SOC10004 - Sociological Foundations - Essay Writing Assignment

Task:

This unit aims to provide students with an introduction to the foundations of the discipline of sociology. Successful completion of this unit will prepare students to undertake study in the discipline at more advanced levels.

Students who successfully complete this Unit should be able to:
1. Apply a sociological perspective to the social world around them.
2. Identify and differentiate between the major theoretical perspectives and research techniques employed by sociologists.
3. Define and use a range of key sociological concepts to appraise the ways in which social processes and social structures shape individuals and groups in contemporary society.
4. Discuss and critique published work and communicate this through informed written argument.
5. Undertake successful library-based research.
6. Identify and utilise the referencing style required by this discipline.

Assignment 1: Academic writing exercise - SOC10004

The writing exercise will introduce you to some of the important conventions of academic writing at university.
The task:
In his famous work, The Sociological Imagination, C Wright Mills discusses the relationship between “private (or individual) troubles” and “public issues”.
1. In your own words, explain what Mills meant by this, along with some of the examples that he gives. Thinking about your own experiences of growing up, identify a particular ‘private trouble’ you have observed in someone else’s life experience – it could be one experienced by a friend, a fellow student, a relative, someone living in your street etc.
2. Provide your own account of this trouble and then discuss how you see it relating to a broader ‘public issue’, of the type identified by Mills. To help you identify a suitable experience/issue, think about some of the broad themes we will be covering in the course: ethnicity, gender and sexuality, religion, class etc.

Assignment 2: Major essay

In this assignment, there is an opportunity to apply the skills you have developed so far to the researching and writing of an extended essay. The focus of the essay is to consider a topical social issue, and to ask the central question - why is this happening? To answer this, you will need to consider a range of sociological explanations. The issues covered in the topics are in some sense a problem for society. Thus, in your essay, we also want you to consider how your explanations might be used as a basis for thinking about appropriate remedies, policies, changes to practice etc.
In this way, you are being asked to think about how sociology as a discipline can be used to effect change in the world, and ultimately to bring about some betterment of society, and of people’s experiences of life.

Assignment 3: Reflective essay - SOC10004

In this essay we want you to write about your understanding of some of the sociological concepts that we have presented to you this semester. We would like you to write about these concepts from your perspective as a sociology student and a member of the social world. In the two previous written assignments you used research material to produce an answer to the question. What you did was to go to the texts and other research material and present the authors’ work in an essay form, in your own words. It was written from the perspective of the research material that you found in the context of the question that we posed. In this assignment we want you to also use the texts and other research material to produce this essay but the difference here is that we want you to assess what you’ve learnt; what engaged you; how it expanded your insight into the social world in which you live; and how it has affected your social identity.

The Task - SOC10004
Choose one of the following social factors that has played a significant role in shaping your personal identity: race/ethnicity, gender/sexuality, age, religion, media, consumption, or social class. The task is to explain how your chose social factor has influenced your identity, that is, your experiences, choices, expectations, life chances, attitudes, morality, values, and worldview. If you’d like to choose a social factor other than the ones listed above, you need to confirm it with your tutor.
Seek to apply sociological theory and/or concepts that are relevant to the social factor shaping your life experiences. For example, if you chose to focus on race/ethnicity, you may apply relevant sociological concepts such as: racism, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism. Make sure you define the key concepts. You need to cite at least 4 scholarly sources in your essay; citations could be used for definitions (e.g. definition of ‘social identity’), or in explaining the relationship between the above social factors and identity in a general sense. For instance, if your social factor is sexuality, then you need to find sources that address the relationship between sexuality and identity. You will then use those sources in reflecting upon and writing about the ways sexuality has shaped your life experiences and identity. Please note that this is to be a sociological essay and not a biography, so try to use analytical language, not emotive.