For your first assignment, you will do some basic content analysis to explore the ways in which racial inequality is discussed and the ways in which it is constructed as a social problem by the media. To do this assignment you will need to choose three separate articles from the list provided, and use concepts from the class textbook and assigned readings to help you analyze the articles you choose.
- Choose three media articles from the list provided below (also available on Blackboard). You must choose from this list, which is restricted to mainstream, (relatively) non-partisan news sources. The articles all discuss race relations and racial inequality in our society in some way. Read your three articles carefully.
THEN… Write a 3-5 page essay (double-spaced, 12 point Times font using in-text citations in ASA format), which does the following:
- Explain the sample of articles that you used. Why did you choose the three articles you did? What was interesting to you about these articles? What subject matters do they discuss? Why did you choose these three together – what is similar and different about them, and why is this similarity or difference meaningful? You can discuss things like subject matter, political stance, social agenda, or sense of bias versus validity.
- Analyze the portrayal of racial inequality as social problems in your articles, drawing heavily up concepts from the class texts. Your paper should COMPARE AND CONTRAST the three articles in each of the following areas:
- Do the articles portray race relations in the U.S. as part of a social problem? How so? Do their discussions of race match or clash with the ways in which it is discussed in your textbook and class readings? In what ways do they reinforce or contradict sociological understandings? Do they acknowledge that racism or strained race relations are part of larger systems of domination or oppression? Do they treat racial tension as an isolated issue, an individual-level problem, or part of a larger set of structural issues that need to be addressed by society? Reference evidence from your articles to support your reasoning.
- Whose perspectives are privileged in your articles? Are they written from the perspective of the minority or the majority? Who do you think is the intended audience? How can you tell? What sorts of issues or concerns are missing from your articles?
- What sociological theoretical perspectives underpin your articles and the authors’ understandings of race (i.e., Conflict Theory, Functionalism, Feminism, etc)? Explain, and use evidence from your articles and class textbooks to support your claims.
- Do any of your articles propose solutions to the problems they discuss? How useful are their ideas? Based on class readings, are there other policy or practical solutions that you might consider for these problems?
- How effective overall are your articles at portraying race as a social problem? What did you learn that you didn’t know about race and its impact on American society? Conclude by a discussion of what you learned and what was missing from your articles, as well as how each might do a better job of portraying the social underpinnings of racial problems in the U.S.
