Upon successful completion of this assignment, students will be able to
identify their essay topic/thesis to allow them to start researching and writing;
choose research sources from a variety of scholarly materials, including books, articles, and other sources;
assess the value of sources in terms of credibility and scholarship;
relate and link sources to a specific aspect and need with relation to an essay topic thesis;
write within a tight word constraint to communicate information and meaningful context;
format an annotation in by acceptable scholarly standards; and
identify the relevant subtopics of a research paper to allow for a systematic plan of research and writing to create a coherent organized scholarly paper.
(a) Research Paper: Essay Topic Selection
The following is a list of suggested topics for your research paper. Many of these topics are amenable to exploration by examples of power in particular instances. The intention of the research paper is to get you to explore a narrow topic in depth, and so you might wish to look at an even narrower aspect of any of the topics listed. If you wish to alter any of these topics, however, please discuss it with your instructor.
The primary role of education systems is about sorting for a pyramidal power system. Discuss.
Are social welfare systems designed as a means of social control based on the power principle of cooptation? Discuss.
Is there a reason to think that the excessive instinct to power in some individuals is compensation for other forms of individual inadequacy?
In decision-making theory, we classify non-decisions as decisions. Is the same true for power? That is, not exercising power gives power. Discuss.
What explains charismatic leadership? Should we consider charisma a power instrument?
Is the other side of power followship?
Why do people often actively choose to believe lies?
How does status discrepancy or people holding different statuses concurrently translate into power?
Are ideology and false consciousness sometimes referred to as invisible power really power instruments? Di
