Written Report #1 due Feb 13 in class
Answer all questions
below and remember to use the referencing and citation style from the syllabus.
1. Evaluate rational
choice theories of deviance.
2. Discuss the authors’
evaluation of biological approaches to explaining deviance.
3. Discuss Messner and
Rosenfeld’s (1997) explanation of crime and the “American dream.”
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this explanation?
Do you see current examples?
4. Discuss the basic
assumptions, strengths and weaknesses of the control theory.
Written Report #2 due
March 6 in class
Reading: Clinard and
Meier chapter “Nonviolent Crime”
Remember referencing
1. What is the typical
occasional offender like, why do they do it, and how do they compare to T.V. or
film criminals? Use a specific case
from the media to make your points.
2. Compare the
occasional offenders to professional offenders
3. Compare common
characteristics of conventional offenders with political offenders.
Use examples of each to make your points.
4. Discuss in detail
the reasons organized crime is so hard to eradicate.
Written Report #3 due
March 20 in class
Remember referencing
1. What features of a
normal life promote drug use?
2. Find an example of
performance-enhancing doping in sports presented in the media in the last year.
Provide some details of the case, and use it to discuss the role of drugs
in society.
3. What is the evidence
for and against calling marijuana a “gateway drug?”
What is the evidence for and against calling it medicine?
4. What are the pros
and cons of the drug laws and treatment tactics used by other countries
presented in the text?
Written Report #4 due
April 17 in class
Remember referencing
1. What are some of the
similarities and differences among different countries mentioned in the book
regarding social patterns in suicide?
Are there any general trends that appear largely universal?
2. Define the five
types of suicide outlined by Durkheim and others in your text, and provide
examples of each. Which type is most
likely to explain the higher rates of suicide among the elderly and why?
3. Discuss the
sociological explanation for suicide you think is the best explanation.
Why is it the best?
4. Are suicide
prevention centers effective? What are the challenges in evaluating them?
Written Report #5 due
May 8 in class
Remember referencing
1. What are the basic
social patterns of mental illness based on the variables of gender, age,
race/ethnicity, and marital status?
2. How does social
distress contribute to mental illness?
3. Describe and assess
Scheff’s sociological theory of mental illness.