Major Paradigms Paper (25%): For your midterm assignment, you will discuss, compare, and contrast two sociological paradigms (theories/perspectives) of your choice (i.e. functionalism, conflict, symbolic interactionism) by selecting a social issue and providing an analysis from each perspective.
The social issue can be from a current event, a social theme or trend you observe, or even an issue from a movie, television show, or book. Since the focus of this paper is on showing your understanding of the theories, you should not waste space summarizing the social issue/movie/scene/etc. Instead, you should briefly (around 2-3 sentences) describe the issue/topic, followed by sociologically analyzing the issue and comparing/contrasting your two paradigms’ perspectives on the issues. This will involve providing examples of/from the issue followed by the analysis/comparison/contrast of the example. Your final result in this paper will show your comprehension of two major sociological paradigms.
Your paper needs to be at least four (4) pages in length (12 pt. font, Times New Roman, 1” margins, double-spaced, no title page or abstract). You will need to provide a reference page in APA format (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html) , and use a total of three references: one will be our textbook, the other two will need to be peer-reviewed articles or legitimate books on sociological theory. Also, be sure to provide in-text citations in APA format! refer to the grading rubric (attached and on Blackboard).
