SOCI 1301 UNIT 6

UNIT 6: SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: SOCIAL CLASS, RACE & ETHNICITY, GENDER, AGE

READ THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS FROM THE MARGIN NOTES.

DIFFERENTIATION & STRATIFICATION
Little People of America
Status: Janitors & Tenants
Perspective on Stratification
Is There a Culture of Poverty?
RACE & ETHNICITY
Multicultural Groups
Opinions on Welfare
Complexity of Racial Identity
New Immigrants
GENDER
Sexism in Languages
Socialization & Gender roles
Gendered Spaces
Mommy Track
Feminization of Banking

WATCH THE FOLLOWING POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS.

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(OPTIONAL) READ THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS FROM THE TEXT.
08 - 10

OPTIONAL ACTIVITY
IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST
OPTIONAL DOWNLOADS:

UNIT 6 CONCEPTS
UNIT 6 REVIEW
CRITICAL THINKING ESSAY Rubric

NOTE: TO DO

CRITICAL THINKING ESSAY (20 POINTS)

A critical thinking essay is not difficult to write but it is a very structured piece of writing so it’s important that you read and follow the steps below in order.

1. We cannot take the time to fully explore what is meant by critical thinking. You do, however, need to have some general idea what critical thinking means in order to write a good critical thinking essay. Read WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING? before you do any work on your essay.

2. A critical thinking essay is very similar to an exploratory essay - a type of writing with which you may be familiar. It has a specific focus and a specific structure. Read WHAT IS A CRITICAL THINKING ESSAY? before you go any farther … Don’t try to wing this assignment!

3. Look at your topic carefully and make sure you understand it. Try rewriting it using your own words but keeping the meaning the same.

TOPIC

Some seventy-five years ago, Oswald Spengler wrote The Decline of the West in which he proposed that Western culture (the US & Europe) had passed its prime and was declining. Could that be true? Have there been any occurrences in the last seventy-five years that support or challenge Spengler’s contention? Even more importantly, what does a civilization on the rise or a civilization in decline look like … would we recognize either if we saw it? And if Western civilization is, indeed, destined to decline and eventually die, what will replace it … where will the next great empire come from? There is little agreement on any of those questions.

QUESTION: Do you think Spengler is correct ... is US culture past its prime and on the decline?
BASED ON MISTAKES BY PAST STUDENTS, HERE ARE SOME IDEAS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU START:

We're not talking here about the destruction of the US government or of the country. We're talking about the decline of the culture. We're also not talking about the decline of one particular aspect of culture - religion, education, family, etc. We're talking about the decline of the entire culture of western societies ... as opposed to Asian cultures, African cultures, Hispanic cultures or etc. If your not sure what culture means, review your course material before starting your essay.

[NOTE: There is no right or wrong answer to the question posed by your topic. I'm not interested in what your answer is but in your rationale. Go back to an example I used earlier. You start out in favor of the death penalty because you believe it has a deterrent effect but all of the research shows there is no deterrent effect. If you end your essay still in favor of the death penalty, that's okay. If you end your essay still in favor of the death penalty because it has a deterrent effect, that's not okay since your rationale is not consistent with factual information.]

4. Look at the information and research about your topic in the margin notes & power point presentations from your course and in the links below. Use the information from these sources to write your essay. However, do NOT use any direct quotes, citations or references from these sources. The essay is too short for direct quotes ... use your own words. As for references, I've given you the sources so I'll know where the information came from. (I've tried to give you a wide range of sources and opinions in the reference list below. Inclusion on the list does not constitute an endorsement of either the sources or the opinions.)

Oswald Spengler
Decline of the West?
Buchanan: Churchill Spurred the Decline of the West ...
The Clash of Civilizations
The New Relevance of Oswald Spengler
Spengler Speaks
Patterns in Chaos
The Paradoxes of Cultural Confidence: Is Western culture in decline? (PDF)
The Dying of Western Culture
Taking measure of West's decline
Spengler, The Decline of the West
The Decline of the West
The Decline and Fall of a Civilization
Meacham: The End of Christian America
The end of Western Civilization
Cultural Confrontation and Compromise
Decline of the West? Spengler Reconsidered
Al-Ahram Weekly | The age of Western decline
Politics & Ideas: The Rise and Decline of Civilization
The Decline and fall of classical civilizations
download free Adobe PDF reader 9.3
download RESOURCE LIST - This is an Excel file of current articles from popular magazines and anthologies that I update at least weekly. The articles are sorted by course. If you would like to download the file but do not have Excel, you can download Excel Viewer 2003 free. It allows you to open, view and print Excel workbooks, even if you don't have Excel installed.
ONLINE DATABASES - Some of the links above may take you to an article's abstract rather than the complete article. If you want to see the entire article but the site requires registration and/or payment, try your college library's online database. Almost all articles can be accessed through a database ... that's why colleges purchase databases for student use. I've checked and all of your colleges have databases that you can access online. Call your college librarian and ask for your username & password and for directions.

I do not expect you to use additional sources of information on your topic. If you do, you MUST cite and reference any additional sources using the following format.

Last, First. year. Book Title. City: Publisher.
Last, First, and First Last. year. Book Title. City: Publisher.
Last, First. year. "Article Title." Journal Name volume (issue): pages.

For additional details, see HOW DO YOUR FORMAT YOUR REFERENCES USING THE APSA FORMAT?

5. You may use any font and line spacing you wish when formatting your essay but the content of your essay must be a minimum of 750 words. You must also adequately cover your topic, though, and you may find it difficult to completely cover your topic in 750 words unless you are extremely concise. If you feel you need more length to cover your topic, you are welcome to write a longer essay. However, you are only required to write an essay the content of which is 750 (not 749) words in length. If the content (that does not include your name, type of assignment, citations, etc ... only the actual content of the paper itself) is not at least 750 words in length I will return your paper to you unread.

Your critical thinking essay should follow a specific outline. Before you begin the writing phase of your essay, read CRITICAL THINKING ESSAY FORMAT. The outline given is the one you need to follow in your essay. Too, take your time proofing your essay for spelling and grammar mistakes. If spelling and grammar are not among your talents, ask a friend who is good with spelling and grammar to proof your essay. “A” papers do not have spelling and grammar mistakes!

Under the Optional Downloads section at the top of this page, I have posted a copy of my grading rubric for the critical thinking essay.

6. By the deadline shown in the Course Schedule on the main page of the syllabus:

Send your Critical Thinking Essay in the body of a new email to dramyglenn@earthlink.net.
Put only your name and Essay at the beginning of your email.
Use the correct subject line.
Late essays will lose one point per day late, including weekends and holidays.