UNLV Inadequate Food in Food Pantries Project

This assignment provides you with an opportunity to be a sociologically informed photojournalist. You have been tasked with bringing attention to an issue (or social problem) affecting your community. Your goal is to use a photograph to inform the public about the extent of the problem and the ways to address it. You will apply sociological ideas to discuss how that issue or problem is related to larger issues of wealth, income, health, and health care disparities and offer necessary solutions (e.g., policy, legislation, social movements, community outreach, individual initiatives). You are required to take at least one photograph of a social issue that influences or affects our daily lives (e.g., house, community, work place etc.) of your community members. Your photo must depict issues/factors at the community level that are likely to influence health and behavioral outcomes. Note that the photo should depict difficulties that impact “groups of people” (such as members of the community with a lower socioeconomic status) and not a specific individual. For instance, you may photograph grocery food selections (or the UNLV student union), walking routes, public parks, neighborhood environment (e.g., vandalism, housing conditions), disability access in a building/public area, venues for physical activity, junk food advertisements, etc.

“IMPORTANT” Be mindful of personal privacy. You must not post a picture that reveals identity of a person. You can take a picture of advertisements that influence individual behaviors, but you must not take a picture of individual behaviors (such as a picture of someone smoking or drinking alcohol). 

You should submit one picture with descriptions (see below), discussion post, and at lease two responses to your classmates’ posts post.

Complete the following steps:

1. Identify relevant object/area/feature/environment for this assignment.

2. Take pictures (with your cell phone camera or digital camera). 

3. Save your pictures on your computer/tablet/smart phone.

**To upload the picture from your computer to a Canvas Discussion reply, you should:

1. Find the Images icon on the menu and select Upload Image. 

2. You can then either click to browse and select image file or drag and drop it from your computer into the Upload Image box. 

3. When you are done, click Submit to embed the image and post the reply.

In the news report! You should:

1. Submit least one picture that clearly represents a social problem confronting our community.

2. Describe the social problem represented by the picture. Your description should include information about the groups of people likely to be disproportionately impacted (at least five sentences). Provide evidence that establishes the seriousness of a given issue or problem (e.g., what impact a given situation has on stress, coping resources, health, health behaviors, and health care utilization?). You are then expected to discuss how those issues could lead to increased stress, depression, and poor health outcomes. You also need to identify social groups (e.g., Older adults, Latinx, Black, Women, LGBTQIA+, Poor) more likely to confront those issues. You are encouraged to use outside sources for evidence to build up your case (i.e., to show the public why they should care about the problem). That may include searching for research articles, prior news coverage, statistics, and information provided by governmental and non-governmental agencies (at least ten sentences).

3. Explain why you think the issue or problem you identified relates to medical sociology (at least five meaningful sentences). You should explicitly cite information provided in course materials to draw the linkage. For instance, if you find that many people cannot afford rent or lack money to afford food during the pandemic, you should tell readers how that problem relates to the ideas of structural disadvantage (e.g., low wage jobs, wealth inequality, etc. institutional racism, poverty). Utilize sociological ideas or theories to discuss how that problem will positively or negatively affect health and behavioral outcomes. Which theoretical frameworks or sociological ideas help you explain or establish linkages between factors such as lack of economic resources during the pandemic and health disparities? Use your sociological imagination to identify the root causes. Why are some social groups better able to cope with the adverse circumstances such as the pandemic than other social groups? Why are some social groups more likely to die from the virus than other social groups?

4. Describe what we should do to (e.g., change or reform or enact new policies and legislation, engage in advocacy and activism, establish non-profit organizations) reduce the adverse impacts of the social problem depicted by your picture. Discuss how those initiatives are likely to reduce or eradicate the harmful effects of social problems on health and behavioral outcomes? If the picture is about social factors (e.g., readily available public parks and fresh foods) that positively affect health and well-being, you should discuss whether such facilities are available for all social groups? If not, what can be done to expand the access and affordability?