Social Issue PaperMacro and Structural level (Causal Factors)
Select a social issue of interest to yourself. Potential areas of interest include: poverty, racism, child welfare, disabilities, mental health, sexual identity/gender identity, housing, and violence. It is important you narrow down your social issue for your final topic it is helpful to narrow your focus and to think about the social issue, the population who is more likely to be affected by the social issue directly and what specific problems arise from the social issue. Narrow you topic so that you do not risk writing a general issue paper versus a detailed analysis of the social issue that also includes up to date and relevant statistical analysis. Your analysis should include:
Social issue chosen was Poverty intersection with Patriarchy/sexism
Population: low income mothers
Problem: Intimate Partner Violence, why they don’t leave.
Essay should focus on poverty in Canada and how it’s affects the targeted population and problem
• Why this is a social issue ( think of goals of social work and how this represents what is public and political given extent of issue. What intersections are key)
• Who is affected (demographic information and quantitive data)
• How they are affected and what specific problems are they more likely to experience (be specific and not just analysis i.e., Racism versus how data shows ______ problem in living)
• What social, political and economic forces are contributing to/producing/ maintaining the issue
• What are the different ideological perspectives on the issue?
• What strategies for change are being initiated?
• What changes are not being addressed from a social justice perspective?
Your research on the social issue should include at least 5 scholarly journal articles related to the social issue, and other credible academic sources (up to date -not older then 5 years, Canadian, and relevant. You must also incorporate at least 5 meaningful references to different course readings (this is not to include slides or in class material).
You will be given some opportunity to work in groups with other students and are encouraged to share research materials and insights. Each student will submit a 7 to up to 8 pages essay. Anything beyond the 7 page limit will not be read.
Anything beyond the page limit will not be read. Page outline should be one-inch margins using Arial or Old Times Roman- double space character 12
Extra Guidance:
It is important you use the above assignment outline and not the extra guidance outline below.
As discussed in class make your topic as specific as possible so you are clearly outlining the Social Issue, Population and Problem (s). Your statistics need to be as up to date (preferable less than 5 year old) as possible and Canadian and Ontario based as the topic dictates.
In your next paper you will be dealing with the policy context and interview a social worker with a BSW and/or MSW in an agency). For example, the racial composition of Toronto has dramatically changed in the past 5 years. For you to use research that is much older means you are not really discussing the same population and issue. Make it clear as to why your topic is a social issue (numbers, personal has become political and the private is public) How are people affected often deals with how your populations social locations intersects. I.e. Race, discrimination and employment, etc.
Try not to espouse rhetoric and provide proof for the connections you are making (ie. Stats, etc.) and make the social, political and economic forces clear as to how they contribute to the issue. Think of your globalization, Ife, social policy, and articles like Sakamoto who identifies historical roots. How is your social issue and problems related to ideologies (neo-liberal, neo-colonialism, the paradigm or discourse of discovery, etc.?) At the macro level it has a lot to do with ideology and who benefits from maintaining the social issue. In this paper you are looking at strategies for change at a macro level (Structural, systemic or unsetting these) How does the continuation of the problem reinforce social inequality.
You need to have 5 separate scholarly journals. (Referee, credible research and sources used within the paper, etc.) You also need to use 5 different course readings. Your slides do not constitute a reading. It is important you not only apply your research and readings but integrate them. Make sure to effectively develop and edit your paper. And keep in mind the length requirements.
