Overview
In Milestone One you will work on the first element of your final project. In this assignment, you will identify and summarize a contemporary social issue of your choice. This social issue will become the main topic of your final project, and you will focus on the issue throughout the course as you work on your final project. You can choose a social issue from the topic list below, or you can select a social issue of your choice. After selecting your topic, provide a brief history of how the issue began, and provide an overview of the issue by answering the following questions:
What is the impact of the issue?
Who is affected?
- What do people think about it?
- Are there any debates surrounding the issue?
- For this assignment, you may research an issue from the list provided below, an issue of interest you find in the news or media, or a social issue you have encountered in your daily life.
- Bullying
Violent crime
Discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality, social class, gender identity, age, or nationality
Substance abuse (drugs or alcohol)
- Income inequality
- Inequalities in social institutions: medicine, education, the justice system, or the economy
- Social media and its effects on mental health
Now, you will narrow your focus. Let’s take this list above and see how this works for our first three thought prompts. Here are some suggested topics. - Bullying
- Cyberbullying
- Physical bullying
- Workplace bullying
Violent Crime
Index crimes (murder, sexual assault, battery, robbery)
Gang-related/organized crimes
- Inequalities and disparities in sentencing
Hate crimes based on race, gender, sexuality
- Discrimination
- Hiring discrimination based on race
- Hiring discrimination based on gender
- Discrimination and job promotions
Discrimination in allocation of medical information in doctor-patient exchanges
- Discrimination in mortgage applications and redlining
- Age-based discrimination
- Discrimination based on sexuality in workplace and hiring processes
- Substance Abuse
- The opioid epidemic
Prescription drug abuse
- Legalization of marijuana
- Racial disparities in drug law enforcement
- Inequality in drug treatment resource allocation
Once you have chosen a specific subject, you need to apply the sociological lens to your specific topic. After selecting your topic, explain what is happening with the social issue—what is its impact? Who is affected? What do people think about it? Are there any debates surrounding the issue? Also, provide a brief history of how the issue began.This milestone and your final paper are research based. You must use scholarly sources to show what research says about your topic and include in-text citations to reference the source of the information you summarize. Additional sub-topics of interest within these larger issues are included in a Supporting Resource List. You will need to refer to not only your text, but also additional supporting resources as you work on this project.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: