kids and their families
Submit (1) post to the questions below and (2) responses to the discussion.
1- Why is treatment of transgender kids considered controversial? Socially and medically.
2- What thoughts and concerns do the parents have?  What statements had an impact on you and why?
3- How can a social worker assist children, adolescents and families through the transition process – be specific.

This project has 6 parts. I will attach the instructions for all those 6 parts. However, parts 1-5 have been done and completed. I will also attach any other supplemental things for you to complete this assignment, like my questionarre. For this specific assignment I need you to to rely on part 6 instructions, titled “Survey Project (6) Template,” and specifically focus on and complete the #2 Methodology part on that assignment that is supposed to be 2 pages long. These are the specific instructions for part 2: 
“2) Methodology [up to 2 pages]. Describe all the following elements of your study: 
2a) Sampling: when, where, and how you selected respondents;2 any differences between sampling procedures used by different group members; how representative your sample is of the target population and how this may affect the generalizability of the results; whether and why you believe your sampling was good and what limitations there were to your approach. 
(1 You can read more about reviewing prior studies in the optional reading “Matthews & Ross on Reviewing the Literature (B2)” under Projects > Additional resources on Bruin Learn. Guidelines for formatting in-text (citation) references can be found at this link.)
(2 In this section (2a), you should describe your respondents in general terms; no need to reference tables or frequency distributions. Later, in section (3a), you’ll have an opportunity to analyze specific aspects of your sample in more depth using your statistical output.)
2b) Dependent variable: what is your main dependent variable? How did you come up with
the concept? How did you design your survey questions/items to get at this concept from
different angles? Why? Did you encounter problems? Tell us whether and why your design
was good or should be improved.
2c) Independent variables: what are your independent variables? Why did you choose these?
How did you pre-code them? Tell us whether and why this was a good idea.
2d) Open question: what did you use your open question for? How did you post-code it?
What kind of independent variable is it?” 

Toys in America 
Conduct an online search for children’s toys.  In doing so, you will need to look at and take note of the toys marketed to boys and toys marketed towards girls.  You can do a generic online search or search through popular stores.  Then analyze, describing specific toys that you feel support your argument about the patterns that you’re seeing. In your analysis, please answer the following questions.
What messages do the toys seem to be telling today’s kids about what it means to be either a girl or a boy in our (Nacirema) culture? Make sure that you address both sides of the gender binary that our culture often uses (boy vs. girl) in today’s marketing.
How could the messages that children get about gender affect what we might see in the ideas and behavior of American adults? In what ways do you see adults in our society taking on gender roles in which they act out messages that they probably got about gender when they were children?
Is there a specific sociological perspective that could help us understand this better?
Remember, the earliest messages in the toolkit tend to be the most formative and impact peoples’ worldviews so it does matter what messages we send to kids about gender through their toys. Not every message we get is explicit, some are embedded in the culture (including material culture) around us. Give specific examples to support your arguments.
Keep in mind that this is not an opinion piece, this is an observation and analysis. While it’s okay to tell me what you think, the large majority of this section should be from a more objective, scientific perspective. Kick in that sociological perspective, take a step back from what is normal to you, and tell me what you are observing in our culture about the way that we gender our children. To a sociologist, gender is learned – so your job here is to be a sociologist and analyze exactly how we teach it, even to young children.

TOPIC: 
Adam Smith as a theorist and his “division of labor” theory and “the invisible hand theory”
Central question:
While the “division of labor” theory translates to today’s economy, how can we 
solve the socioeconomic discrepancies caused by this theory today? 
-SOURCES: 
“The Wealth of Nations” – Adam Smith and “The Invisible HAND” – Adam Smith
For the paper in this class, you will apply classical social theory to frame a 
contmporary social
issue. This means that you should be confident that you can write an 8-10 page paper that will
mostly focus on theory and its application rather than mostly discuss the social 
issue itself. You
may choose to look at two social theorists rather than just one. The only difference would be that
you would have a comparison section and citations from both, but the length of the paper and its
basic structure would stay the same. The two options are detailed below.
This paper will be developed sequentially, with each component submitted as a word document
To begin, consider this example: 
TOPIC AND THEORY
“The phrase “feudal society” as defined by Marc Bloch includes the feudal structure not only the
warrior aristocracy bound by vassalage, but also the peasantry bound by manorialism, and the
estates of the Church” [Wikipedia, of course].
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
“Erich Bloch’s theories of feudalism explain the structure of various European pre-capitalist
social orders. However, Bloch’s theories are also useful for identifying feudalism outside of
Europe and the re-emerging features of feudalism in contemporary times.”
SOURCES AND CITATIONS
– Since this is a theory course, it is important that you provide several in-text citations that are
both direct quotes by classical social theorist readings and broader summaries and applications.
2
A. TOPIC & THEORIST
What social issue interests you and what social theory or theories from this course can be used to
understand it?
REQUIREMENTS: SIMPLY UPLOAD A WORD DOCUMENT WITH YOUR NAME,
THE SOCIAL THEORY OR THEORIES FROM THIS COURSE, AND THE SOCIAL
ISSUE YOU WILL EXAMINE.
B. OUTLINE (argument, thesis, sources)
ARGUMENT: A STATEMENT THAT IS NOT NECESSARILY TRUE OR FALSE (NOT
OPINION, NOT FACT), SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE.
A THESIS CAPTURES YOUR ARGUMENT AND TELLS THE READER HOW YOU WILL
MAKE THAT ARGUMENT.
– WHAT MATERIAL FROM CLASSICAL THEORY AND OUTSIDE SOURCES WILL YOU
USE?
– ORGANIZE THE INFORMATION TO SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENT
REQUIREMENTS:
THESIS STATEMENT: This may change as you write. See the specific section on thesis
development below.
SECTIONS/SUBSECTIONS: To make your argument for clearly, you will provide at least three
or four sections aside from the introduction conclusion, and bibliography:
1) Theory or theories
2) Comparison of theories if you are looking at two theorists
3) Social issue
4) Application of theory
C. ROUGH DRAFT
The rough draft should be turned in as if it were final so that the Reader can quickly grade it and
provide you with feedback. You can then decide if you want to revise it for the final draft or if
you want this to be the final paper.
3
What does that mean? It meets the formatting requirements and has a clear introduction and
conclusion. Though the content may change a bit from the outline, it should be structured in a
similar, coherent manner, as if it were the final version.
SECTIONS/SUBSECTIONS: To make your argument for clearly, you will provide at least three
or four sections aside from the introduction conclusion, and bibliography:
1) Summary of theory, or at least as found in the readings and as it relates to your chosen social
issue
2) Comparison of theories if you are looking at two theorists
3) Brief description of social issue
4) Application of classical social theory to frame the understanding of the social issue
CITATIONS (ALL IN APA FORMAT)
In-text
– At least 10 direct quotes. If you are using two theorists, you need to include 5 from each.
– At least 4 in-text citations that provide information on the social issue you are examining.
These can be empirical descriptions, such as social statistics, or points that are made by other
writers or theorists that allow you to make connections to classical social theory. These can be
academic or non-academic sources.
Bibliography
1. A citation for each class reading/theorist
2. At least 2 outside sources (at least two in-text citations for each)
D. FINAL DRAFT
The final paper should incorporate any suggestions or feedback from the Reader. If you do this,
then you should receive a strong grade. If you decide that you were content with the grade on
your rough draft, it will carry over and you do not have to submit a revised final paper. Simply,
submit a word document that states that you will take the rough draft grade.
TO BEGIN, CONSIDER:
– READING/RE-READING – think about the subjects the theorists cover and, more importantly
for this class, what they specifically say.
– BRAINSTORMING – consider different ways of applying the theories, specific cases, how to
develop and organize your argument.

Step 2 (by Sunday night–extended due date) (20 points) : Responding to others.
Watch/read another student’s work in your group and analyze it in terms of both content and style in a minimum 300-word post.
You need to analyze someone’s project that has not been by another classmate in depth. In order to do this, once someone in your group posts a paper/presentation or information about a presentation and you have posted yours, you can “claim it” on the discussion board. You can just respond to the post and state, “ I, ________, intend to analyze this project.” The first person that claims it will be the one who can analyze it before Sunday, following the response requirements posted on the Project Guidelines. You should also provide short responses to the others in your group as well. PART II (20 points of your total score)
Response
The second part of the assignment requires you to analyze another classmate’s project in terms of her/his application of deviance theories and class concepts and materials. You should assess whether the use of the theoretical concepts is appropriate or whether another theory or other theories would better explain or enrich their analysis. In addition, you should consider whether the writer integrated important points from two peer-reviewed scholarly articles written after 2021 into their paper and included references in the presentation. Your response to another classmate’s paper should be a minimum of 250 words in length. Be sure to add something new to the discussion to demonstrate your understanding of class material, rather than simply mirroring back what the original person wrote.
You need to attempt to analyze someone’s project that has not been by another classmate. In order to do this, once someone in your group posts a project, you can “claim it” on the discussion board for your group if you have posted your project. You can just respond to the post and state, “ I, ________, intend to analyze this paper/podcast/narrated PP/video.” The first person that claims a project will be the one who is allowed to analyze it in depth. But, of course, you should read/watch/listen to all the projects in your group and give quick feedback to the others as well (required).

This project is designed to demonstrate your understanding of the main ideas of the 4 major sociological theories or perspectives using each of them to explain a significant global or national current event or social problem.  I liken these theoretical perspectives to the metaphor of old fashioned camera lenses. For example, Marx developed what Americans call Conflict Theory and Europeans refer to as Marxism. Functionalism developed by Durkheim is also a “macro” or structural level perspective. These theories are both “wide angle” camera lenses used to explain social problems. Symbolic Interaction as Weber and Mead elaborated upon is a ” micro” level perspective or “narrow angle” camera lens. Feminism can be both macro and micro level analyses of data depending on the research methodology of a particular study. There are several women scholars mentioned in the chapter summarizing this perspective. 
This is what I expect for 75 points total:
I want you to use a RECENT AND RELEVANT current event/social problem examples illustrating your basic understanding of the 4 MAIN sociological theories that has developed over the course of the semester. You are to define each of these theories using the basic terms to demonstrate your understanding of these perspectives and what makes one different from another, and make an argument/make a case for which one(s) would be the better explanations and why. Demonstrate to me what have you learned about each of these 4 theories used to study and explain modern societies and social problems or phenomenon.
This written work is to be 5-7 pages and CANNOT be longer than 7 typed double space using 12 point font. You will lose points if it is. 
To Earn 50 points:
You are to find at least 1 significant global or national current event or social problem. As young scholars you should already be paying attention to local, national, and global events. This assignment is designed to describe the main points of a current event/social problem and then state how each of the major theoretical perspectives would best explain it. 
Your job is to A) provide a brief description of the news event/social problem, B) cite the valid and reliable news source from which you found the article including name of the journalist, name of the news source, and date of publication, and C) provide the sociological theory or theories that best explains this problem/issue/phenomenon. You absolutely must use the terms/concepts associated with the perspective.   Do not just wing it at the last minute. I will know. I want to see evidence of your critical thinking and applying your knowledge of the major sociological perspectives that can explain current events. 

You are required to use outside scholarly research to analyze the concept of marriage and family from the major theoretical perspectives of symbolic interactionist. What does the symbolic interactionism theory say about the interaction of family, meaning and symbols of gender roles within family, marriage, and divorce?  Also, the symbolic interactionism theory mainly looked at marriage under a heteronormative lens. This theory doesn’t hold up as well when definitions of marriage and family are broadened to cover the wide spectrum of family types that we see today. Explain, describe and provide some of the limitations of this theory when applying it to marriage and family? You are required to write 700-1000 words, double spaced, and APA format where you will critically examine the impact of family in our society by providing comprehensive examples illustrating your sociological understanding of this institution.  See the rubric for additional information. Use the rubric to work on your theoretical perspectives on the marriage and family research paper.  You are required to have at least 2 to 3 outside scholarly references for this paper.  Make sure to not use I, We, Our.  Solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines.