76-101: Problem Analysis
Overview:
For your problem analysis, you will select a case related to inequality and you will analyze it through the lens of Bourdieu’s capital and what we have learned about inequality this semester. A case could be the story of a person you know, a group of people, or a community; a current event; or social phenomenon that points to a problem related to inequality. You will use your analysis of your case to argue about the complexities and characteristics of the problem(s) associated with the case. To support your position, you will draw on details of the case and the course readings.
Selecting a case:
The authors we have read this semester explore problems associated with inequality as they relate to particular cases. For example, Khan (2011) uses the case of St. Paul to argue about issues of privilege among the wealthy in the U.S. Ehrenreich (1999) uses her own experience and that of others in her surrounding to argue about the difficulties in the lives of the poor. Lareau (2006) uses the case studies of middle class and working class/poor families to argue about the impact of social class on child rearing practices and inequality. Salazar Parreñas (2015) uses the cases of migrant female Filipino domestic workers to argue about how the international division of reproductive labor contributes to social class, race, and gender inequality.
Here are some examples of potential cases:
The protests in Chile about the college entrance examinations that stem from problems of social class inequality,
The racialized treatments in the justice system (e.g., the case of Felicity Huffman)
Women in sports demanding equal pay which brings about issues of gender inequality
The story of a migrant worker or group of migrant workers in the Gulf who experienced great challenges
Inequality in an education system you are familiar with (e.g., Education City as a place of privilege)
Wasta in an institution or organization in the Arab world
Follow these guidelines when selecting a case.
Your case:
should be something you are interested in, care about, already have some knowledge of, and have some personal connection to.
needs to be limited in scope. For example, you may not write about all the problems of the U.S. welfare system. Instead, you can write about the case of a homeless single-mother and how her case connects to larger issues of welfare and poverty in the U.S.
should be something that is presented as it is, as “raw data,” without any analysis. For example, if it is a newspaper article, it should not be something that the author analyzes or makes arguments about. You are the one who needs to analyze the situation reported in the article using what you have learned about inequality.
needs to be inspired by a key quote or a claim made by one of the authors we read this semester. This means that your case should be related to issues that we have read about this semester.
may be based on your own personal experience as long as you can generate the data for the case by writing up a narrative of the experience or a description of the account based on your own personal experience or based on an interview with a relevant person. This will serve as the case that you will then analyze.
Analyzing your case:
The ability to analyze a case using a disciplinary framework and expert knowledge is an important skill to have. As we have seen with our discussion of the Onion Model, analyzing means breaking up something into its parts and seeing them through the lens of disciplinary knowledge.
Throughout the first weeks of the semester, we have used the disciplinary framework of Bourdieu’s capital to tease out the various authors’ arguments about inequality. Your job now is to use capital and our accumulated knowledge on inequality to tease apart your selected case and argue about the complexities and characteristics of your case as it relates to inequality. In your writing, you will use Bourdieu’s capital and your knowledge about inequality to present and organize the information by making claims that use the key words from the expert knowledge you’ve gained this semester.
Researching your case and supporting your argument:
You will likely need to do some extra reading about your case to help you provide context and evidence in your argument. Collect information about your case from reliable sources of news such as reputable newspapers (e.g., The New York Times) and news channels such as Al Jazeera.
You will use the relevant course readings as a starting point for your analysis. In addition to using Bourdieu’s text on capital, you will select the course readings that most relate to the kinds of inequality your case presents. Depending on your topic, you are also responsible for finding 1-3 outside sources that specifically relate to the kind of inequality your case represents. These sources will complement our course readings and will constitute your knowledge base for your analysis. Check canvas for recommendations on readings on social class, race, and gender inequality, but also do your own research.
Rationale:
As a student, you will be asked to apply disciplinary knowledge to analyze exemplars (e.g., cases) in many of your courses. As a future professional working as a consultant, you may be asked to study and analyze an organization or a problem faced by an organization to eventually provide solutions. Research shows that when posed with the challenging task of analyzing an exemplar, many students don’t know how to approach the task and end up reporting what they know about the disciplinary knowledge from what they learned in class or reporting on the case and do not necessarily engage in analysis. Thus, the problem analysis is aimed to help you develop analytical writing skills that will be of value to your future courses and careers.
Organization
Your argument will need to have three main parts developed into multiple paragraphs:
An introduction that develops your case into an argument.
Following from the issue/ problem / solution heuristic, you will focus on arguing for why your case poses a problem related to inequality. You need to provide contextual details about your case to show how it leads to a problem that relates to inequality. You should use stasis theory to frame your case as a problem of existence, definition, value, cause, and/or action. Your reader needs to be convinced that the problem is a real one and something must be done about it.
An analysis section that draws on Bourdieu’s capital and inequality knowledge to help you support your argument as you consider specific details about your case.
Use your topic sentences to make claims about your case using key words from Bourdieu’s capital and the course readings on inequality. Support your claims by making specific connections between your case and the course readings and your own research. Use authors who would agree with your position about the case and use them to strengthen your argument. To incorporate these authors effectively, you will need to be selective about what specific parts of their arguments you paraphrase or cite directly.
A conclusion that helps your reader understand the larger implications of or potential solutions for your particular case.
Use the strategies for writing conclusions that we discussed this semester to help your reader understand why your argument is important beyond the particular case you analyzed.
Format
Your problem analysis should be 4-5 double-spaced pages or no more than 1,500 words. It should be written in academic-style using paragraphs, grammatically correct sentences, and vocabulary appropriate for discussions that require precision and concision. The format of the paper should conform to the guidelines for font, font size, spacing and margins specified in the APA Publications Manual. Be sure to include a “References” list at the end of your paper that lists the authors you cited.
Deadlines & Grade
Follow the deadlines for the submission of the different parts of your problem analysis on canvas including your draft, peer review, and individual meeting with your instructor.
Your problem analysis is worth 20% of your grade and will be evaluated using the 76-101 Paper Evaluation Rubric. See canvas.
Each of the following will result in an automatic lowering of the paper’s grade by one mark (e.g., A- B+; C C-):
failure to submit a complete draft to Canvas on time;
failure to meet with your instructor;
failure to complete your assigned peer reviews on time;
failure to meet with ARC if required;
failure to submit a final version to Canvas on time (one mark for each day late)
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