Choose one of the following topics:
• Choose a specific consumer good e.g. cars, computers, cell phones, cosmetics, clothing, etc. and apply Marx’s theory of fetishism of commodities to it. Is the item you have chosen a consumer fetish or do people buy it mainly for its use and/or aesthetic value?
• In view of increasing global and local protests, e.g. anti-poverty, anti-war, Indigenous rights, etc. is capitalism the final stage of history that must be succeeded by socialism as Marx and Engels had predicted? Why or why not?
• In one of Simmel’s most cited essays, “The Metropolis and Mental Life”, he argues that modern city, based on the money economy has a profound effect on human relationships.
Do you agree or disagree with him that money is the root cause of social problems, whereby genuine human relationships characterized by greater feeling and emotionality decline, being replaced by increasing attitudes of blasé indifference, shallow rational calculations, and a lack of social responsibility in the face of profit-driven or selfish motives?
Provide specific examples that support and/or challenge Simmel’s argument.
• Are contemporary social media platforms e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other types of digital and media technologies a form of ideology that dominates the masses through consensus?
Or are they legitimate communication tools that are meaningful and liberating to individual consumers? Provide specific examples to support your argument.
• Drawing upon feminist theory, discuss ONE of the following issues: 1) gender images in the media; 2) gender gaps in public policies e.g. economic development, health care, education; or 3) gender variations in Canada.
• Has modern society, particularly youth culture become prisoner of brands, logos and gadgets? Why or why not?
• Have key aspects of our modern society such as employment, education, health care, etc. become “McDonaldized?” Why or why not?
Your essay must build upon two interrelated areas:
1) a brief overview of your chosen theorist/theory’s key arguments and
2) some analytical reflections on how your chosen theorist(s) or theories can help you better understand or solve a socially relevant issue in your community. These two areas must be linked by a central thesis in which you must argue for a position, showing a complete knowledge of your readings’ key arguments and be able to express them as well as your own viewpoint in a clear manner.
You may conduct your analytical reflections in ANY of the following three ways:
1) drawing specific examples from the readings or from your own lived experiences;
2) drawing connections with general themes of the lectures or seminars or
3) putting forth a critique of the work you are examining regarding its strengths and limitations to understand/solve a contemporary issue or critiquing other lecture or seminar ideas in terms of the readings.
Your essay should be 6-8 typed pages, double-spaced, 11/12 point-font.
Suggested Academic Journals:
• American Journal of Sociology
• American Sociologist
• Canadian Review of Anthropology and Sociology
• Contemporary Sociology
• Feminist Theory
• Gender and Society
• International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society
• Journal of Consumer Culture
• Sociological Theory
• Theory, Culture and Society
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|
