UNLV The Effects of COVID 19 on Children Questions

Identify a news article/report that relates to the topic of your choice (e.g., stress, mental health, wealth inequality, opioid epidemic). The article must be selected from mass media (print or online) published in the United States or in other nations. The article might be from any of the following mass media: Newspaper (e.g., the Washington Post), magazine (e.g., Time Magazine), the Internet (e.g., Vox), television (e.g., CNN), or radio (e.g., NPR).

Then, you will critically assess the article’s content using sociological concepts, ideas, and theories discussed in our class. The following elements must be included in your review paper:

1. Write a brief summary of the content. Your paper should summarize the article’s intended message. That is, you should describe the arguments (e.g., “bad eating habits” causes obesity) advanced by the author(s).

2. What connections can be drawn between the topics covered in the news report and the topics, concepts, theories, and research data covered in class? Make a comparison between the topics discussed in the article (such as smoking, obesity, and victim blaming) and the concepts (such as medicalization, health inequities, and victim blaming) addressed in this class. Make clear reference (i.e., cite) to the sources (e.g., book chapters) from which you have drawn your thoughts. 

3. Why do you believe the article is sociologically informed (or not)? If you believe the article’s author(s) have already used a sociological lens, you must provide evidence to support your claim. If the article lacks sociological context, you should assess the author’s assertions using sociological ideas. Describe the facts or arguments that you found problematic, stereotyped, or victim-blaming. In other words, you need to explain why the piece is not sociological and how it might be made so. For example, the authors may lack a sociological perspective, if they attribute obesity to fast food consumption without discussing the larger social and economic context (e.g., childhood exposure to fast food commercials, insufficient economic resources to purchase fresh food, lack of grocery stores carrying fresh food) that influences individuals’ eating habits. 

4. As a sociologist, you are tasked with identifying the underlying roots of our social problems (e.g., identify public policies, institutional racism, economic exploitation, and residential segregation that contribute to racial and economic inequalities in health). When the broader social, economic, cultural, and political context is lacking, your article should provide this context in addition to any theoretical framework (e.g., the fundamental cause of disease theory) that drives your reasoning or arguments. For example, there may be a news piece regarding the poor physical and mental health of older workers. The article may be “blaming the victim” by asserting that these workers participate in risky health behaviors such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and fast food intake. Your responsibility is to provide context. You should inquire why these employees participate in such behavior. Is it because they lack adequate wages and benefits despite working long hours? Do they engage in risky behaviors to cope with their precarious employment and economic conditions? Are they in such a predicament because our economic policies do not provide workers with fair or living wages? Does our political context responsible for such economic policies? Is underlying structural racism accountable for even more precarious employment conditions for low-wage minority workers? Does sexism unfairly disadvantage women workers? You could utilize the available course materials (including recommended readings) or seek out additional resources to adequately support your arguments. 

5. Include the title of the article and weblink in your reference. If the article was published in print media, you should also submit a PDF copy. 

The report should address the following questions: 

How did you contribute to the review paper (such as by locating the article, selecting topics from book chapters, and writing a response to question 1)? Name one thing that you found helpful and one thing that posed a challenge in this project. What is one thing you discovered about yours or others’ working styles in the group project? What improvements could be made to this group project for future students?