Essay Prompt:

Throughout this course we have explored how categories of difference such as race, ethnicity, sex/gender, class, and sexuality are socially constructed. Furthermore, we have also covered how the processes that create these categories of difference also create, maintain, and reproduce systems of inequality.

For this assignment you should describe the social-cultural processes that construct categories of difference and systems of inequality. Explain how one of these categories and systems are constructed, maintained, and reproduced. Finally, discuss ways that these categories and systems are and can be challenged in daily life. You should use concepts and material from the textbook, lectures, course material, your own experiences, and outside sources from a minimum of two peer reviewed articles.

Purpose:

This assignment is designed to assess your knowledge and skills. Anthropology provides us with knowledge and skills to help us understand what it means to be a human being. This knowledge includes better understanding our existence as both biological organisms and social beings. An anthropological sensibility helps us challenge our taken for granted notions of what is natural and what is socially created in the world. The purpose of this essay is: one, assess your knowledge of basic anthropological concepts and theories and two, apply this knowledge in everyday life.

In addition, this assignment is designed to help you develop critical thinking skills to challenge assumptions, think reflexively on your own and others’ positionality, consider alternatives, and reflect on the possibility of challenging and effecting change in dominant structures of inequality. The assignment will also help you develop the important skill of formal writing. The ability to present a clear and well-organized written argument is an important skill that you will benefit from in any future career or endeavors.

1 I would like to acknowledge Dr Yang Cai and Dr Benjamin Lammers (both at Caldwell University), as well as TILT Higher Ed, for examples in TILT (Transparency in Learning and Teaching) formatting used in these assignment guidelines.

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Task and Requirements:

In your essay you should describe in general the social-cultural processes that construct categories of difference (race, ethnicity, class, gender/sex, sexuality etc.) and systems of inequality (social stratification). Then explain how one of these categories and systems are specifically constructed, maintained, and reproduced. Finally, discuss ways that these categories and systems are, and can be, challenged in daily life. You should use concepts and material from the textbooks, lectures, course material, your own experiences, and outside sources from a minimum of two peer reviewed articles.

Before you start writing it would be helpful to:

1. Review the material in the textbook and lecture notes on the social construction ofcategories of difference and stratification.
2. You should consider what concepts, terms, theories, and controversies we have coveredrelating to the essay task. For instance:
   1. Nature (biology) versus Nurture (Social/Cultural Construction).
   2. Culture
   3. Social Stratification
   4. Structural Functionalism, Symbolism/Symbolic Interactionism, Conflict Theory
   5. Racism, Structural/Institutional inequality/racism etc.
   f. Intersectionality
3. Choose which specific category of difference and system of inequality you want to focus on.
4. Decide what your main thesis or arguments are going to be, remember this essay is not just descriptive. It requires analysis and taking a position.
5. Find a least two peer-reviewed articles to use in your essay.
6. Go through the readings, notes, and articles for primary and secondary sources forquotes to support and/or illustrate the points you are making in your essay.

Format:

• Your paper should be between 4-5 (no more than 6) typed double-spaced pages.
• Your font should be 12-point standard font.
• It should include page numbers.
• You can use MLA, APA, ASA, or Chicago style format. Be consistent in the style.
• You should have a list of references and works cited.2

Plagiarism and Proper Citation:
Your work in this course will be evaluated through a variety of exercises and exams. For some of these assignments, you are allowed to use outside sources and references as long as you cite them properly. Every academic project you hand in must be based on your original work. All assignments are individual unless specifically identified as group or collaborative assignments. When you upload your writing assignment to Canvas, it will be checked through Turnitin, which is an online software that conducts a thorough search of your paper for any sign of unoriginal content. Any work that you hand in without proper citation (including Wikipedia) is considered plagiarism. The violation of academic integrity is a serious misdeed with major consequences that can result in the failure of the course and suspension from the university. Please make sure to read the Academic Dishonesty Policy- https://www.montclair.edu/policies/all-policies/academic- dishonesty/-and be very careful to avoid cheating and plagiarism. Please feel free to ask me if you are not sure as to what constitutes as academic dishonesty, plagiarism, or the violation of academic integrity in general.

You must cite your sources whenever you:

• Use a direct quotation
• Use another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories
• Use any facts, statistics, percentages, numbers, or other information that is not commonknowledge
• Discuss the research findings of others (such as the required peer-reviewed articles)
• Summarize or paraphrase a passage using your own word
• Here are the Jennings Library Citation Guidelines:https://libguides.caldwell.edu/citationsCriteria for Success:You can contact me at any time to discuss any aspect of the essay while you are working on it. I will supply a grading rubric that you can refer to while working on your essay. You should also consult the following checklist.Checklist:

o Does your essay include a clear statement of your topic and goals of your paper in the

introductory paragraph?
o Does your paper address in general the social-cultural processes that construct categories of difference and systems of inequality?
o Does your essay address in the social-cultural processes that construct a specific

category of difference (for instance gender or race) and systems of inequality?
o Did you define (preferably in your own words) the key concepts and terms?
o Does your essay discuss ways that these categories and systems are, and can be,

challenged in daily life?
o Does your essay have a thesis statement? You need to begin your paper with a clear

thesis that addresses the social-cultural processes that construct categories of

difference and systems of inequality.
o Does your essay use accurate evidence to support your thesis (Do you use peer-

reviewed articles and other scholarly evidence?) 3

o Does your essay use specific terms and theories to support your thesis?
o Are your sources both scholarly and relevant to your essay?
o Is your analysis clear? A clear analysis means going beyond the descriptions of

categories of difference, but also address the causes of inequality and how we can

challenge them in daily life.
o Does your paper follow the paper format outlined above?
o Does your essay include a clear concluding paragraph? You need to end your essay with

a concluding paragraph that refers to your thesis statement regarding the social-cultural construction of difference and systems of inequality and how we can resist them in daily life.

o Does your essay follow the proper citation format outlined above? Your essay should include accurate use of quotations and citing sources both inside the paper and in the list of sources in the format of References or Works Cited. The sources inside your paper should match the list of sources in References or Works Cited.

o Is your paper largely free of spelling and grammatical errors, that include unclear sentences, unmatched verbs and tenses, unclear word choice, and punctuation?