Compare and contrast the individual with structural level solutions in terms of possible effectiveness.

SECTIONS

YOUR TOPIC AND MAIN POINTS

PICK A SOCIAL ISSUE/PROBLEM.

WHAT IS YOUR TOPIC:
Instructions:

For the assignment you are to pick a social problem/social issue (for example: high school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism) that is familiar to you and write a paper in which you analyze the social problem using the sociological imagination and explore possible solutions. Each paper should seek to accomplish the following tasks, but not necessarily in this order.

Task one: (individual and social structure level analysis)

Describe a specific example of this issue/problem.
Examine the problem/issues as a personal trouble. In your examination you should give a list of possible individual causes and then possible individual level solutions to the problem/ issue.
Examine the problem/issue as a public issue of social structure with a list of possible social structure related causes and possible social structure level of solutions.
Compare and contrast the individual with structural level solutions in terms of possible effectiveness.

Task two: (theoretical analysis)

Explain the problem/social issue from any two of the following sociological perspectives: structural functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism or feminism.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the two perspectives you choose in helping us understand this problem/issue.

Task three: (empirical analysis)

Assess the findings of at least two empirical studies on the social issue from relevant peered reviewed journals.

Task four: (conclusion and implications)

Discuss some of the conclusions and possible solutions that can be drawn from the individual level, social structural, theoretical and empirical analysis you have done on the problem/issue.