York University
 Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies
AP/SOCI 3430 6.0: Ethnicity, Power and Identity
Summer 2015

Essay Assignment

Due Date: July 28, 2015
Worth 40%

Write an 8-10 page essay –Follow guide below- (at least five sources)

The following elements are important in a good paper:

1. A good introduction including a thesis statement
2. A focused organizational scheme
3. A systematic argument logically developed
4. Important analysis and conclusion
5. A critical analysis incorporating theories into the discussion.
6. Use APA referencing (at least five sources) and provide a bibliography

See The Center for Academic Writing Website at York University for assistance on essay formatting, referencing, style, and bibliography.

Some Suggested Topics:

1. Examine ethnicity in an historical and cross-cultural context.   How has ethnic identification changed from traditional to modern society, or from pre-industrial to post industrial society?
   
   
2. Examine an ethnic group in terms of its historical development and it positioning (stratification) in the current Canadian ethnic mosaic.   Consider Porter’s thesis and the ideas of Marxist revisionists in your analysis.
   
   
3. Compare at least two ethnic groups examined in this course in terms of their history, identity and power.  Operationalize course concepts such as assimilation, acculturation, institutional completeness in your analysis.
   
   
4. What are some of the realities of growing up as a minority individual in this society?   How does it affect an individuals sense of self identity? Operationalize concepts such as hybridity, marginality and institutional completeness.
   
   
5. What are some broad theoretical perspectives on ethnicity?  How do these paradigms or broad theoretical approaches lead to some of the specific theories on ethnicity and power?
   
   
6. How has capitalism affected the process of ethnic identification?  Draw upon the theoretical discussions of symbolic interactionists.
   
   
7. Compare two classical sociological theorists on the subject of ethnicity.  How do they differ on issues of identity and power?

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