{"id":866,"date":"2019-10-15T11:49:42","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T15:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/?page_id=866"},"modified":"2019-10-15T11:50:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T15:50:07","slug":"midterm-essay-1-due-october-25","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/midterm-essay-1-due-october-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Midterm Essay 1 (due October 25)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Answer one<\/u> of the following questions in approximately 4 (minimum) \u2013 6 (maximum) double-spaced pages.\u00a0 Papers should use 12-point Times New Roman or similar typeface, with one-inch margins on all sides.\u00a0 Answers should be well organized, well written, and thoroughly proofed.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span> Citations should be either MLA or Chicago Style format.\u00a0 Use telling (but not too lengthy) quotes.\u00a0\u00a0 A bibliography is not necessary for this paper, as your answers draw on the course readings (plus any additional readings appended to this assignment).\u00a0 The essay should address the central question (in boldface) and any of the ancillary questions related to your discussion.\u00a0 Your paper must have a clear, focused argument that unambiguously answers the question.<\/p>\n

You must upload your paper to your OneDrive folder by 5 pm <\/strong><\/span>on Friday, October 25.\u00a0 <\/strong>Failure to do so may result in penalties for lateness. Submitting your paper as a PDF may also result in lateness penalties if I am open and download the document after the deadline.<\/strong> \u00a0Late<\/span> papers (papers submitted after 12:15 pm) will result in a one-step deduction for each hour late: (i.e., A to A-, C- to D, etc).\u00a0 Except for documented emergencies, I will not accept papers submitted after 11:29 a.m. on Saturday, October 26.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

QUESTION ONE<\/strong><\/span>:<\/span> \u00a0<\/strong>In The Gold Coast and the Slum,<\/em> Harvey Zorbaugh attributes the absence of community on the Near North Side to the declining salience of normative institutions that integrated and regulated residents into local life. Robert Vargas, in Wounded City, <\/em>highlights the unexpected alliances that produce and maintain social order in Chicago\u2019s Little Village. Drawing on Vargas\u2019 exploration of Little Village, consider<\/strong> <\/span>whether Little Village conforms to Zorbaugh\u2019s conceptualization of community.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/strong>To what extent might local gangs satisfy\/undermine the functions of local community institutions? What role does violence play in maintaining\/undermining community ties?\u00a0 How might the alliances established in Little Village reveal the limitations of Zorbaugh\u2019s definition of community? To answer this question, you will need to consider the qualities that Zorbaugh associates with community, drawing on specific components from his study to measure the presence\/absence of community found in Little Village.<\/p>\n

QUESTION TWO<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>We have discussed Anderson\u2019s concept of the \u201ciconic ghetto,\u201d where perceptions of ghetto lifestyles shape whites\u2019 perceptions of African Americans (and other communities of color), regardless of human capital or social mobility. Drawing on our readings on suburban culture and lifestyle (Gans, Lung-Amam), conceptualize the \u201ciconic suburb.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span>How might \u201ciconic suburb\u201d compare to the \u201ciconic ghetto\u201d?\u00a0 Who is likely to bear the association of the \u201ciconic suburb\u201d?\u00a0 How do the Asian ethnoburbs presented in Trespassers<\/em> expand or limit our understanding of \u201cthe iconic suburb\u201d?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/strong>To answer this question, you should consider how the perceptions of the \u201ciconic suburb\u201d supersede the experiences suburban or scholars find on the ground.<\/p>\n

QUESTION<\/strong><\/span> THREE<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>Pretend you attended a panel discussion where two<\/strong><\/span> of the following scholars were invited to debate with Jennifer Sherman the similarities and differences between the structural challenges of poor urban communities of color and poor white residential areas: Patrick Sharkey, Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton, Forrest Stuart, and Robert Vargas. As a requirement for the Cities and Society course, you were tasked with summarizing the exchange between the panelists, identifying points of agreement and disagreement between the panelists.<\/span><\/strong> In other words, to what extent can theories on the hypersegregation of urban blacks (Massey and Denton; Sharkey) or studies on the economic and cultural strategies of urban blacks (Stuart; Vargas) explain the dynamics we find in Sherman\u2019s exploration of Golden Valley? \u00a0How does place (or place attachment) shape the differential responses in communities\u2019 navigation of poverty?\u00a0 To answer this question, you would not only draw on their readings to extrapolate how they would see similarities and differences between the urban\/rural\/suburban poor, but you will also consider how the panelists may adopt or challenge ideas presented by the other panelists<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

QUESTION FOUR<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0To what extent are the federal housing policies of the 1930s and 1940s enabling the rise of the suburbs attributable to the structural (racial, socioeconomic, political) conditions of Skid Row (Stuart) or Little Village (Vargas)?<\/span><\/strong> Not only do you want to consider the legacy of housing policies, but also how those policies shape the various formal and informal efforts to reduce those barriers (e.g. Vargas, Stuart).<\/p>\n

QUESTION\u00a0<\/span>FIVE<\/span><\/span>:\u00a0<\/strong>In Those Who Work, Those Who Don\u2019t, <\/em>Jennifer Sherman introduces \u201cmoral capital\u201d to mitigate their failures to provide economically for their families. Moral capital also enables white residents to distance their behaviors from the \u201cpathologies\u201d of communities of color, despite the fact that their parallel strategies for survival.\u00a0 Elaborating Sherman\u2019s concept, consider how moral capital might apply as a strategy to justify white flight from neighborhoods in Fremont\/Silicon Valley (Trespassers)<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span>In what ways does moral capital operate to re-establish the racial order of the suburbs?\u00a0 How does the change in place context alter Sherman\u2019s definition?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Answer one of the following questions in approximately 4 (minimum) \u2013 6 (maximum) double-spaced pages.\u00a0 Papers should use 12-point Times New Roman or similar typeface, with one-inch margins on all sides.\u00a0 Answers should be well organized, well written, and thoroughly proofed.\u00a0 Citations should be either MLA or Chicago Style format.\u00a0 Use telling (but not too […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":486,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-866","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/486"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}