Sign In
Not register? Register Now!
Pages:
4 pages/β‰ˆ1100 words
Sources:
4 Sources
Style:
MLA
Subject:
Literature & Language
Type:
Research Paper
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 17.28
Topic:

Project #2: Researching Societal And Cultural Definitions Of Maleness

Research Paper Instructions:

Project #2: Researching a Social/Political Issue - the 4 pages are enough
We have been reading in An Insider's Guide to Academic Writing about food, sustainability, and class (Chapter 12). The readings in this chapter provide a wide range of perspectives that consider both food and sustainability as well as their intersection with the politics of labor, economics, and class. For example, Arellano's “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Became More American than Apple Pie” explores Mexican food as a new metaphor for American and helps us see some complex economic, social, and political realities of our society. Brent Cunningham's “Pastoral Romance” invites us to think carefully about our own “food nostalgia” and the current food-reform movements within a historical context. These and other authors have each contributed to the larger conversation about food, sustainability and class, writing in a particular genre (academic or popular) and for a particular audience.
Building upon the previous project and what we have read thus far, in this writing assignment, you will research a current social or political issue and apply some of the rhetorical moves you have learned to writing a researched argument. Being an educated member of society brings with it a responsibility for civic community participation, and one element of this is knowing what the current issues are, knowing where you stand on those issues, and being willing to participate in the conversation about these issues (as demonstrated by the authors we have read in Chapter 12). To prepare for your own paper, you need to choose a current issue you want to write about. In this context, we define a “social/political issue” as:
1. a public conversation about a local/national incident/event that you can find on the news or in newspapers that has affected a portion of our population in the state and/or in the US;
2. a policy or set of policies or laws that the president or other political leader is proposing or that the state or federal government is voting on;
3. laws created by state or federal governments or rulings by a state or by the supreme court that affect citizens in our society.
If you take on a social/political issue that doesn't fit within this framework, you can discuss the issue with me individually. In general, I am looking for you to choose an issue that is current, controversial, and that affects people in your state or nation, where there are many different views about the issue. Choose an issue that you care about. The topic should be broad enough for you to research and find more information.
Once you have identified a particular social/political issue, you need to write a researched argument about this issue. This means that you will need to
1. define the issue from a primary source
2. describe the conversation about this issue: What are people saying? How does the issue affect different groups in different ways?
3. analyze the language and assumptions that people are using to talk about the issue so you can understand the bias that is brought to discussions about this issue.
4. take a stand on this issue.
5. develop a nuanced argument by examining the ideas of those who are on different sides of the issue.
Specifications: 7-8 pages (2100-2400 words), double spaced, 12 point font
At least 4 sources: one should be a primary text about the issue, one should be an academic source, and two or more can come from newspapers or .gov websites. You cannot count dictionaries or encyclopedias as any of the four sources (you can certainly use these in your paper if you need to, but they will be in addition to the four sources required above).

Research Paper Sample Content Preview:
Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
Societal and Cultural Definition of Maleness
The cultural and societal definitions of maleness differ from one community to another. There is no specific or general definition of maleness that is known as shown by many researchers (Bray and Hutchinson 20). According to Delaney “maleness is not confined to bodiliness: it overflows its physical meaning and become generalized” in this context, Carol defines maleness in the perspective of reproduction and gives more weight on the physical man and the fundamental idea (Delaney 160). Potentially, the approach here reflects maleness as people who can produce brain children as well as real children. Law and Hennessey depart from Delaney's idea, and further express a new definition of maleness in the societal perspective that maleness is ‘law.' Contextually, the definition compasses on the historical assumptions that law systematically favors men and oppress women (Law and Hennessey 345). The Authors give a cognitive back up by referring to the feminist movement of the 1970s where gender bias was sensitively debated. The outcome of most of the cases presented before the supreme courts indicates how law systematically favored male and disfavored females. It, therefore, became unanimous for Law and Hennessey to settle on that definition. In other works revolving around a multi-systems perspective, Bray and Hutchinson presents an interesting and somewhat a different way of defining cultural maleness. They give a definition based on ‘masculinity" means that maleness is a behavioral adaptation in boys. In broader understanding, maleness has been represented in the society by associating them with boy-men activities (Bray and Hutchinson 21).
The description of maleness, however, remains an underlying issue due to the disparity in opinions from different scholars and authors. Across the majorities of cultures and societies, men are expected to be independent, hard workers, brave, and protector of the family. (Bray and Hutchinson 24) Explains that men who are the independent members of the society should be tight, unshaken and emotionless in the face of challenges or external conflicts that occasionally occur in the community. In this sense, maleness is socialized to repress certain traits of emotions whenever they fail to conform to the general mandate of a man in the society. In so doing, an old shame or prove of uselessness endorse upon the weak or non-conformers. The societal role in manhood hence emanates from the cultural myths preventing boys from being mentored into a complete human being (Bray and Hutchinson 25). In western cultures, boys particularly have been exposed to rigorous training on being independent of parents. Parents tend to leave their boys to struggle individually at tender ages to ensure that they are fully prepared to propel the society forward. This kind of behavioral training has been likened to hegemonic masculinity where reference is in the ‘Boys code’ of the US (Bray and Hutchinson 20).
However, controversy arises from this masculinity as demonstrated on the New Zealand statistics indicating that men are in trouble (Bray and Hutchinson 22). The studies show that men consume nearly 80% o...
Updated on
Get the Whole Paper!
Not exactly what you need?
Do you need a custom essay? Order right now:

πŸ‘€ Other Visitors are Viewing These MLA Research Paper Samples:

HIRE A WRITER FROM $11.95 / PAGE
ORDER WITH 15% DISCOUNT!