Task – Option 1 – A Content Analysis
Overview
Option 1 invites you to analyze one instance in the world in which you observe cultural variation or diversity that ultimately results in inequity, to use theories from the class to better analyze the way social ecologies shape inequities in the world, and to make some sort of recommendation to key stakeholders as to how to address this issue. Your purpose is to reveal how sociological and developmental theories can help us understand the social construction of particular problems or inequities and to account for these in seeking ways to address them.
Part 1: Analysis
Your analysis should focus on:
1. One social problem that is rooted in inequities that are related to cultural variation. (see previous lectures for examples).
2. One or two forms of media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, advertisements, websites [governmental, NGO, or popular websites are all acceptable])
3. You must include at least 5 media sources- each of which is relevant to the social problem
For example, 5 news stories about the ways racial inequities in health and the way different groups encounter different challenges to their health.
These will be the dataset that you will analyze to reveal the cultural side of the social problem.
You could compare and contrast portrayals between different sources (e.g., the portrayal by public health organizations [CDC/WHO] vs. the portrayal by the media), but this is optional
4. As you analyze your data, consider questions like
How do different groups in society understand and portray the problem?
How do these diverse portrayals reflect the different perspectives that one can have in this issue, and what informs those perspectives?
Within these different perspectives, what value judgments are made about the social problem, and how are these shaped by particular cultural beliefs and frameworks?
What purpose do these cultural frameworks serve (who benefits?)?
How is this problem shaped by various factors at different levels in the socio-ecological environment (macro, meso, micro and chrono)?
Part 2: Report
After constructing and analyzing your dataset of cultural media objects, please summarize what you have found. Please include concrete examples from your dataset, like quotes or images from the media, to support your argument. A strong way to start your report would be to discuss why we should care about the social construction of the problem that you are analyzing. Your report should discuss questions like the ones listed above (under analysis).
In your report on your findings, you must reference with in-text citations at least 3 ideas from our course in your report. These “ideas” may be things like social constructionism, intersectionality, life course theory, socio-ecological theory and the various levels of social life, etc. You must cite the ideas appropriately using formal citation processes, and citations should be to the articles we read as well as my lectures).
Finally, you must include at least 1 citation to out-of-class materials that are relevant to the specific issue you have chosen and that are academic citations from peer-reviewed scholarly journals or academic publishers in the case of books.
