SOCIOLOGY TOPICS

SOCIOLOGY TOPICS

-         The interaction of language and culture

-         Counterculture (Krishnas, Beatniks, Hippies, Goths, Punks, etc.)

-         American (or whatever) Folkways

-         Changing American Values

-         Technology . . . will society control it or be devoured my it?

-         The American work ethic

-         The many faces of religion in America

-         What is social progress?

-         Diversity in America, gift or curse?

-         American culture, a Beacon to the World

-         American culture, narcissism in high gear

-         Social control: more or less?

-         The prohibition movement

-         The civil rights movement

-         The women’s movement

-         The gay rights movement

-         Mental health

-         American Politics: Reactionary,Conservative,Moderate,Liberal,Radical,None of Above

-         Population trends: chaos and control 

-         War: social change and social disaster

-         WASP culture

-         Native American culture

-         Black culture

-         White ethnic culture

-         Ethnocentrism

-         Status and class conflict in America

-         Personality development: Nature or Nurture?

-         The role of family             “           “          “

-         The role of peer groups    “           “          “

-         The role of the school       “           “          “

-         The role of mass media     “           “          “

-         Adolescence in America/in rural America/in urban America

-         The trend away from homogamy

-         Traditional dating patterns

-         Contemporary dating patterns

-         Music and adolescence

-         Teenage sexual behavior

-         Infant mortality

-         Teenage drug/alcohol use

-         Teenage suicide

-         The Juvenile Justice System

-         The great divide: Adult male and female development

-         The Mid-Life Transition

-         Unemployment in America

-         The central role of career/occupation in American life

 -         The baby-boom bulge: looming crisis

-         Adjustment to retirement

-         An Aging America

-         Alzheimer’s disease

-         How America defines “deviance”

-         Tattoos, piercing: proactive statement or identity crisis?

-         Clothing identity: statements and stigmas

-         American youth gangs

-         Crime: white collar/violent/organized/victimless/property

-         School violence

-         Violence in America

-         Gangsta rap: Music or Perversion?

-         Corrections: effective, ineffective, counterproductive, or just fine?

-         Caste and Class in a Midwest school/town/community

-         Karl Marx: demon or prophet?

-         Socioeconomic status in America

-         Occupational prestige: shoe shiner to physician

-         Old money and new money

-         Poverty in America: A national disgrace

-         The cycle of poverty

-         Race and ethnicity as a function of social class

-         The urban poor

-         The rural poor

-         Behavior patterns and social class

-         Transfer payments: Christian equity or government giveaway?

-         Patterns of discrimination in America . . .

-         All Americans are immigrants

-         Bigots that I  have known

-         Stereotyping: innocent fun or seeds of oppression?

-         Genocide: A thing of the past?

-         Racial and ethnic diversity: strength or weakness?

-         The coming world culture

-         Asian Americans: the “model minority?”

-         Women in America: Rising to power or wallowing in weakness?

-         Gender traits: innate or socially determined?

-         The “Glass Ceiling”

-         The Case for/against equal rights for women

-         Women in the military

-         The Equal Rights Amendment

-         Sexism in America/in education/in sports/in politics/etc.

-         Ageism: the coming storm

-         Social Security: Necessity or Nemesis

-         Health Care in the U.S.- “Life, Death, and Politics”

-         The General Practitioner: a dying breed

-         The Americans with Disabilities Act: winning the fight against discrimination

-         AIDS: Misunderstanding, false hopes, and a spreading epidemic

-         The changing American family

-         Taboos

-         Courtship & Marriage

-         Marriage Trends

-         Divorce in America

-         One-Parent Families: America’s Underclass

-         Economic systems (Socialism, Communism, Capitalism, etc.)

-         The Global economy: Better or Worse?

-         Protectionism

-         Political Systems: (democracy, dictatorship, junta, monarchy, etc.)

-         Why do people submit to totalitarian rule?

-         Special Interest Groups: The undoing of democracy?

-         Who really rules America?

-         Education in America: Losing the Race?

-         Education: A means of social control?

-         Tracking: Maintaining inequality or appropriate placement?

-         Socioeconomic Status and Education

-         Proficiency Testing: Whose idea was it, anyway?

-         Violence in Schools: problem or media hype?

-         Bilingual Education: Yes or No?

-         Religion in America: Changing and Staying the Same

-         The function of religion in American society

-         Fundamentalist Christianity in America

-         The increasing role of science in American society

-         The increasing role of sport in society

-         Conflicting Views of Reality: New Paradigms

-         The increasing secularization of sport

-         The increasing specialization of sport

-         Issues in American sports

-         Women’s Athletics: You Ain’t seen Nuthin’ yet

-         Phobias

-         The Locker Project

-         Title IX and Women’s Sports

-         Amish Society

-         Contemporary Dating

-         Bulimia Nervosa

-         Birth Order

-         Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

-         Domestic Violence

-         Sleep & Dreaming

-         Home Schooling

-    Capital Punishment