Contemporary American Society
Contemporary American Society looks at the changes and trends in America, and their effects on the institutions that make up the country. Everything from the economy to family to education is examined.
The projects for this course are group written papers examining essay groups from the book Crisis in American Institutions by Jerome Skolnick and Elliott Currie.
Working in Groups
Groups were assigned based on peer interviews. The goal of these interviews was to find members of the class most like ourselves. (A personal side note: while this will probably make group dynamics smoother, it probably will limit the extent of debates within the group, which limits our exposure to the ideas of others different then ourselves.)
My Group members are, in addition to myself, Mike H, Brad D, Paul E, Luke J, and Michele S.
After forming the groups, we wrote a short paper (PDF) on what we have in common, and how we experience consequences in a similar fashion. This was a fairly hasty written paper, done in about 30 min.
Corporate Power and Economic Crisis
Our first paper looks at the growing crisis of Corporate power in politics, the widening gap between the rich and poor, and the impacts of these current trends. (PDF)
Work and Welfare
A look at the tends of jobs becoming more service orientated, the growing number of people trapped in poverty, and the stigma given to them. (PDF)
Chat Logs
Course number 809-197.