SOC 120

Paper Topics:

Your paper must be submitted online through Canvas.

Must be at least 5 pages excluding the works-cited page, double-spaced, 12pt. font, standard margins. Your paper must include a ‘works cited page’ with no less than 3 sources, preferably more.

You must use [MLA (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.] style for notation. See a sample here (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

a.) Abbott, Jack Henry. In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison

b.) Twenge, Jean M. Generation Me

c.) Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale

d.) Kimmel, Michael, Guyland

e.) Wise, Tim White Like Me

f.) Deng, Deng, Ajak, Bernstein They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky

g.) Desmond, Matthew Evicted

h.) Coates, Ta-Nehisi, Between the World and Me

Choose one of the prompts listed below and answer the prompt using your chosen book and outside sources:

1. Explain how changes in social norms, social roles, behavior, and expectations influence the development and social lives of generation Y. ‘Generation Me’
2. Social/Total institutions influence and shape our life chances. In what ways was Jack Abbot a product of the criminal justice system? Explain using specific examples and sociological concepts. ‘In the Belly of the Beast’
3. Discuss how and why genocide occurs in terms of the following topics: group behavior dynamics, and the perpetrators psychology. Use the book for examples. 'Maus: A Survivor's Tale'
4. Explain the social formation of “Guyland” and the role that masculinity plays in shaping gender dynamics in society as well as men’s lives. Guyland
5. What is racism? What constitutes ‘white privilege’? Can these concepts be applied to better understand race relations in America? If so, how? White Like Me
6. Please research and explain the social and political context that prompted the genocide for which the authors' stories are based. Use their accounts to to explore the the genocide and how it affected their ethnic group and specifically the children in the region. ‘They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky
7. We often hear news stories about the "housing market" and "public housing," but not so much about the rental market, specifically the experiences of families who must spend most of their income on rent. Desmond writes, “We have failed to fully appreciate how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty.” Using his research, please explain the challenges Americans face finding secure housing. Evicted
8. Between the World and Me can be divided into three sections, each focused on a different era in Coates’s life: his early life, before attending Howard University; his time at Howard; and his life after Howard. What is Coates’s primary claim throughout the book? ‘Between the World and Me