What is Rape?

1. you should begin by specifying and explaining the kind of violence you are trying to control and its

origins. This is the most important part of your paper, and should consist of evidence that supports your

claim about the origins of this violence. This evidence (statistics, other studies, statements by prominent

sociologists, criminologists, psychologists, etc.) is the KEY part of your paper. It’s sources should always

be footnoted (i.e. where you got the evidence), though I do not care what style this foot noting takes (MLA,

APA, ASA, etc).

Your discussion should reflect your knowledge of sociology, and NOT merely things you have heard in the

mass media or believed previous to taking this class. This is

not

an opinion essay, but an attempt to use

your knowledge of sociology to lower violence.

2. Sociological concepts:

a. You must tie your discussion to at least one theory of crime or of sociology more generally (e.g.

structural strain theory, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, behaviorism, functionalism, etc.). .

Make sure that you prominently label this section.

b. You must also make use of either the concept of power or culture somewhere in your paper. Make

sure that you prominently label this section.

3. You must have two proposals (preferably from some respected source, though original ones are

acceptable) for lowering your form of violence. The proposals should fit together and be inter-related. In a

sense, you should have one major proposal with two inter-related parts. For example, you are proposing to

reduce the “culture of violence”. Your focus is violence in the mass media. You propose to: 1. tax each

episode of violence on T.V. or the movies. 2. Take this money and fund a lobbying group, Mothers against

Television violence (MAVTV); 3. create a mandatory rating of violence for all television shows.

You should avoid unrelated proposals (e.g. 1. immediate use of the death penalty; 2. counseling all males

involved in domestic violence; 3. social workers assigned to all gangs).

4. You need to discuss whether your proposals are practical. They do not have to be practical, but you must

admit this fact, and discuss the circumstances that would make them practical. Again, label this section.